Step out and do it!

When God told Joshua, “Be strong and courageous,” the word be really means become. It’s not like a computer in which you enter a password and “hey, presto!” you’re courageous. Courage is a quality you grow into. Like filling bigger shoes, the more you walk in them, the more comfortable they become. Joshua had already been to the Promised Land. He knew there were seven nations to be conquered. He was well aware of the problems he would have to face. So God said, (1) “Do not be afraid of those nations, for the Lord…is among you, and he is a great and awesome God” (Deuteronomy 7:21 NLT). The job you’re about to take on may look more like a battlefield than a bed of roses, but God will be with you. He will give you solutions for the problems and strength for the battles. (2) “The Lord your God will drive those nations out ahead of you” (Deuteronomy 7:22 NLT). God will go ahead of you and arrange everything. He will help you make the right connections and provide you with the needed resources. (3) “The Lord…will drive those nations out…little by little. You will not clear them away all at once” (v. 22 NLT). God works in us one area at a time. Life’s not one big battle; it’s a series of small daily struggles required to defeat the enemies that stand in your way. Twenty-three chapters later, God was still telling Israel to be courageous. Courage is like oxygen; you can’t survive without it. It’s not the absence of fear; it’s the conquest of it. Courage means doing it afraid until you conquer your fear.