7/28/2009 9:03 AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time Focus: Encouragement from God’s commission
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Joshua 1:1-9
Message of the verses: “1 ¶
Now it came about after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, that
the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ servant, saying, 2 "Moses My servant is dead; now therefore
arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am
giving to them, to the sons of Israel. 3
"Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it
to you, just as I spoke to Moses. 4
"From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great
river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the
Great Sea toward the setting of the sun will be your territory. 5 "No man will be able to stand before you
all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you;
I will not fail you or forsake you. 6
"Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people
possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 "Only be strong and very courageous; be
careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do
not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever
you go. 8 "This book of the law
shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night,
so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for
then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. 9 "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and
courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you
wherever you go.’”
Sometimes
it may be easier for a person to takeover a job or a ministry from someone that
has not done a good job and left the place a wreck that to take over a ministry
that has flourished and a leader to was used by the Lord to make it
flourish. This was the case with Joshua
for he is taking the place of Moses the man of God who was used mightily by the
Lord to do wonderful things for the cause of Christ.
As true to
form Warren Wiersbe gives a kind of outline in his introduction to a chapter, a
kind of preview to where he is going to take his reader on the journey through
the chapter that he is about to pen. He
writes at the end of the introduction of this chapter which he entitles “Follow
The Leader:” As God’s people today face the challenges that God give us, we
would do well to learn from the threefold encouragement found in this
chapter.” He will have three sections in
this chapter along with sub-sections to the sections and this is usually the
way that he writes his “Be Books.” The
first section is entitled “God encourages His leader,” and of course he is talking
about Joshua.
In these
first nine verses of Joshua God commissions Joshua to “achieve three
things: lead the people into the land,
defeat the enemy, and claim the inheritance.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: It seems to me that the majority of Dr.
Wiersbe’s commentary on this first section of Joshua was to write about how the
church today, or also the Para church organizations should handle a new leader
when they come in to lead, and this has made me think of how our church,
especially the older members of our church have handled our new Pastor over the
four plus years that he has been here.
It seems to me that many of the younger members of our church have given
a warm greeting toward our new Pastor and after a while the older members have
not gone along with the changes that are being started in our church. This text has reminded me of how I feel about
all of this and I for one have gone along with these changes for a couple of
reasons. We prayed to God for over a
year on a consistent basis seeking only the man that God would want to bring to
our church. The changes are not going
against any theology from the Scriptures.
I truly believe that God is the Head of the Church along with the local
church and as long as we keep to His Word we will be blessed by Him.
I will
close with a quote from “Be Strong” which is a quote from another book: “The old order changeth, yielding place to
new, And God fulfill Himself in many ways, Lest one good custom should corrupt
the world.” (“The Passing of Arthur”)
My Steps of Faith for Today:
- Put on the Spiritual armor: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit.
- Give myself to the Lord for worship and service.
- Trust the Lord to guide my path today.
- Continue to learn contentment.
- Keep a short list with the Lord and ask the Holy Spirit to search my heart of any unconfessed sins so that I may repent of them and confess them to the Lord.
7/28/2009 9:59 AM
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