A Call To Be Fearless

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 1:9

Joshua was about to step into some big shoes. Moses had died and left his position of leadership to Joshua. The Scripture describes Moses like this: “There has never been another prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face” (Deuteronomy 34:10). We can easily understand that Joshua needed reassurance.

The same promise God made to Joshua he reaffirms to all his children throughout his Word. Jesus speaks the same promise in Matthew 28:20: “Be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

So many times his call is introduced with similar words: Do not be afraid.

Why would we be afraid? Because he comes to call us to tasks so big we could never accomplish them and would never dare to undertake them on our own. He comes to assign us a place in his plan. And with his command comes his power.

He prefaces his call on our lives with the same statement: Do not be afraid. He is not sending us out on our own to muddle through the best we can. He is inviting us to be the vessels through which he will work. He is inviting us to let him impregnate us with his desires, to gestate his vision in us, and then to bring it into the world through our lives. A big call, to be sure, but introduced with the words Do not be afraid.

Is there something in your life that you feel drawn to but are afraid to attempt? Does insecurity become a weapon wielded skillfully by your enemy to hold you back and paralyze you? Would you be willing to listen with a newly responsive heart to God’s call when you hear his promise, “Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go”?

Lord, your call comes to me with a promise. A promise of power. A promise of provision. A promise of your presence. I will not fear.

Fear is born of Satan, and if we would only take time to think a moment we would see that everything Satan says is founded upon a falsehood. He is the father of lies.

A. B. Simpson(1843–1919), Canadian preacher, theologian, and author