In school, we played a card game called “knuckles”. I don’t know if you ever played it, but the object was whoever lost the hand would have their knuckles struck with entire deck of cards. The object was to try to get the person who lost to flinch when you went to hit his knuckles. If he flinched, the edge of the cards would cut his knuckles but if he didn’t flinch, he would just absorb the blow. If the boy flinched, we would call him scared. And from that point on, we would torment him until he learned not to flinch under the threat of danger.
I remember as a soldier standing in line to receive my immunizations. Each moment I got closer to the medic who held that needle which would penetrate my skin, my heart rate increased, my skin sweated profusely, and the only thing the medic told me when I was next was don’t you flinch. He said, if you flinch the needle may scar your arm and give you a wound for which you will need treatment. I stood there afraid, but I didn’t flinch.
Flinching is shirking back in the face of danger, suddenly, you move off your position, you take down your guard, and you yield to the okie doke. Flinching occurs when you’re unsure of your calling, your purpose, and your ability to do what you set out to do. If someone or some circumstance lurched at you, would you flinch? Or would you stand still and remain confident of your ability to be successful.
Flinching occurs when your fear is greater than your resolve. But when you know that you know that what you are standing for is justice and righteousness you must not flinch. Friends may not understand you or your mission. They may even believe that doing you harm will do God service, but you must not flinch. Flinching shows a lack of confidence in your stated calling and a lack of courage to persist until you succeed. If you flinch in front of your enemies, they will bully you and cause you to back down.
In the movie “What’s love got to do with it,” Tina sits in her dressing room, about to start a new life. Ike enters out of nowhere, shows up brandishing a revolver, and sits it on her dresser. He asks “what you going to do now Annie Mae?” She just sits in the mirror, she didn’t flinch, neither did she panic. You could see the look in her eyes that regardless what Ike did, she was determined to maintain her resolve. She told Ike people were in the audience waiting to see her perform. She told him he could do what he wanted with his gun, even shoot her, but she was moving forward. She had made up her mind to begin a new life and his threat of bodily harm would not stop her. She got up from her desk, walked past Ike and went on to do a wonderful performance of “What’s love got to do with it.” Tina Turner stood her ground and when threatened she did not flinch. Her resolve was stronger than her fear and she won the victory.
You should do no less; don’t you flinch! It’s your season; it’s your time!
BARRIER BREAKING ENTERPRISES 