A couple weeks ago I wrote a blog called “Courage is Contagious.” When I go into a store and see someone else not wearing a mask, I definitely feel empowered to take off my own mask and follow suit. Courage is like that…if one person shows courage it makes us want to step out as well.
It just so happens, that courage is a COMMAND we can find in the Bible. That’s powerful – God isn’t giving us a CHOICE to be courageous if we feel like it, He is COMMANDING us to be courageous.
Every Tuesday we meet at Bothell City Hall to pray for our nation. It’s been especially important these last couple months as we have been praying for truth to be exposed in our elections across the country. This week when we were praying my friend Elaine was praying specifically for courage for our leaders, for our president…for anyone who knows anything…to have the courage to come forward.
I came home from our time of prayer and opened my Bible to start looking up scriptures about courage because I could feel the Lord moving me to dig deeper into this word: courage.
God isn’t giving us a CHOICE to be courageous if we feel like it, He is COMMANDING us to be courageous.
With so much uncertainty ahead, courage seemed to be something we would all be needing in the coming days. And so I plunged into my Bible and started looking at every verse that contained the word “courage”. After reading numerous verses I came to Joshua where in just the first chapter I read over and over again about God’s command to be “strong and of good courage.”
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9 NKJV
Over this last year, especially, I know we have been discouraged. We have lived through a time we probably never really imagined would ever happen. Life as we know it changed overnight and our “leaders” are telling us that this is the “new normal.” That’s a pretty scary thought.
But there is encouragement in knowing that God has commanded us to be of courage. He doesn’t tell us to go find it. He doesn’t tell us to ask for it. He doesn’t tell us to pray for it. He tells us to be of good courage. That implies only one thing: we already have courage, we just need to walk in it.
On this first day of a brand new year, it feels different. Most of us feel a sense of trepidation as we step into 2021…a little afraid to make plans, set goals and resolutions as we normally might at this time of year. We don’t know what’s coming tomorrow, next week or later this month. And while that’s technically always the case as we never truly know what tomorrow holds, this is very different kind of uncertainty. With courage…GOOD courage…we can step into 2021 with the confidence that God has a plan and He works ALL things for good. We know it may not look good. It may not feel good. It might even be painful. But we know that in the end His plan is for our good. We can take peace in that, we can gain strength from that and we can take courage from that knowledge.
I think it’s safe to say that courage appears to be in short supply as we look around our world right now. We need leaders and citizens to step up and be courageous – to open doors of their businesses, their churches, to speak out against lies and deception. We already know that courage is contagious, so I propose that we, as Conservative Ladies of America, be the ones to step up and take courage. I believe it can spread like wildfire.