Strong and Courageous
I love an inspirational quote. Things that encourage me to step up and out. The Bible is full of verses that can inspire us too. Many people share them as memes, write them in journals or even get them as tattoos.
And there’s nothing necessarily wrong with this. All of these things can be really helpful. But living these things out can be a different challenge.
As I read Joshua 1, one of the things that stands out to me the most is that five times God commanded Joshua to be strong and courageous. Five times! I think God really needed Joshua to remember it.
Strong and courageous is a pretty inspiring phrase but if we’re not careful, it can easily stay as just a phrase and little more. The reason is because of what it takes to actually live it out.
I don’t need strength and courage to eat ice-cream and watch Netflix. Instead, I really need strength and courage when there is every reason to be weak and afraid.
We need strength and courage to stand out as followers of Jesus. We need it to allow God to challenge an area of our lives. We need it as a church right now to step into the opportunities that God is opening up to us.
Joshua needed it because he was to lead God’s people into a land of giants. But what I also find interesting is that God wasn’t commanding Joshua to find it in himself and he isn’t asking us to either.
The secret is found in the other phrase that’s repeated in chapter 1 - “I will be with you.” God could ask Joshua to be strong and courageous because of the promise of His presence.
If this could be true of Joshua, how much more for us who have believed Jesus? The one who not only rose from the dead but has given us the Holy Spirit - the very power, presence and person of God in our lives.
We can be strong because we believe in the power of God. We can dare to do courageous things because we believe God is faithful. We can step out even when there’s every reason to be afraid because God has promised to never leave us or forsake us.
So what is the step you need to take today that is strong and courageous?
Simon
This post is part of the Senior Pastor’s weekly blog. Go to the blog feed >>