Dear church,

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened.” – Joshua 1:9

The difficulty in carrying out the mission of Christ is in summoning up the courage to make it happen. If we are “to seek and to save the lost,” then we must have courage (Luke 19:10). Some will reject the message of the gospel of Christ, and some will reject us as people. 

Only a man who has no doubt about his charge as a Christian will be able to face such opposition and go forward without fear. And every Christian has been commanded to go into the lost places of the world – from bars to jungles to the cubicle next to yours – in search of lost people. One area of ministry doesn’t look the same as the next, but all of them will require courage.

Again, we must have no doubt about the command of God, just as Joshua had no doubt about the command. The call to courage was linked to the command. We must remind ourselves again and again a Christian is to live on mission. And we go with God, as Joshua did – “for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” And we recall the promise of Jesus as he gave his own command – “And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).

Chris