Be Strong and Take Courage: 5 Biblical Sources of Christian Courage

Introduction: Courage Is Not Optional for the Believer

You may have only 67 days left before the next spring, but there is one thing God wants to birth in you today, whatever season you are in: courage. It takes courage to be different, not different like everyone else, but different the way God calls you to be. It takes courage to say that Jesus Christ is God, to live as if Jesus is Lord, to affirm that Jesus is the only way.

In this teaching drawn from Joshua 1:1-9, David Pothier opens up the theme of the promised land: how to take hold, in your personal life, your spiritual life, your family, and your church, of the promises God has made to you. And the first obstacle on this path is not an outside enemy, it is your own inner fear. God knows this. That is why three times, in the same chapter, he commands Joshua: "Be strong and courageous."

Outline of the Teaching

1. Why God Commands Courage

Joshua is no beginner. He is a warrior, the general who led the battle against the Amalekites. He is one of the two spies (with Caleb) who, out of twelve, dared to tell the people, "If we trust God, we can enter this land." And yet, God has to come three times to repeat to him: be strong and courageous.

Why? Because even the strongest, the most courageous, the most spiritual, those closest to God, will go through moments when they are afraid and discouraged. And because Joshua has real reasons to be afraid: his enemies are more numerous, better armed, entrenched in fortified cities; his army is a band of former slaves who do not know how to fight; and he has to replace the greatest leader in all of history, Moses.

God does not send him a suggestion. It is an order. A command. If you want to follow Jesus, to be his disciple, courage is not optional. Jesus said, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" (Luke 9:23). Nothing great in your life will happen without courage. Nothing in your family, your work, your spiritual life, your ministry, your career. And if you spend your life running from your fears, you will never be able to enter the promised land God has for you.

2. What Courage Is Not

Fear is an emotion, but courage is not. You can feel afraid, but you cannot really feel courageous. If you feel courageous, you are probably doing something that does not require courage. Courage is something you are, not something you feel.

There are people who do not need courage, not because they are courageous, but because they do everything the way everyone else does. You do not need courage to act, speak, dress, or think like everyone else. You do not need courage to let this world's system dictate what you believe about morality, sexuality, or marriage. You do not need courage to be normal, because today being normal often means being mediocre. You do not need courage to swim with the current.

But in 2026, it takes courage to walk with God. It takes courage to keep your word, to finish what you started, to be a single mom raising her children in the ways of God, to be a good parent who is able to say no, to be, in 2026, the husband of one wife and the wife of one husband, to stand up as a Christian at work, at university, at college, in high school.

Courage is also not the absence of fear. If fear is what drives your life, you will be afraid. And if courage is what drives your life, you will be afraid too. So you might as well decide to live courageously. Courage is the willingness to move forward by faith, in the face of fear and opposition. It is the believer who says, "I am putting my trust in God, I am afraid, I cannot do this alone, but I am facing my fear."

3. Can You Claim Joshua's Promise for Yourself?

God promised Joshua, "Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go" (Joshua 1:9). Is this promise for you? Yes. Paul affirms it in Galatians 3: in Jesus Christ, you are a child of Abraham, an heir of the promises made to Abraham. You can claim the word given to Joshua for yourself. God is telling you today: be strong, take courage, do not be frightened, do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you.

The words courage and strength appear together 41 times in the Bible. And almost every time, it is in the context of someone God is calling to do something too big for them, without the resources or ability needed. That is when God says, "Be strong and courageous." Joshua 1 gives you four concrete sources to draw this courage from, and the New Testament reveals a fifth.

4. First Source: The Promises of God

"Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them" (Joshua 1:6). God gives Joshua a promise: "I have chosen you, I am calling you, I am equipping you, and I promise you that you will succeed."

The entire book of Joshua is a reminder that God keeps his promises. It is the fulfillment of words given to Abraham in Genesis 12 and 15, seven hundred years earlier. And it ends this way: "Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass" (Joshua 21:45).

There are about 3,000 promises in the Bible. Do you know them? Do you know which ones are for you? Jesus said that if you are weary, you can come to him (Matthew 11:28). God has promised to supply all your needs (Philippians 4:19), that all things work together for good for those who love him (Romans 8:28), that if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us (1 John 1:9). If God is for us, who can be against us (Romans 8:31)? Not battles, not walls, not armies, not giants, not trials, not sickness, not tumors, not cancer, not your boss, not your enemies, not the devil, not hell, not death. God always keeps his promises.

Sometimes you will find situations in the Bible where God did not do exactly what he said, but every time, it was to do better than what he had announced. The God who gives the promise is the God who fulfills the promise.

5. Second Source: The Presence of God

"I will be with you, as I was with Moses. I will not leave you or forsake you" (Joshua 1:5). God's encouragement to Joshua is not a self-help speech. God does not say, "You can do it, Joshua. Come on, let's boost your self-esteem." Why? Because God knows Joshua is not able. The secret of courage is not building up your self-esteem. It is believing that God is with you.

The God who told Joshua, "I will be with you as I was with Moses," is the same God who tells you today, "I will be with you as I was with Joshua." Nothing will give you more courage than knowing that God is with you.

The problem is not that God is not present. It is that we have trouble being aware of his presence, because we are too self-centered, caught up in extreme pragmatism and distraction. Awareness of his presence is built in set-apart moments with him, in prayer, in fasting. Join the week of fasting and prayer, log in to the noon Zoom meeting (12:20 pm), come to the prayer meeting at the chapel office. Start the year aware of his presence.

6. Third Source: The Word of God

"This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success" (Joshua 1:8).

Four key verbs: recite, meditate, observe, practice. God cares about your success, not success as the world defines it (becoming rich and famous), but success as God defines it: walking with him, walking into your promised land, walking with integrity and in the fear of the Lord, bringing your family into the promised land.

The word must first be in your mouth. It is hard to curse when you are reciting the word of God, hard to speak against your boss when you are saying "blessed be the Lord." Then it must be meditated on in your thoughts. Finally, it must be observed, put into practice.

Many think that knowing the word brings success. Wrong. It is the practice of the word that brings it. The proof is in Joshua 6 and 7. In chapter 6, the people obey, and Jericho, an unconquerable city, falls. In chapter 7, Achan disobeys, the army sent against Ai, a small town, is routed, and the heart of the people melts and becomes as water (Joshua 7:5).

Psalm 1 reads almost like a commentary on Joshua 1: "Blessed is the man who delights in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers." It is not the one who knows the Bible who succeeds, it is the one who practices it. Transformation comes through practice, not through information.

7. Fourth Source: The People of God

"All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go... Only be strong and courageous!" (Joshua 1:16-18). God encouraged Joshua three times; now it is the people who come to encourage him. There is an encouragement that comes specifically from the people of God.

Discouragement is contagious, but so is encouragement. The church should never be a place people leave feeling discouraged. It should be a place where people come to have courage put into them. A place full of Barnabas types, that believer from the book of Acts whom his brothers and sisters nicknamed "son of encouragement" (Acts 4:36) because he encouraged everyone so much.

This does not mean flattering people or telling them what they want to hear. When someone is walking a road that leads to death, love does not say "keep going." It says, "come, let's walk together, we will not let you fall." We are called to be encouragers. Choose carefully who surrounds you.

And here is a secret: the secret sauce of courage is encouraging others when you yourself need encouragement. Jesus said it: we reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7). If you find that not many people encourage you, ask yourself what you are sowing. If you sow encouragement, you will reap encouragement. This is spiritual, not psychological. We are one body, the body of Christ. When one member encourages another member, he encourages himself. If you are discouraged today, do not shut yourself away in your corner. Go encourage someone, go help, go lift someone up, go pray with someone.

8. Fifth Source: The Love of God (New Testament)

"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear" (1 John 4:18). We often picture the spectrum of courage with fear on one side and courage on the other. In reality, the biblical spectrum is not fear/courage, but fear/love.

The ultimate source of courage is not courage itself. It is love. How do you think the Son of God found the strength to go to the cross and bear the sin of the world? He found courage in love. It is love that makes you courageous. It is love that turns fear into courage.

If you are in a season where you feel paralyzed by fear, it is love that will bring you out of your paralysis. And this is why Jesus is central: when you give him your life, you open yourself to his love, and his reign of love comes into you and begins to guide your actions.

Key Takeaways

• Courage is a command, not an emotion. God does not suggest that you be courageous, he commands it, because nothing great will happen in your life without courage.
• Courage is not the absence of fear. It is the willingness to move forward by faith, in the face of fear and opposition.
• Four sources of courage in Joshua 1: the promises of God (v. 6), the presence of God (v. 5, 9), the word of God (v. 7-8), the people of God (v. 17).
• The ultimate source, revealed in the New Testament, is love: "Perfect love casts out fear" (1 John 4:18).
• Sow what you want to reap. If you are discouraged, go encourage someone. This is spiritual, not psychological. We are one body.

Personal Application

1. What two or three promises of God can you memorize this week to feed on in your moments of discouragement?
2. Concretely, how will you cultivate your awareness of God's presence in the coming days (set-apart time, prayer, fasting, silence)?
3. Of the four verbs in Joshua 1:8, recite, meditate, observe, practice, which one are you missing the most?
4. Who, among the people of God, can you go encourage this week, even before waiting to be encouraged yourself?
5. What are you really afraid of, deep down? Are you ready to entrust that fear to the Father's perfect love?

Verses Cited

• Joshua 1:1-9 - main text
• Joshua 7:5 - the defeat at Ai
• Joshua 21:45 - God kept all his promises
• Psalm 1 - the tree planted by the water
• Luke 9:23 - "Let him take up his cross daily"
• Romans 8:28-31 - "If God is for us"
• Galatians 3:29 - heirs of the promises made to Abraham
• Galatians 6:7 - we reap what we sow
• Acts 4:36 - Barnabas, son of encouragement
• Philippians 4:19 - God will supply all your needs
• 1 John 1:9 - the forgiveness of sins
• 1 John 4:18 - "Perfect love casts out fear"

FAQ

Is Christian courage the absence of fear?

No. Courage is not the absence of fear, but the willingness to move forward by faith in the face of fear and opposition. Even Joshua, an experienced warrior, needed God to repeat to him three times, "Be strong and courageous." Fear is inevitable. Courage is the choice to move forward anyway, trusting in God.

Can I claim a promise made to Joshua for myself?

Yes. According to Galatians 3, those who are in Christ are heirs of the promises made to Abraham. The word, "Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go" (Joshua 1:9), also applies to you today, in Jesus Christ.

What should I do when I myself am discouraged?

Go encourage someone else. This is a spiritual principle: we are one body in Christ, and when one member encourages another, he encourages himself. Sow encouragement, and you will reap encouragement. Do not shut yourself away in your corner waiting for someone to come to you.