Lift Up Your Day
Lift Up Your Day with Pastor Rodney Coe — a 5-minute Christian devotional podcast for the heart that needs lifting.
Every Take 5 episode is a true story from history and Scripture about ordinary people God used to do extraordinary things. Pastor Rodney Coe — author of 5 books, devotional writer, and pastor — tells the stories warm, well-paced, and pointed at the part of your day that needs the most lifting.
You'll meet missionaries saved by angels (John Paton), a watchmaker's daughter who forgave a Nazi guard (Corrie ten Boom), a Tennessee farm boy who took a hill in the Argonne (Alvin York), a Senate chaplain who wasn't ready (Peter Marshall), a man who walked with God at 4 a.m. (George Washington Carver), and more.
Each episode ends the same way: "And that, friend, is how God lifts up your day."
Free 7-day devotional When Worry Won't Let Go at rodneycoe.com/worry-devotional. Books and blog at rodneycoe.com.
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Lift Up Your Day
William Wilberforce: The Fight He Refused to Lose
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The year is 1787. A small, sickly young man stands up in the British House of Commons and proposes something that will make him one of the most hated men in England.
William Wilberforce, barely five feet tall, often too sick to stand, is going to fight the slave trade. Powerful men will threaten him. One captain will swear to throw him overboard if he ever sets foot near his ship. And Wilberforce will fight them anyway. For the next twenty years.
He brought his first bill to abolish the trade in 1791. It was crushed. So he brought it again. And again. And again. Year after year the votes went against him. His health failed so often that he should have quit a dozen times over. But every year he stood back up.
It took sixteen years. In 1807 Parliament finally voted to abolish the British slave trade, and members rose to their feet and cheered while Wilberforce sat with his head in his hands, weeping.
He was not done. In 1833, three days before he died, word reached his bedside that full emancipation had passed too. Slavery in the British Empire was over.
"Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." Galatians 6:9.
Maybe you are tired in a long fight of your own. Wilberforce would tell you to stand back up. In due season. Not on your schedule, but on God's. The fight that defines a life is rarely the quick one. It is the one you refuse to lose.
Keep looking up,
Pastor Rodney
The year is 1787. A small, sickly young man stands up in the British House of Commons, and what he's about to propose will make him one of the most hated men in England. William Wilberforce, barely five feet tall, often in such poor health that people doubt he will live the year, is going to stand against the most profitable industry in the entire empire, the slave trade. Powerful men will threaten him, they will mock his frail body, one captain will swear to throw him overboard if he ever sets foot near a ship, and Wilberforce will fight them anyway for the next 20 years. Stay with me. You're gonna want to hear the rest of the story. Welcome to Lift Up Your Day, a five-minute devotional short stories with a biblical heartbeat. I'm Rodney Coe, and today the 20-year fight of a frail man who refused to quit until the chains came off. William Wilberforce was a rising political star with a sharp mind and a love of the good life. Then in his mid-twenties, he met Jesus Christ and everything turned. He called it the Great Change. At first, he thought he should leave politics and go into the ministry, but an old friend talked him out of it. That friend was John Newton, the former slave ship captain who had written the wonderful song Amazing Grace. Newton looked at the young man and told him God had raised him up for the nation. Stay where you are, Newton said. Do God's work right there in Parliament. So Wilberforce stayed, and he picked the fight of his life. He brought his first bill to abolish the slave trade in seventeen ninety one. It was crushed, so he brought it again, and again, and again. Year after year the votes went against him. The money was against him. The newspapers tore him apart. His health failed so often that he should have quit a dozen times over. But every year he stood back up and made the case again. He gathered the testimonies, he showed his countrymen the horror of the slave ships in detail they could not unsee. He refused to let England look away. It took him sixteen years from that first bill, but in 1807 the House finally voted to abolish the British slave trade. And as the result was read, members of Parliament rose to their feet and cheered while Wilberforce sat with his head in his hands, weeping. He was not done. He kept fighting to free the enslaved themselves, and in 1833, three days before he died, word reached his bedside that the law had passed. Slavery in the British Empire was over. He had won the fight, he refused to lose. Maybe you're tired in a long fight of your own. You have prayed the same prayer for years with no answer. You have worked at the same hard thing and seen no breakthrough, and part of you is ready to sit down and call it impossible. Wilberforce would tell you to stand back up. The Bible says it plainly in Galatians 6 9. Let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. In due season, not on your schedule, but on God's. The harvest may be years away, and it may still be coming. The fight that defines a life is rarely the quick one. It is the one you refuse to lose, year after year until the chains finally fall. Do not sit down. Your due season may be closer than you think. And that, friend, is how God lifts up your day.