Concerned Faith (Josh. 2:12-14)

8/7/2009 7:55 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                        Focus:  Concerned Faith

Bible Reading & Meditation                        Reference:  Joshua 2:12-14

            Message of the verses:  “12  ‘Now therefore, please swear to me by the LORD, since I have dealt kindly with you, that you also will deal kindly with my father’s household, and give me a pledge of truth, 13  and spare my father and my mother and my brothers and my sisters, with all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death." 14  So the men said to her, "Our life for yours if you do not tell this business of ours; and it shall come about when the LORD gives us the land that we will deal kindly and faithfully with you.’”

            Rahab was concerned about her family, as well she should be, for she knew that the reason that the spies came was to make plans to destroy the city-state of Jericho.  She made a deal with the spies and they made a deal with her that if she did not tell anyone what was about to happen that they would become surety for her and her family.  As Warren Wiersbe points out in his commentary on Joshua, “Be Strong,” this was a picture of what Jesus Christ has done for all who believe in Him, for He has become surety for the believer.

            Another thing seen in this section is that Rahab was concerned for her family, for she knew what the Lord was going to do and she wanted her family protected from the coming wrath of the Lord upon her city.  When sinners become saints at their conversion they have a great desire to tell others about what the Lord has done for them and wants them to have the same thing for their friends and family, and even perfect strangers to have.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  One of the reasons that I like to play golf by myself or at least go to the Metro Parks golf courses is that if I go by myself they usually put me with others who are already there and so there are times when the Lord will open up an opportunity for me to share the gospel with them, or at least share something of my faith with them.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1. Give myself to the Lord for worship and service.
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. Continue to learn contentment.
4. Keep a short list with the Lord of sins and trust the Holy Spirit to search my heart for unconfessed sin so that I can confess them to the Lord.
5. Trust the Lord to guide my path today and to bring someone into my path who needs to hear the Gospel.  8/7/2009 8:26 AM

Confident Faith (Josh. 2:8-11)

8/6/2009 9:33 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                        Focus:  Confident Faith

Bible Reading & Meditation                        Reference:  Joshua 2:8-11

            Message of the verses:  “8 ¶  Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof, 9  and said to the men, "I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you. 10  "For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. 11  "When we heard it, our hearts melted and no courage remained in any man any longer because of you; for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.”

            In this brief statement above I can see the wonderful miracle of salvation that was done in the heart of Rahab by the Lord, that this miracle was done by grace through faith and not something that Rahab had done on her own, for she would not have been able to understand all of this on her own, but only through a miracle of God.

            As I read the statement outlined in yellow it was as if I had read it for the first time in my life, which of course is not the case, but my reaction was “How did she know all of these things?”  As read the commentary of Dr. Wiersbe he pointed out that she knew these things because God has showed her these things and she feared the Lord, and that is why the Lord led the two spies into this city to see her, for this was a divine appointment set up by the Lord in order to save her and her family from the destruction that was about to come upon this city from the Lord.  She and her family would be the only ones saved from this coming destruction and the Lord was the One who would keep her from this coming judgment upon this people and this city.

           

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Reading this section this morning had given me a great reminder of how the Lord saved me and how He saves everyone who is saved.  Rahab was a remarkable woman of faith as seen in both the OT and NT and an inspiration to me and to many others.

 My Steps of Faith for Today:

1. Give myself to the Lord for worship and service.
2. Trust the Lord to guide my path today and perhaps there is a divine appointment for me today or in the days to come.
3. 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.
4. Trust the Lord to continue to teach me and for me to continue to learn contentment.
5. Trust the Spirit of the Lord to search my heart for unconfessed sin in order to confess them to Him.

8/6/2009 10:18 AM

           

Courageous Faith (Josh. 2:1-7)

8/5/2009 9:16 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                        Focus:  Courageous Faith

Bible Reading & Meditation                        Reference:  Joshua 2:1-7

            Message of the verses:  “¶  Then Joshua the son of Nun sent two men as spies secretly from Shittim, saying, "Go, view the land, especially Jericho." So they went and came into the house of a harlot whose name was Rahab, and lodged there. 2  It was told the king of Jericho, saying, "Behold, men from the sons of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land." 3  And the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab, saying, "Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land." 4  But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them, and she said, "Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. 5  "It came about when it was time to shut the gate at dark, that the men went out; I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them." 6  But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them in the stalks of flax which she had laid in order on the roof. 7  So the men pursued them on the road to the Jordan to the fords; and as soon as those who were pursuing them had gone out, they shut the gate.”

            I now move into the second chapter of Joshua and also the third chapter in “Be Strong,” Warren Wiersbe’s commentary on the book of Joshua which he entitles “A Convert in Canaan.”  The convert is Rahab and the Bible speaks of Rahab and her faith in several different places.  She is first seen here in the book of Joshua, and she is also seen in the blood line of Jesus Christ in Matthew one, and she is also seen in the book of James along with Abraham in a show of her faith, along with in the hall of faith chapter in Hebrews, chapter eleven, again showing her faith.

            Rahab was a believer before Joshua sent the spies into the city state of Jericho, for she had heard of the wonderful things that the Lord had done for the children of Israel by destroying the nation of Egypt and drying up the Red Sea and she had a reverent and saving fear of the Lord because of what she had heard.  Rahab was a prostitute and I am sure that is where she had gotten her information from the men who came to her for her services, but after hearing of the God of Israel she believed in Him and it was counted to her as saving faith in Him.

            The issue of lying comes up in this section for she actually hid the two spies and then told the men who were searching for them that they had already left the city before the gates were closed.  I am sure that Rahab was a relatively new believer in the Lord and I am not making excuses for her, but as Warren Wiersbe reports in his commentary on this that more veteran people of faith had lied, like Abraham, Isaac and also kind David and the circumstances of their lying were less dangerous for them than for Rahab for her life was on the line and as Warren Wiersbe also points out she was a freedom fighter for the cause of the nation of Israel and for their God.  Lying is not the right thing to do and after reading about what Rahab had done gives me no excuse for lying, but I can certainly understand why she did it.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  What I admire about Rahab the most is her courage and her faith, and what she had she gave to the Lord and He used her life not only with the two spies incident but she was also used by the Lord when she married into what was the line of Jesus Christ and her faith has been passed down through the centuries of time so that I can read about it today and because of it have my faith increased too.

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 pray for Pastor Greg.
3. Give myself to the Lord today for worship and service.
4. Continue to learn contentment.
5. Trust the Lord to guide my path today.
6. Trust the Lord through His Holy Spirit to search my heart for unconfessed sin so that I may confess them to the Lord and keep a short list with Him.

8/5/2009 10:08 AM

The Officers Encourage their Leader (Jos. 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 (Jos. 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