A few days ago I was watching a Christian TV Network during lunch and found myself watching this lady who was talking about dreaming big dreams and writing them down in order to consistently pray for them and speak truth over them. I had never thought of going that far with things before. She even goes to the point of putting pictures in her journal to give her a vision of what her dream is. (Because, without a vision the people will perish.) By the end of the show I was hooked on this idea! I loved it! So I immediately went over to my desk and pulled out my notebook and started writing down my dreams big and small for the coming year and beyond.
But then at the very end of the show she said something that really struck a spiritual chord inside my gut. You know how sometimes someone can say something and you can actually feel the words hit your spirit. This was one of those times. She said that the purpose of the journal was so that when Satan starts to attack whatever dream God has placed into your heart you can point to that journal and say, “It is written”.
Could you feel that? “It is written”. Those words have POWER! Now think of that power being directed with a fine-point straight towards the goals and dreams that God has placed on your heart. Oh yeah, that’s good stuff right there isn’t it!?!
So today, as I’ve gone through a semi-stressful day, I’ve been reaching out to God for the answers I need to just get through this week. I had read today’s Word of the Day, but I didn’t really read it with much gusto, I’ll admit. Battles, battles, battles, blah, blah, blah. I muddled through it and crossed it off my list, done. But then I hit that moment where I was too stressed about my situation to move any father forward in my day and I was done trying. And it hit me. What is it that this blog is all about anyway? The big point is to realize that no matter what we’re reading in the Bible there is at least one word in that passage that WILL speak to my personal need in my daily personal moment of breakdown. (It will either prevent it, or mend it, one or the other.) So with new resolve I snatched up my Bible determinedly and said out loud, “I KNOW there is something in here that applies to me today and I’m going to find it!” And I didn’t have to look hard either. I had already underlined it. LOL.
“And these are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the people of Israel defeated on the west side of the Jordan, from Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon to Mount Halak, that rises toward Seir (and Joshua gave their land to the tribes of Israel as a possession according to their allotments, in the hill country, in the lowland, in the Arabah, in the slopes, in the wilderness, and in the Negeb, the land of the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites); the king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, which is beside Bethel, one; the king of Jerusalem, one; the king of Hebron, one; the king of Jarmuth, one; the king of Lachish, one; the king of Eglon, one; the king of Geser, one; the king of Debir, one; the king of Geder, one; the king of Hormah, one; the king of Arad, one; the king of Libnah, one; the king of Adullam, one; the king of Makkedah, one; the king of Bethel, one; the king of Tappuah, one; the king of Hepher, one; the king of Aphek, one; the king of Lasharon, one; the king of Madon, one; the king of Hazor, one; the king of Shimron-meron, one; the king of Schshaph, one; the king of Taanach,one; the king of Megiddo, one; the king of Kedesh, one; the king of Jokneam in Carmel,one; the king of Dor in Naphath-dor, one; the king of Goiim in Galilee, one; the king of Tirzah, one; in all, thirty-one kings.”
Now, when I first underlined all that, I did so because we’ve been watching the Lord of the Rings trilogy lately and this made me immediately think of the battle scene when Legolas and his dwarf friend Gimli are counting their kills. It made me smile.
So when I went back to my Bible searching for my personal word of the day, that’s immediately where my eyes fell. And the Holy Spirit spoke straight to my heart, “ONE”.
In order to gain the land God had promised to them, Joshua and his men didn’t fight all those kings at one time. They fought them one, by one, by one. The last verse says it all:
“in all, thirty-ONE kings.”
And just like those kings, we can’t take more than ONE step at a time. We can’t fight more than one battle at a time; we can’t complete more than one item on our “To Do” lists. And I think that’s what Satan tries to get us to do. I think he tries to make us THINK that we have to get everything done all at once. We don’t.
God doesn’t give us a whole day at a time; we only get one second at a time. Probably because the whole day in one second would kill us most of the time!
One of my tried and true verses is Psalm 16:9
“Although man plans the way, the LORD guides his steps.”
It’s good for us to plan things out. It’s good to have a general idea of where we’re going. BUT GOD guides our steps.
God knows the grand picture and we don’t. And especially when we’re surrendered to Him, but I’ve found that even when we’re not, God still guides our steps. We may have things planned out ten years in advance, but ultimately it’s GOD who guides our steps.
According to Job 14:16 & 31:37, our steps are numbered. That means that God knows how many steps we will take and where they will fall and where they will lead us (good or bad). He knows, because He cares. And He cares because He took the time to carefully knit us together in our mother’s womb, fearfully and wonderfully in His image. Now I don’t know about you but it isn’t often that I take 9-10 months knitting something together in my womb just to cast it out and forget all about it.
Think, for a minute, about your child’s first step. There was a LOT of falling involved was there not? And yet, slowly but surely their steps became more confident and secure. God knew about those steps. As precious as they were to us and as carefully as we watched them, God watched them all the more carefully and they were all the more precious to Him. But as their steps became more secure we began to look away from their feet. Their individual steps didn’t matter so much anymore… to us. But God has kept on watching.
All throughout our lives, from the first step to the last, God has watched each and every SINGLE step of your life. From baby booties, to those wedding heels walking down the aisle and beyond, He has kept a close eye on your steps and where each and every one of them has fallen. Because He cares that much about YOU.
My friends, it is written.
God has written a dream on your heart, follow it. Allow yourself the freedom to follow your feet and find yourself venturing down a yellow brick road filled with lions, tigers and bears, and friends, and fortune and favor. God is the one who holds the keys to your future; allow Him to open those doors for you that no one can shut. And ask Him to close the doors you shouldn’t be going through.
Tamar Knochel 