Finding the Courage to do New Things

“Finding the Courage to do New Things”

By Paula Faris

August 1, 2021

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.

• Joshua 1:9 (NIV)

In Joshua 1:9, we are commanded to be strong and courageous. Moreover, we are not just commanded to be strong; God also says don’t be afraid and don’t be discouraged. God is acknowledging that we are going to be scared and that the fear will be there. Nevertheless, he will be with us. 

1. Change is Normal

Sometimes change is our choice, and sometimes it’s not, but change is normal. Sometimes change doesn’t look how we want it to look. Change can be painful. 

So often, we wait on the Lord for him to tell us to move, but if God has already told us, then we will have peace. Whenever God puts something on our hearts, and we have peace about it, then it is time for us to move. We have to take the first step. We have to have the courage to trust God’s peace. Change can be scary because we don’t always know what’s on the other side, but we have to trust God even when we feel ill-equipped and unprepared.

2. Fear is Normal

Often when we experience fear, we think we are doing something wrong, but fear is normal. We are going to experience it at different times in our life, but we have to press into it and normalize it. We are going to feel ill-equipped and un-ready, but God promises to be with us; but we have to take the first step.

What is amazing about Joshua 1:9, if we go back to a couple of verses, God says to Joshua, in the same way, he was with Moses he will be with Joshua. Similarly, in the same way, God was with Moses, he will be with us. It’s easy for someone to tell us to press into our fears. Some tangible items will help us to do so whenever we are scared or paralyzed by a decision:

A. Our Best Thing Declaration

Whenever we feel paralyzed by a decision, we should ask ourselves: What’s the best thing that can happen if I go for it? Instead of thinking about what is the worst thing that can happen, which is often enough to dissuade us, focus on the best thing that can happen.

B. Times in Life Where Fear Didn’t Paralyze Us

It can be something small (i.e., fear did not paralyze you from trying out for the eighth-grade soccer team). It can be something momentous (i.e., fear did not prevent you from moving across the country for a dream job). 

3. Failure is Normal

Michael Jordan missed over 9,000 shots in his career, and he famously said that the key to success is failure. The fear of failure is the most common fear that we experience as human beings. There is a term for it called atychiphobia. It is when we allow fear to stop us from doing the things that can move us forward to achieve our goals. If we think back on our lives, the biggest moments of growth are when we failed. We learn more from our failures than our successes. As Michael Jordan said, the key to success is failure. 

We are often paralyzed by our desire to be perfect. If we can’t get it right the first time, often we don’t even try. So, here are a few people who dared to keep going even amidst failure: 

For example, Stephen King is one of the most prolific authors. However, his first book, Carrie, was rejected by over thirty different publishers. One publisher even told him that science fiction that deals with utopias would not sell. J.K. Rowling, the author of the best-selling Harry Potter series, was rejected over twelve times for the original manuscript of the first book in the series. It has since sold over 450 million copies. Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, was told that his idea was ridiculous. Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos was told he was crazy to leave his lucrative finance job in New York to start an online bookstore, the original version of Amazon. 

Sometimes we need to keep going, even when it doesn’t make sense to others. Sometimes we need to keep going when we just can’t shake an idea. Finally, we need to keep going when we know that God is in it, and he has given us peace about it. 

4. We are more than what we do

We are so much more than what we do. Sometimes, we lean in so much that we lose sight of who we are. We know that our motivations in work are problematic when it becomes more about what we are doing than who we are doing it for. Work can become our narcotic of choice. We need to know who we are outside of work. Our worth isn’t our work. Our value is not just in a vocation. Our calling is not just our career. Our purpose will never change. The talents and gifts that God has given us will not change, but our vocation can and will change throughout our life.

We must ask ourselves these three questions: (1) what we are good at, (2) what do we love, (3) what do trusted people in our life notice that we are good at and love? It’s not enough that we are good at something; we must also love it.

As believers, we need to know that change is normal, fear is normal, failure is normal, and we are more than what we do. 

Questions/Discussion Questions: 

1. How have you been handling change? Have you been resisting God-inspired change?

2. How have you responded to fear? Have you pressed into your fears and kept going?

3. What have you learned from your failures? How are your past failures now setting you up for success?

4. Take time to reflect on the following questions: What are you good at? What do you love? What do the trusted people in your life notice that you’re good at and that you love?