This page is provided so that you can hear the tunes of items which we use in church. Mostly they are written by the vicar. Please note that they are copyright - we are very happy to give permission to you to use them, but we would like to hear about it. Please include any use on your Christian Copyright Licence returns.
Down this page:
- the words,
- the story,
- the sheet music,
- media player.
Be strong and very courageous
Be strong and very courageous
Be strong and very courageous,
for God will be with you;
be strong and very courageous,
in everything that you do.
Be strong and very courageous ...
Get ready to cross the river,
and take the Promised Land:
for I am God the Giver,
and I will make you stand;
Be strong and very courageous ...
Be careful to read the bible,
and do the things I say.
And then you'll be successful,
I'll keep you safe each day.
Be strong and very courageous ...
I always took care of Moses,
and showed him what to do;
and if you follow Jesus,
then I'll take care of you.
Be strong and very courageous ...
Be strong and very courageous ...
Words and music copyright © John Hartley 2006. Based on Joshua 1:1-9.
Story behind the song
There's a very famous Christian song "Be bold, be strong, for the Lord your God is with you" (Morris Chapman, (c) 1983 Word Music UK) on this bible passage, and it's one of the favourites of our local school children. But while doing a series of school collective worship services on the general theme of trusting God and not being afraid, I wondered if there was room for the children to learn another song which would express the same verses in a different way. A song that would in particular say that God wants us to follow his ways, and his promise to look after us also comes with the instruction that we should be careful to pay attention to his ways as expressed to us in the bible.
So here it is!
John Hartley
Windows Media Player. When you click the left-hand "play" button your computer should have started to play the tune. If it didn't, you might be able to get the tune by clicking here, or by right-clicking the link, choosing "save target as", saving it onto your computer, and then opening it with a music-playing program.
Please remember that a midi file of a tune isn't supposed to be a state-of-the-art musical arrangement - it is only supposed to give a basic idea of how the tune goes. Any reasonable organist / keyboard player / music group could make it sound far better.