WHAT IS COURAGE?

DAILY DEVOTION.

DAY TWO.

JOSHUA 1:6.   Be strong and of a good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to your fathers to give them.
A little bit of background, the children of Israel have just spent forty years wondering in the wilderness because of their disobedience and lack of faith. In verse one we see that Moses is now dead, he was not allowed to enter the promise land because of his disobedience to God. In verse two God tells Joshua that it is now time to arise, go over the Jordan, and posses the land that God had promised. The word arise in verse two means to go to the next level. It is now time for Joshua to step up into the calling that God has for him. In our verse, God tells Joshua that he has to be strong and of good courage as he is now going to divide the land up for all the children of Israel. So what is courage? Courage is not the lack of fear, but what we do in the face of fear. The word courage actually means, to be steadfast in mind, strengthened, to prevail, to be alert. It is an attribute of our heart or spirit as we are single minded about what God is calling us to do, as we are prepared to stand strong, to push through even though we are aware of the other forces that are coming against us to stop us. In verse seven God even tells Joshua that it is going to take courage to walk in the word of God, a single minded commitment to walk in obedience to God's word. In verse 8 God tells Joshua that he is not to let God's word out of his mouth, in other words, he is to only speak in accordance with God's word, and that he is to meditate in God's word day and night so that he will be successful in what God is calling him to do. The same applies to us. If we want to achieve all that God is calling us to do the God's word must be our first priority. Romans 12:2 says that we are not to be conformed to this world, but that we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, that we may prove what the good and acceptable will of God is. It is only as our thinking is brought into line with the word of God that we will walk in the will of God for our lives. Even our speech must line up with what God says about us. You cannot go about saying that you can't do what God is asking you to do and then expect to do anything for God. The word says that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. This must be the confession that we make when God is calling us to walk in His will that we can do it because Christ gives the strength and the ability to do it. In verse nine of Joshua one God tells Joshua that he has no choice in being courageous, He says to him; "Have I not commanded you? be strong and of good courage, do not be afraid or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." We do not have an option here, God is telling us that we must be strong, and courageous, we are not to allow fear to rule in our our lives and to become dismayed because He will be with us wherever we go. There is a process here that we must see. To be strong has the sense of us strengthening ourselves, like David did in 1 Samuel 30:6, he strengthened himself in the Lord, we do this by encouraging ourselves with the word, speaking the word out over our lives, bringing our thinking back into line with the word of God, and then having that courageous attitude of persevering and pushing through despite the opposition. We must not let fear take root in our hearts, if we allow fear to begin to dominate it will lead to dismay, fear will bring oppression around our minds, thoughts that I can't do it, I'm not good enough for this, I don't have the ability, at this point we are open to becoming dismayed, dismay will crush us, the word dismay means to prostrate with violence or confusion and fear, to beat down. Dismay will crush us spiritually, emotionally and physically, in other words we will not do what God is calling us to do. We must remember that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love and of a sound mind. Perfected love will cast out fear, as we continue to meditate in the word, confess the word over our lives and over the situation, knowing that we can do all things through Christ who gives us the strength and the ability, the love of Christ is perfected in us as we step out and do what He is calling us to do despite the fear, as we do this the fear has no choice, it has to go. Be encouraged in this and let us all arise, go to the next level in our own personal lives, taking a hold of God's word, allowing it to transform us and renew us so that we can be the people of courage that God has called us to be and go in and posses land that God has given us.