Do not Be Afraid, nor Be Dismayed (Part 1)

Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe 

Because of the circumstances surrounding us on the national and international levels, Christians must fervently seek to overcome discouragement.  The word literally means to deprive of courage, hope, or confidence.  Discouragement is a weapon of the enemy meant to weaken the army of God. 

 
In our difficult world, we are surrounded, bombarded and often overwhelmed with discouragement. Negativity fills the airwaves, the newspapers and the coffee klatches. A spirit of discouragement has attached itself to many people, even believers. 

The spirit of discouragement can be so oppressive that we may neglect to cry out to the Lord for encouragement. We may also be so distraught that we do not recognize the encouragement when it comes. 

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines encourage as: to make (someone) more determined, hopeful, or confident; to make (something) more appealing or more likely to happen; to make (someone) more likely to do something: to tell or advise (someone) to do something.  
 
These definitions are all about doing something. They miss the mark by not telling us what we need in our lives in order to do something. In order to chop down the tree of discouragement, we need to lay the axe to the root.  
 
The root word of “encourage” is “courage.” In other words, if we want to be encouraged, we must be filled with courage. The Lord spoke to Joshua as he was stepping into the role of leadership after the death of Moses: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go" (Joshua 1:9).  
 

God does not want us to be afraid. Fear robs us of courage, and we must lay the axe to the root of fear. We fear tomorrow. We fear the unknown. We fear because we lack understanding. We fear because we feel that God has distanced Himself from us.  

Believers, however, are called to be Joshuas in this world. God has commanded us to be strong and of good courage. The word translated as courage has many synonyms. In the Hebrew, to be courageous is to be strengthened, established, strong, fortified, and obstinate.