RECIPE FOR COURAGE

• DAY 21
• Fear File: Joshua
• Scripture: Joshua 1:6-8

“Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you. Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left. Then you will be successful in everything you do. Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do. This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

JOSHUA 1:6-9

Here Comes A Command

If you know anything about the Israelites, you know they can test a brother. Because of these hooligans, Moses missed the promised land, after everything they put him through.  I can’t imagine that taking over from him was anyone’s dream. Who will line up to lead a bunch of ungrateful and irresponsible individuals? Not me. But here was his successor. Joshua was a “hard guy”, nothing phased him easily; especially when it came to believing God’s word. Yet, here he was, afraid. We know this because God will not say “do not be afraid” if no one was afraid, He’s not talkative. So, Joshua was either afraid or he was about to be. If you were him, wouldn’t you be? 

God commanded him not to be afraid.  But God will not give you a command without the grace, wisdom, and strategy to fulfill his command. Because God is interested in your success. Some of us have experienced so many of life’s tribulations that we forget. Quite frankly, God is more vested in your success than you are. So do not be afraid. And just in case you missed it, do not be afraid is a command.

Now, The Recipe.

Commitment To Study

There is a difference between reading and studying. A reader wants to know but a student wants to understand for application. We cannot despise one for the other. Reading is required for knowledge which is a prerequisite for understanding. The act of studying is fueled by spiritual/godly curiosity. You read a scripture and you are stirred up to know more about it through scripture (not through your intelligence). So you search more on it. you seek the context in which it was written, the etymology of the word, and so on. Because there is a hunger for understanding within your spirit. a Christian that is not given to study will be given to fear.

Heavy on The Meditation

To meditate implies a definite focusing of one’s thoughts on something so as to understand it deeply. To think deeply and continuously; to commit to memory and to reflect. Actively meditating on scripture will almost look like cramping or reciting it. It will feel like repeating over and over to yourself until it sits in your spirit. You will carry a verse into your thought and think it over until light hits you about that scripture. Beloved, seasoned students of the word, don’t stop reading just because they closed the bible. They make their minds full of that word. Their goal is revelation. When revelation hits, transformation occurs. The entrance of that word will destroy every darkness of fear.

A Mouth Full Of The Word

Saints, a word in your mouth is not to prove to other saints, that don’t even care, that you know the word by heart. It is for warfare. When fear comes, you have to respond to that fear with a “hell no” word. When the enemy comes slithering with whispers of how you will die before your time, you say “Hell no, Psalm 91:16 says with long life He shall satisfy me and show me His salvation.” Can you take a moment and put a hell no word in the comment section today, let the devil know he came too late. Another way we wield the world is in prayer. Effective prayer is word based. So get the word in you so it can come out of you.

Intentional About obedience

What is the point of knowledge and understanding that doesn’t reflect in your character? Some of us are quick with quoting but poor in doing. You have to be intentional about obeying God’s word, not shifting to the right or to the left. You see, some of us are master editors, we cut away parts of the promise that doesn’t suit our flesh and we think we obeyed God. What comedians we are. Obedience is measured by the degree to which you adhered to the totality of God’s word -time and method included.

Beloved, this is our divine blueprint to overcome fear. And we will do well to stick with it.

Shalom

Watch today’s video here