Have I not commanded you?
Be strong and courageous.
Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged,
for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.
Joshua 1:9
The baton of leadership has been passed from Moses to Joshua, and God has given a powerful message to be delivered to His people through His servant Joshua. They are about to enter a land where God is not worshiped or honored, a land where idolatry and wickedness are rampant. He has a mission for them there … and to accomplish it, they will need to be both strong and courageous.
Thousands of years have passed since God gave those powerful words for the people to Joshua. And yet they still resonate. Though we are blessed to live this side of the Cross, we still live in a place where God is not always worshiped and honored and where idolatry and wickedness are rampant.
We still have battles to fight. Our weapon is the Word of God.
We are called to take the message of the Gospel to a hurting and broken world. Jesus left us with a task: the Great Commission. Matthew 28:19-20 calls all believers to go:
Therefore go and make disciples
of all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey
everything I have commanded you.
And surely I am with you always,
to the very end of the age.
Like God’s people going out then, we go out now. Obedience required strength and courage then. It requires the same now.
Our ability to be strong and courageous is not found in ourselves, but in God. As He promised to be with His people in Joshua’s day, He also promises to be with us. Jesus confirmed, I am with you always.
Knowing that He is ever with us gives us strength and courage to go forth and do what we could never do on our own. Do you believe that? Are you living that? Are you praying this is your reality and living it out before your children and grandchildren?
God Almighty, help me to be strong and courageous! My strength and my courage come from Your presence. Thank you for promising to be with me always. I pray this child would find strength in You and Your strength would propel him/her to live courageously! I pray my child would come to know You at an early age and then live daily in the strength and power that come from Your abiding presence. Let this child be strong and courageous! Amen!
Don’t miss the most recent teaching video from Laura’s weekly Bible study in I Kings!
Amen, Laura. Thank you.