I was recently presented with an opportunity to step way outside of my comfort zone. Now, I won’t go into too much detail about the opportunity presented (as it hasn’t actually happened yet!) but what I will do is walk you through my process. 

My immediate response was to be fearful. 

• What if I don’t do a good enough job? 

• What if I make a fool of myself? 

• What if I don’t have anything of value to bring? 

These thoughts were immediate. I didn’t have to ponder the opportunity for long before they arose.  

Why is that? 

When a situation that is out of the ‘norm’ presents itself, why do some of us conjure up doubts of a self-critical nature so quickly? 

I believe that a situation that threatens our sense of safety or security will often bring about this reaction – but how will we ever grow if we don’t push past the initial fear and into the promise of developing ourselves? 

Our title verse for today tells us that God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity. 

Fear means ‘a distressing emotion roused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined. 

Timidity means ‘the state or quality of lacking in self-assurance, courage, or bravery.’ 

Put these two together and they make quite the cocktail of unease, don’t they! 

But if we have not been given a spirit of fear, what is the antithesis? 

Courage. 

And the opposite of timidity? 

Boldness. 

Joshua 1:9 (NIV) says this: 

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.” 

Now, I wish I could tell you that, after my mini crisis of confidence at the thought of accepting this new opportunity, I instantly thought of the above scripture and was filled with strength, courage and boldness. 

Sadly, I am not that mature yet! 

However, I did begin to operate in self-discipline, power and love and encourage myself in the Lord. 

Self-discipline – I considered the opportunity and began to plan how I would execute this experience. This took thought, time and study but I managed to overcome a little of the nerves this way. 

Power – I remembered that I would not be alone in this activity. God (and the individuals offering me the opportunity) clearly believed that I could achieve it, or I would not have been asked. This gave me another measure of confidence. 

Love – I gave myself the grace to say no. Interestingly, this felt worse than the anxiety of accepting the task at hand and so I knew that pushing myself to ‘just say yes’ was the right thing to do.  

My encouragement to us all today is twofold.  

Firstly, for every anxiety riddled, panic inducing life experience, there is a verse or story or character in the Bible who can encourage us to rise up and take on the challenge that is attempting to intimidate us. In my case, there were two very prominent verses to combat my concerns, for you it may be a person in scripture or the moral or theme of a wider story. Allow scripture to embolden you, to teach you and to nurture you into your future, once passage at a time. 

Secondly, I believe that without exercising our faith, we will not grow the muscle of faith in our lives. If we shrink back at every situation that challenges us, we will not develop the backbone to see us into the bright and promised future that God has for us.  

‘Just say yes’ may seem like flippant advice, but I encourage you, when teamed with an attitude of faith and the wisdom of the scriptures, ‘just say yes’ can be some of the most freeing advice you’ll ever get.