Be Strong and Courageous – Deuteronomy 31:6

The Anna Szabo Show

Learn how to be strong and courageous in Christ exactly as Deuteronomy 31:6 teaches in scripture. Explore how God’s word reveals His will for you and His work in you.

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified, for the Lord your God goes with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you.” – Deuteronomy 31:6 NIV. Have you ever felt weak and fearful? I have. Today’s Biblical devotional for women is dedicated to exploring how to be strong and of good courage through Christ.

From my personal experience with God, I’ve learned that being strong isn’t possible in my own power. It’s only possible when I abide in Christ. I’ve also learned on my faith journey that being courageous doesn’t mean being fearless. It means that with my free will I intentionally mobilize and deploy my faith as an antidote to my fear. In this Biblical devotional for Christian women, I will share with you how to be strong and courageous by abiding in Christ. I will also pray for you if you stick around and allow me to lift you up to God through prayer.

Deuteronomy 31:6

Be strong and courageous Bible verse calls us out of our natural anxiety and doubt into God’s supernatural divine power of protection, provision, and promotion. But we must believe. Faith over fear! That’s the mindset we must adopt in order to be strong and courageous as Deuteronomy 31:6 teaches us to be as Christian women.

Let me tell you my story.

It is a story of how scared and insecure I was when God asked me to step out of my own power and into His so that I could do the good work He prepared in advance for me to do.

See, I knew what God said in Deuteronomy 31:6, only now I had to actually do it. When we have to do God’s word and not just hear or know it, things get very personal and scary.

That’s what happened to me.

And that’s why my entire Christian ministry Online Discipleship For Women is dedicated to helping you create a joyful life by embracing God’s word. In fact, this ministry is exactly what my story of being strong and courageous is all about. Here’s what happened to me and how God taught me to be strong and courageous as Deuteronomy 31:6 teaches us to be as Christian women.

I never could have imagined starting a ministry. Not only because I myself wasn’t even a Christian for most of my life but also because something like this would be the last thing on my mind. The typical things I was excited about for most of my adult life were sex, alcohol, exotic travel, night clubs, hairdos, and shopping.

I came to Christ in 2014, and God’s been working in my heart ever since, drawing me closer to Jesus one day at a time. You can read my testimony here. In the beginning, I believed in a Santa Claus kind of God: I’ll check the boxes for being nice, and God will give me a fairytale kind of perfect life. Well, that’s not how things turned out for me… Instead of having a perfect life with God, I was attacked by Satan.

The devil almost destroyed my faith and hope by intentionally manipulating me into suicide. You can read what happened to me in the blog post called “How Satan Came at Me Looking Saint” and “My Story of Narcissistic Marriage.” During the next few years, I learned that on my own, I am weak and scared, but with Christ, I am strong and courageous. God’s will for me was to grow in faith. To grow my faith, He wanted me to study His word. To study His word, He needed me to choose Him using my free will. It happened when I signed up for Biblical counseling in 2016, after my husband of four months filed for divorce saying he wasn’t interested in me anymore and wanted to be an IronMan instead. I shared the details of that story in an essay called “IronMan vs Marriage.” That was when I chose to focus on God’s word.

Once I wholeheartedly and intentionally focused on the word of God, my faith grew. God revealed His will to me, and I was called to step out of my fears and doubts and start a Christian ministry to encourage and empower women. I felt inadequate and unworthy but I did see the truth. Here was the truth… During that devastating marriage with the narcissist, God equipped and prepared me for His divine labor. He taught me how to be strong and courageous in the Lord, not in my own limited ability, intelligence, power, connections, finances, health, or discernment. Satan stripped me of everything, and that’s when God stepped in, rebuilt me anew, and used my story for His glory.

I discovered the depths of the Gospel listening to the teachings of Randy Pope at Perimeter Church and reading the book of Laura Story called “When God Doesn’t Fix It.” Interestingly enough, the book was a gift for graduation from premarital counseling with the narcissist in 2016. And as I walked down the aisle a few months later, I was wondering why such a book was actually given to us as a wedding gift… My marriage – I was confident – was going to be God-glorifying and perfect since all the proper boxes were checked and I was marrying a good Christian man. See, I had a performance-based view of God.

My Heavenly Father wanted me to be in an intimate relationship with Him and be completely dependent on Him for strength and courage. My fantasy ended as my new husband filed for divorce four months after our wedding and rejected me in every way, which is described in the essay called “My Story of Rejection.”

When I ran out of my own strength and power, I read Laura Story’s book called “When God Doesn’t Fix It.” I read the Bible, too. In fact, I devoured the word of God. I was hungry for His truth. I dove deep into the Gospel and found hope and healing.

I became strong and courageous in Christ instead of my own performance, intelligence, career, finances, health, power, knowledge, talent, discernment, and overall my own ability. Just a few months after my wedding, I was divorced and discovered that there’s no Santa Claus God. I also discovered that I don’t have any strength or power on my own. But I do have a sovereign, loving, kind, and understanding Heavenly Father who has a perfect plan for me, which I can’t see since I’m too close to my life circumstances. I don’t have His infinite intelligence and can’t comprehend how divorce, depression, and other “troubles in the world” can possibly be used for His good. But… I trust in the Lord with all my heart and lean not on my own limited understanding. That’s why I declare that God is good, that in my own weakness His strength is perfect, and that in Christ, I am strong and courageous.

Mine is a story for God’s glory!

The Source of Strength and Courage

God placed this ministry for Christian women in my heart. Online Discipleship For Women was born in 2017 right after my divorce from the narcissist. The desire to share the Gospel has been burning on the inside every day ever since.

That year, I also launched my Christian podcast The Anna Szabo Show and started speaking openly about my story, giving God all the honor and glory. The feedback from those who were comforted by God through my ministry was so encouraging, that I decided to also publish Christian videos on YouTube, which I began doing in December of 2017. God uniquely equipped and prepared me to minister to women by ridding me of my own strength and performance-based faith and drawing me closer to Himself so that I could step into the power of Jesus and be strong and of good courage through Christ.

Sharing my testimony and encouraging women has been hard because my life story is full of adversity, drama, trauma, and pain. I shared my entire life story in an essay called “Getting To Know Anna Szabo.” It takes courage to overcome my fears every time I speak on behalf of God. He called me to do this. He gave me this ministry. I am very scared somtimes because th kinds of things I share about myself as a part of my powerful testimony are very personal and intimate. Sometimes, I get bullied online by people. But I’m strong in the Lord.

I minister to women through Christ.

Strong and Courageous My concept of life used to be totally wrong. In my own power, I was trying to be strong. God has taught me to lean on the Lord And grow in faith by devouring His word. In Christ, I am now strong and courageous. My faith is steadfast and contagious. To Jesus wholeheartedly I forever belong. My strength and courage are now lifelong. 1/2/2020 © Anna Szabo, JD, MBA Be Strong and Courageous

It’s very important that we do not misunderstand the Be strong and courageous verse as a call to disregard our humanness. We are not called b God to be happy all the time. We are humans. Even Jesus wept when overcome with grief and genuine human emotion. We aren’t destined by God to be trapped in toxic positivity. On the contrary, God in the Bible calls us to cast our anxieties on Him because He cares. I have discussed this topic in great detail in a talk I delivered on September 19th, 2020 at TEDx Marietta Square about grief, sorrow, and mourning. My talk is called “The Healing Power of Self-Pity.” Being strong and courageous doesn’t mean being dissociative, detached, and disconnected from reality. God calls us to be aware, alert, and fully alive.

I cry often. I grieve my losses and cast my anxieties on my heavenly father God who genuinely cares. By processing my life, my weaknesses, my fears, my doubts, and my insecurities, I practice being strong and courageous in Christ. All that work allowed me to also help other women process their emotions, adversity, trauma, and pain by facing their reality, reaching out for God’s help, and finding sacred peace, comfort, and joy in an intimate relationship with Jesus.

As you can see, God had a good plan all the way. He comforted me when I was weak and scared so that now I can comfort other Christian women with the same comfort I myself received from God. Before I pray for you, let me answer the most commonly asked questions about Deuteronomy 31:6 and being strong and courageous.

What is the meaning of Deuteronomy 31:6?

Deuteronomy 31:6 teaches Christians how to be strong and courageous in Christ by surrendering own natural power and ability and stepping into God’s supernatural power and divine capability. It means abiding in the power of Jesus instead of living in your own power.

How do you find strength in the Lord?

To find strength in the Lord, you must surrender your own strength, trust God’s good plan, seek His guidance, hear God’s voice, and follow His will for your life, even when you’re uncomfortable or scared.

How do I stay strong in God?

To stay strong in Christ, you need to pray without casing, read God’s word so that your faith can grow, and also do what God asks you to do, even when you’re weak and fearful in the natural.

How do you pray for strength and courage?

Dear God, I trust your promises. You promised to guide my path and make it straight, you promised to be with me wherever I go, you promised to protect me from all evil and to promote me, God. I believe in you. From the bottom of my heart, I am praying right now for your divine, supernatural strength and courage. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

I hope this Biblical devotional really helped you understand Deuteronomy 31:6 and God’s calling for you to be strong and courageous – not in your own power but in the power of Jesus Christ. Please share this devotion with other Christian women who really need to hear God’s message right now. Let me pray for you.

Dear God,

I am praying for the Christian woman reading this Biblical devotional right now. I want to lift her up and ask for your favor in her life. Whatever her situation, I know that, in her weakness, your strength is perfected. You gave her 3573 promises, God, including the promises of protection, prosperity, promotion.

I pray that you bless her, Father.

In Jesus’ name.

Anna Szabo