“Be strong and courageous, for you are the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I would give them.” Joshua 1:6 (NLT)
If you’re going to tackle fear, you need to know about courage. According to God’s Word, courage is a personal choice. It’s not a feeling or something that just comes over you. It’s not a feeling or something that just comes over you. It’s a decision.
In Joshua 1, God repeatedly tells Israelite’s new leader, Joshua, to be courageous. He doesn’t say to Joshua, “Here are ten steps to discovering courage,” or, “Try these techniques to find courage.” He tells Joshua to choose it. Why? In a crisis, fear can cause even the toughest person to fold, and God needed Joshua to decide to rise up with courage.
Years ago, as a senior paramedic, I trained a lot of rookies in emergency rescue. As we attended grisly calls, I was often surprised at how they would respond. Most would jump right into action, but occasionally fear would paralyze someone. At one bad call, one rookie sat frozen in his seat, exclaiming, “I can’t do this!”
Courage is not something you’re born with. Courage is simply feeling the fear and pressing forward anyway. I know people who were dogged by fear, yet still managed to push through difficult situations. How? They made an internal decision to keep going, no matter what.
Is fear controlling any areas of your life? To begin dealing with it, decide within yourself to be strong and courageous—minute by minute, if necessary. You’ll likely still feel the fear, but that’s okay. Do it anyway. That was God’s message to Joshua, and it’s the same message for you today.