Strong & Courageous

One of my favorite verses has long been Joshua 1:9:

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged…”

I love those words.

And while it’s important to read Scripture in context—to understand:

👤 Who God was speaking to
📍 What was happening
🎯 What He was calling that person to do

✨ That doesn’t mean there is nothing there for us.

Romans 15:4 reminds us:

“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.”

Joshua had a very specific assignment.

So do we.

And while ours may look very different from his—and may feel incredibly ordinary, unexciting, or even mundane—faithfulness to our own assignment is still going to require courage.

Sometimes courage looks big.

But often, it looks surprisingly ordinary.

It can look like:

🌱 believing God is still at work when you cannot yet see what He is doing
🤝 admitting you were wrong and making it right
💬 having the difficult conversation you would rather avoid
🧭 doing the right thing when the easier thing would cost you less
🚫 refusing to let fear make your decisions for you
🏃 refusing to let discouragement convince you to quit
🌤️ holding on to hope in a world that can feel incredibly fragile
🔄 beginning again after disappointment
🪴 staying faithful when there is very little applause
🛑 saying no when pressure is telling you to say yes
➡️ saying yes when fear is telling you to stay small
🤲 continuing to love people without surrendering truth
🗣️ standing for truth when it would be easier to stay silent
👣 taking the next faithful step when you don’t get to see the whole road

The New Testament carries that same call:

“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. Do everything in love.” — 1 Corinthians 16:13–14

I especially love that last part.

Courage and love belong together.

❌ Biblical courage isn’t swagger.
❌ It isn’t recklessness.
❌ It isn’t pretending we never feel afraid or discouraged.

✅ It is refusing to let fear or discouragement have the final word.
✅ It is trusting God enough to faithfully do what He has put in front of us—even when fear comes along for the ride.

It is trusting God enough to faithfully do what He has put in front of us—even when fear comes along for the ride.

Your assignment may never look dramatic.

It may look like a thousand small, ordinary acts of faithfulness.

But somewhere along the way, it will almost certainly ask you to be brave.

➡️ Be strong and courageous.
➡️ Do not be afraid.
➡️ Do not be discouraged.
➡️ Stand firm.
➡️ And do it all in love.