Before the Week Begins
Sunday, March 15, 2026
– 3 min read
Scripture
Passage: Joshua 1:9
"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."
The Story
Joshua had just been handed an impossible assignment.
Moses was dead. The man who had led Israel out of Egypt, parted the Red Sea, received the Law on Sinai — gone. And now the weight of it fell on Joshua's shoulders. Not the memory of it. The actual work. Cross the Jordan. Take the land. Lead two million people into a fight they had never fought before, in a land they had never entered, against enemies they had not yet seen.
God's response to Joshua's moment of reckoning was not a strategy. It was not a battle plan or a political alliance or a guarantee of easy victory. It was a command — and an anchor.
Be strong and courageous. Not because you are capable. Not because the odds are favorable. Because I am with you. Wherever you go.
This was not the first time God had said it. He had said it twice before in the same chapter. Three times in nine verses. As if God knew exactly how much Joshua was going to need to hear it before he believed it.
The Way Before You
You are standing at the edge of a new week. You don't know yet what it holds. You don't know which conversation will be difficult, which decision will cost you something, which moment will require more of you than you feel like you have.
But you know this: the same God who stood with Joshua at the Jordan is standing with you this morning.
Courage is not the absence of fear. Joshua was afraid — the command wouldn't have needed repeating three times if he wasn't. Courage is the decision to move forward anyway, not because you have summoned enough confidence, but because you have placed enough trust. Trust that the One who sends you into the week also goes before you into it. Trust that you are not walking into anything alone.
This week will ask something of you. It always does. It will ask you to hold a position when the easier thing is to drift. To speak the truth when silence would be more comfortable. To stay in the room, stay in the conversation, stay in the fight — when stepping back would cost you nothing and everyone around you would understand if you did.
Those are the moments courage is built for. Not the grand gestures. The ordinary choices, made daily, by people who have decided that who they are is worth the cost of being it.
Be strong and courageous. Not because of what you bring. Because of who goes with you.
Reflection
Where this week will courage be required of you — and what would it look like to step toward it rather than away?
Prayer
Lord, I don't always feel strong. I don't always feel ready. But You have never asked me to feel it — You have asked me to trust it. Go before me into this week. Into the conversations I'm not looking forward to, the decisions I've been avoiding, the moments that will require more than I have on my own. Let me move forward not because I am confident in myself, but because I am certain of You. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
Walking in The Way — Today's Step
Today I will: identify one thing this week that I have been avoiding out of fear — and take one small step toward it today.
I will watch for: any moment today where I feel the pull to shrink back — and notice it as an invitation to practice courage in a small way before the larger tests come.
Learn more about The Guardians' Cross → theguardianscross.org
Written by
Comments
Our Featured Articles
The Double Standard Is the Point
"A barista fired for answering faith questions. An NBA player waived within hours of citing Scripture. A Christian fired for a cross necklace and Bible at his desk. These are not isolated incidents. This is a pattern — and a person of conviction should understand it."
They're Building a Different Kind of Graduate
In 1993, there were 10 classical Christian schools in America. Today there are more than 450. More than a quarter of all evangelical Christian schools now use a classical curriculum. Something is being built — and it has been building for thirty years without much fanfare.
The Party School Is Having a Revival
Florida State University is ranked the #2 party school in America. On April 2, 4,500 students gathered there to worship Jesus. Hundreds were baptized. This has been happening on campuses across the country for three years. The press hasn't noticed. Guardians should.
