Being brave can be hard to do at times. The word “brave” is defined as “having or showing mental or moral strength to face danger, fear, or difficulty: having or showing courage.”
At many times in our lives, we are faced with the challenge of either being brave or not. God wants us to be brave in every area of our lives and He will provide us with help to be brave. Here are five ways to be brave.
1. Leaning on God
The first way to be brave is to lean on God. God doesn’t want you to be weighed down by the weight of fear. 2 Timothy 1:7 tells us, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power, love, and sound judgment” (Christian Standard Bible).
From this passage of Scripture, we are told that God has given us a spirit of power, love, and sound judgment — He has not given us a spirit of fear. When we are feeling afraid and in need of bravery, we need to lean on God.
Pray to God and tell Him about the fear you are facing. Ask Him to renew your spirit with bravery and courage. Joshua 1:9 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.”
God spoke these words to Joshua shortly after Moses died, but these words are meant for us too. The Lord wants us to be strong and courageous because He will be with us wherever we go.
We can be brave because we know God is always with us. There’s nothing to fear when we know He is there by our side.
2. Step Out of Your Comfort Zone
A second way to be brave is to step out of your comfort zone. Stepping out of our comfort zones can be extremely scary, but it’s crucial that we take this vital step in order to be brave. Take small steps at first and then you’ll be able to take larger steps as you begin to feel less afraid.
As an example, if a fear of yours is to do public speaking, try to talk in front of a few friends or in front of your family before you try speaking in front of larger crowds. Sometimes the small exposure to the fear can help you day-by-day overcome your major fear.
Try to step out of your comfort zone to some extent this week and see if it weakens your fear at all. If you keep stepping out of your comfort zone and exposing yourself to your fear, you’ll become braver and less afraid.
3. Try Something New
A third way to be brave is to try something new. Oftentimes our fears try to cause us to be stagnant and unable to grow. This is because our fears want to keep us in a constant state of fear. If you want to become braver, try something new.
Try something that is totally unusual to your daily life and see if it helps you to become braver. Some different activities you could try could be taking a day trip to somewhere you’ve never been before, going scuba diving, or bungee jumping.
While these are some more extreme examples, the main idea is to try something new and actively push back against your fear.
If a major fear is talking with other people, try to challenge yourself by asking a friend to go get coffee with you or just call a friend to talk. Trying anything new or different can help you become braver and begin to live a life free of fear.
4. Don’t Run from Your Fears
A fourth way to be brave is to not run from your fears. The easiest choice is to run from our fears but to be brave means to stay and face the situation. If you’re like me, you might be afraid of going to the dentist and instead of going to your appointment, you call and cancel.
I actually did this very exact thing last week. I had a dental checkup to go for, but I got too scared, and I ended up canceling my appointment last minute. I should have been brave and gotten the appointment over with, but now I’m sitting here with another appointment scheduled on the calendar.
If I would have just been brave and went, I wouldn’t have to be worrying about it now. From my own experience, don’t run from your fears. Instead, face them head-on and don’t run away. Running away from your fears will only strengthen them.
5. Face Your Fears
A fifth way to be brave is to face your fears. This might sound like an obvious answer, but it is important to face our fears if we are going to be brave. Facing your fears means that you do what scares you even though it scares you.
Being brave is all about facing your fears and overcoming them. If your fear is swimming in the ocean, face that fear head-on.
Swim in the ocean and silence your fears by reminding yourself how much you enjoy swimming in the ocean or how much you would enjoy swimming in the ocean if you would just take the first step.
I know one of my major fears is talking to other people. I am constantly afraid that the other person doesn’t like me or that they are extremely bored of talking to me. Due to this fear, I have gotten to where I don’t talk much at social events because of these fears.
In all honesty, there have been numerous social events that I have attended that I actually didn’t say a single word. In the case of my fear, I need to just try talking to others and silence the lies in my head.
Whatever fear you are facing today, choose to face it head-on. The longer you let the fear hang over your head, the more intense the fear will become. Facing your fears will help you overcome the fear and truly be brave.
What Is the True Meaning of Bravery?
We will all continue to have various fears in our lives, but you can choose to be brave. Being brave doesn’t mean the fear isn’t scary anymore — rather, it means that the fear is scary, but you choose to do it anyway.
Some fears might never go away without professional help, such as phobias, but trying to be brave and facing the fear anyway will help many scary situations not feel so scary anymore.
Whenever I think of being brave, I always think of one of my favorite series, the Harry Potter series because of the Hogwarts House, Gryffindor. Gryffindor is supposed to be known for its bravery and courage.
There is one part in the Half-Blood Prince where Harry is talking to Professor Slughorn. Harry tells Professor Slughorn, “Be brave, Professor. Be brave like my mother…Otherwise, you disgrace her. Otherwise, she died for nothing.”
Just as Harry tells Professor Slughorn, we too need to be brave. Being brave will be difficult, but it will be very rewarding when we do something we were afraid of even though we were still frightened by the situation.
If we always live in fear, we will never be able to experience the abundant life Jesus died for us to have (John 10:10). Be brave and direct your thoughts to the Lord.
For further reading:
What Does Godly Leadership Actually Look Like?
What Strength Did Queen Vashti and Queen Esther Show?
What Does Faith Over Fear Really Mean?
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