“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not terrified nor dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” — Joshua 1:9 (NASB)
Today, our focus is on speaking with courage.
As followers of Jesus, we are called to share our faith and tell our faith story. But speaking about what we believe can sometimes feel intimidating. We may wonder what to say, how someone will respond, or whether we have the courage to speak up.
Joshua 1:9 gives us a powerful reminder:
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
This passage is especially interesting because Joshua was stepping into a tremendous responsibility. Moses had led the people of Israel, and now Joshua would lead them into the Promised Land. The Lord was speaking directly to Joshua, challenging him and preparing him for what was ahead.
But there is an important context to God’s command to be strong and courageous.
In verses 7 and 8, God tells Joshua:
“Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the Law which Moses My servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may achieve success wherever you go. 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 achieve success.”
The caution we see in this passage is important. God will be with us as we allow His Word to fill us and direct us.
We cannot simply do whatever we want and expect courage to come naturally. We are called to be strong and courageous while doing what the Lord wants. We are called to follow His Word and allow it to guide our lives.
God tells Joshua several times, “Be strong and courageous.” But He also tells him to be careful to follow His commands.
Our goal is to follow Jesus. As we follow Him, confidence grows. Courage grows. We become more energized and active in the life God has called us to live.
Our strength comes from following Jesus.
Courage Comes From Following God
Joshua 1:9 reminds us:
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
The condition we see in the surrounding passage is that we are staying in God’s Word. We are paying attention to what He says and allowing His Word to guide us.
The more aligned we are with God, the easier it becomes to be strong and courageous.
We may still find ourselves in challenging circumstances. Joshua certainly did. God may call us into situations that feel uncomfortable or difficult. But He has something for us to do.
Each of us has a calling.
We have been given the responsibility to pay attention to the people around us and look for opportunities to help them move one notch closer to Jesus.
That requires us to be active in our relationships.
Making disciples means helping people move closer to Jesus. We encourage them. We invite them. We challenge them. And we challenge ourselves.
But before we can invite someone else to move closer to Jesus, we must be moving closer to Him ourselves.
Otherwise, we risk becoming hypocrites—living one way while saying something different.
Our goal is to follow Jesus and invite others to join us.
Tell Your Story
One of the five daily habits we talk about at Follower of One is Speak for Yourself.
This habit is about telling our story in the first person. It means being willing to share what God has done in our lives and how following Jesus has changed us.
We don’t have to speak for everyone else. We can simply speak about our own experience.
We can tell our faith story.
We can say, “This is what I believe.”
We can say, “This is what God has done in my life.”
We can encourage others to join us as we follow Jesus.
I believe that is part of our calling as believers.
We are called to share our story with boldness and courage.
But that courage doesn’t come from ignorance. It comes from knowing God. It comes from spending time in His Word, allowing His truth to guide us, direct us, and align our lives with Him.
The more aligned we are with Him, the easier it becomes to be strong and courageous.
Every Relationship Is an Opportunity
God has given each of us opportunities every day.
The people we interact with are part of our calling.
Think about an ordinary day. You might get on an airplane, go to work, visit the grocery store, eat at a restaurant, or stand in line somewhere.
It is easy to move through those moments without paying attention to anyone around us.
But what if we began asking God, “What would You have me do as I interact with the people around me today?”
That changes everything.
Wherever we go, we are surrounded by people. And every interaction can become an opportunity to help someone move one notch closer to Jesus.
We always have the opportunity to practice our first daily habit: Pray.
We can pray for the people around us.
We can pray for someone standing in front of us in line.
Sometimes, that requires a change in our perspective.
I remember being in a hurry to get to a church event. I was standing in line at a store, trying to purchase something, and my only thought about the woman in front of me was that I hoped she wouldn’t pay with a check.
I was in a hurry. I wanted her to get out of my way.
And I felt convicted.
My only concern about that person was whether she was slowing me down.
But what if God had placed me there for a different reason?
What if the people around us are not interruptions?
What if they are opportunities?
I believe the Lord Jesus puts us in the world, with people and in different situations, so that we can be salt and light.
Matthew 5 tells us that we are called to be salt and light in the world.
We are called to make a difference in our relationships.
We Are All Going Somewhere
Every day, we have an opportunity to make an eternal difference in someone else’s life.
That is a high calling.
Each of us has been given a position and a place.
In the Great Commission, Matthew 28 says:
“Go therefore and make disciples.”
The word translated go can also carry the idea of “as you go” or “having gone.”
We’re all going somewhere.
We are all doing different things.
When we finish one activity, we move on to another. We go to work. We go to appointments. We run errands. We interact with family, coworkers, customers, and strangers.
And as we go, the Lord has given us a calling.
The people on our calendars and the people we interact with next are part of that calling.
We have an opportunity—and a responsibility—to transform our relationships so that other people have an opportunity to move closer to Jesus.
To me, that is an exciting calling.
We have been invited into a great adventure with Jesus.
We get to be difference makers in the lives of the people we interact with today.
The Five Daily Habits
At Follower of One, we regularly talk about five daily habits:
- Pray for others
- Appreciate others
- Know what you believe
- Serve others
- Speak for yourself
These habits help us become more intentional about living out our faith every day.
They help us pay attention to the people around us.
They remind us that our faith isn’t something we practice only at church. We have the opportunity to follow Jesus in every relationship and every environment.
We can live our faith at work.
We can live it in the grocery store.
We can live it on an airplane.
We can live it in a restaurant.
We can live it wherever we go.
Join Marketplace Mission Trip #47
We’re starting another Marketplace Mission Trip this coming Sunday.
If you’re reading this on September 8, 2026, the next trip begins on September 13.
The Marketplace Mission Trip is an opportunity to practice living out your faith every day.
For two weeks, we’ll have daily devotionals and Zoom calls designed to help us train our minds and hearts to pay attention to the people around us.
We want to recognize that we are living our eternal life today.
And we have the opportunity to invite others to join us in eternity by the way we live.
The Marketplace Mission Trip helps us become more intentional about being a blessing to the people around us.
If you’re part of the Follower of One community, look for Mission Trip #47 in the community and request access to join us.
Be Strong and Courageous
Today, we can speak with courage.
The Lord told Joshua several times:
“Be strong and courageous.”
And Joshua 1:9 reminds us:
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
The Lord has called us to be strong and courageous.
We don’t have to tremble or be dismayed.
As we follow God, He is with us wherever we go.
What a great opportunity we have today to live out our faith.
Thank you for being a Marketplace minister.
Thank you for considering how your faith can make a difference forever.
What we do because we follow Jesus matters.
And it matters for all eternity.
So today, let’s intentionally enter our workplaces, appointments, and interactions ready to be a blessing to the people around us because we follow Jesus.
God has something for us to do.
He has a strategy that is bigger than anything we can imagine.
There is so much happening that we may never fully understand. But we have an opportunity today to choose to do what God would have us do in our relationships.
So today, let’s go wherever God sends us and be intentional.
Let’s be transformers, transforming the relationships we have.
Let’s help the people we interact with move one notch closer to Jesus.
And let’s remember God’s command:
Be strong and courageous.
The Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
