The Officers Encourage their Leader (Josh. 1:16-18)

8/4/2009 10:02 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                    Focus:  The officers encourage their leader

 

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Joshua 1:16-18

 

            Message of the verses:  “16 ¶  They answered Joshua, saying, "All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. 17  "Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you; only may the LORD your God be with you as He was with Moses. 18  "Anyone who rebels against your command and does not obey your words in all that you command him, shall be put to death; only be strong and courageous.’”

            Warren Wiersbe in his book “Be Strong” brings up four different sub-points from these three verses:  “Joshua was encouraged by his officers by assuring him of their complete obedience (vv. 16-17a).  The officers encouraged Joshua by praying for him (v. 17).  They encouraged Joshua by assuring him that their obedience was a matter of life or death (1:18).  Finally they encouraged him by reminding him of the Word of God (V. 18b).”

            “Follow The Leader” is the title of this first chapter as penned by Warren Wiersbe and it can be seen that these officers were willing to follow Joshua, their new leader who was appointed by the Lord to take the place of Moses.  Joshua was not Moses but like Moses he was appointed by the Lord to do the will of the Lord.

            Joshua’s officers were a great encouragement to their new leader as seen in these three verses, for as noted above the promised to obey him, and they promised to pray for him, and they promised to be obedient to him in all of his leadership, and they also encouraged him to be strong and courageous which was written in the Law of the Lord by Moses.

            “No Christian worker succeeds to the glory of God apart from prayer. ‘Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?’ asked Corrie Ten Boom, a question that especially applies to those in places of leadership.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I can see some similarities in our church with that which is in this first chapter of Joshua, and I think that there are some problems that are going on with some of the members in our church who are not listening to the leadership from our new Pastor and I do not want to be one of them.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1. I want to be faithful in praying for Pastor Whiting.
2.  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.
3. Trust the Lord to guide my path today.
4. Continue to learn contentment.
5. Keep a short list with the Lord of sins and trust the Holy Spirit to search my heart.
6. Give myself to the Lord for Worship and Service.

 

8/4/2009 10:57 AM

The Leader Encourages the Officers (Josh. 1:10-15)

8/1/2009 9:21 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                    Focus:  The leader encourages the officers

 

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Joshua 1:10-15

 

            Message of the verses:  “10 ¶  Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, 11  "Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, saying, ‘Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within three days you are to cross this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God is giving you, to possess it.’" 12  To the Reubenites and to the Gadites and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said, 13  "Remember the word which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, ‘The LORD your God gives you rest and will give you this land.’ 14  "Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle shall remain in the land which Moses gave you beyond the Jordan, but you shall cross before your brothers in battle array, all your valiant warriors, and shall help them, 15  until the LORD gives your brothers rest, as He gives you, and they also possess the land which the LORD your God is giving them. Then you shall return to your own land, and possess that which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise.”

            It can be seen that the nation of Israel had a good communication system in place as Joshua told his commanding officers what to tell the people and it was done right away.  Joshua told his commanding officers to have food ready as they were to cross the Jordan in three days.  Joshua probably did not know how all of the people were going to get across the Jordan River, for after all it was the time of the year when the Jordan would be in flood stage and would be moving very fast.  The Jordan river is a fast moving river for it drops quite fast from where it begins until it stops in the Dead Sea.  “The river drops rapidly in a 75 kilometer run to swampy Lake Hula, which is slightly above sea level. Exiting the lake, it drops much more in about 25 kilometers to the Sea of Galilee. The last section has less gradient, and the river begins to meander before it enters the Dead Sea, which is about 400 meters below sea level and has no outlet. Two major tributaries enter from the east during this last phase: the Yarmouk River and Jabbok River.”  This description is from Wikipedia.

            Joshua then reminds the two and a half tribes who are living on the East side of the Jordan River their promise to Moses that they would help the other tribes in the battle.  There were almost 140,000 soldiers in these two and a half tribes but only 40,000 went out to do battle with the other tribes against their enemies in the Promised Land.  When I first read about these two and a half tribes living on the West side of the Jordan I was not convinced that this was the right thing to do and years latter I still don’t think it was the best thing for them to do for they were not getting the inheritance that God had intended for them to have, for they cared more about making a living than being near where they should have been worshiping God in the Promised Land, and there was almost a war between them and the other tribes after they finished their conquest of the Promised Land.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I see obedience to the Lord in this section of Scripture and also encouragement from their leader Joshua because Joshua was close to the Lord and he knew the Lord’s will for this people.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1. Stay close to the Lord through Bible reading, and also meditation on the Word of God.
2. 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 take up the sword of the Spirit.
3. Give myself to the Lord for worship and service.
4. Continue to learn contentment.
5. Keep a short list with the Lord.
6. Trust the Lord to guide my path today.

 

8/1/2009 10:17 AM

             

Encouragement from God's Commandment (Josh. 1:9)

7/31/2009 9:34 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time           Focus:  Encouragement from God’s commandment

 

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Joshua 1:9

 

            Message of the verse:  “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.’”

            This is the third time that God tells Joshua to be strong and to be courageous and this is what Joshua would do in his ministry for the Lord as he would lead the children of Israel into battle with their enemies who were the enemies of the Lord.  Not all will be smooth sailing for there will be sins that Joshua will have to deal with, but at the end of Joshua’s life he will be able to look back on it and say “I did it God’s way.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  There is much that I can learn from the life of Joshua and put into practice in my life through the power of the Holy Spirit.  I too need to be strong and courageous in all of my work for the Lord, and this can be done as I yield my life to the Spirit of God so that He will fill me in order to do the work that has been prepared for me to do in eternity past.  “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

 

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 truth, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit.
2. Trust the Lord to fill me with His Holy Spirit.
3. Continue to learn contentment.
4. Trust the Lord to guide my path today.
5. Give myself to the Lord for worship and service.
6. Keep a short list with the Lord and seek the Holy Spirit to search my heart for unconfessed sin that I may confess them to the Lord.

 

7/31/2009 10:06 AM

Encouragement from God's Written Word (Josh. 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

Encouragement from God's Promises (Joshua 1:3-6)

7/29/2009 09:15 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                    Focus:  Encouragement from God’s promises

 

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Joshua 1:3-6

 

            Message of the verses:  “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.         

            God gives Joshua three special promises to enable him to accomplish the threefold task that he is to perform.  The three tasks were to cross the river and claim the land as seen in verses three and four, Joshua was to defeat the enemies as seen in verse five, and then divided up the land between the tribes of Israel. 

            The promises of inheriting the Promised Land was no new thing for the children of Israel for this promises was given to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and even Joseph knew of this promises for he would not allow his bones to be buried in Egypt for he knew that God was able to keep this wonderful promises.  Moses was also told of this promise early on in his life.  Now it would be up to the children of Israel to claim this promises and go in and take the land, for they were not to follow in the first generations foot steps who feared the people of this land, but they were to be strong and believe the Lord who gave this promise to them.

            In verse five God tells Joshua that no man would be able to stand before him all the days of his life for just as God was with Moses He would be with Joshua and He would give him victory over his enemies.

            In verse six the promise of giving this land to the children of Israel is given to Joshua and he is told to be strong and courageous, which will be repeated in the following verses.

           

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Paul begins his letter to those who live in Ephesus this way:  “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,” and he goes on through the first three chapters explaining these things that believers have because they are in Christ.  In chapter three verses fourteen through twenty-one he shows these believers how they can get their spiritual engines started to fulfill the task that the Lord has for them to fulfil.  In the same way Joshua is given promises that he is to take by faith and be strong and courageous so that he will be able to fulfill for the glory of God.  There is no difference with me as God has given me work to complete while I am on this earth as seen in Ephesians 2:10, and so I must live by faith and claim the promises that God has given to me in His Word to accomplish the tasks that He wants me to accomplish while living here on planet earth.

 

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. Continue to learn contentment.
3. Trust the Lord to guide my path today.
4. Give myself to the Lord for worship and service.
5. Keep a short list of sins with the Lord and seek the Holy Spirit to search my heart to convict me of any sins that I have not confessed to the Lord and to repent of those sins.

 

7/29/2009 11:19 AM

                       

Encouragement From God's Commission (Josh. 1:1-9)

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: 

 

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. Trust the Lord to guide my path today.
4. Continue to learn contentment.
5. 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

           

Begining Note on the Book of Joshua

7/27/2009 9:25 PM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

            This evening I come to the first chapter in Dr. Wiersbe’s book on Joshua, “Be Strong,” and in the first chapter he give a sort of outline to what will be found in the book of Joshua, and actually quite a bit more.  Of course Joshua is the Hebrew name for Jesus, but Moses was the one who gave this name to him as Joshua was first named Hoshea, “8  from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun.”  Hoshea means salvation while Joshua means Jehovah is salvation.

            Warren Wiersbe breaks this first chapter in “Be Strong” into three main points, “The new leader” and “The new land” and “The new life.”  In these points he goes over the different parts of Joshua’s life and what he did and what he became through the power of God.

            I am truly looking forward to studying this wonderful OT book that has so much spiritual meaning for a believer in Jesus Christ who lives in the 21^st century in the USA or for that matter in any country.

            There are four different “rests” described in Hebrews chapter three and four that have a lot to do with the children of Israel and also the NT believers and conquering the Promised Land, which is described in the book of Joshua they are described is some part.  These “rests” are God’s Sabbath rest after creating the worlds; the salvation rest we have in Christ; the believer’s eternal rest in heaven; and the rest God gave Israel after their conquest of Canaan.

            Warren Wiersbe also writes about the four geographic locations seen in the history of Israel which are also important.  Egypt which was the place of slavery and bondage, the wilderness where Israel lived in unbelief, Canaan which represents the Christian life as it ought to be:  conflict and victory, faith and obedience, spiritual riches and rest.  Babylon is the last location in which Israel lived and this is where the ended up because of their idol worship which was their sin against God.

 

7/27/2009 9:42 PM