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Today we are going to continue yesterday’s post. If you haven’t read it, take a few minutes and read it now.
References: Joshua 6:1-7, 6:16, and 6:20

I’ll wait. 🙂

There you are! Welcome back. So, we talked a lot about confidence in The Lord and how a lack of confidence, or trust, in God and His Word leads to… Well, nowhere. Simply put, without trusting God, you will not get from point A (where you are now) to point B (where He wants you to be), because you are not willing to take the first or fourth step along the path He put before you. So if you want to stay where you’re at and never move forward with The Lord, there’s no faster way to get where you are already at – where it’s comfortable. Just stop trusting Him. Sometimes we need to shake ourselves up from a place of comfort and really dig in our heels and put our faith – our trust – into motion. So let’s begin.

Let’s take a look at the facts concerning Joshua and his crew.

FACT:
Jericho had a big wall. Likely impossible to climb. 
FACT:
The Israelites had no wall-rappelling gear. 
FACT:
None of that mattered.

Problems wouldn’t be called HURDLES if there wasn’t a way to get over them.

Remember that Joshua had been a servant of Moses all the way out of Egypt and into the wilderness. Moses provided a lot of wisdom and encouragement while he was still with his servant. But Moses, even as a leader, really did nothing more than follow God’s steps. as instructions were given to him , and he didn’t know everything about what The Lord was planning to do in the face of adversity. He knew what he needed to know, and did what he knew to do. But one day, Moses wasn’t there to help Joshua anymore.

Do you think Moses knew exactly how the Promised Land would be delivered to them? No, but he didn’t worry about it either. Did Joshua know? No, he didnt know the physics of how the walls were going to be brought down, but he believed anyway. He did his part and left the rest to God.

Well, now that sounds lazy. You said we need to dig in our heels and whatnot. “Leaving the rest to God” sounds easy.

Turning it over to God isn’t being lazy. No, you still do your part, but you don’t worry about how it’s all going to get done. You trust God to “worry” about that. And, by the way, He doesn’t worry. He concerns Himself with your well being and takes care of the how. You just walk. 

We use the term WALK because it is motion without fear. You walk confidently. You don’t crawl, you don’t saunter and mope and tiptoe. You WALK boldly and with confidence. You don’t run for fear of anything behind you or before you. This type of walking requires effort. This type of walking requires that you dig in your heels, like the Israelites did as they marched around Jericho’s walls each day for seven days, likely being ridiculed by onlookers from within the city, and sometimes by friends and family. Others may not understand why you do what you do for The Lord, but you WALK in the midst of doubters and unbelievers. No matter what, if The Lord gives you a step, you take a step.

And you let Him do the rest. Dig your heels in and stand amazed at what He does when you do what He has made you able to do.

Grace and peace, Leon 🙂

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Being a parent is hard work. Kind of a strange way to start off a student devotion, right? I know. I thought the same thing.

Maybe your parents are your role models. Maybe they aren’t perfect in every way. Maybe they don’t know how to talk to you. Maybe you don’t know how to talk to them. Maybe they are easy to relate to. Maybe they aren’t. Whatever the case, everyone is someone else’s child.

And being a child of your parents can be tough. Think about it. Your parents expect you to do a lot of things as you grow up, and some of them might seem unfair.

Here’s the thing, though. As hard as being a child seems, it can be just as tough to be your parent – sometimes even harder. Where am I going with this? I’ll tell you.

God is a Father like no other. He is DIFFERENT, after all, right? He gives and gives and gives and gives and then keeps on giving so that His children can have the very best of every blessing He has to offer. Ephesians 3:1 says that God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, has blessed us with ALL SPIRITUAL BLESSING. You know what one of those blessings is? His holiness… IN US.

So what makes that hard? Remember, we aren’t perfect. We mess up. And like any loving parent does as their children go through life, God does not enjoy seeing us mess up. He wants to see us succeed. He wants to se us do our best. We cannot do that without some guidance, though. Sometimes it seems tough to follow Him and His way of doing things. But we have to remember that His way will always lead us to success, just like when He led His people – the Israelites – through the desert and out of Egypt in the days of Moses. Just like He helped them, He will help you.

He says something very interesting to the Israelites around this time – He says they will be holy, because He is holy.* And He says that He brought them out, separating them from all other nations, so that they would be identified with Him.** He knew though, that there would still be times when His people would stumble and not listen to Him. Sound familiar? Your parents know firsthand the strain of seeing their children disobey them. It isn’t easy to do. But trust that whenever you walk away from God, your heavenly Father, He is always right there waiting with open arms for you to return. He is patient. He still sees you as holy. He still sees you as uniquely His. He will never give up on you. And neither would a loving parent. And, as a side note: neither will I.

*Leviticus 11:45

**Leviticus 20:26

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Do we strive to live our lives in the way the Bible teaches? What about when people are watching? What about when they aren’t?

Read this quote and think about it today.

“An unholy Christian is a contradiction of everything the Bible teaches.” – John Blanchard

Think about this statement. If we remember what holiness is, as God defines it (“otherness”), can you see how this is related to what we’ve been talking about? A Christian’s life can actually contradict (testify against) the gospel we preach? WHAT?! How is that possible?

“We cannot live our lives in order to gain holiness.  Instead, we live our lives OUT OF holiness.“

Do your actions contradict the gospel, or do they testify that it’s true? This devotion is full of challenges, but that’s a good thing! If you are challenged to make a change in the way you speak, think, or act, that means that you are hearing God! Be glad for this!

The Christian who strives to be holy must come to terms with the truth – that holiness is not a goal to attain, but a life to live out.” – Leon P