"The Command to Be"

"Have I not commanded you?  Be strong and courageous.  Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."  Joshua 1:9

This has been a Bible verse I have heard God speak through since I was in High School.  Up until this week my focus has always been on the promise of this verse--that God will be with me wherever I go.  And certainly, the promise of God's faithful presence is worthy of our focus. However, this week my focus was shifted to the command that makes this promise available.  The command is not to do, but to be. 

BE strong...BE courageous...Do not BE terrified...do not BE discouraged.

God's command is not to do something, but to be something.  He says to Joshua and to us, "BE."  In other words, you and I have a choice in the matter.  What we choose to BE in this moment will open or close the door on God's presence in our lives. 

Our Creator/Designer God; the one who knows us inside and out; he who made us in his own image, says, "You've got it in you. I've put it in you.  Don't listen to the lies of the world that tell you that you are weak and fearful.  Don't believe your circumstances that say you have no choice but to be discouraged and terrified.  No!  Believe me...after all, I made you...and I made you to BE strong...BE courageous.. and not to BE terrified... not to BE discouraged." 

Where did this breed of Christian whimps come from that seem so prevalent in the modern day church?  Following Jesus means we are to be meek, not weak. 

When did we the Church start living in fear of the enemy?  It is not we who ought to be afraid.  No way!  We are followers of the only One who defeated death itself.  We were reborn to be courageous.

Why do we play defense?  We are called...no, commanded to not be terrified.  Perhpas if we would live up to this command we would begin to scare the hell out of hell as Jesus desires his church to do.  After all, it was He who said, "I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."  That's a call to offense, not defense.

Why do pull the covers of disocuragement over our heads?  Discouragement is for those who are defeated.  "If Christ be for us who can be against us?", asks Paul in Romans 8.  He asked that question and did not even offer an  answer becuase he figured anybody who knew Christ already knew the answer.  Do you?  Do I?

What would it mean for you to live according to this command to be for just one day?  God tells us what would happen.  You would experience...not just talk about or wish for, but actually experience God with you wherever you go.  Because the reality is, until you decide with Christ to BE strong...BE courageous...Do not BE terrified...do not BE discouraged...until you decide to obey this command to be, you do not need God to be with you wherever you go.  You can go by yourself and be weak and afraid.    You don't need God to be terrified or discouraged.  Come on...we can do that without Christ.  But when you stand and up choose to be what God has made you to be then you become keenly aware that you don't have a chance unless God is with you where ever you go. 

Ahhha...now I'm starting to see...the command for us to be and the promise of God to be feed into and out of one another so directly that you can hardly see where one starts and the other ends, but the moment you remove one both cease to be.

So, my brothers and sisters in Christ go BE!