Victory247

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go”  Joshua 1:9 (NIV)

The reason we can be courageous is because God goes with us “wherever we go“. The reason we don’t have to be “terrified” is because He is right “with” us. The reason we don’t have to remain “dis-couraged” is because we are given “His -courage”. (Those last three sentences, exclaimed with a loud southern drawl, would be some darn good preachin’)

I talked with a young man who biked across the United States. He got to a road sign in Florida that read, “Bear crossing, next 16 miles”. After a few moments of debate and some serious reflection on why he was doing this bike trip, he prayed and chose to continue. Just as the relief of this nerve wracking 16 mile stretch came to an end, another sign appeared; “Bear crossing, next 14 miles”! He told me that his first reaction thoughts of ‘are-you-kidding-me’ dissolved into a classic teaching moment. This guy realized if the first sign would have said that the bear crossing would be for the next 30 miles that he would probably have stopped. And stopping would have denied him of all the lessons, feeling of accomplishment, and closeness to God that he gained on the rest of his journey.

God puts situations in our paths that require us to tap into His strength for the courage to go on. Other times we need the courage to cope with hard times. Sometimes we need His supplied courage to pursue a career passion or goal. We can go past our fears.

PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, I need the courage that You can supply. Thank You that You will be with me wherever I go. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.