Number one: embrace the challenge before you. Number two: embrace the weakness within you.

Number three: embrace the power God will give to you. In Judges 6:12, the angel said to Gideon, "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior."

That is one of the most ironic verses in the Bible, because the angel was talking to a trembling coward when he said that. God wanted Gideon to go forward and meet invaders of Israel and defeat the enemies of the people of God, just as God wants you to defeat problems that otherwise would sabotage you or your loved ones or the Kingdom in some way. Gideon didn't want to do it. He was scared to death. So the angel said, "The Lord is with you, mighty warrior." Then, because Gideon trusted that God was with him and let God help and guide him, he became that which the angel said he was, a mighty warrior.

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That is what God will make of you: a mighty warrior for the Kingdom. As He does, your life becomes victorious.

That is what happened in Philadelphia. It was a little church facing a terrible situation. They were so scared, but they took this letter to heart. John said at the very end of the letter, "If you will let God guide you through, God will make you a pillar in the temple of God." That means, He will make you a part of the very presence of God. He won't just put you in His presence. He is going to make you a pillar in God, a part of God's presence. How can He do that? Because God puts Himself within you. As you are willing to hold fast to God, He puts himself within you. He gives you His heart and suddenly you become new. You find the courage you need.

"Courage" comes from the French word for heart, couer. As you let God put a new "heart" within you, you may still be scared in many ways, but you find a courage that is beyond yourself and you become triumphant. That is what the people in Philadelphia found. That is what you will find, as you are willing to let God put His heart within yours so that His power is going with you into the world.

Let me be clear about what I mean. That picture I gave you of the kids going down the river is a good image, with one exception. When you face the white water times, God is not just up there on the bridge shouting down instructions. No, He is guiding you, and if you learn to listen you can hear Him and He will guide you through. But there is something He can do for you that I could not do for those kids. Through His Holy Spirit, He is also within you. He is in the canoe. He is helping to paddle. He is giving you a power that nothing else on this world can touch or take away.

As a witness to how true that is, let me tell you what became of that little church in Philadelphia. Remember that I said they were a small church. They actually were the smallest of all the seven churches named in Revelation. After they received this letter, they decided to go through that open door God had given them, and they went on to become the largest of all the seven churches. In fact, in the generations to come, they became a church so vibrant and strong that the people in Philadelphia began to turn to that church to lead them. Over the next 1,200 years, led by that church, that city of Philadelphia survived marauders, invaders and barbarian tribes. While all of the other fortified cities fell, Philadelphia survived as it was led by that local church. Finally, in the year 1,300 AD, Philadelphia fell. When it did, though, the church still survived.

If you go to Aleshir, Turkey, today you will find the church there still fully functioning, still on fire for Christ, still making disciples for the Kingdom, still supporting ministries all over that part of God's earth. It is the oldest surviving Christian congregation on earth — because that little-bitty group of scared believers walked through the door God had opened.

God wants to do the same for you and me. No matter where you are this morning, no matter how scared or alone or defenseless you feel, let God put His heart within you. Listen to Him, follow him, let Him make you a part of Himself — and give you a future.

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Steve Wende is Senior Pastor of First United Methodist Church in Houston, TX. He is a Contributing Editor of Preaching.