Strong and Courageous

Hello, and welcome to another podcast from Refuge, the legacy of freedom, where God is a refuge.

He is always ready to help in times of trouble.

So we will not be afraid when earthquakes come, when mountains crumble into the sea, let the oceans roar and foam, let the mountains tremble, and the waters surge.

A river brings joy to the city of our God, the sacred home of the Most High.

I'm your host, Eric McBride.

Glad you joined us today.

Let's share a short devotional and get our day started in the right direction and make sure that today is a blessed day where our focus is on the word of God.

Hope you've had a blessed week.

I hope you're ready to get your focus upon God's Word.

Today we're going to be in the book of Joshua.

We're going to see what God is encouraging us to do this morning.

And the question today is how do we stay focused on God's plan?

How do we stay focused on the plan that God has for us?

So we're looking Joshua chapter one, verse six, the NLT.

It says, Be strong and courageous, for you're the one who will lead these people to possess all the land I swore to their ancestors I will give them.

Be strong and very courageous.

Be careful to obey all the instructions Moses gave you.

Do not deviate from them, turning either to the right or to the left.

Then you will be successful in everything you do.

Study this book of instruction continually.

Meditate on it day and night, so you will be sure to obey everything written in it.

Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.

This is my command be strong and courageous.

Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

In that good news.

See, when God is speaking to Joshua in this this section of scripture, Joshua is just about to be the leader.

God is ordaining him to be the one who takes Moses' place as the one who will lead the children into the promised land that God swore to their ancestors.

And God is giving Joshua a command.

He is speaking into his life.

He is declaring over him that he must be strong.

He must be courageous because he is the one who will lead these people to possess the land.

Think about that for just a moment.

God says, You are the one who will lead the people to possess all the land that I swore to their ancestors for them.

Wow.

I mean, just that statement that God is saying, You're the you're the man that's going to lead them.

You're the man that's going to divide the land up and give them their inheritance that they've been promised.

And Joshua's like, Well, I've never done anything like this before.

Moses has been the one who who's been speaking with you and and telling us how to follow you.

And now it's it's left up to me to do this.

I can see where fear could could immediately come in, and you feel like, well, I can't measure it up.

I'll never be able to do what Moses did.

But you've got to remember that God says, I will be with you.

I will strengthen you.

I will help you.

See, the success is not coming from your own power or influential personal contacts or a relentless desire to get ahead.

It's not coming from sheer abilities that you possess, but it is actually God that is enabling us to operate in the sphere that He's called us to walk in.

God is not calling us to walk as a defeated child of God.

He's called us to walk in victory.

Matter of fact, in the New Testament, he's in Paul's writings to the Romans, he says, You're more than conquerors.

So how do you stay focused on God's plan?

How do you stay focused and being strong and courageous?

Well, God is giving Joshua the strategy here.

He's saying, You've got to obey the law.

You gotta listen to what God says.

You know, when they're gonna face Jericho, the very first city that they face, it's a walled city, and God gives them instructions.

He says, I want you to walk around the city wall and don't say anything.

Be quiet.

And just walk around it once every day.

And then you're gonna walk around it seven times, and then you're gonna shout, and the priest are gonna blow the trumpets, and I'm gonna cause the walls to fall down.

They had to obey God's word.

And it's no different for us.

If we're going to accomplish what God has put in our lives to accomplish, if we're going to walk in victory, we must obey God's word.

We must walk in the ways that God has called us to walk.

You know, in order to do this, you've got to you've got to read the word.

You've got to hear the word, right?

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

You've got to feed on the word.

You know, someone asks, a man had two dogs, and he says, uh, what do you do with the dogs?

And he says, Well, you know, I I they're they're used to fight.

He says, Well, which one wins?

He says, The one I feed.

Are you feeding your faith?

Are you feeding your fear?

When we feed our faith, faith comes by hearing God's word.

We constantly read and study or meditate on the book of the law, on God's word.

It's God's word.

So to be successful, we must follow God's words to Joshua.

We must meditate on his word continually.

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, a light to my path.

I have hid thy word in my heart that I might not sin against God.

Your word is a shield all around me, God.

You are the lifter of my head, Lord.

You're the you're you're my shield and exceeding great reward.

If God be for us, who can be against us?

How do I stay focused on God's plan if I don't stay focused on God's word?

And if I focus on God's word and I obey what God leads me into, and what I do what he says to do through his word guiding me, then he says I'll be like Joshua, he will make my way prosperous, and I will have great success.

You know, there are a lot of people that are prosperous in the world's standards, but they're not successful in God's standards.

They have everything their heart could desire, but yet they lack one thing.

They lack having God as their savior, their Lord, and their king.

I want you to think about it today as you focus upon God's word, as you keep it right in front of you.

You may seem to the world standards unsuccessful, but in God's eyes, as you follow his word, as you honor his commandments, as you stay in step with him, you will be a success.

And God's opinion is the most important opinion.

I want to encourage you today, stay focused on God's word.

Stay focused on God's plan.

For in doing so, you will prosper and you will be successful, and you will leave a legacy of freedom for others to follow, where your children and your children's children will be blessed.

Until next time, may the Lord bless you.

May you find his favor abundantly on your life.

Have a blessed week.