Strong and Courageous

Welcome back to Day 5 of our Advent journey! Today we’re talking about a tiny town… a town most people didn’t care about… a town God chose on purpose. Bethlehem. Micah 5:2 says, “Though you are small… out of you will come the One who will be ruler over Israel.” Isn’t it just like God to choose the place no one expects? Bethlehem wasn’t fancy. It wasn’t big. It wasn’t important. But on Christmas ni...

Welcome to Day 4 of our Christmas Advent Countdown! Today we’re jumping into a prophecy from Isaiah — a message spoken 700 years before Christmas morning. Isaiah 7:14 says, “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and they will call Him Immanuel.” And Immanuel means… God with us. That’s what Christmas is all about. Not just lights… or gifts… or music… Christmas is the moment God stepped...

Hey friends! Welcome to Day 3 of our Christmas countdown! Today we’re talking about King David — and how Christmas connects to him too. God promised David that one day, a King from his family line would come. Not just any king… but a forever King. A King who would never lose His throne. That King is Jesus — the baby who would be born in Bethlehem, wrapped in cloths, and laid in a manger. And here’...

Hey everyone, welcome back to Day 2 of our Advent countdown! Yesterday we talked about the very first promise of a Savior. Today, the story moves forward — and God chooses someone new. His name? Abraham. Now Abraham wasn’t perfect, he wasn’t famous, and he definitely wasn’t expecting God to pick him. But God said, “Abraham, I’m going to make you into a great nation, and through you, the whole worl...

Hey Strong & Courageous family! Welcome to Day 1 of our 14-day Advent journey — a countdown all the way to the birth of Jesus! Today we’re going all the way back… like allllll the way back… to the beginning. Adam and Eve, the garden, the moment sin entered the world. Everything changed that day — things got broken, people were separated from God, and darkness stepped in. But here’s the beautif...

📖 Philippians 4:4 — “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” Joy doesn’t always come naturally. Sometimes it’s something we have to choose. When Paul wrote this verse — “Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again, rejoice!” — he wasn’t sitting on a beach or celebrating a big victory. He was actually in prison. He had been beaten, chained, and abandoned by people he trusted...

Hey friends! Welcome back to Strong and Courageous! Have you ever faced something that felt too big for you? Maybe it was a hard test at school, a fight with a friend, or something scary happening in your family. Sometimes we face situations that make us think, “I don’t know what to do!” That’s exactly how a man named King Jehoshaphat felt when his enemies surrounded him. But instead of panicking…...

Hey friends! Welcome back to Strong and Courageous! Have you ever shared something small — like half your sandwich, a few dollars, or some of your time — and later realized it made a big difference? Sometimes the little things we do for others open the door for big miracles. That’s exactly what happened to a woman in the Bible who decided to bless someone with what she had. There was a woman who l...

Hey friends! Welcome back to Strong and Courageous! Have you ever seen someone get something you wanted — maybe your friend got a new phone, someone else got picked first, or a classmate got a higher grade — and you felt that little twist inside that says, “Why not me?” That feeling is called jealousy. And if we’re not careful, it can steal the joy and thankfulness right out of our hearts. In the...

Hey friends! Welcome back to Strong and Courageous! Have you ever taken a picture to remember something special — like a birthday or a big win? The Israelites didn’t have cameras, but God told them to make a special “photo” of their own — with rocks! After God helped His people cross the Jordan River on dry ground, Joshua told them to take twelve stones from the middle of the river. He said, “Stac...

Hey friends! Welcome back to Strong and Courageous! Have you ever wanted more — maybe a new game, a new phone, or something someone else has — and forgot to thank God for what’s already in your hands? It happens to all of us. Sometimes we get so focused on what’s next that we miss how good we have it right now. A long time ago, God rescued the Israelites from being slaves in Egypt. He promised to...

Hey friends! Welcome back to Strong and Courageous! Have you ever felt like you were stuck waiting for something to change — maybe waiting for a prayer to be answered or for life to get better? Waiting can be really hard, especially when it feels like nothing’s happening. But even in the waiting, God is still working. In the Bible, there was a man named Joseph. He loved God and always tried to do...

Hey friends! Welcome back to Strong and Courageous! Have you ever been so hungry that you just couldn’t wait to eat? Maybe you skipped breakfast, and by lunchtime, you were ready to eat anything. That’s kind of what happened to a guy in the Bible named Esau — except his hunger didn’t just cost him lunch… it cost him something much bigger. Esau and Jacob were twin brothers, but Esau was born first....

Hey friends! Welcome back to Strong and Courageous! Have you ever been in a situation where you felt pressure to fit in — maybe everyone around you was doing something you knew wasn’t right, and you didn’t want to be the only one to stand out? It’s not easy to go against the crowd, but sometimes following God means standing firm even when it’s hard. Today, we’re talking about three brave young men...

Hey friends! Welcome back to Strong and Courageous! Have you ever been scared during a storm? Maybe the thunder was so loud it shook the windows, or lightning flashed so bright it lit up your whole room. Sometimes, when things get dark and noisy, it’s easy to feel afraid — not just of storms outside, but of the “storms” in our lives too. Maybe something at school is hard, or a friendship is rocky,...

Hey friends! Welcome back to Strong and Courageous! Have you ever broken something really special — maybe your favorite toy, a bracelet, or something you made — and thought, “It’s ruined”? Sometimes our hearts can feel like that, too. We make mistakes, we mess up, or we feel like we don’t fit in anymore. But I want to tell you a story about a woman Jesus met who felt exactly like that. One hot aft...

Hey friends! Welcome back to Strong and Courageous! Today, we’re learning about gratitude. Have you ever gotten a gift or a treat and felt really happy? Being thankful is about noticing and appreciating the good things God gives us every day. 📖 Verse: 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says: ‘Give thanks in all circumstances.’ Being thankful isn’t just about saying ‘thanks’ when you get something. It’s about h...

📖 Job 1:21 — “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Job had everything — a family, success, wealth — and then in one day, he lost it all. Most people would’ve turned their back on God. But Job did something shocking. He fell to the ground… and worshiped. He didn’t pretend it didn’t hurt. He cried, grieved, and asked questions — but even through tears, he sa...

📖 Exodus 17:8–13 In Exodus 17, the Israelites were in a battle against the Amalekites. Moses went up on a hill to watch the fight, and God gave him a strange instruction — as long as Moses kept his hands lifted, Israel would win. So he raised his hands — but after a while, they got heavy. His arms started to shake. Every time he lowered them, the enemy began to win again. That’s when two men — Aa...

📖 Matthew 10:30 — “And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” You are so special to God. Sometimes we think God only cares about the big things — like major life decisions, miracles, or moments at church. But the Bible says He even knows how many hairs are on your head. That means He pays attention to every tiny detail of your life — even the parts no one else sees. He knows when you...

📖 Proverbs 26:11 — “As a dog returns to its vomit, so also a fool repeats his foolishness.” Okay… this one’s kind of gross. The Bible says, “As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his foolishness.” Yep, it’s nasty. But that’s exactly why you’ll remember it — because God wanted it to stick. Here’s what it means: when we keep going back to the same mistakes, same bad habits, or same unwis...

📖 Philippians 4:4 — “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” Joy doesn’t always come naturally. Sometimes it’s something we have to choose. When Paul wrote this verse — “Rejoice in the Lord always, I will say it again, rejoice!” — he wasn’t sitting on a beach or celebrating a big victory. He was actually in prison. He had been beaten, chained, and abandoned by people he trusted...

God Finishes What He Starts 📖 Philippians 1:6 — “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” Sometimes we look at our lives and feel like we’re still under construction — still struggling, still learning, still trying to get it right. It can be discouraging when you don’t feel like you’ve...

God Can Use a Donkey 📖 Numbers 22:28 — “Then the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth, and it said to Balaam, ‘What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?’” You’re not going to believe this story — it’s one of the funniest and most unexpected moments in the entire Bible. There was a man named Balaam who was on his way to do something that God didn’t want him to do. He was riding his...

Hey friends! Today I want to tell you a story from the Bible about a woman who couldn’t stop looking back. God was about to destroy two very wicked cities called Sodom and Gomorrah because of all the evil happening there. But before it happened, He sent two angels to rescue a man named Lot and his family. The angels told them, “Hurry! Run for your lives! Don’t look back!” So Lot, his wife, and the...