We can expect that the new year will bring challenges, uncertainties, and difficulties.  Pastor Mauricio urged us to look to the Lord to find courage to face our fears and overcome obstacles.  He pointed us to the example of Joshua, who, as successor to Moses, was called to a daunting task, leading God’s people into the Promised Land in the face of formidable obstacles

Courage, Pastor Mauricio explained, is not the absence of fear, but reliance on God’s presence, God’s strength, and God’s promises.  It is not a matter of self-confidence, but of trusting God and relying on Him, even when we feel inadequate to the task or when circumstances are adverse.  That courage, suggested Pastor Mauricio, takes three shapes:

1. The courage to accept God’s calling.
2. The courage to trust in God’s promises.
3. The courage to obey God’s Word.

The book of Joshua as a whole illustrates God’s faithfulness and His honoring His people’s faith.  In Joshua 1:1-9, God reiterates to Joshua the promises He made to Moses, and urges Joshua to take courage, assuring him of His presence.  And the book concludes by recounting that “the Lord gave to Israel all the land he had sworn to give to their ancestors…  Not a single one of all the good promises the Lord had given to the family of Israel was left unfulfilled; everything he had spoken came true” (Joshua 21:43-45).

So Pastor Mauricio urged us,  as we start this new year, to allow the power of courage to transform our lives:

• Let’s fully trust God’s promises.
• Let’s obey His Word.
• And let’s walk with determination toward the calling He has given us, confident that He will be with us wherever we go.

1. Are you facing challenges, uncertainties, or obstacles that test your faith?  What are they?  Describe them.
2. Pastor Mauricio suggested that “our courage is strengthened when we remember how God has been faithful in the past.”  Cite examples, from your personal experience, of God’s faithfulness.
3. Faith is a matter of relying on God’s promises.  How do God’s promises speak to the challenges, uncertainties, or obstacles you are facing?
4. Pastor Mauricio mentioned that faith sometimes flies in the face of logic.  Have you experienced a situation in which walking by faith seemed to defy logic?  How did that play out?