Joshua 11:1-15:8

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.

Joshua 8:18-10:43

His love for you qualifies you to do things you couldn’t do without Him. His love for you edifies you and makes you into who you need to be to complete the task given to you. His love for you emboldens you to step out of the boat mid stormy seas and raging winds. His love for you steadies you and helps you balance on the unsteady waters of life. His love for you guides you in the way you should go, it KEEPS you from going astray. His love for you compels you to good works and loving your neighbor and even praying for your enemy. His love for you is more powerful than you could ever imagine and comes in a never-ending supply – all for YOU! Today God wants me to tell you that He thinks you’re worthy of His love if only you would take possession of it.

Joshua 5:1-8:17

Last night while I was making dinner God hit me with this whopper:

Jesus was walking on the water and called out to Peter, “Come”, so Peter, “came”. But then when Peter looked at what he was doing he sank and Jesus said, “Ye of little faith.”

Why?

Peter obviously had enough faith in Jesus to step OUT OF THE BOAT during a storm. So who was it that he didn’t have faith in?

Himself.

It hit me like a ton of bricks. The reason I so often don’t see the results I want is because of my lack of faith in… me. Now, I don’t care who you are, that’s profound right there.

Joshua 1:1-4:24

We start the book of Joshua with a death, the death of Moses. At this verse God tells me that “there will always be a death preceding the victory. There is something that has to die in order for you to move forward, further into the Promised Land. And the death won’t be just any death; it will be the death of something big and quite possibly good. It’s something (or someone) that has faithfully led you for YEARS through the wilderness experience that you’ve been going through. But in order for you to move on into The Promised Land your “Moses” has to die because it’s not isn’t allowed in. This is where the two of you have to part and go your separate ways.

The second part of this verse includes a command from God to Joshua to “arise” and “go”. Joshua isn’t allowed a time to mourn the death of Moses, at least not in this part of the narrative. And so while we may be oh so tempted to linger and moan at the wall for our “lost leader”, we can’t because by golly we’ve got a Promised Land to take control of!

Now here’s the part that I love. Here’s Joshua, he has lived his entire life in the shadow of THE Moses. And now all the sudden Moses is gone and it’s Joshua’s job to lead these people into victory. I can see how that would be incredibly intimidating for anyone. And God understands that all too well. So His one command to Joshua (in 1:6, 1:7, 1:9 and 1:8) is to “Be strong and courageous”. And He doesn’t just say it once, He says it over and over and over to make SURE that Joshua gets it.

In 1:6 we read, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.”

Joshua needs to be strong and courageous because it is strength and courage that will cause the people to inherit the land.

No pressure. (*whispered aside*: That was sarcasm, if it didn’t read in well enough.)

But then in 1:7 we read:

“Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses My servant commanded you.”

This one is slightly more helpful because it’s explaining HOW Joshua can be strong and courageous, through following the law that Moses gave. Except… what if they don’t? What if they miss something? What if they can’t? What if they run out of sacrifices on the battlefield, or they mess something up. Then what? It’s all on Joshua’s head again, no pressure.

Then the third time in 1:9 God says to him, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

Ahhhhh! Here we go. This is the key, the whole key necessary to conquering the Promised Land. We can be strong and we can be courageous because, why?

For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go!

How is this important for us today? Well, in verse thirteen God explains it to us, “The LORD your God is providing you a place of rest and will give you this land.” The Promised Land is a place of REST. It’s a place where we can put down everything we’re carrying, sit down in the recliner and put our feet up knowing that God’s got it all under control. He’s got our back and we have nothing to fear. Period. Like a child sleeping through the wildest storms, in peace, because they are completely secure in their parents’ ability and willingness to care for them and keep them safe at all times in all ways. That’s rest. Wouldn’t it be great to abide there?

Well according to Joshua chapter 1, in order to gain control over your Promised Land you have to be:

1. Strong and Courageous and
2. Willing to stand up for it and FIGHT!

But here’s the thing, you want to know what Moses told these people at the Red Sea before it opened up and Pharaoh’s army was charging toward them ready to attack? He said, “The LORD will fight for you, you need only to be still.” (Exodus 14:14) And what is it that God said in Joshua 1:9? “Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

He is ALWAYS with you and will NEVER forsake you, no not EVER. That’s a promise you can take to the bank, and you should! His presence in your life is POWERFUL. And all too often we allow Satan to help us forget that. If you are saved, then God is WITH you, everywhere that you go. And that’s a really big deal my friend. Whether it’s to the bars or at church, He’s with you.

After God is finished giving Joshua his pep talk, Joshua then goes and talks to the troops. And what is it that he reminds the tribes whose part of the Promised Land is the land they’re already in? He tells them to remember that they are to help their brothers fight for their part of the Promised Land.

We’re in this together my friends. We are not individuals in the sense that we have to fight this battle for our Promise alone. We’re all on the same team, and we need to remember to act like that. I can tell you right now that there are people out there that I absolutely could NOT do this ministry without them. And the vast majority of them aren’t that hands-on involved in the ministry… but they’re praying. There is so much more power in prayer than most of us could ever hope or imagine. If you do nothing else for your fellow man’s piece of the Promised Land, PRAY for them!!! We’re all in this together.

In 1:15 we read, “Then you shall return to the land of your possession and shall posses it, the land that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise.”

This was one of the big lessons I learned at the conference this weekend. Possession. It’s 9/10ths of the law you know. LOL. But seriously, think of it this way. Jesus died on the cross and paid for the gift of Grace for every human being that had or would ever live. So picture that Grace wrapped up in a nice little box. And there’s one box for each of us. OK. Has the gift been paid for? Yup. Is it for us? Yup. Ahhhh! But when does it become OURS? Not until we RECEIVE it.

I can have a closet full of toys for my kids, but they don’t belong to my kids until they receive them. Mmmmm… but even then, what good are toys once they have been received if they are not used? What was the point of me spending all my husband’s hard earned money on toys for my kids if they NEVER play with them?

Then how is it, do you think, that Jesus feels when He’s literally poured blood, sweat and tears into the most priceless gift anyone could ever receive and then they don’t receive that gift and USE it? In order to take possession of our Promised Land, we have to open up that gift of Grace, take it out of the box and USE it. We have to read the instruction manual that came with it (the Bible in case you were wondering), and we have to learn about all the nifty things that this thing “Grace” includes. And boy, if you think you’re new smart phone has a lot of apps, you should see Grace!!! Woo!

You see it’s not enough to just know about the Promised Land, or even to stand there and stare at it from across the river; you were BORN to posses it; to take complete and total control over it. His PEACE is yours. It belongs to YOU His Beloved Bride.

Tell me, in the face of pure evil and darkness, can you be strong? Is it possible?

Bear in mind the simple truth that we were created human with an innate weakness that would REQUIRE a strength that is not our own in order to survive.

No, we were not created to be strong under our own power, BUT rather strong through HIS power.

And how about courage? Knowing there isn’t enough strength in our own bones to carry us through doesn’t really instill courage does it? But what is it that Joshua 1:9 says? “Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is WITH you wherever you go.”

How is it that we can stand and fight the face of evil for our Promised Rest? We remember that it’s not OUR strength or courage we rely on, it’s HIS. We remember that through Christ we can do all things. We remember that all things are possible for those who believe in His strength and His might, but most importantly, His love for YOU.