“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]
Courage is defined as “the ability to do something that frightens one.”
I believe that our everyday walk with Jesus requires for us girls to be courageous. Courageous to be who God created us to be and to flourish in what he has called us to do.
So what is it that gets in the way of us being courageous? I believe it is FEAR.
Fear comes not from God, but from the enemy of our faith. Fear comes in not to equip us, but to cripple us so that we become timid; and when we are timid, we can’t fulfil God’s purposes for our lives.
We can’t love and encourage the next person like we should. We can’t pioneer, innovate or be creative like we should. We also can’t speak up or stand up for what matters when we should. Fear stops us from seeing our dreams come to fruition, it stops us from flourishing as the beautiful daughters of God.
Fear is obsessed with all things negative. It has a way of highlighting every single thing that could possibly go wrong! But we can find freedom in knowing that we don’t have to dwell on negative thoughts.
The bible encourages us [Philippians 4 : 8 MSG] to ‘fill our minds’ with positive things! To meditate on the best, and not the worst! The beautiful and not the ugly! So instead of focusing on all that could go wrong, we can take courage by filling up our minds with things that are true and constructive.
Did you know fear also comes in the form of intimidation? We tend to feel intimidated when situations make us feel out of our depth, when others seem to know and do better than us and when we feel inadequate.
The truth is that when we feel out of our depth, it is the perfect opportunity for God to help us and strengthen us! When others seem to know and do better than us, that is absolutely okay! We can be inspired and we can learn a few things from them. When we feel inadequate, we can spend some time to develop ourselves in those areas.
When we confront our fears with the truth of God’s word, we will be surprised to learn that there is actually nothing left to fear!
So I encourage you today, wear your crown as God’s beautiful daughter and take courage. You can do all things through Christ who gives you strength! [Philippians 4 : 13]
“Be strong. Take courage. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t give them a second thought because God, your God, is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you.” [Deuteronomy 31 : 6 MSG]
1 comment
Love this !!!!! as someone who has battled with fear in different seasons and different situations- so much truth in this article ..