What does it mean to be brave?
Let's begin by defining the word brave and go from there, shall we?
Merriam-Websters dictionary defined brave as having or showing mental or moral strength to face danger, fear, or difficulty. It means to face or endure with courage.
Hmm... courage... What does courage mean? It means: to have the mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty. Very similar to brave, but added to the definition of courage versus the definition of bravery is the word persevere.
James 1:12 says, "Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him." It's brave and courageous to remain with God as you're enduring trials, and persevering in difficulty.
The Hebrew (H553) definition of courage is to be strong, bold, make firm, secure, strengthen, to be determined, make oneself alert, strengthen oneself, confirm oneself, persist in, feel strong, and remain steadfastly minded.
In Greek, it's simply translated to confidence and boldness.
Sweet one, it's brave to proclaim Jesus as your Savior, Yahweh as your Father and Creator, and the Holy Spirit as your Guide. This is especially true around people and groups of people who will likely give you a hard time.
And you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. - Matthew 10:22
It takes courage to speak the truth in love to someone. In our society of emotional economy, it seems as though the more offended someone is the 'richer' they are, so we are constantly fighting the urge to worry if we're hurting someone's feelings.
Likewise, when we're on the receiving end of some conviction or admonishment, we have to fight the urge to automatically or immediately feel offended. In my opinion, it's brave to not play the victim in most scenarios in our lives. Even when we're scared.
(preaching to myself here...)
Since we're on the subject, bravery or courage isn't the absence of fear - it's doing the thing you're called to do afraid. I'm not talking about your natural human instinct to protect yourself against physical danger, but more spiritual or emotional danger.
SIDE NOTE: If you're into skydiving, or bungee jumping - all the power to you! But, in my opinion, it's incredibly stupid. My natural physical instinct is to never do that because the risk of death is too high and I can control it by not participating at all.
It's brave and courageous to not go along with whatever current popular trend society is pushing out. It's courageous to share your own morals and viewpoints with a group of people who disagree with you. It's especially brave to share the Gospel with someone.
How wonderful is it that our God protects us and also gives us the courage we need to fight through all sorts of situations, and even fearfulness. He doesn't leave us hanging. We are brave because He is who He is, and because we are of Him, we have authority over fear and the enemy!
I'll chat more about this in my video which you can watch on my YouTube Channel or Rumble.
Check out the entire Who I Am Collection here.
Beautiful one, if you struggle to remember that you are brave and courageous, even if you don't feel like it, I created a few goodies just for you. They'd make great gifts for someone you love who you see as brave!
'I Brave' 31-DAY SOAP STUDY:
- FREE SOAP Study printable sheet
- Get the whole His Chosen Co 'I Am of God' SOAP study guide and access to other FREE downloads and printables as a His Chosen Co Newsletter Subscriber
BIBLE JOURNALING & PLANNER STICKERS:
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JEWELRY & ACCESSORIES:
RESOURCES & REFERENCES:
- Blue Letter Bible
- Strongs concordance
- How does the bible define courage blog post
- Empowered SOAP study by Love God Greatly
- Be Bold in Your Faith blog post by Daily Grace Co.
- Esther study by Daily Grace Co.*
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