Saturday, February 23, 2013

Enoouragement from God's Wirtten Word (Jos. 1:7-8)



7/30/2009 9:03 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time           Focus:  Encouragement from God’s written Word

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Joshua 1:7-8

            Message of the verses:  “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.”
            Joshua 1:8 is one of the first verses that I put to memory after becoming a believer in Jesus Christ alone for my salvation in Jan. of 1974 and I have never forgot this verse.  God tells Joshua to be strong and very courageous and to do this he must be careful to do all of the things that Moses wrote in the law, or the first five books of the Bible.  God gave Moses the words to write and Moses must have also wrote about the journeys of the children of Israel as they traveled from Egypt to the place where the Lord took him home to be with Him. 
            Verse eight instructs believers to meditate on the Word of God as do other portions of God’s Word including Psalm 1:2-3 “But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law he meditates day and night, and he’ll be like a tree planted by streams of water, which yield’s if fruit in its season and its leaf never withers.”
            The question to ask concerning this verse is what makes a person prosperous and what makes a person have success?  Living in the USA in the time that I have been on this earth would give you a different perspective, and probably a different answer to these questions, for money, power, big houses, big cars, and a great job would probably mean success for a person in our times in our country, but I don’t think that is what the Lord is talking about in this verse.  I want to quote some things from Warren Wiersbe’s book “Be Strong” that helps me show what the answer to theses two questions would be:  “If you set out on your own to become prosperous and successful, you may achieve your goal and live to regret it.  ‘In whatever man does without God,’ wrote Scottish novelist George MacDonald, ‘he must fail miserably, or succeed more miserably.”  The questions God’s people need to ask are:  Did we obey the will of God?  Were we empowered by the Spirit of God?  De we serve to the glory of God?  If we can answer yes to these questions, then our ministry has been successful in God’s eyes, no matter what people may think.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I realize that I can’t say yes to these three questions all of the time, however I would truly like to be able to obey the will of God, and be empowered by the Spirit of God, and to serve to the glory of God, for if I do these things then I will be prosperous and have real success no matter what others think.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

  1. 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.
  2. Give myself to the Lord for worship and service.
  3. Continue to learn contentment.
  4. Keep a short list with the Lord and seek the Holy Spirit to search my heart for unconfessed sins in order for me to confess them to the Lord.
  5. Seek the Lord to guide my path today.
  6. Be filled continually with the Holy Spirit.

7/30/2009 9:51 AM

No comments:

Post a Comment