“… God will be with you …”
“Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. 7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:6-9; NIV. Please read Joshua 1-5.)
God was with them. That is the truth.
When Moses died … Joshua led.
When the spies hid … Rahab believed.
When the Ark approached … the River parted.
When the people crossed … the stones remembered.
When the manna stopped … the people ate.
ON SECOND THOUGHT: At the heart of God’s ”secret to success” are these principles: 1. Live in the promise of God, (“… land I swore to your forefathers …”). 2. Take charge of your life, (“… be strong and courageous …”). 3. Do not let anything distract you from God’s purpose, (“… do not turn from it to the right or to the left …”). 4. Do what is right, (“… be careful to be obey …”). 5. Do not give up, (“… do not be discouraged …”). May God make you “successful wherever you go” …
February 9, 2008 at 8:33 am
I like His “secrets to success”. Who better to listen to, than the one in charge, if you want to do things His way. He knows what it takes … because He created it all, is in charge of it all. So He should know the best way to take care of it.
Today I will take special note of: The promises He’s given me. I can live in those promises KNOWING that He will keep them. They can give me peace and let my heart rest. His grace is sufficient … He said … that settles it. I need to live in that.
I can take charge of my life and quit sitting around waiting for things to be different. Too many times I’m afraid to make decisions. My decisions have not always been good ones because I wasn’t trying to decide those things with God being the priority. Now that my life has a promise to lean on … I need to begin to make more decisions, trusting that He will keep His word, and trusting that He will be there if I make the wrong decisions. I always believed that as soon as I made that wrong choice … I was alone … not true … I’m surrounded on all sides by grace.
Don’t be distracted … oooh … distraction is pretty easy for me. So I will have to keep His purpose in the front of my mind … always before me. It has helped that we’ve been reading everyday. That keeps my head in the Book … I find myself thinking about the things I read during the day … what better way to avoid distraction. Think God things.
Doing what is right should be easier if I’m following the other “secrets”. I have known right and wrong since I was a small child … even if I want to pretend different. This is the easiest one to “know” but sometimes the hardest one to actually carry through. Even now, what is right, is not always the most appealing choice.
Not giving up … I pray I never even think about it. I did that once … I really gave up and just started doing whatever I wanted. Looking back at that time. Even though I was so depressed and terrified, I know that way down deep I still knew God was in charge. I just didn’t like it because I was fighting Him. Now that I’m not fighting, that thought can fill my heart with comfort instead of terror.
February 9, 2008 at 10:55 pm
I like the fact that God’s “secret to success” isn’t very much of a secret. He tells us what He expects, He tells us how to live following Him, He tells us what will happen when we do. He even tells us what will happen if we don’t. Our biggest job is to know it!! We must be in the Word to be able to have this “secret”!
Don’t forget the promises. That is what I can build from…stand on….hope in…
Don’t be afraid. God has promised to be with me…a very present help…
Don’t get distracted. God has told me what He expects, I need to always remember…
Do what is right. Vengeance belongs to Him…live right, let Him handle the “paybacks”
Don’t quit. Don’t get discouraged. Keep going. Trust Him to keep His promises.