Strong and Courageous

Transcript

Hello, my friend… so glad you're with me today. This is By God's Call — day 77, Strong and Courageous.

Joshua 1:9 — and I want you to hear this word carefully:

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."

Notice what God is doing here. He is not handing Joshua a compliment. He's not saying "how wonderful that you're such a brave man." He is issuing a command. Be strong. Be courageous. And that changes everything — because a command is not given to someone who has already arrived. It's given to someone who needs to obey. That means the courage God requires is not a personality trait some people are born with and others are not. It is an act of obedience. Which means it is available to you — today, here, exactly as you are.

Joshua wasn't having an easy day when he heard these words. He was standing at the edge of the Jordan River. In front of him: water he could not swim across, and beyond it, walls he could not bring down with his own hands. The promised land was in sight — and the path looked impossible. That is precisely where God speaks. At thresholds. At edges. In that moment when you look ahead and think, "I don't know how I'm going to do this." That is the moment the Lord says: be strong.

And look at what holds that command up. It does not rest on your strength. It rests on a reason: "the LORD your God is with you." Courage is not personality. Courage is presence. It is knowing you are not going alone. You don't find God waiting on the other side after you've crossed — He goes with you through the crossing. Every room you walk into today, He walks in first. The office. The hospital. The difficult conversation you've been putting off. The kitchen table where the bills are stacked up. He is already there.

And the verse does something honest that I love. It says "do not be frightened" — which already admits that fright can show up. This is not a promise that you will feel no fear. Joshua felt it. You will feel it. Fear is not sin and it is not weakness. The question was never "do you feel afraid?" The question is: "will you move forward anyway?" Courage is not the absence of trembling. It is taking the next step with your hand in God's — even when your knees are shaking.

The promise has no map boundary. "Wherever you go" — no exceptions. There is no place He won't go. There is no threshold He won't cross with you.

So today, do this: take a piece of paper — any paper — and write down the threshold you have been avoiding. That thing you look at and think, "I'm not ready for that yet." Write it down. And right beside it, write these four words: "He goes with me." Then, before breakfast, take one step. Just one. You don't have to solve it all. You just have to begin.

Because obedience starts with the first move.

Stay close to God. Pray — then act. I'll see you tomorrow, my friend.