Praise the Lord for
this new day. Praise the Lord for the rest that He offers us as His wonderful
gift. Praise the Lord for all His provisions for the journey that we take in
this life. Praise the Lord for all His promises along the way. Praise the Lord
for His power that He bestows upon us all the way.
In the Book Joshua
the words STRONG AND COURAGEOUS occur together three different times in the
first 9 verses of the first chapter, each with a different emphasis. The first
time he used those words, he described the POSSESSION that God has given His
people. In verse 7, he explained that after He gives us the POSSESSION in verse
6, he clearly shows us the PERSEVERANCE that is required of us to claim the
PROMISES that He mentions in verse 9.
As Joshua stood to receive his instruction from the Lord he had to be awed. He could see for miles in every direction, mountains on one side, the ocean on another, and an incredible expanse everywhere he turned. God described the possession as he told him in verses 3-5, " I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates--all the Hittite country--to the Great Sea on the west. No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life".
Think of it! The land is yours, everywhere you walk, so you can go in and clean it up, and clean it out. No one will be able to stand against you, because it is God who has gone before you. When you stop to think about it, that is what God gives the believer. Christ has won the victory for us and by faith we are able to claim it, because it is His to give. The incredible expanse of the Christian life, the entire vista, is ours! If we are devoted to Him, we cannot measure it.
We can compare our Christian walk with the entire book of Joshua. In verses 3 and 4, the desert and the great river are mentioned. Believers, growing in grace, walking with the Lord, are guaranteed to see some dry places and some very deep water. The mere mention in verse five that no one can stand against you means that there’s going to be someone trying to do just that. It’s almost as if the writer of Joshua knew what we as believers would be going through many years, even centuries, later. The same battles that Israel fought against a physical foe are the same ones we battle on the spiritual front. For many of us, while we are confident of our salvation in Christ, it still seems that almost every day there is conflict. Sometimes that conflict is a skirmish, while at other times it is a full blown battle.
From the moment we believe, we have Christ’s promises of peace. We have His assurance that He will never leave or forsake us, and that He gives us peace that passes understanding. We are forgiven, redeemed, a new creation. At the same time, as we take our journey in this life in Christ, as His redeemed and loved, the battle begins. There is much to be conquered. We wrestle with the works of the flesh (Galatians 5) Most of the time this is a painful process that we would rather not go through. However, the Lord of the battle does not give us the entire victory all at once. There are victories that the Lord must give quickly, lest we perish, but there are other battles that must be fought daily. We must never be complacent in our walk. As we yield to Christ, as we trust and obey, God gives us the victory. He that begins the good work will complete it. We can always be confident of the outcome, but it is a battle that will never end this side of glory.
2 Peter 1:3-4 tells us "According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises.....
May we walk in His grace and in His victory today. Blessed be His Name
"Teach me. O God, to use all the circumstances of my life to-day that they may bring forth in me the fruits of holiness rather than the fruits of sin.
Let me use disappointment as material for patience:
Let me use success as material for thankfulness:
Let me use suspense as material for perseverance:
Let me use danger as material for courage:
Let me use reproach as material for long-suffering:
Let me use praise as material for humility:
Let me use pleasures as material for temperance:
Let me use pains as material for endurance."
~John Baillie's A
Diary of Private Prayer
As Joshua stood to receive his instruction from the Lord he had to be awed. He could see for miles in every direction, mountains on one side, the ocean on another, and an incredible expanse everywhere he turned. God described the possession as he told him in verses 3-5, " I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates--all the Hittite country--to the Great Sea on the west. No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life".
Think of it! The land is yours, everywhere you walk, so you can go in and clean it up, and clean it out. No one will be able to stand against you, because it is God who has gone before you. When you stop to think about it, that is what God gives the believer. Christ has won the victory for us and by faith we are able to claim it, because it is His to give. The incredible expanse of the Christian life, the entire vista, is ours! If we are devoted to Him, we cannot measure it.
We can compare our Christian walk with the entire book of Joshua. In verses 3 and 4, the desert and the great river are mentioned. Believers, growing in grace, walking with the Lord, are guaranteed to see some dry places and some very deep water. The mere mention in verse five that no one can stand against you means that there’s going to be someone trying to do just that. It’s almost as if the writer of Joshua knew what we as believers would be going through many years, even centuries, later. The same battles that Israel fought against a physical foe are the same ones we battle on the spiritual front. For many of us, while we are confident of our salvation in Christ, it still seems that almost every day there is conflict. Sometimes that conflict is a skirmish, while at other times it is a full blown battle.
From the moment we believe, we have Christ’s promises of peace. We have His assurance that He will never leave or forsake us, and that He gives us peace that passes understanding. We are forgiven, redeemed, a new creation. At the same time, as we take our journey in this life in Christ, as His redeemed and loved, the battle begins. There is much to be conquered. We wrestle with the works of the flesh (Galatians 5) Most of the time this is a painful process that we would rather not go through. However, the Lord of the battle does not give us the entire victory all at once. There are victories that the Lord must give quickly, lest we perish, but there are other battles that must be fought daily. We must never be complacent in our walk. As we yield to Christ, as we trust and obey, God gives us the victory. He that begins the good work will complete it. We can always be confident of the outcome, but it is a battle that will never end this side of glory.
2 Peter 1:3-4 tells us "According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises.....
May we walk in His grace and in His victory today. Blessed be His Name
"Teach me. O God, to use all the circumstances of my life to-day that they may bring forth in me the fruits of holiness rather than the fruits of sin.
Let me use disappointment as material for patience:
Let me use success as material for thankfulness:
Let me use su
Let me use danger as material for courage:
Let me use reproach as material for long-suffering:
Let me use praise as material for humility:
Let me use pleasures as material for temperance:
Let me use pains as material for endurance."
~John Baillie's
In Christ
,
Brown
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