Strength, courage, obedience, and consistency

Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.

Joshua 1:7

The secret to Joshua’s success as a leader is found here at the beginning of the book that details how God helped Israel conquer Canaan. God would use Joshua to lead His people into His promised land. They would, under Joshua’s administration, come to fully experience all that God had promised to them. There were four elements to Joshua’s successful leadership.

1. He would need to be strong. God kept reminding Joshua of this. It wasn’t going to be easy to overtake the Canaanites. But God would use Joshua’s strength. God would use Israel’s strength. God would be their strength. Claiming the promises of God requires faith AND effort.

2. He would have to be courageous. There would be giants to take down. There would be city walls to topple. This means the task to obey God was attended with fears, anxieties, and uncertainties. When God asks us to follow and obey, there will be fear. It takes courage to let God lead us beyond our fears.

3. He would have to know and obey God’s Law. Joshua would need to trust and follow the Law of God given by Moses. His generation would be the first one entrusted with following God’s Word. God promised to reward faithfulness to what He commanded. Thus God was the true commanding general of Israel’s forces. We win by following.

4. He would need to be consistent. Joshua could not deviate from strength, courage, or obedience. That means God expected Joshua to be tempted to turn right or left. But these three charges up front as God gave Joshua His call would guide the leader in faithfulness. Every day God is glorified when His people simply stay on task. 

Lord,

Help me to live in Your strength, to be courageous over my fears, to know and follow Your Word, and to stay on task, I pray!

Amen

nothing except Jesus

For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.

1 Corinthians 2:2

Paul did not try to impress the Corinthian church with cultural or philosophical preaching. He was not about “relevancy first”. And Paul could have chosen relevancy as the first priority. I mean, from scripture we know he engaged philosophers at the Athens Areopagus with masterful insight. We know Paul understood his culture, was well-versed in the thinkers and the teaching of his times. Yet he disregarded cultural relevancy in favor of gospel fluency. He preached Jesus and stuck to that script. He clung to the cross.

It would be equally wise to remember Paul’s preaching priority today. We know we live in a world that intellectually ridicules Christian faith. In the cases where those arguments call out inconsistencies (ie priestly pedophilia… greed and manipulation by televangelists… abuse of spiritual power, etc) that is actually a good thing God is using to sanctify His church. But when the culture attacks the gospel itself or when the popular Christian deconstruction movement mocks Jesus, we need to boldly hold to the truth of the gospel in Jesus. And His death on the cross is the center of that truth. When the cross makes someone uncomfortable, there is room to press in! What a doubting, confused, and hateful world needs is the reality of a Savior’s love, death, burial, and resurrection. And they need to hear His call to repent, believe, receive His cleansing, and follow Him as Master.

Lord,

May Your people know nothing compared to our commitment to the gospel. Will the reality of our need for a Savior, of Your sacrifice at the cross, of Your victory over death and hell at the resurrection, of Your position as our Lord whose Word we obey… Will that be our distinctive? May all that be our constant and consistent message! It’s all we need. It’s all this world needs. May we preach Jesus, and Him crucified.

Amen

A prayer to my God

See now that I, even I, am he,

and there is no god beside me;

I kill and I make alive;

I wound and I heal;

and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.

Deuteronomy 32:39

Lord,

I read this song of Moses today and I recognize the ancient faith that trusts Your complete control over all there is or ever will be in the universe You spoke into existence. There is only You. And as much as I may think my life is the center of everything, I must bow to You, I who am a mere fraction of a speck of dust in Your vast domain. You are the Lord of it all. In my world, You bring life and death. Your bring health and wounds. You design weakness to show Your strength. You work in sorrows to bring joy. And only You are the perspective of strength, healing, and purpose to rise above the dissonant notes of the song of my life.

My God,

I only need You. I only bow to You. I want to only trust You. I ask for Your mercy and forgiveness because I still often live for my own sense of control, I worship my false gods, or I live with my needs at the center of my life. Help me fully to trust You Who kill and make alive, Who will wound me and heal me, and Who will, in Christ, always be my deliverance.

Amen

the wisdom and the folly

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.

1 Corinthians 1:21

In the wisdom of God

He sent His Son

wisest man to ever live

eternal truth and life to give

it is Jesus’ name we proclaim

for His glory and the shame

The message of the gospel appears

foolish to those who hear

the cross is not worldly wise

it finds no acceptance in their eyes

but is often sniffed at with disdain

mocking Jesus and His name

But it is this folly that we preach

and God’s wisdom will still reach

those lost in confusion and sin

the gospel will help them enter in

the wisdom of God will rescue

those who call out, Lord, to You

Lord, please save those who will hear

and listen as Jesus will draw near

call them to reject those worldly ways

filled with Your Spirit, fix their gaze

on Jesus, the wisdom of God to see

them safely Yours for eternity

the One and the Way

Then I said, “Behold, I have come;

in the scroll of the book it is written of me:

I delight to do your will, O my God;

your law is within my heart.”

Psalm 40:7-8

There is One Who says these words of commitment with perfection. One and only One is the true fulfillment of the prophetic praise of this passage. Jesus is the One that the scroll of the book continually points toward in any place we read the Word of God. He is the One of Whom this is written. Jesus delighted to do God’s will, to give Himself for us because the burnt offering and sacrifices would never be enough (Psalm 40:6). Jesus is the One Who fulfilled the Law as from His heart flowed the true meaning of all God’s Law. Jesus is the One Who could say all this.

There is also a Way explained in these two verses. It is a Way that is better than the sacrifices of the Old Testament. It is a Way that underlies all of scripture. It is a Way to true peace and satisfaction. It is a Way to find joy. It is the Way to do God’s will and always please Him. It is a Way not just to obey God, but to have God’s Will and His Word flow out from a transformed heart. And that Way is also only found in Jesus.

Lord,

I come to You today recognizing that only Jesus can show me how to live. And in the life He lived, and still lives for me, I find the way to pleasing You, It is all in You, Lord Jesus! I have found the One and the Way.

Amen

prayer for today

For I know what they are inclined to do even today, before I have brought them into the land that I swore to give.

Deuteronomy 31:21b

Lord,

I have a day plan in front of me. I believe I’ll talk with broken and hurting men, hoping as You enable me to encourage them to find grace, forgiveness, and peace in You. At least that’s what my calendar tells me I have planned. And I plan to study Your Word, prepare a teaching series to build up Your saints in their most holy faith, helping the flock in my care to grow in faith, in love for Jesus, and in living like Jesus to the people You have put us all around. At least I hope to gain the insight to teach Your truth and show Your ways to Your people.

Yet, my plans, informed as I hope they are by the gospel, are totally outside my control. You know every second of this coming day more than I can possible anticipate. You know what I am inclined to do. And You take that into account in Your sovereign, gracious demonstration of Your love for me.

You know what I need to know today. So teach me in Your Word as I prayerfully seek Your truth.

You know what I need to believe today. So work by Your Holy Spirit to increase my faith.

You know how I need to feel today. Grip my heart with an awestruck awareness of You. Calm these anxious thoughts. Heal my broken, weary sadness. Encourage me where I am discouraged. Strengthen me where I have no power or desire to go on.

You know where I will be tempted today. Guard me with scripture coming to mind. Confront my selfish thoughts which are always with me. Pull me into a love for You and for others that overcomes the drag of my self-centered mess. Forgive my trespasses and help me to forgive others who may hurt me.

My inclinations are Your intimate understandings! And so I commit this day asking You to draw me to You, Lord… to Your ways… Your will… for Your glory alone!

Amen

Grace with you

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.

Galatians 6:18

Any gift I could give you

simply cannot compare

to the grace God gives us

in the life we share

I love this life with you

together we serve

a God Who bestows us

with grace undeserved

We worship a Savior

Who loved us in His death

and gave us all grace

to His very last breath

The Father then raised Him

all sin to erase

now in Jesus forgiven

our spirits know grace

A family now united

in Christ we can stand

with the gospel commission

we share grace in our hands

Our spirits are strengthened

our souls in repair

with the gospel on our lips

this grace we will share

I love what God gave us

as in Jesus we thrive

His grace ever with us

His song in us alive

Until heaven is around us

until His kingdom come

may grace keep us together… forward

as God’s will here is done