“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9
Whenever I’m asked the question; ‘If you could be an animal, what animal would you be?’ My answer without hesitation is always a Lioness, and I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one.
One of the reasons for this is because I’m totally obsessed with lions and love their characteristics. Yes! The idea of being FIERCE, STRONG, BRAVE and FEARLESS are characteristics I admire.
I ask myself why do I admire these traits? In all honestly because these do not come to me naturally.
Many a time, I find myself walking in fear or missing out on opportunities because I think I’m not courageous enough. I look to my left and right and I see individuals who I would say were born fearless, bold and courageous, and have thought to myself: “I would like to walk in such boldness!”and so an opportunity presents itself for me to exercise it, yet I crumble at the very beginning and the cycle continues.
This was until I sought God about this and He led me to Joshua 1:9, where he commands us ‘to be strong and courageous and to not be afraid’.
You see a command is an order that we must follow. I must walk in strength and courage.
But how do I do this?
We must understand that fear and timidity are emotions. As we know emotions are strong feelings. So even though we feel a certain way, we are given a choice and so we must choose not to act according to the way we feel.
Romans 12:2 tells us to be transformed by the renewing of our mind.
The key to accomplishing a lot of things is by changing our mindset and thinking in line with the word of God. The Greek word for transform is metamorphoo and this is where we get the English word metamorphosis. This simply means to make a complete change.
Just like a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly, we are to make a complete transformation in our thought life, from thinking I’m afraid and I can’t do this to I can do all things through Christ Jesus. We must walk in this renewed mindset, knowing with confidence, that God has empowered us to be bold and fearless.
True courage is trusting in God.
Proverbs 3:5 tells us to trust in the Lord with all our heart and not to depend on our own understanding. For some of us, the unknown brings about a strong sense of fear and puts us in a frame of not taking a bold stand.
Imagine the fear that came over Joshua when God spoke to him and told him that he would be next in line to lead the people of Israel to the promised land.
We can read that an enormous amount of fear come over him, because God repeatedly tells him to be strong and courageous and to not fear.
The task at hand was huge and anyone in that situation would of course have some fear. BUT (and that is a big but) Joshua chose to trust in the words God had spoken over him, he did not let that initial fear hold him back and because of that bold decision to trust God, he saw God do great things on his amazing journey. He definitely did not rely on his own limited understanding!
I am fearless in all that I do because I trust in God. I know that He will never leave nor forsake me. Put simply, this means us placing our confidence in God and not leaning on what we feel or think.
Ultimately fear grips us when we leave God out of things. Having a strong relationship with God makes it 100% easier to not be afraid, timid or lacking in courage. Best believe we have a Father in heaven who is very understanding and knows that fear does creep in and tries to stop us from achieving what we need to achieve.
But He urges us to be courageous and strong because this means we are filled with more faith and trust in Him rather than in the situation we face.
Do not let fear hold you back anymore. You are fierce, strong, brave and bold. Go ahead and be Bold as a Lioness!
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