Good morning and happy Monday. You were listening to the battle ready Bible study. I'm Aaron McManus. I'm here with my dad, Erwin Raphael McManus. How you doing this morning?

I'm doing so good. And I'm excited about this week. How about you?

It's going to be a good, good week. I know I'm excited. I'm very excited to dive in to our verse of the day. 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.

This is one of the first verses I ever put to memory.

There may not be a verse in the scriptures that has

shaped me and impacted me more than this one. It mattered to me because Joshua is iconic as a person

of courage, a warrior, a person who emulates bravery and nobility. But in Joshua 1,

God has to continuously say to Joshua, have courage, have courage, be strong and have courage,

do not be afraid. The reason you have to repeat something to someone is that they do not

have it. You don't have to tell a courageous person to be courageous. You don't have to tell a person who's

not afraid to not be afraid. So this passage, the context, was so hopeful to me because I felt like I was

always afraid and I was so filled with fear and the fear of failure

and the fear of rejection and and you know just so many different fears consume me and so I realized

that Joshua was not made from different human material he was made from the exact same human

material that I made from and so I I could hear God, in a sense,

speaking to me, Irwin, in your fear, fear not, have courage, be strong and be courageous. And I took

that on as my mantra of life. And so I developed a different relationship with fear. And I teach

this all over the world, that success in your life is intimately connected to your relationship to fear.

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