Live Free with Josh Howerton - Be Courageous Even When You’re Afraid | Ep. 428 | Wednesday, September 25, 2024

Episode Date: September 25, 2024

Faith is not the absence of fear, it’s the presence of trust in the midst of fear. Faith in God doesn’t eliminate fear, it overrides fear; this can be seen when God is speaking to Joshua as he is trying to lead the Israelite people. “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) For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. Well, hey, guys, welcome to our daily drive. If we haven't met, my name is Carlos, and I get to be a part of the pastoral team here at Lake Point. And, hey, we get to hang out this week for a few minutes every day as we dive together into the Word of God.

And this week, the name of this series, Devolutionals, is deeper because we're going deeper together every day on one particular aspect of our lives and our relationship with Jesus. And Monday, we spoke about going deeper in intimacy. Tuesday, we spoke about going deeper in holiness. And today we're going deeper in courage. And this is the word of the Lord for you today found in Joshua chapter 1, verse 9. This is God speaking to you today. He says, 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. Hey, I read about this recently in the 1980. these scientists embarked on this really cool experiment called Biosphere 2, which was and still is apparently the greatest attempt to build an artificial ecosystem in the middle of a desert that could potentially sustain human life for several years with the purpose that one day we could replicate that in outer space.

Now, this is crazy. You could probably Google this later, but apparently $150 million were invested in this project. and the scientists came together and created some sort of facility with oxygen, food, plants, and water, and they put eight people in this bubble-looking facility to see if they could survive in it for several years. Now, unfortunately, the experiment failed, and the scientists learned a lot on what it would actually take for some day, maybe in the future, to create a self-sustaining facility in outer space. But one of the main things that was learned here was through the trees that were planted in this bubble.

Apparently, the trees they plant it within this quote-unquote self-sustaining facility, they grew rapidly. But eventually they fell over because there was no wind within this bubble. Now, naturally, you need to know this. Trees, they need wind to grow, mature properly and get stronger because when trees are exposed to wind, they bend. And when they bend, their roots become thicker. And this actually helps the tree to have a firmer foundation for them to stand tall. Now, what these scientists missed is that trees that are exposed to more wind,

especially early on when they first start growing, they can actually endure stronger winds later. So because there was no wind within this ecosystem in this experiment, the trees didn't face anything. any resistance as they grew a little bit, and they grew a little bit, but they had no foundation to sustain their growth. And so eventually they ended up falling over.

In other words, the trees that face winds get stronger. It's as if they're meant to face strong winds. They're meant to face opposition, adversity, resistance, storms. That's actually, that's exactly what will make them grow, not just taller, but listen to this. deeper. Now there's no question we live in a time and a culture that is extremely fearful, anxious, scared of the future. People are angry, reactive, people are just stressed. And our culture is always looking for ways to eliminate struggles and conflict and hopefully live lives of more comfort

and avoid difficulties as much as possible. And we want fast solutions to our issues and a quick fix for all of our problems. And oftentimes we pray for God to come and fix our issues quickly. But what if I tell you this, what if before God wants to change your circumstance, he wants to change you? Changing your circumstance, your challenge, your difficulties, your obstacles, your problems.

Listen, that's important to God. God is a good father. But what if what is even more important is to grow you? to mature you, to sanctify you, to make you stronger. I love that when you read the story of Joshua, what many people miss is the fact that Joshua, who was a military leader that God raised to lead the people of Israel, Joshua was actually a disciple of Moses.

Joshua grew up under Moses' leadership. He saw God be faithful to Moses. He saw how God miraculously came through when Moses was in trouble. He heard how God transformed Moses. his staff into a serpent, are you kidding me? He saw God send fire from the sky to guide, protect, and lead the people of Israel. He saw God provide food from heaven. And so Joshua knew he served the same supernatural God of Moses.

And I can only imagine once that baton was passed from Moses to Joshua, that Joshua was ready. He's like, man, I can't wait for this. He probably thought, I can't wait to see God throw fire supernaturally and have, it descend from heaven when I need it. And I cannot wait for God to have my staff become a serpent to remind me that he is the God of the impossibles and that he is sovereign over all creation. And I can only imagine he was thinking, man, I can't wait to see God door dash me some bread and meat from heaven when I'm hungry. And yet, that's not what we see God do. Instead of fire from heaven sticks becoming serpents and food dropping from the sky.

God says, no, no, no, actually, Joshua, this is what I have for you. Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged for I am with you. It's as if God is saying, I know you have battles after battles ahead of you. I know that you're scared. I know you feel inadequate. I know you have some enemies.

I know you're facing opposition right now. but listen, I am with you. And because I am with you, you can be strong and you can be courageous. And you can grow deeper in courage. In fact, you know why God tells Joshua to be strong and courageous, strong and courageous, strong and courageous, strong and courageous? It's because Joshua was weak and afraid, weak and afraid, weak and afraid. Hey, if today you feel weak and afraid, I got to say, some good news for you. The presence of God is with you. And if you want to grow deeper in courage,

you need to be rooted in faith. Because faith is not the absence of fear. It's the presence of trust in the midst of fear. Faith doesn't say, oh, I'm not afraid. No, no, no. Faith says, I'm very afraid, but I know who's with me. Faith doesn't eliminate fear. It overrides. It overrides. fear. And so today as you love and lead your family, as you move in obedience towards the calling God has given you, as you face trials and obstacles and difficulties and opposition, as you share your faith with your colleagues or your friends, as you go on your day, as you love and serve the people around you, be reminded that because God is with you, you can be strong and courageous. We'll see you tomorrow.

Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services on Saturdays and Sundays. For more information about all the digital ministries of Lake Point, visit lakepoint. Visit lakepoint.church slash daily drive. Also, if this podcast was helpful to you, would you be sure to rate, review, and share this podcast to help get the word out.