Be STRONG and COURAGEOUS!

My favorite scene in one of my favorite movies, "You've got Mail", Kethleen Kelly (Meg Ryan) is advised by her secret admirer, Joe Fox (Tom Hanks) that to save her business she must "go to the mattresses". As anyone who has seen the Godfather (which I have not) that means...FIGHT! I watch this movie almost every year. This year for some reason I identified with the main character Kathleen more than ever before....
Somewhere in my journey with God I have become very weak. I remember when I first became a Christian in high school, my friends and I would do the craziest things. We would pray in the cafeteria before school for our campus. We would sign petitions, meet at coffee houses and worship. We randomly walked up to people and shared the gospel. I even had a goal that with every paper I wrote in high school I would share my faith some how. We were defiantly weird...(Praise God for the amazing friends I had in high school!)
Sometimes I look back at the things we did and think, "we were so immature. Didn't we know that you couldn't just share your faith randomly...there must be a relationship...Didn't we know that we probably annoyed the people at the coffee house more than we pointed them to God?!hmmm...." Although you know what! We were doing something! I am convicted that so much of my faith is talk now! Although God has taught me many new truths and ways to reach people...I feel as if that gave me an excuse not to do anything.
A familiar verse, Joshua 1:9, says "Have I not commanded you,Be strong and courageous do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord God is with you wherever you go." I personally think there should be an exclamation mark at the end of that sentence! That is a strong promise!
For too long I have not been strong nor courageous. I have been paralized by the fear of doing something for God that was not His plan. What if I heard Him wrong? What if this is not what he called me to do? What if blah blah blah.... At the core of all of this is FEAR. Fear is a paralyzing weakness that the enemy has used in my life to almost take the voice of God and manipulate it. It sounds so close to the truth! "I could mess up God's plan...no God is all powerful. "I could mess up God's plan for my life"... no I am His child and surrendered to Him. See yea, I could mess up everything through sin, but through trying to follow Jesus....no way! (Know that I say all of these things as if they are my own but they are really my interpretation of what God has been speaking through my husband the last couple of months. He has truly fought in the trenches for me!)
So all that to say....Are you to paralyzed my fear? Are you afraid of doing what you think God has called you to do or an idea you think God gave you for the good of the Kingdom? Rebuke those thoughts! They enemy is who gives fear! God says be STRONG and COURAGEOUS because HE is with you! It is time as believers we "go to the mattresses" and fight! We need to stand up and take action with out fear...because dear friends...God is with us!