The Bible says in John 8: 36, “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” There are many people that call themselves Christians that are still bound. Why is this happening to so many that say they are born-again? I am sure that there is more than one answer. Let me suggest these:
1. These people are not truly born–again.
2. They don’t know who they are in Christ.
3. They may be born–again but they are not completely sold out to the Lord yet.
4. They are still babes in Christ just kind of stagnating and not growing.
5. They never spend time in the Word, or in prayer seeking the Lord.
These are some reasons and there may be a number of other reasons.
Think about this scenario let me give you my version of a story I read not long ago.A man lost a goat which had been reported stolen and killed and dumped alongside the road. The man found out where the goat was and went to fetch it, but when he got to where the goat was he found its legs tied but the goat was still alive. The man untied the animal’s legs but the goat would not get up or move its legs no matter what the man did. The goat thought that it was still bound.The animal would not move or believe it was set free until the man picked it up and put it on its feet again.
This is the problem that many Christians might have, although they have been set free they act like they are still bound. The tragedy is that some are taught that if they were an alcoholic, or something else, they will always be that way. I am here to say that statement is not true. If you are born–again and the Lord has set you free from drugs or alcohol or anything else you are set free indeed! Praise God!
I have said this before but it is well worth repeating again, I was set free of drugs and alcohol and cigarettes around 32 years ago and I have never went back to them. Praise God! I am not alone, there are many, many others that have been set free of these things and are still free after many, many years being bound by them plus other things. I don’t say this bragging on myself, no, I humbly praise my God for His delivering power in which I can’t thank and praise Him enough. I think if I was still in that lifestyle I probably would not have lived this long, or I would have been a very miserable person, no, it is only by God’s mercy and grace I have been delivered and set free.
When anyone is drawn by God, the Father, to Jesus Christ, God’s Son, and that person is convicted by the Holy Spirit of his sin and he repents of his sin and is truly sorry and confesses his sins and asks for God’s forgiveness, I believe he will be born–again and he will be set free of sins grip on his life.
It seems to be a common thing that many believers think that God hasn’t forgiven them even after they have confessed their sins and repented of them. Because of this, many are still bound and fearful thinking God is a hard task master.
This shows that they don’t believe that God really loves them so their love for God is not perfected. The Bible says in 1st John , “There is no fear in love but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” Verse 19 says, “We love Him because He first loved us.”
Remember Jesus came to give His life a ransom for many. He shed His blood for the forgiveness of sins. In 1 John 1: 9 it says, “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.”
So don’t listen to the lies of the devil, rebuke him and tell him to get behind you, he is a liar and the father of all lies. He comes only to kill, steal and destroy, don’t let him have his way in your life. No if you have been set free you are free indeed. So start believing it and start praising God and stand on the promises in His word. Jesus came to set us free and to give us an abundant life. Have a great day!
P.S. Don’t forget to thank and praise the Lord for setting you free. May God bless you!
How do you respond to a miracle? People seem to look at miracles in different ways--some in shock, others in disbelief, others with jealousy, some with curiosity and others in fear.
Sometimes God works miracles using people to perform them but man cannot do them any other way.
What is a miracle anyway? It is something that man cannot duplicate. Remember, if man can do it, it is not a miracle. Only God can perform a miracle because nothing is impossible with Him. I have been watching a program on T. V. that is called, “It’s a Miracle” with Sid Roth, I have seen many miraculous things on this program. I don’t like to miss it because it is such an encouragement to me. I believe we should see many more miracles today than we do. The only reason we don’t, I think, is because of our lifestyles and our lack of faith.
I don’t believe in miracles because of what others say but because I have had a miraculous healing in my life.I also was born-again which was another miracle and I was delivered from drugs and alcohol. Praise the Lord!
Let’s discuss this issue a little bit.
Question: what do you think hinders the working of miracles today in our country? This country was founded on freedom of religion and Christian values and principles. Most of our Presidents in the early days of our country’s history were Christians and lived that way. They believed the Word of God was to be studied and meditated on and lived out in their lives. As I was typing this lesson I thought about what history teaches us.
If you know anything about the Old Testament you know about the Kings. I think the Bible teaches that as the leaders go, the country goes because the leaders have a great influence on the people they rule over. Many of the Kings in the Old Testament did evil in the eyes of the Lord and led Israel into sin. When the Kings were evil the people were influenced to do evil. This brought God’s wrath on the people instead of His blessings and it stopped the flow of miracles. Where there are miracles there has to be faith. Faith does not reside where there is unbelief.
There were also some Kings that did good in the eyes of the Lord, they led the people in the right direction.Righteousness exalts a nation, evil brings a nation down. In the Old Testament, God’s people lived by the law. In those days God performed miracles to prove Himself to His people and to pour out His mercy and grace on them and also to protect them from their enemies and even themselves.
Today we live in the day of grace and the Bible says that the righteous will live by faith. Jesus said if you have the faith of a mustard seed you could say to this mulberry tree to uproot itself and jump into the sea and it would be done or you could tell a mountain to be removed and it would be moved. These things could only be done if you have, at least, the faith the size of a mustard seed.
This reminds me of a story about a boy that was dying and he wanted to see the ocean before he died. The problem was that there was a mountain between him and the ocean and the boy couldn’t be moved. That was the one thing he really wanted and guess what it happened construction workers came in and eventually with machines moved the mountain and before the boy died he was able to see the ocean. Praise God. Faith always brings about God’s blessings. You might say it moves the hand of God.
In our country we don’t call our leaders Kings we call them Presidents. These Presidents have a lot of influence over the people they preside over, just like the Kings did in the Old Testament. They have the authority to sign laws into being. These laws either stand for good or evil and they can bring about God’s blessings or His wrath.
The Bible says, “That God is the same yesterday, today and forever, He doesn’t change by turning and He is not a man that He should lie.”
I believe that miracles should be a natural part of any Christian’s life, in other words it should be the norm not the exception.
Question: why is it the exception? I believe there are many reasons.
*Probably the biggest reason is a lack of faith.
*The fear of the Lord is missing, replaced with the fear of people.
*Many that claim to be Christians are just fooling themselves they should examine themselves to see if they are in the faith at all.
*Many are rebelling against what the Word says.
*Many that claim to be Christians don’t even read their Bibles, how can they expect a miracle.
*Many that claim to be Christians are weighted down with sin.
*Many Christians won’t put up with sound doctrine, they only will listen to what their itching ears want to hear.
Enough said, I am sure that God would like to perform many more miracles than He does but we tie His hands, so to speak, because of the choices we make.Let me throw this in, many Christians will not repent of their sins and turn from their wicked ways. How do I know this is true? Because the Lord said, “If my people who call themselves by my name will humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from Heaven and I will forgive their sins and heal their lands!” Think about it, is our land healed? The Lord wants to prosper us and not to harm us but to give us hope and a future. It is us that hinders the process, not Him.
O how we need a Holy Spirit revival in the body of Christ. When, and if, that takes place the Holy Spirit will be in control and the world will see the power of God and the fear of the Lord will be experienced in the church and out of the church. Christians will repent and confess sins, unbelievers will be saved through grace, through faith and real repentance and confession will take place. There will be miraculous healings and people will be delivered from all kinds of things. The games people play will cease and the Lord will be glorified. Praise God! If you aren’t praying for a Holy Spirit revival to take place, you need to start. The Church has a desperate need for a great revival to take place. Have a great day and Praise the Lord for He is worthy.
Think about your Christian walk, has God ever had to say to you, “where are you?” We have a choice to make every day, and that is that we can be so close to God that He will never have to say those words to us, or we can choose to try to hide from God and hear God say, “where are you?” Choices have a way of hindering us or blessing us.
Wouldn’t life be easier if believers didn’t have a choice, if we didn’t have a free will? Wouldn’t it be better if God made all the choices for us? Just think, we would never make a bad choice and we would never sin. Wouldn’t it be nice to be like puppets and whichever way God pulled the string we would follow? I believe that it would make life much easier in the long run.
Just think, it would eliminate pride, it would also eliminate judgmental attitudes. There would be no competition in ministries. I wonder how many programs would be eliminated and how much money would be saved by us not having to keep up with the Jones’ in and out of church. I wonder how many mega churches would be around, with all the bells and whistles, that seem to be closing their doors more and more each day. It seems to me if the world has it the church has to try to out do them, but remember it is said to be done in the name of the Lord.
One thing I think would be great is when people say they love you it wouldn’t be superficial it would be genuine not fake. If God was calling the shots we wouldn’t lie to each other, no only the truth would be heard. Another thing I just thought of the Bible says, “To love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind.And love your neighbor as yourself.” These wouldn’t be just words but they would be lived out.
When the Bible says that we shouldn’t show favoritism it wouldn’t happen. Also when the Bible says that we should love our enemies we really would. There wouldn’t be any phony hypocritical Christians, all would be real.
Just think we wouldn’t be worried about offending people which can’t be helped if you are a Christian and we would witness leaving the results to God.
We wouldn’t be waiting for people to come to our churches by making them user friendly, no we would be out witnessing and bringing people into our churches. When is the last time you did that?
Think how easy it would be to praise and thank the Lord if the Lord was truly present instead of chalking things up to luck, or chance, which I don’t think should ever come out of a Christian’s mouth. My Bible says, “the steps of a righteous man are ordained of God.”
If God was calling the shots there wouldn’t be enough churches to hold all the people that would want to be there. Instead of churches closing their doors because of lack of funds there would be an overflow of cash in God’s store houses. For sure people wouldn’t be robbing God, no the fear of the Lord would be instilled in our hearts like it should be, and people would be paying their tithes and offerings with joy and gladness. Praise God!
Everything would be affected even our government. The constitution would still be in effect and judges would not be legislating from the bench. The government would be for the people, instead of trying to destroy the nation and enslave the people.The U.S.A. would still be the nation that God intended it to be. To be truthful much of what is going on today is not just the government’s fault but all of us are guilty in some form or other. Righteousness exalts a nation and evil brings a nation down.
Things would be so different if God were to control everything. Demons would be jumping out of windows, the blind would see, the deaf would hear and the lame would walk. All kinds of diseases would be healed and I could go on and on.
But now let’s get back to reality God doesn’t chose to control everything because He allows us to have a free will to make good and bad choices. That is why God can be called a just God. And that is why there are consequences for the choices we make either good or bad.
When did God use the words, “where are you?” When he spoke to Adam in the Garden of Eden, in the book of Genesis the second chapter. Adam and Eve sinned and they were hiding from God because of it, because they were afraid. Before this terrible sin took place they would walk with God in the cool of the day. Because of their sin there was some terrible consequences that not only affected them but also the whole human race. Sin usually affects more than just the person that sins.
When we sin it causes us to be separated from God, in many cases it makes us fear and it always ends up with consequences.
Question can you hear the Lord saying to you, “where are you?” because of the sins in your life that you haven’t dealt with? Has fear overtaken you so that you are hiding from God? God doesn’t want you to hide He wants you to confess and repent of your sins. He knows about your sin and He wants you to take responsibility for it. He seeks the humble and contrite heart, which He will not despise. He draws to the humble and resists the proud, so humble yourself before the Lord and He will lift you up in His time.
Confess and repent and ask the Lord to forgive you for your sins and if you are sincere He will. Don’t put it off another minute and don’t let the devil deceive you with his lies like Eve did. God loves you and He wants a relationship with you so instead of hiding because of sin keep short accounts with God.If you fall into temptation deal with it right away and get your sins under the blood where they can be cleansed and washed away to be remembered no more. And then start thanking and praising the Lord, He is worthy. God inhabits the praise of His people, in other words He loves it when we thank and praise Him. So start now ~ Praise God!
Have you ever thought about why you were born? Have you ever taken the time to ponder what your purpose is? There was a time in my life when I thought on these things but I didn’t figure it out for a long time afterwards. I wonder if this occurs in everyone’s life at some point or another. I would like to make this very clear each one of us were born into this world for an important purpose.
Do you ever meditate and think of why you were born? Do you ever feel like there is something missing in your live, some may call it a “hole” or some may call it a “void” but whatever it is, many feel like something is missing in their lives. But then there are some people that seem to be happy and content in their situation lacking nothing. They have fulfilled the American dream, so to speak, and they think that’s all there is and that is all they need. And this is the sad part, they never seem to change their way of thinking and they die that way, never knowing what God’s plan was for their lives.
Question: why does it seem like we have this “hole” or “void” or just something missing in their lives? Biblically, I don’t think we walk around with a “hole” or a “void” in our lives but I know that when we are born into this world there is definitely something missing.
This is the way I understand it, when we are born we are born with a sin nature and because of it we are separated from the Lord. For many years some of us may never think much about God, or anything relating to God, especially in a personal way. There are many people that will be brought up in church, but they may never have a personal relationship with the Lord. Many will be deceived by false teachings. There are many cults that think they know the truth but they reject Jesus being God’s Son and therefore disqualify themselves from a personal relationship with God.
There are many that will never have a personal relationship with the Lord because they sit under pastors preaching watered down sermons and half truths. The true Holy Spirit’s conviction may not be present and without it pastors will accomplish very little.
There are many people that may never go to church but they will have a personal relationship with the Lord.
Some people may be shocked someday when it is time to be judged and some of the people they thought would be in Heaven didn’t make it and some that they thought would not make it are there.
I heard a good example of this the other day. Think about this – when Steven was being stoned to death for his faith in Jesus there was a man named Saul there who was in agreement with those who were stoning Steven. Saul was a man who persecuted the believers, finding them and having them thrown in prison where some died for their faith. When Steven died I don’t think he thought that Saul would ever be in Heaven. If you know the rest of the story you know that Saul was converted to the faith when he had an encounter with Jesus and his name was changed to Paul. (You can read about these events in the book of Acts chapters 7 and 9, check it out for yourself) Steven may be shocked someday when he sees Paul in Heaven.
Think about these verses in Matthew 7: 21 – 23, “Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of Heaven but only he who does the will of my Father who is in Heaven. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles. Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you away from me you evildoers.” These verses are talking about religious sounding people. They may honor God with their lips but their hearts are far from him. It takes more then mere talk to be a Christian.
Question: how could the things these people claim to do be performed by them and Jesus claim not to know them? There is only one way that I know off. They knew about the power of Jesus’ name but they never had a personal relationship with Jesus. In other words they were never born again.
Jesus said to a man named Nicodemus, a Pharisee and Jewish teacher, in John chapter 3 verse 3. “I assure you, unless you are born–again you can never see the kingdom of God!”
John 3: 16-17 says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believed in Him would not parish but have everlasting life. God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through Him.” Praise God!
In John 3: 5 – 7 Jesus said, “The truth is, no one can enter the Kingdom without being born of water and the Spirit. Humans can only produce human life, but the Holy Spirit gives new life from Heaven. So don’t be surprised at my statement that you must be born again.”
I believe God’s purpose for everyone’s life is that each person will receive God’s gift of salvation.In all reality I know that it will not happen in everybody’s life. Many will, and have, rejected the only one that can bring them from spiritual death because of their sin, into spiritual life because of God’s grace and forgiveness.
It is impossible for man to forgive sins but nothing is impossible with God.
Like I said earlier in this lesson we were all born with a sin nature. So from birth we are separated from God. But that is not the end of the story.
From the beginning of creation, not evolution, God has wanted to have a relationship with his creation. From the time of Adam and Eve when God would walk with them in the cool of the day, God has always desired a relationship with mankind. The problem for us is that God is righteous and pure and holy and He has never been tainted by sin, or ever will be.God is so pure and holy He cannot even look at sin, something we humans can’t really relate to. How can we, with our sin nature that loves sin, relate to this kind of holiness? The good news is that God has provided a way where there was no way. Praise God!
God loves us so much the He laid his deity aside and came to earth as a babe in the form of his son, Jesus. That is why Jesus could say that He and His Father were one. He also said, “if you have seen me you have seen the Father.”
Think about this, in John 1:1–3John said, “in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God the same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made.”
It also says in John , “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth.”Who was the Word? It was Jesus. He stepped out of timelessness into our time.
God loved us so much He sent Jesus to give His life a ransom for all who would trust in Him. The Word says that without the shedding of blood there is no remittance of sins. (No forgiveness of sins.)
What we needed was a perfect sacrifice, no other blood would do. Jesus came as that perfect sacrifice. He was the spotless Lamb of God without sin ever. Only His blood could ever cleanse and wash our sins away.
God did everything else except take our free choice away. He has broken down the wall of separation through the crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Praise God, we can now come to the throne of grace boldly acknowledging that we have sinned and we are in need of God’s grace and mercy and forgiveness.
God will give us the gift of godly sorrow so that we can truly repent. Then we can ask the Lord to be Lord of our lives. God’s plan for each of us is that we will all be born–again. Then we need to be faithful to Him from that day on until the day He takes us to Heaven to live with Him. What a glorious day that will be. May God bless you and yours, have a great day.
This short man’s name was Zacchaeus and he was a chief tax collector. Tax collectors were hated because they would take advantage of the people, many times charging people more money than they owed. Zacchaeus was a rich man who must have heard about Jesus and he must have liked what he heard. He was a short man and he wanted to see Jesus and nothing was going to keep him from seeing Him.
Now think about Zacchaeus, he had such a desire to see Jesus he was not going to give up. There must have been a large crowd in Jericho that day and he could not see over everyone’s head.
Many people would have given up at that point and said, “it is no use, I am too short, woe is me” and they would have thrown in the towel, so to speak and gave up. Not this little guy, no he thought of a plan. He was so determined to see Jesus that he would even climb a tree to see Him and he did.
The tree that Zacchaeus climbed was probably a Sycamore Fig Tree. These trees were very sturdy ranging from thirty to forty feet high with a short trunk and spreading branches, able to hold a grown man. The Bible doesn’t say it but he my have been ridiculed and made fun of while he was climbing up in the tree, like I said before tax collectors were not popular in those days in fact many if not all were hated. Zacchaeus was more than just a tax collector he was probably the head of a district having tax collectors under him. But rejection and ridicule were not going to stop him from getting close enough to see Jesus.
What a difference a day makes, just ask Zacchaeus. One day he was just an ordinary tax collector doing his daily duties, the next day he would be hosting the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords in his home. And not only that but he would never be the same again. Praise the Lord! If you have an encounter with Jesus you will never be the same either.
What a shock it must have been to Zacchaeus when Jesus stopped at the tree he was in. It would have been interesting to know what Zacchaeus was thinking. He may have thought he was in trouble because of his position.
But remember Jesus didn’t come to condemn people; no he came to set the captive free. The Bible says, in Jeremiah 29: 11 “I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”Thank God.
Zacchaeus must have been excited when Jesus said, “Zacchaeus come down immediately, I must stay in your house today,” because he came down at once and welcomed Jesus gladly.
Zacchaeus was very happy, but not the people in the crowd. They began to complain that Jesus had gone to be the guest of a sinner. It sounds strange because Jesus was always with sinners because all have sinned and fell short of the glory of God. These people were self righteous looking down on everyone else but so blind to their own sin.
In the process Zacchaeus stood up and said, “I will give half of my money to the poor and if I have cheated anyone I will give back four times what I took.” Doesn’t it sound like Zacchaeus, the little man, had a big heart? Jesus said, “today salvation has come to this house because this man too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man came to seek and save that which was lost.” Praise God.
Question: what would you give up to spend time with Jesus? It seems like many want to go to Heaven but they don’t want to sacrifice or give up anything to get there. Jesus said take up your cross and deny yourself and follow me. The Lord said, “If you seek me with all your heart you will find me. If you ever hope to see Jesus someday it is going to cost you something.
Whatever it costs you it will be worth it. Whatever you are willing to give to the Lord will help you realize what size heart you have. The Word says this, “where your treasure is there will your heart be also.” Don’t forget every good thing you have is from the Lord. Make Jesus your treasure then you will be a person with a big heart, like Zacchaeus was.
If you are a born-again believer, you are in a battle for your soul and for your family and loved ones. We all start out with a lot of baggage in our lives. Some have more than others but we all have some. Some of us have lived as non believers much longer than others and have been tainted by the things of the world for a greater period of time. Some have lived sheltered lives and have not wallowed in sin as deep as others but none of us are exempt from baggage and sin in our lives. The Bible says, “all have sinned and fell short of the glory of God, there is none righteous no not one, our sins are as filthy rags!”
When we receive Jesus through brokenness and deep repentance confessing that we are sinners, the Lord forgives us and cleanses us with his precious blood. Then He covers us with His righteousness and then Jesus enters our lives in the form of the Holy Spirit and our body becomes the temple of the Holy Spirit.
So we, as Christians, start out with a clean slate forgiven and justified before God!Now the battle starts and if we are not careful we start accumulating more baggage because of sin.
We have many enemies and the devil controls them all. They are everywhere, even in our churches. Many times they don’t even know that they are controlled by the devil. They may look and talk and even act like Christians while they are attending services but that doesn’t make them a Christian. Think of this, if you find a mouse in a cookie jar it doesn’t make him a cookie. Jesus said to a man named Nicodemus, a very religious man and a teacher of Israel, that to even see the kingdom of God you must be born-again. Jesus spoke about the Pharisees, the teachers of the law in Luke 11: 37 – 44 as well as other places in his Word, check it out.
We have five senses and temptation can come through all of them. Temptation can come through
Seeing – what we see.
Hearing – what we hear.
Touching – what we feel or touch.
Tasting – things we eat.
Smelling – things that lure us into temptation by how they smell.
We all start out with the power of the Holy Spirit within us but we also have the sin nature in us that fights against the Spirit. As long as we walk in the Holy Spirit we won’t desire the things of the flesh but if we walk in the flesh then temptation will overtake us and we will more than likely be overcome by sin, the choice is ours.
So how do we win the battle and overcome the devil and the temptations that come our way?
The Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 6: 10 – 18, “Finally my brethren be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole Armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the cunning devices of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood,but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.Wherefore take unto you the whole Armor of God that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having overcome all to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girded about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness: And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. Above all taking the shield of faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the Helmet of Salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit. Watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.
“And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.” Check out Ephesians 4: 30 – 32.
How do we win and overcome? The Bible says in Revelation , “And they overcame him (the evil one) by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony: and they loved not their lives unto death.”
Now you know what to do, so never give up or give in, no, never. Fear and honor God and walk in faith and you will win the battle. “For greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.”Praise God!
I want to talk about a man named Joshua who was Moses’ assistant.
Moses had died and God had a plan for Joshua and God’s people. With Moses gone, God had chosen Joshua to replace him in leading his people into the promise land. Joshua has been faithful to help Moses and faithful to his calling and now God is going to use him in an even greater work because he knows that Joshua is a faithful servant.
In the book of Joshua the 1st chapter, God has some words of encouragement for Joshua and also some warnings. Joshua knows without God’s help he will never succeed in this tremendous task. These words were true years ago and they are still true today, “Unless the Lord build the house ye labor in vain that build it.” God promises Joshua that he would be with him just like He was with Moses.
You have probably heard this verse before, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” We like to quote these words to each other but we need to remember not to take them out of context.
For these things to come true in Joshua’s life God gave him some commands:
First - Joshua would have to be strong and courageous. Joshua could have no fear, and Joshua’s faith and trust in God would have to be unshakable.
Second - Joshua would have to obey all the laws that Moses gave him from God. There could be no excuses and no wavering from them.
Third – Joshua had to diligently study the book of the law and he had to meditate on it day and night so that he would be careful to keep all of them.
Fourth – Joshua was not to get discouraged. Think about this, when you are around people that are always grumbling and always down and discouraged you can easily become discouraged. If you hang around with upbeat, excitable, encouraging people you will probably take on that same attitude.With the task that Joshua had ahead of him he would have to stay very optimistic and very positive relying on God all the way.
God told Joshua if he would do all these things he would be with him and never forsake him and he would be successful wherever he went.
God backed up His word and proved it to be true many times to Joshua in Joshua’s day. In the case of Jericho God rolled back the flood waters of the Jordan River so Joshua and God’s people could walk across on dry ground.Then the Lord caused the walls of Jericho to fall down miraculously. These walls were wide enough to race a chariot on them.As long as Joshua and the Israelites did what God commanded them to do they were victorious over their enemies.
What is God talking to you about, and how does this lesson apply to you in your situation?
I think all the things that God told Joshua to do, we need to keep in mind for ourselves.
Have no fear; be committed to God’s call on our lives; walk in faith; study the Word diligently; have an upbeat attitude; never give up until the Lord calls us to a different ministry; put the Word into practice; and trust the Lord all the way.
