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Have I not commanded you, be strong and courageous.

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Do not be afraid.

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Do not be discouraged.

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For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

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Joshua 1.9.

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Whenever there is a call to courage,

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sometimes my initial reaction is actually fear.

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Because I think to myself,

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well, I don't feel like a brave person.

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How am I supposed to be courageous?

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And then I realized that maybe that reaction

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is the whole point.

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Because scripture doesn't treat courage

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like a personality trait.

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It's actually a command.

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And you don't command someone to have brown eyes.

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You command something that requires a decision.

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Courage is a choice.

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It's not a trait that some people are born with

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and some people aren't.

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And that's really good news.

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And here's what stopped me in my tracks.

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In scripture, God never gives the command

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without giving a guarantee.

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In Joshua 1.9, in Deuteronomy 31.6, in Isaiah 41.10,

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when God commands us to be courageous,

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he follows it with a guarantee, because I am with you.

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The command is never separated from the promise.

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And that means that courage is not supposed to be

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something that we manufacture on our own

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or something we're born with.

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It grows from knowing that God is with us.

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He's not visiting.

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He's not just checking in with us periodically.

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But he is permanently united to you in Christ.