Giant going down.

Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, Jericho, Jericho...OHHHHH Joshua fought the battle of Jerichoooooooo and the walls came tumbling DOWNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!
What walls do I have up that need to come down? How can I live a life of faith if I am not willing to take courageous steps forward? Sometimes our battles seem so insurmountable but if we would just trust in God to carry us through He would knock those GIANTS down and it would build our faith in Him. But we often choose to run away and we wander for 40 years aimlessly in a desert. In the Wizard of Oz the "cowardly lion" is seeking courage from the GREAT AND POWERFUL OZ...What he doesnt' realize is that He had it the whole time he just was choosing not to use it. Just as anything is a daily choice so are steps of faith and being courageous and brave. We have to mentally and spiritually set out each and every day to stay open to what God is telling us and if He speaks to us about leaping forward or even taking a baby step we had BETTER LISTEN and do it or we will be walking in a vicious circle.
I have always been so worried/afraid of what other people will think if they see me reading the bible, prayer book, or praying in public. To the point where I would quit or hide the book about prayer, etc....Since this turning around period in my life I have been purposely carrying those books with me to stores or appt's or to the park and hold them up proudly. I spend my morning after my walk, in outloud prayer in my living room ,and where I would have been embarrassed if even my husband walked in and saw me praying, and would peek out every so often; I am now instead on my knees in sincere adoration and so caught up in being in front of my Heavenly Father that I could have a room full of people and not be worried. Now, literally starting out in a crowd of people to pray outloud is a different story...It's always been very difficult for me to do that, but I learned two weeks ago at church that BOLDNESS is a key factor and it ties into this lesson completely. I stepped out that morning in a prayer group after not having prayed outloud in two years and I spoke words that although they were scattery and sounded uneloquent (if that's a word) they were spoken from my heart. Learning about BOLDNESS and stepping out in Faith is not going to automatically make me this professional pray-er in public but if I devote to taking a stand for Christ then I won't care what I sound like to the world around me.
In Joshua 1:7 it says, "Be thou strong and very courageous that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest."
The next time God asks you to march into battle and all you see are GIANTS you remember that the Word of God is your sword and He is your shield and you need nothing more to cause those Giants to go down!