Why Are Christians So Afraid?

Devotional

Day 1: 85-Year-Old Faith: Charging Hills When Others Retire

The story of Caleb at 85 still demanding mountain strongholds reveals faith that grows bolder with age. While others settled into resignation, he clung to God’s promise with undiminished fire. True kingdom courage isn’t reckless abandon but stubborn trust in divine capability over visible limitations. This kind of faith transforms deserts into inheritance and weakness into war cries. It rejects the lie that maturity means playing it safe. What giants seem immovable today might become tomorrow’s conquered territory when held up to God’s track record. [28:57]

“I am still as strong today as I was… Now give me this hill country… It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall drive them out as the Lord said.”
(Joshua 14:11-12, ESV)

Reflection: Where have you exchanged childlike faith for “responsible” resignation? What mountain is God asking you to claim with 85-year-old boldness?

Day 2: When Two Bucks Become a Hundred: Risking More as You Age

Faith often feels costlier with age—like betting $100 instead of $2. Responsibilities multiply, yet God’s call remains: stake everything on His faithfulness. The gamble analogy cuts deep: we claim to trust sovereignty yet hedge our bets with backup plans. True courage holds dreams loosely while gripping the Dream-Giver tightly. Maturity isn’t accumulating safety nets but accumulating testimonies of God catching you mid-leap. Every “what if I lose?” question gets answered by “what if He wins?” [35:48]

“But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
(Philippians 3:13-14, ESV)

Reflection: What practical step would look like “letting it ride” on God’s faithfulness in your current season?

Day 3: The Fourth Figure in Your Fire

Shadrach’s furnace held a fourth man—not a rescuer from flames but a companion through them. Courage isn’t about avoiding heat but discovering who walks beside you in it. The test of faith comes when deliverance doesn’t mean escape. Those who stand firm in crisis don’t just survive—they emerge without the smell of compromise. Every trial holds space for divine presence that transforms terror into awe, both for you and those watching. [05:33]

“He answered, ‘But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.’”
(Daniel 3:25, ESV)

Reflection: Where are you demanding rescue from fire instead of seeking the Friend who meets you in flames?

Day 4: Sunday School Faith in a Grown-Up World

Childhood Bible heroes weren’t naive—they faced giants, lions, and death with eyes wide open. Adult “wisdom” often dismisses their faith as kid stuff, forgetting these were historical people choosing radical obedience. The same Spirit that empowered David’s sling and Elijah’s altar fire lives in believers today. Recovering childlike faith means marrying gritty reality with divine possibility—recognizing Goliaths while grabbing smooth stones. [06:44]

“David said to the Philistine… ‘I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts… This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand.’”
(1 Samuel 17:45-46, ESV)

Reflection: What “adult” excuses have you made for avoiding battles God says are yours to fight?

Day 5: Voices That Mellow and Hands That Pray Boldness

The world—and often the church—dispenses courage tranquilizers: “Be reasonable.” Yet the early church prayed not for safety but greater boldness after jail threats. Surround yourself with voices that pull holy risk out of you, not those that medicate your divine discontent. Courage multiplies in communities where “you can’t” gets drowned out by “He can.” [25:24]

“And now, Lord… grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness… And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered was shaken.”
(Acts 4:29-31, ESV)

Reflection: Who needs you to grab their hands today and pray audacious courage over their God-sized calling?

Sermon Summary

Courage needs to be repeated because Scripture repeats it from beginning to end. The Holy Spirit in God’s people is not a back-then reality but present power, and fear does not fit children of the most powerful Being in existence. The stories learned as children, David before Goliath, Daniel among lions, three men in the furnace, Moses at the sea, Elijah on Carmel, all formed a simple confidence: “My God will come through.”

Fear, however, grows as life fills up. Parenting, jobs, money, education, criticism, failure, and the desire to be responsible can slowly calm down the faith that once believed God could do anything. The world calls that maturity, but the flesh loves playing it safe. God’s power gets replaced by human systems, careful plans, gifted personalities, and a cheap synthetic power that does not look like the power of the Holy Ghost.

Numbers 13 puts that contrast right in front of Israel. The ten spies see the same fruitful land Caleb sees, but they fix their eyes on fortified cities and giant men. Caleb sees the same giants and says, “Let’s go up at once,” because God has already shown His power. The ten spies call fear wisdom, spread a bad report, and make the hearts of the people melt. God calls their unbelief wickedness, because their complaint is not merely about giants but about whether He can keep His promise.

Joshua and Caleb stand as the two men who wholly follow the Lord when everybody else backs down. Forty-five years later, Caleb is eighty-five, still asking for the hill country where the giants live. Caleb does not claim confidence in his own flesh. Caleb says, “It may be that the Lord will be with me,” and that is enough to go take the land. His faith has not shrunk with age, responsibility, or disappointment. His courage has endured because God has remained God.

Faith should not get smaller as the stakes feel higher. The older years can make every step of obedience feel like more is on the table, but God’s calling does not become less trustworthy because homes, children, careers, or reputations are involved. The Spirit can put sin to death, sustain costly love, give courage to leave sinful relationships, and strengthen people to do what God has clearly called them to do. Caleb’s life says that the steps of faith God calls for will not be regretted forty-five years later.

Key Takeaways

1. God’s children should not live scared God’s power is the starting point for courage, not human personality or natural strength. Fear may be real, but fear cannot become the final interpreter of God’s promises. The children of a mighty God look strange when they live as though everything depends on their own ability. [12:40]
2. The ten spies made hearts melt The ten spies did not deny that the land was good. Their problem was that giant obstacles became bigger in their minds than the God who had split the sea. Unbelief often sounds responsible, but it spreads discouragement and trains others to distrust God. [18:28]
3. Caleb wholly followed the Lord Caleb stood nearly alone because he refused to measure the future by the size of the enemy. His confidence rested on God’s presence and God’s word, not on favorable circumstances. Wholehearted faith remains steady even when the crowd calls it foolish. [27:01]
4. Age should deepen courageous faith Caleb at eighty-five still wanted the hill country and the giants. Time had not made God less able, so time had not made Caleb content with a safe life. Faith that grows older should become more settled in God’s power, not more ruled by self-protection. [28:10]
5. God can still put sin to death The Holy Spirit does not merely help people manage what God commands them to kill. Sin often survives because discouraging voices deny that real change can happen. God’s promise gives courage to believe that the deeds of the flesh can truly be put to death. [38:12]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:44] - Why Courage Must Be Repeated
[03:32] - Remembering Fearless Bible Stories
[07:22] - When Life Calms Down Faith
[12:20] - Children of the Most Powerful God
[14:06] - Caleb and the Promised Land
[16:38] - The Report of the Twelve Spies
[19:37] - God’s Response to Unbelief
[25:58] - Caleb at Eighty-Five
[31:25] - Bigger Steps of Faith
[36:34] - Courage for Parents, Sin, and Relationships
[39:53] - Standing Alone in Faith

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Numbers 13:30-33
“But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, 'Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.' Then the men who had gone up with him said, 'We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.' So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, 'The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.” [16:50]

Joshua 14:6-12
“Then the people of Judah came to Joshua at Gilgal. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, 'You know what the LORD said to Moses the man of God in Kadesh-barnea concerning you and me. I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him word again as it was in my heart. But my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt; yet I wholly followed the LORD my God. And Moses swore on that day, saying, "Surely the land on which your foot has trodden shall be an inheritance for you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the LORD my God." And now, behold, the LORD has kept me alive, just as he said, these forty-five years since the time that the LORD spoke this word to Moses, while Israel walked in the wilderness. And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old. I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming. So now give me this hill country of which the LORD spoke on that day, for you heard on that day that the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. It may be that the LORD will be with me, and I shall drive them out just as the LORD said.” [26:23]

Numbers 14:26-30
“And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 'How long shall this wicked congregation grumble against me? I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel, which they grumble against me. Say to them, "As I live, declares the LORD, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you: your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have grumbled against me, not one shall come into the land where I swore that I would make you dwell, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.” [19:32]

Observation questions

What details do Caleb and the other spies agree on about the land, and what different conclusions do they draw from those same facts? [17:38]
What words do the ten spies use to describe themselves and the people in the land, and how do those words reveal their perspective? [17:58]
According to Numbers 14, what effect did the bad report have on the congregation, and how did God respond to their grumbling?
In Joshua 14, what does Caleb say about his strength, his age, the hill country, and the Lord’s presence? [27:51]

Interpretation questions

Why is the report of the ten spies more than a careful assessment of military danger? What does it show about their belief in God’s promise and power? [21:22]
Caleb sees the same giants and fortified cities as the other spies. What makes his response so different from theirs? [18:28]
The ten spies made the hearts of the people melt. How can fearful words that sound responsible or practical lead a whole group away from trusting God? [18:42]
Caleb still asks for difficult territory at eighty-five years old. What does his request show about wholehearted faith and about where his confidence is placed? [29:07]

Application questions

What is one “giant” in life right now—fear about parenting, money, work, criticism, failure, health, or something else—that has started to feel bigger than God’s power?
Has there been a time when fear was called “being responsible” or “being wise,” when it may actually have been a way of avoiding something God was calling for? What would faithful courage have looked like in that situation? [18:45]
Whose voices most often make faith shrink—voices from friends, family, culture, past failures, or personal insecurity? How can those voices be weighed against what God has clearly said? [30:22]
Caleb’s faith remained strong through forty-five years of waiting. Where has disappointment or delay made it tempting to stop praying, stop serving, or stop believing God can act?
Is there an area of ongoing sin that has been treated as something to manage rather than put to death? What would it look like to seek the Holy Spirit’s help, bring it into the light, and take a concrete next step toward obedience? [38:25]
How can this group become more like Joshua and Caleb for one another—speaking courage, praying boldly, and refusing to make each other’s hearts melt? [36:23]

Sermon Clips

“We're children of the most powerful being in existence. And it just looks weird when we're scared. It just does. From cover to cover, this is about one being who can do anything, who's confident, who's just sits there and goes, ‘Look, I'm the only one who holds the keys to life and death and everything else.’ All about, you know, from beginning to end is to show off his power. And so when his children are weak and scared, it just doesn't make sense.” [00:12:31]

“We may we may as well face it. The whole level of spirituality among us is low. We've measured ourselves by ourselves until the incentive to seek higher plateaus and the things of the spirit is all but gone. We've imitated the world, sought popular favor, manufactured delights to substitute for the joy of the Lord, and produced a cheap and synthetic power to substitute for the power of the Holy Ghost.” [00:15:09]

“Caleb must have looked like a fool for believing and so did Joshua. But 45 years later, and I'm telling you right now, whatever steps of faith God's calling you to take, I promise you, 45 years from now, you won't regret it.” [00:40:17]

“It's not about back then. It's it's about always. It's about ever since the beginning of this book and all the way to the end, the followers of God were filled with courage. There was a fearlessness in them. There was a confidence of my God will come through.” [00:01:35]

“I'm further along in my years, but why don't I believe like I used to? As I grow in my knowledge, I want my courage and my boldness to grow with it. Not not the opposite.” [00:13:37]

“Why? And I go, ‘They still believe. They still believe that God could do anything, like anything, and they live like it. And and they're looking for 40-year-old guys with kids that'll still do crazy things. And they need to believe that God is still God. Not just when he was when we were little kids, but when we're 40, when we're 80, just go, ‘Man, I'm going to go for it.’ God's done some amazing things throughout time.” [00:08:53]

“Do you resemble Joshua and Caleb? Or do you resemble everyone else who's looking at the problems in life, looking at God's calling for your life and things that he's asked you to do, and you just start listening to those voices telling you you can't do this, you can't do anything great.” [00:22:25]

“When's the last time you just went and did something that was just absolutely insane in the eyes of everyone else, but you had the confidence? You knew it was what God was calling you to do.” [00:13:49]

“I want to walk around like a child of God, a true child of God who's fearless, who's courageous, cuz that's what they did. That's what followers of Yahweh have been marked by this power and this confidence of my God will come through.” [00:13:12]

“For the most part, we start to lose that courage. We get knocked down here and there and then people start telling you you can't pull it off and and our faith and that risk and that courage just seems to subside and and it's not right. It's it's not good. That's not that's not how we want to live.” [00:07:31]

“So now give me this hill country of which the Lord spoke on that day. For you heard on that day how the Anakim were there with great fortified cities. It may be that the Lord will be with me and I shall drive them out just as the Lord said.” [00:28:05]

“I was 40 years old when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land. And I brought him word again as it was in my heart. But my brothers who went up with me made the heart of the people melt. Yet I wholly followed the Lord my God.” [00:27:03]

“To be those bold people, those courageous people. And I just want to remind you week after week about how much power is in you, those who have the Holy Spirit of God inside of you.” [00:03:18]

“I may be the one guy that keeps telling you to believe in the power that's in you, the Holy Spirit that's in you. Um there we we we live in a world where everyone's telling you you can't pull this off.” [00:01:07]

“I, the Lord, have spoken. Surely this will I do. All this wicked generation who are gathered against me in this wilderness, they shall come to a full end, and there they shall die.” [00:20:44]

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Why Are Christians So Afraid? | Francis Chan