Week 8: Courage from God - Joshua
Pardon the Mess with Scarlet Hiltibidal - Christian Motherhood, Biblical Parenting, Raising Christian Kids
Scarlet Hiltibidal and Christian Parenting
4.9 • 850 Ratings
🗓️ 27 October 2025
⏱️ 11 minutes
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Summary
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.” (Joshua 1:9)
Joshua was one of only two people who left Egypt and entered the promised land. He was a military leader and a spy, and eventually took over as leader of the Israelites after Moses died. He continually led the Israelites into battle and trusted in God’s promise that they would reach and enter the promised land.
Through all the battles and all the whining of the Israelites, it would have been easy for Joshua to feel overwhelmed, defeated, and afraid. And he probably did! But God continually reminded him to be strong and courageous. God did not want Joshua to rely on himself; he wanted Joshua to rely on him.
We live in a world that tells us to “believe in yourself.” In reality, that’s a lot of pressure to put on ourselves, and it’s a lot of pressure for kids to feel. As Christian parents, we know a better way. When our kids doubt themselves, when they are nervous, they don’t feel good enough, and fear of failure quietly creeps into their minds, our job is to remind them that God is with them. He will never leave them or forsake them, so they don’t have to be brave on their own. True courage does not come from relying on ourselves; it comes from relying on the one who never fails.
This week, let’s pray that our kids feel strong and courageous because of God’s never-ending presence in their life.
Jesus, help __________ to feel strong and courageous—not because they know it all and can do it all but because they have access to you who does know it all and can do it all. Help them to remember that they don’t have to muster up their own energy and strength; they can talk to you, and you will lead them just like you have led your people before. Amen.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Christian Parenting. |
| 0:03.0 | Hey friends, welcome back to Part of the Mess. I'm your host, Courtney DeFaio, and we are on week eight, and we are going to talk about courage |
| 0:21.7 | from God and what we learn from Joshua and what we learn about God about courage. And this |
| 0:27.0 | can be a really tricky topic. And so in a minute, I'm going to kind of tell you about both |
| 0:31.5 | of my kids. I think that would be okay with you hearing about that. But having, being a parent |
| 0:36.6 | and then raising kids that maybe one is fearless |
| 0:38.9 | and maybe one is more cautious, it can be really tricky. And regardless of who you are and how |
| 0:44.2 | old you are, we have all been afraid at times. And I love the story of Joshua because it just |
| 0:48.9 | reminds us that he was scared too. And I love that God put people like this in the Bible to say, look, he was a leader and he was also scared. But God said to him the same thing he would say to us. |
| 1:00.2 | And Joshua 1-9, it says, 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. |
| 1:09.9 | And I love that verse because it reminds us like he's not saying, hey, you are going to |
| 1:14.1 | eventually conquer this and get over being afraid. |
| 1:17.0 | It's like, no, when you go through moments of being scared and doing tough things, I am |
| 1:22.5 | going to be with you wherever you go. |
| 1:24.2 | And that is encouraging. |
| 1:25.4 | And that's something we can promise our kids. |
| 1:28.4 | And the beginning of this journal, if you haven't picked it up yet, we're doing a journal |
| 1:32.4 | through Christian parenting called A Great Cloud of Witnesses. And the team at Christian |
| 1:36.1 | parenting wrote these so beautifully. But I'll just read the beginning part of this one in week |
| 1:40.4 | eight. It says, Joshua was one of only two people who left Egypt and entered the |
| 1:44.8 | promised land. He was a military leader and a spy and eventually took over as leader of the |
| 1:49.7 | Israelites after Moses died. He continually led the Israelites in the battle and trusted in God's |
... |
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