There are a lot of scary things going on right now in the world. What should we be afraid of? To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage means that instead of obeying fear, we will live by faith. There will be times in our lives where all we have to go on is God's word. If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you will go through some horrifying things. If you don't follow Jesus, you should be terrified, for there is no hope for you. Are you ready to meet Jesus?
We stand firm in the Lord by realizing that God is in control and He will take care of us. Our confidence needs to be in the Lord alone. While we are living this life, we need to cast off anything that does not follow God's plan. The Bible does not say, do not feel anxious, it says, do not be anxious. Likewise, the Bible does not say, do not feel fear, it says, do not be afraid. We can always find a reason to rejoice. If people imitate us, what will they be doing? We need to imitate the good things that we see others doing.
God's word says that if we are His child, we are united with Christ. That should excite us! We should consider others better than ourselves. God is love and His love cannot be earned. Our attitudes should be the same as Christ Jesus. Jesus is God. God became a man so that He could die and save us. We are changed from the inside out. We need to find our identity in Christ.