Saved From Mediocrity

Preface

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As you read this book you will find out very quickly that I’m not an intellectual. If you are a linguist, let me apologize up front… I don’t know what past participles, conjunctions, or prepositions are, and I very much overuse the dot… dot… dot… technique… There are several made-up words scattered throughout this book, and if not for spell check my wife would have to spend a year or so editing my spelling alone.

For you Bible scholars, I apologize to you as well… I’ve never taken a hermeneutics class, and if asked to define hermeneutics I’d have to consult a dictionary of some sort. I do own several thick books about the Bible with big words in them, but quite honestly, though I did buy them to study, I never opened them. If it helps, I did go to Bible college twenty or so years ago. But to be honest, I slept through the Old Testament and New Testament survey classes and was kicked out of the school before I had enough credits to become a junior.

So why would you read a book written by me? I don’t know… but I can tell you why I wrote it. I’ve been a Christian for most of my life. I prayed the prayer of salvation in the back seat of my dad and step-mother’s station wagon at the tender age of seven while traveling to Mason City, Iowa, to visit my Grandma Holder. I was baptized just a few weeks later on Easter Sunday 1977. I spent most of my childhood either in church, going to church, or preparing for some church-related function.

After all of that, to my discredit, I didn’t really know how to live a life that was pleasing to God… that is, up until about two years ago.

Approaching Burn-Out

At the time I was employed at a mega church as a groundskeeper. My job description was complex. For the bulk of my time I was charged with leading a group of guys who were struggling with addictions that came to work for the church, asking for help. But also a part of my job was counseling, mentoring, teaching adult education Bible classes, and leading an addiction ministry that met weekly for Bible study and small group discussion.

I was nose-deep into ministry and was starting to get burned out while trying to live out the message I was teaching. At the time I was teaching what most church leaders teach—that through hard work, dedication, and faithfulness, you can live a life that is pleasing to God and thereby earn His blessing and provision. Obedience to God’s leading is the key to unlocking His blessing; disobedience will lead to discipline… But the more I tried to live a disciplined life, the more frustrated I became about not living up to what I thought was God’s standard.

Soon I began closely observing many of my co-leaders in the church and found that they, too, were carrying this same heavy burden of ministry. When I spoke with them, I found that many of them were quickly getting to the point of burning out—just like me. Curious as to whether my teaching was having any effect, I started to watch the men and women I was teaching and mentoring. Much to my chagrin, I found that they were having an even a harder time living up to the standard that we as leaders were teaching them. Many were so burdened by this standard that they just plain gave up… and quite honestly I was feeling like I wanted to give up myself.

Then one day, while toiling in the hot sun, frustrated about this weight of Christianity that was on my shoulders, I picked up a rock and told God, “If you want me to start speaking up about what I am seeing, show me now.” I threw the rock at a rotted tree stump about thirty feet away. Now, though I have better than average abilities when it comes to throwing things, it surprised me greatly when the rock hit that stump dead-square in the middle and embedded itself… it stuck! It was at that moment that God spoke to me… it was then that I had a moment of clarity. I took a picture with my cell phone camera, and to this day I have that picture on my desk with a caption that reads:

Fear paralyzes, love motivates. Understanding Christ’s love for you, displaying Christ’s love for all, and sharing Christ’s love with others will motivate you and those around you to accomplish great and wonderful things for Christ.

The Greatest Motivator

The clarity I found that day was this: For all my life, fear of God’s judgment had been the motivation behind my attempt to be good and do the right thing—and I was using the fear of God’s judgment to encourage others to be good and do the right thing. I also realized that I would never live up to the standard I was telling everyone else to live up to… I was teaching others to bear a burden that I myself could not bear. I came to understand that fear, if you are looking to live an abundant life, is a horrible motivator… Love, on the other hand, is a great motivator!

I began that day to understand how much Christ (the Rock) loves me and how 2,000-plus years ago, He embedded Himself into this rotten world for the sole purpose of dying and taking on Himself the judgment that I was in fear of and the burden that I was carrying. I no longer needed to fear that judgment; I no longer needed to carry that burden. I just needed to… well, I guess I needed to write a book about how the people of

Israel

went from their enslavement to rest… I needed to write about the Biblical book of Joshua.

The following is what I wrote.

Chapter One

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Introduction to Joshua

The Old Testament book of Joshua starts with the people of

Israel

standing on the east side of the Jordan River looking into Canaan, a land where their ancestors once lived. It was the land that God promised would be theirs again. How did they get there?

Well, more than 400 years before this time, ten of the twelve sons of a guy named Jacob (whose God-given nickname is

Israel

) were jealous of their little brother Joseph. So they decided to sell him into slavery. Jump forward a few years and Joseph ends up in the land of Egypt where, by God’s incredible grace, he finds himself to be the right-hand man to

Egypt

’s king.

Israel

(Jacob) and his remaining eleven sons, on the other hand, are back at home in Canaan—smack down in the middle of a nasty drought, looking for relief.

Israel

hears of how

Egypt

somehow protected itself from the drought by storing up massive amounts of grain (which unbeknownst to him was his lost son Joseph’s idea), and was now selling that grain to those in need. He decides to send a contingency of his sons to

Egypt

to buy some of that grain and… well, you can go read the story yourself in Genesis (chapters 37-47). But suffice it to say, the whole family of

Israel

was transplanted from Canaan to

Egypt

to live with Joseph.

Jump forward again about 400 years and the descendants of Israel and his twelve sons have grown to number in the millions and are now enslaved in Egypt, longing to be back in the land of their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—the land of Canaan. Seeing the plight of His chosen people, God sends someone to free them from their bondage.

The person God chooses for this mission is Moses, who shows up in front of the king and tells him to let the people go. Eventually the king does let the nation of

Israel

leave (read the details in the book of Exodus; chapters 1-15). Moses leads them toward Canaan where God had promised years earlier that this would be a place of incredible provision, a place where they could find rest and live free. This is where we pick up the story in a little more detail.

An Obstacle or Two

If you look at a map of North Africa and the area around the current country of Israel, you’ll see a couple of water obstacles that may cause problems for a group of a couple million people traveling in the wilderness from one place to another without access to MapQuest. The Red Sea was the first water obstacle that the nation of

Israel

ran into as they were traveling from

Egypt

to Canaan. Why would they run into the Red Sea? Moses was leading them, but wasn’t God was directing Moses? If God created North Africa, then He put the Red Sea where it sits. So even without global positioning satellites you’d think He could find a way to lead them around this rather large and intrusive body of water.

But He not only didn’t lead them around the water, He led them to the seemingly worse possible spot: in front of them stood a large expanse of water, on each side of them was a mountain, and an army was chasing them from behind. (The king of

Egypt

changed his mind after releasing them.)

Why did God do that? Why did He put them in a precarious situation with no apparent way of escape? I believe that it was to show Himself faithful. What happened? You know the story, maybe you saw the movie. The Red Sea parted, the Israelites (led by a young Charlton Heston, aka Moses) passed through on dry ground. The chasing army was destroyed when the parted water “unparted” and they all drowned. What a great story! God did show Himself faithful to the people at that time. But is there an application for us today?

So What’s the Point?

I once was taught a great learning tool for understanding how to apply the stories of the Old Testament to my life: For every New Testament principle, there is an Old Testament story. So what are the New Testament principles that apply here? In this story,

Egypt

is a picture of the world, the nation of

Israel

is a picture of you and me, and Moses is a picture of Jesus. The exodus from

Egypt

is a picture of our salvation, and the Red Sea (the water obstacle)… I’ll get to that a bit later, but let’s define some terms first.

The world: Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary defines the world as “the present condition of human affairs in alienation from and opposition to God.” While meditating on that I came to the conclusion that, quite frankly, I’m not smart enough to fully understand Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary. As a matter of fact, I don’t fully know what the word “expository” means, so let’s just define the world by looking at what happened to the Israelite people as it relates to

Egypt

Remember how the nation of

Israel

got to

Egypt

: the father of the nation,

Israel

and his sons looked at

Egypt

from a distance and saw a place of relief from the drought they were experiencing in Canaan. But in reality,

Egypt

eventually became the place of enslavement for their descendants.

For us today, the world is seductive. We are seduced by money or power or stuff, thinking that attaining these things will bring us some kind of relief from the dryness we sometimes feel in life. But those are the very things that will eventually enslave us. The “world” is the seductive pull that is always trying to drag us away from God; and the world’s king is saten. (Just so you know…I purposely misspell saten’s name and do not capitalize it throughout this book because I don’t believe he deserves a proper name or a proper spelling… It’s a sign of disrespect.)

You and me: God created us in His own image (Genesis 1:26). When you look at yourself in a mirror, you see an image of yourself. You don’t see the literal you—you see an image of you. God didn’t make us to be Him; He made us to look like Him. He is a Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are an inferior trinity: body, soul, and spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:23). Our body is our flesh made up of our nose, ears, eyes, mouth, skin, etc. When we are thirsty, for example, it is our body that tells us we are thirsty. Our soul is our emotions, our feelings. When we are sad, it is our soul that tells us we are sad. Our spirit is the thing within us that connects us with God. When we hunger for God, it is our spirit that hungers.

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are equal and one, but they have chosen to have different functions. The Son and the Holy Spirit have chosen to be subservient to the Father and will not do anything without the leading of the Father (John 5:19; 5:30; 8:28; 14:10; 16:13). Our inferior trinity was designed to work the same way. Our body and soul are designed to work best when they are subservient to our spirit, and our spirit is designed to be connected to and led by God (1 Corinthians 9:27; Galatians 5:24).

In the beginning Adam’s body, soul, and spirit were working perfectly. God would communicate His will to Adam through Adam’s conduit (his spirit), which would direct Adam’s soul to direct his body. God loved Adam and wanted the very best for him, so God’s direction to Adam’s spirit was always the best way for Adam. But when Adam chose to go against what God was telling his spirit to do (when Adam sinned), the conduit broke. The connection between man’s spirit and God was severed… without a reconnection our spirit is inactive and our body and soul (our “flesh”) takes control and enslaves us. We now seek only to fulfill its desires.

In our story when

Israel

and his family decided to transplant to

Egypt

, the conduit between the head of the family and God was broken. As a result, the Israelite people became enslaved because they were no longer governed by God.

Salvation: In John chapter three, Jesus tells us that if you want to enter the Kingdom of God you must be born again. There must be a reconnection of our spirit with God if we want to spend eternity with Him. Salvation is that reconnection. But that reconnection can only be made through a redeemer. In other words, someone who already has a connection with God must be involved to become a coupler in the broken conduit. (I’m a construction guy. If you’re not familiar with the terms conduit or coupler, it might help if you go to Home Depot and do some research… It’s also a good excuse for you men to buy some tools under the auspices of “Bible” research.)

In our story, upon seeing the plight of His people in

Egypt

, God decided to send Moses to be the coupler that repaired the disconnect between God and the nation of

Israel

. (God led His people and spoke to them through Moses.) Later, God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus, to the world so that through belief in Him, we (you and me) can be reconnected with our Creator.

The Red Sea: (Bear with me; we’ll tie this in to Joshua eventually.) To review: The people of

Israel

are up against a water obstacle, the Red Sea. With nowhere to go, God parts the water and they walk to the other side in safety. Then God destroys the advancing Egyptian army by unparting the water on top of them.

What New Testament principle could possibly relate to that event? After we leave the world (by reconnecting to God through Jesus), it is important for us to make a statement to the world that we are no longer under its rule. That statement is made through baptism.

The Apostle Paul tells us just that in his letter to the Corinthians (chapter ten). He equates the Red Sea in this story to our first baptism, the baptism of repentance. On that day when the sea collapsed on the Egyptian army, a message was sent to the king who once enslaved the nation of

Israel

: You no longer have the ability to control them.

When we give our lives to Jesus and begin to follow Him, the king of the world (saten) will send his army out to try and destroy us before we get too far away. Our baptism lets the world know that we are no longer of this world—that Christ is now our king and leader, and saten no longer has the ability to control us.

Moving On

After that incredible show of God’s faithfulness at the Red Sea, the people of

Israel

were predictably joyous. But what do they do next? Fortunately, God will never take us out of one place without offering to lead us to a better place. By this time everybody in the group knew about the better place that God was going to lead them to, the Promised Land. They also knew about what a great place this land was, and how God had promised the generations before them that He would give it to them. And who wouldn’t have believed it after being rescued so miraculously from their enslavement?

So, led by Moses, the nation headed east. A short time later, they found themselves standing at the east side of a second water obstacle, the Jordan River, looking into the land that God had promised them.

But before the whole nation went into the land, Moses sent in twelve guys to scope it out and report on what they found. When they came back to the people, those twelve were in disagreement. Ten of them saw the fortified cities, huge guys with swords, and the glass half empty. But the other two, Joshua and Caleb, saw a land that was amazing—a land that God had promised they would conquer. The ten said, “Let’s get out of here; we can’t do this,” but the other two said, “Let’s go in; God will do this.”

The people followed the ten. How quickly they forgot about how big God is. He had promised them this land, yet after all He had shown them, they still didn’t believe that He was big enough to help them conquer the land. Were they idiots or what!?

Hind sight is 20/20, and I’d like to say I would have been in agreement with Joshua and Caleb. But in reality my life has proven differently. Jesus tells us that He came to this world so that we would have life, and have it abundantly (John 10:10). We are told about a place where we can find rest; we are promised that we can experience a peace we won’t understand and live a life of freedom—and most of us don’t believe it is attainable. I know, because for years I didn’t believe.

Wandering Hearts

Israel

’s disbelief caused them to wander in the wilderness for forty years; our disbelief causes us to wander as well. What does that wandering look like in a Christian’s life? For the people of

Israel

it looked like a bunch of complainers wandering around in the wilderness, wishing they had never left

Egypt

. It meant wanting more than manna from Heaven to eat and plain water to drink; wanting a home instead of a tent. Did they actually want to go back into slavery? Probably not, but that is not what they remembered about

Egypt

—they remembered the food, the comfort.

Same with many of today’s Christians. We are saved from the bondage of the world, but for some reason we miss it. We know that the things we used to be enslaved by were no good for us, but for some reason we still want to go back to them.

I once heard Don McClure, one of my favorite preachers, describe this inner-conflict. He had just gotten saved and was hanging out with his friends when some off-color jokes were told. Something inside told him that it shouldn’t be funny, that laughing would be wrong. But in all honesty, he thought the jokes were funny and he wanted to laugh. That conflict he felt within himself was making him crazy. Why is there this inner-conflict between what we know we should want and what we actually want?

It’s because of our disbelief. God promised His people a land that was filled with everything they wanted; He promised that He would give it to them. But when the time came to actually take it, their fear caused them to believe that it wasn’t attainable as God had told them it was… so they wandered. And that is why we also wander. It’s not because God won’t give us the things He promised; it’s because we won’t receive them. Because of their disbelief, the nation of

Israel

wandered until the unbelieving generation died off without ever taking the land. We, too, will wander until the part of us that doesn’t believe withers and dies.

Learning from Joshua

The book of Joshua starts with the new generation of Israelites standing once again at the east side of the Jordan River, the second water obstacle. The last time they were there they didn’t cross over; this time they will.

This wonderful book chronicles the conquering of the Promised Land. By studying it we will learn principles of attaining the life God has promised us: a life of peace, rest, and contentment—an abundant life!

Chapter Two - Joshua 1:1-4

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Prerequisite to Entering the Promised Land

In chapter one of Joshua we see God handing the reigns of the leadership of the Israelite people over to Joshua—and then giving a charge to him as he prepares to lead the people into the land. Joshua in turn gives a charge to the people as their leader.

Joshua 1:1

After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, it came to pass that the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying:

It is interesting to me that a man with no parents could scratch and claw his way up to become the leader of a nation…the “son of nun”… (Come on… it’s funny!)

Joshua 1:2-4

“Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them—the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory.”

In verses 2 and 3 God says something interesting. He tells Joshua that “I am giving” and “I have given” the land to the people. Before this time His verbiage was that the land will be theirs and that He will give it to them. (Genesis 26:3-4; Exodus 12:25) Notice the difference? From future tense to present tense. Why did that happen? What caused the change in the tense?

Forty years prior to that day when the Lord spoke to Joshua, he and his friend Caleb were trying to convince their friends that though the Promised Land was filled with giants and other scary things, God was going to give it to them… Yet their friends weren’t convinced. That disbelief caused them to wander in the wilderness for forty years. During that time of wandering, the people of

Israel

incessantly complained about how hard it was in the wilderness, that it would have been better to have remained enslaved in

Egypt

where at least the food was good. Complain, complain, complain… Moses, we need this… Moses, we need that… Why are we still wandering?

God knew the first generation wouldn’t follow Joshua and Caleb into the Promised Land when they were first given the chance. He knew that while they wandered they would complain and crave being back in

Egypt

. So while the people were wandering, God was promising them that some time in the future, the Promised Land would be theirs.

But now, forty years later the new generation did believe and were ready to go in, so God said… it’s yours… go take it!

God’s Promises Remain

That’s how it works for us as well, that’s how it plays out in our lives. Here are a few promises the Lord has given us:

Matthew 6:25-30

“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

“So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”

John 10:10

“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

Matthew 11:28-30

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

John 14:27

“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

Jeremiah 29:11

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,” says the LORD, “thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

Philippians 4:6-7

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Romans 5:3 (NLT)

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us—they help us learn to endure.

James 1:2 (NLT)

Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.

We hear these verses, yet many of us never see the fulfillment of those promises in our lives. Jesus (Joshua is a picture of Jesus) is trying to convince you to go ahead and enter into His rest, that He’ll give you these promises. But you looked at all the changes that were looming inside those promises and decided it wasn’t worth giving up your current life to enter the Promised Land of a Spirit-filled life… so you wander and complain:

• “Woe is me I’m going through soooo many trials, God is really testing me.”
• “The enemy is trouncing me, and I’m having a hard time holding up under the pressure.”
• “Everything—and everyone—is attacking me because of my faith.”
• “At least when I was in the world I was having fun!”

Peace, Rest, and Joy

We’re worried, yet God said don’t worry. We’re carrying burdens when Jesus said give Me your burden. We’re not joyful in our trials when we’re told we can be. We’re wandering outside of the life we want because we don’t believe it is attainable—even though God has told us that it is. Why don’t we believe God when He gives us these promises?

For me it was because I had the tendency to read the previous verses and define the promises in them using my own desires. I would see the word peace and think, “I’ll find peace when I become financially secure.” I would see the word rest and think, “I’ll be able to rest when I find Mrs. Right.” I saw the word joy and said, “I’ll be joyful when the trial passes.”

What we don’t see is that God wants to give you peace while helping you out of debt. He wants to allow you to rest while He brings you your spouse. He wants to help you find joy in the midst of your trial. We are fickle people, so we think we know what we want—and we will fight tooth and nail for those things. But when we get the things we think we want, we find they don’t satisfy. So we try to get more of what we think we want, because we think more will satisfy us!

But in reality God knows you better than you could possibly know yourself. He knows what is going to make you happy… He created you. We see God so often as a kill-joy, but in reality He is the single source of truly satisfying joy. All you have to do to receive His joy is believe that He is the source.

Why, Why, Why?

A while back as I was reading Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” I asked myself, Why did God create the heaven and the earth? Why did He create man? Why did He create me? God wasn’t lonely. He wasn’t bored. He wasn’t so naïve as to think that He would create man and they would never let Him down. So why?

Because He wanted to have a relationship with you! Yes you, not in the general sense of a universal you, but literally you, as an individual; you, the person reading this book. He knew you before He created the foundations of the earth, yet He decided it was worth it to go through all the garbage that we humans have thrown at Him to be able to have a relationship with you. He loves you that much. As a matter of fact, He loves you so much that He sent His Son to be the propitiation (big word—I looked it up—see below) for your sin.

Propitiation:

Pronunciation: \prō-pi-shē-ā-shən\

Function: noun

Date: 14th century

1: the act of propitiating

2: something that propitiates; specifically: an atoning sacrifice

Do you think that someone who loves you so much that He came into this world to become an “atoning sacrifice” for you would lead you to a place that would make you miserable? Stop defining your own happiness and allow Him to give you what He knows is best for you. And even if you don’t understand how His work in your life will lead to contentment or why it will make you happy, just trust that He wants to bless you. Believe it, trust it, and pull up your bootstraps and follow Him! The second you do that, the promises will be yours.

A Simple Requirement

So what then is the prerequisite to entering the Promised Land? It’s not anything you can achieve or earn, it’s not something tangible, and it’s not a class you can take. The prerequisite for entry into this wonderful place is simply faith or belief that God wants to bring you there.

Once you believe, you’ve attained. Once you believe that your relationship with God is not and cannot be based on your faithfulness but is solely based on His faithfulness… once you believe that God wants to fill you with His joy… that is when the Promised Land becomes real… That is when I was able to move forward and enter the life God had waiting for me all along.

Hebrews 11:6

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

James 1:5-7

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord.

Chapter Three - Joshua 1:5-6

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The Purpose of Battle

When we were last with them, the people of

Israel

(now led by Joshua) were at the east side of the Jordan River, ready to cross over and conquer the land. God is giving a charge to Joshua, encouraging him as he prepares to lead the people into the land that is, as we learned earlier, filled with fortified cities and giant men. God now tells Joshua:

Joshua 1:5-6

“No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them”

Isn’t that fantastic?! We have a Lord who will never leave us or abandon us! And we have a Lord who tells us that nothing will be able to stand against us. Notice something here: Joshua is about to go into a land that is inhabited by people who don’t want to give their property away and will fight to keep it and God doesn’t tell Joshua that he won’t have to do battle. He doesn’t promise that he won’t face difficulties. Instead, He tells Joshua that in those battles and difficulties, He’s going to be there with him—and that He has already given him victory.

That excites me. Why does this excite me? Is it because I love to battle? Is it because I get all giddy when I see difficulties coming? No, I am excited because I’ve found that it is in those battles and trials that we find our purpose.

And Our Purpose Is…?

Seeking our purpose these days seems to be something that drives our lives. Books are written, sermons preached, and classes taught, yet most people are still looking. I personally believe that finding our purpose is much simpler than some seem to think. Jesus tells His followers what that purpose is in Matthew 5: You are the light of the world.

We no longer have to search for our purpose… we are to be light. Why did He choose light? What could He possibly mean when He calls us the light of the world?

Think about it this way: If you live in a three-bedroom house with a kitchen, a dining room, a couple of bathrooms, an office, and a garage, you probably own about fifteen lights or so… If you were in charge of light distribution in this house, would you put all the lights you own in just one of the bathrooms? That would be ridiculous! You’d put the lights in all the rooms, especially the rooms that didn’t have adequate natural lighting. You’d put them in places that have potential toe-stubbing obstacles, places that intruders might see as weak points, and in the corners and hallways that need light. Because that’s where they can best be used!

A wonderful picture of this principle is found in Acts 16 where we are told a story of the Apostle Paul and his friend Silas. While on a missionary journey, they were walking down a road minding their business when a possessed slave girl approached and started to follow them. For days this girl followed them around yelling at the top of her lungs: “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” Now as true as this statement was, it was no doubt exasperating for Paul and Silas to have someone following them around, yelling at every turn. Paul was so annoyed that he performed an exorcism and freed the girl of her demon.

Not surprisingly, this did not please the slave girl’s owners who were making good money by using her demonic abilities as a fortune-teller. So they complained to the local law enforcement agent who then arrested Paul and Silas. Unfortunately this incident didn’t take place in Mayberry where Sheriff Andy and Deputy Fife would have worked everything out in 22 minutes while making us laugh. Instead it happened in a place that was very unfriendly; Paul and Silas were beaten bloody and thrown into the deepest, darkest part of the local dungeon where their feet were shackled to the stocks.

So picture the scene: Paul and Silas, beaten, bloody, and chained to a pole because they helped a young girl by freeing her of a demon… we now come to one of my favorite Bible verses, Acts 16:25: “But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.” WOW! I love that! Singing hymns and praying while shackled in the deepest part of a dark dungeon!

This is where it gets even more interesting. Soon after that time of praise and worship, God caused an earthquake during which the chains fell off of all the prisoners and the prison doors shook off their hinges. The jailor, now upset thinking that he failed in his duties, takes his weapon and is about to kill himself when Paul interrupts him and tells him not to worry because nobody left. Nobody left!? That’s right, all the prisoners were still hanging around… no chains… no doors… just hangin’.

Why do you think that is? Why do you think none of the other prisoners fled? I contend that it was because of verse 25. Those men who were in the same dungeon as Paul and Silas, who were listening to them singing and praising the Lord despite their circumstance, they had to be seeking what Paul and Silas obviously had… they had to be desiring the same peace within the storm. The jailor certainly wanted that because the first thing out of his mouth was, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

Someone is Watching You

Your neighbor, your friend, or your unsaved family member is watching you. He is looking at how you handle the problems that arise in your life. He is facing the exact same things, the same battles and trials that you are facing: sickness, money problems, career setbacks, even death. When he sees how you handle those circumstances, he sees that God is helping you and is with you through them. He notices God is giving you strength and peace despite those circumstances.

Eventually he is going to ask you why your reaction, when faced with the same things he is faced with, is completely different. Then when God uses you to share with that person about the source of the strength and peace that he is seeing in you, you realize that you truly do have a purpose in life—to be a light in a dark world!

Reasons for the Difficulties

God is preparing Joshua for the conquering of the Promised Land. As we look ahead we can see there are battles to be fought, obstacles to overcome. We know that God is powerful enough to conquer the land without Joshua. If He wanted to, He could give it to them without them ever having to fight for it. God could give us the lives we seek, handed to us on a silver platter with parsley garnish. But He chooses instead to lead us into a difficult world, giving us peace and power in that difficult world. Why?

I believe for two reasons. Number one (and always number one): that He might be glorified. And number two, so that He can use us to be instruments of light in the darkness of this world. By allowing ourselves to be used by God, we in turn will find out what it is that we are created to do! He loves us that much!

Easier Said Than Done

But, you might say, “That’s all well and good and I agree with the concept, but in real life when I’m entrenched in battle, I don’t feel this strength and peace you’re talking about. I freak out. Life is difficult and I mess up daily and nobody is ever going to come to me looking for direction on how they can freak out too. I know it is possible because I’ve seen it in others, but how do I find this strength? Where do I get this peace? What must I do to see that kind of miraculous result in my life?”

In the book of John chapter six, an interesting story unfolds on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus is surrounded by a hungry multitude when He does a miracle and feeds them with a couple of loaves of bread and some fish. This impressed the people so much that they tried to take Jesus by force and make Him king—so He and His disciples left the scene.

Read on your own the interesting developments of that night, but I want to, for the sake of this chapter, jump forward to the next morning. Upon waking, the multitude wanted breakfast and began to look for Jesus near the place where they had eaten on the previous day. They didn’t find Him there, so they went to look for Him on the other side of the sea. Once they found Him they approached Him and asked Him to miraculously produce more food. Jesus, knowing that the only reason they were looking for Him was to get their bellies filled, decided to make a spiritual connection between what they thought they wanted, and what He knew they needed. He said:

"Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him." (vs. 26-27)

The multitude did not understand what Jesus was saying, but still wanted their morning sustenance. So they asked Jesus how they could do the cool trick they witnessed the day before and make enough food to feed everyone from a couple of loaves of bread and some fish: "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?" (v. 28)

Jesus, staying on point about the spiritual connection to the multitude’s hunger, answered:

"This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent" (v. 29).

Spiritual Things First

The multitudes were looking for physical relief from their hunger, and Jesus was telling them that it is more important for them to seek to have their spiritual needs met. We so often look for physical relief from our trials, something tangible. For example, let’s just say that you are doing battle with an illness; you want to be healed and define the success of your trial on whether or not you are healed. Your thought is that if God heals you, it will be a great testimony for your unsaved friends and family to see.

But God is working out something different, something spiritual. He knows that if your friends or family members see a physical need being met in your life, they will have a tendency to come to Him merely to have their physical needs met. He loves them too much to allow them to come to Him in that way.

The lesson being taught by Jesus is this: If our spiritual need is met first, the reaction to our physical need will change—and that will be a better testimony for those who are watching. He also is teaching us that He is not here merely to meet the physical needs of the multitude, but more importantly to meet their spiritual needs. So when they asked Him what they must do to meet their physical need for food, Jesus answered with the spiritual, telling them the only thing they must do to have the life they want is to believe in the One God sent. To believe in Him.

Take a Different Look

And so it is today. If the battles and difficulties in your life are weighing you down and you don’t feel as if God is with you as He promised He would be, stop seeking a physical solution and start seeking a spiritual solution. Reconnect with the One sent of God. Seek Him first.

Believe that He is working something infinitely better for you than you could ever imagine. Trust Him. In that trust, you will find life!

Chapter Four - Joshua 1:7-9

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The Secret to Success

The nation of

Israel

is now on the east side of the Jordan River, about to enter the Promised Land. Their parents and grandparents did not enter the Promised Land forty years earlier because they did not believe God when He told them the land was theirs. But now, with Joshua as their leader, the people believed. Because of their belief that God would be with them the whole way—and that nobody would be able to stand against them—they could finally enter and conquer the land!

In Joshua chapter one God is encouraging Joshua as he prepares to lead the nation of

Israel

into the Promised Land. During that encouragement, God did not tell Joshua the road would be easy, but that He would be there, leading him and protecting him in battle. Beginning in verse seven, we now find God telling Joshua the secret to success. By studying this section of Scripture, we too will find out how we can live a successful, fruit-filled existence.

Joshua 1:7-9

“Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

So that’s it. Easy peezy, lemon squeezy! Read the Bible every day and do everything it says and you’ll be successful.

In the next chapter we will look at verses 10 through 18.

What? We’re done here… there’s nothing more in this chapter… That’s it… you know what to do, now go do it.

You still here?

You Miserable Failure

OK…so maybe you’re like me and you’ve seen the 300-plus laws written in the Book of the Law and you break a minimum of 37 of them daily. And maybe, like me, there are three or four days out of the year (or in my case, week) that you don’t do your devotions. And maybe you try to meditate day and night, but honestly, during work, while you’re sleeping, or while you’re watching the evening news, it’s not happening as often as you’d like. Well, there you go, that’s why you’re not successful, you miserable failure. Don’t you know that it’s as easy as “just do it”?

I’ve been involved in quite a few different ministries through the years and have learned how to and how not to do ministry through observing my peers. One of the ministries I have been most involved in has been teaching classes for men and women and mentoring men who are dealing with life-controlling sin. When dealing with the addicted, you unfortunately see a lot more failure than success, especially at the beginning. As I was cutting my teeth in this area of ministry, I would watch others and how they dealt with the person who would come back from a failure. I’ll use the story of a guy named Mike who is addicted to doughnuts (name and substance changed to protect Greg’s identity).

Mike came to the Lord a few years ago, seeking freedom from his addiction to sugar glazed doughnuts. When he came to the church for help, it was obvious that Mike was genuinely seeking a change, and that he believed that Christ alone was the source for that change. But one day, after a couple of good weeks, temptation got the better of him as he drove by Krispy Kreme and saw the “hot” light on. A dozen glazed doughnuts later and he was crawling back to the church seeking counsel, feeling that he disappointed his Lord.

I would watch time and time again as the counselor asked him if he did his devotions that morning, and if not, when he last spent time in the Word. “Of course!” Mike would say, “I need to spend more time in the Word.” So he would study and memorize, read more and discuss more, and he would find relief for a couple of weeks until… So he would again be asked by his counselor, “Did you spend time in the Word today?”

But this time he had spent time in his devotions that morning. “But how much time? Only five minutes? You need to do more than that if you want to succeed. If you can’t devote ten percent of your time to the Lord you will most certainly fail again.” So Mike re-doubles his effort and spends more time studying. He enrolls in Bible college and gets involved in small groups, until one day six months later… “Again with the glazed!” His counselor asks. “Are you obeying the Bible or just reading it, because obedience is the key, you must do everything it says if you want to be successful....”

I saw way too many Mikes give up because the load was too heavy, and that breaks my heart. But even more heartbreaking for me is seeing the men and women entrenched in ministry getting burned out because they, with great intention, think it’s necessary to place a burden on those they are ministering to—burdens that they themselves cannot bear. That burden is the Law.

Law Means Freedom

So are these verses in Joshua wrong? Are they outdated? No. Those words are as true today as they were when God spoke them to Joshua. The Law, if you understand its purpose, will free you to become the person God has created you to be. Unfortunately, even the most well intentioned religious people will often distort the purpose of the Law and will make doing everything written within its pages the preeminent factor in how they live their lives and how they instruct others to live their lives. We have a tendency to make God into Father, Son, and Holy Bible instead of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Before you call me a heretic, let’s examine what I just said. I didn’t say that the Word of God should not be a factor in how we live our lives; I believe that the Bible is the Holy, inspired Word of God and needs to be an important part of daily life. What I am saying is that we need to understand the Bible’s purpose or it will cause us to be so burdened that we will easily become burned out trying to follow its many directives.

What Is the Purpose of the Law?

The Apostle Paul tells us that “the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith” (Galatians 3:24). God’s intent for the Law was not to use it to justify us or make us right with Him; it was to show us that by our works we cannot be justified because we will never be able to live up to the Law. How can we be made right with God if not by works? The remedy God gave us by which we can be justified is faith (or belief) in Jesus.

I know this is basic and you’ve heard it before, but please read this carefully: You cannot be justified by works. Success, as God defines it, can only come through a relationship with Him. A relationship with God can only happen if you are right with God. Becoming right with God cannot happen through works. Therefore, you cannot become successful through works, even if they are good works and even if you try really hard to not sin. You cannot be justified by works.

From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible’s purpose is to tell the story of Christ and to point us toward Him. Studying the Law in the light of this purpose will change your life; studying it outside the light of this purpose will burden your life.

A Disqualifying Sin

Let me better explain what I mean when I speak of studying the Law in the light of its purpose, by giving an example of how we should study. In Numbers chapter 20 something took place that disqualified Moses from entering the Promised Land. That “something” must have been something big, right? Is it the story about how he murdered the Egyptian? That’s got to be a disqualifier, right? Or is it the story about how he went against God’s directive and married an Ethiopian woman? Or is it when we’re told about how he didn’t circumcise his children like God commanded?

Nope, none of those sins disqualified Moses from the Promised Land. What happened?

In Exodus 17 (years prior to Numbers 20), Moses and the nation of

Israel

had just left

Egypt

and were in the desert when they came to a place called Rephidim. Rephidim had no water anywhere near it so it probably was not the ideal place to pop a tent and set up camp. Millions of people without water will not survive long and Moses had led them to a campsite devoid of this life-giving liquid. If I were in the shoes of the people, I’d probably complain right along side them—and boy, did they complain!

So Moses pleaded with the Lord to tell him what to do. God told him that He was going to lead them to a rock, and when they got there, Moses was to take his rod and strike the rock. Moses did just that and water gushed out of the rock, providing liquid sustenance for the people. Skip ahead a number of years… the people are again back in the desert and Moses has led them back to the same rock. Once again there was no water in sight and the people complained.

Moses, frustrated with the complaints, went to the Lord and pleaded for Him to tell him what to do. This time God told Moses to take his rod and go and speak to the rock. Ask the rock for water. But instead of speaking to the rock, Moses took his rod, insulted and rebuked the people, and then hit the rock just as he had done years earlier. This is what disqualified Moses from entering the Promised Land.

God’s True Nature

Why did striking a rock disqualify Moses when murder didn’t? To understand this story you must study it in the light of its purpose. How does it teach us about Christ? In First Corinthians chapter ten, Paul equates the rock to Jesus. The Israelites were in the desert, they were parched, dry, and on the verge of death. The remedy for their dryness was to strike the rock. When we are in the world (unsaved), we are dried up and dying in our sin. The remedy for that eminent death is to strike the Rock (Jesus). Someone needed to die in our place, and in Jesus’ death, we find life. But He only has to be struck once. He died once for all (Hebrews 10:10) and since the price has been paid, all we have to do when we need relief is speak to the Rock.

The reason Moses was disqualified from entering the Promised Land was because he misrepresented the nature of God. In God’s own words, "Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them" (Numbers 20:12). Moses, in his frustration and by his words and actions, made it appear as if God was angry and unjust and that a price had to be paid once again for them to receive life from the rock. Can you imagine how guilty the people felt after that tongue-lashing?

But God was not mad or unjust—the price had already been paid; there was no need for the people to feel guilty. His remedy now was simply to speak to the rock. Jesus said: "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water" (John 7:37-38).

A Pastor’s Predicament

Here’s how we do it. Here’s how we might misrepresent God. This time I’ll use the name Tom to protect the identity of Greg. Tom is a pastor who is trying to lead his congregation into a better life, but he is frustrated with the lack of fruit in lives of his flock. He sees people in his church who are selfish with their money and time, struggling in their marriages, and their kids are running wild. So he prepares a series of messages to touch on each of these problem areas.

For the first month he teaches messages on stewardship, bringing his congregation to portions of Scripture that speak of stewardship. He shows them incontrovertible proof of how important it is to God that they be good stewards of what they’ve been given. He holds seminars about tithing and service, showing Biblically how giving sacrificially will actually benefit the giver more than the benefactor of the gift.

The next month Tom teaches messages on marriage, showing Biblically that giving up our selfish desires as husbands and wives is the key to a good marriage. He brings in marriage experts to hold workshops on how the husband can become a better leader by holding to his promises and washing his wife in the Word, and how a wife can better submit by humbling herself through service. He shows without question how the marriage you are looking for can be attained by working hard to do these things.

In month three Tom focuses in on parenting, teaching the principles of authority and consistency in discipline. He invites the kids into the main sanctuary to teach them how to be good kids, giving examples of how his kids act. He shows unequivocally exactly what the Bible says about what parents and kids should be doing to have the perfect parent/child relationship.

At the end of this three-month strategy, Tom is looking forward to sitting back and witnessing the fruit of his Biblical teaching. But there is little to no change in the congregation. So Tom re-groups and determines that what he needs to do is become a better example to the church. He begins to give more of his own time and resources. He humbly announces what he is doing, hoping it will spur others to follow. He offers his time to any and all that need him; he donates the money he raised from the sale of his RV and tells the congregation how great it felt to do so.

But still, no change in the lives of the congregation. A few more months pass and Pastor Tom, giving more of his time and resources than ever before, is exhausted. He no longer has his RV for his vacation and is depressed that he is making no inroads for the betterment of his flock. To add to his frustration, the time he is spending trying to help others is now negatively affecting his marriage and his family. The burden he carries is weighing him down to the point of breaking.

“Why?” he cries out. “Everything I’ve taught, everything I’ve done, and everything I’ve given has been based on Biblical principles. Why am I not reaping the benefits of all my hard work?”

Point to the Right Remedy

Tom is right. Everything he taught about stewardship, about marriage, and about rearing kids is Biblical. We should be good stewards and give sacrificially. In our marriages, husbands should lead and wives should follow. We do need to be consistent with the discipline of our children. So why is he finding no success in leading his flock into the Promised Land?

The problem here is that Tom is misrepresenting God. You see, those things, those actions he is teaching are not the remedy God has given us for our illness; they are the evidence of the cure. Our responsibility as leaders in the Church is to point people to the remedy God has prescribed—Christ! Teach them about Christ, show them the love of Christ, instruct them on how to find Christ in the Word, and encourage them to seek Christ in everything. Administer the remedy!

Once that remedy is administered, a supernatural change occurs in the individual who has received it. They can now look into the Bible like a mirror to see for themselves if they are exhibiting the evidence of being healed. And we as leaders can look at the flock through the Word to see if they need another dose of the remedy… Christ!

In our text, Joshua was already exhibiting the evidence of being cured. He had shown that he had the faith God required to enter the Promised Land. We know this because we are told that God had already given him the land. In Joshua chapter one God told Joshua to stay close to Him, talk to Him, listen to His words, and follow His commands. You’ve already made it, you’ve already done what is required to conquer the land, so follow Me and I’ll show you My faithfulness.

Jesus told us the same thing in John 15:4-5:

"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”

The secret to success is found in the study and meditation of the Book of the Law. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17). But the purpose of the Word of God is not to guilt us into doing works; the purpose of the Word is to point us to Christ.

Seek the remedy—and the evidence of the cure will occur naturally.

Chapter Five - Joshua 1:10-12

2011-02-01T20:39:00.008-05:00

How God Guides

In the first half of Joshua chapter one, God is giving charge to Joshua as he prepares to lead the nation of

Israel

into the Promised Land. We now see Joshua gathering his leadership team to give them the plan on how they will proceed.

Joshua 1:10-11

Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying, "Pass through the camp and command the people, saying, 'Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within three days you will cross over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess.'"

I like Joshua. I’d like to be more like Joshua in my life. He believed God when He told him that it was time to go possess the land. He took action to do what the Lord told him to do. He didn’t ask the people he was about to lead into battle what they wanted to do; he simply told them that it was time. He told them to prepare because they were going in three days, and they were going whether they liked it or not.

I’d like to be a leader like that. I’d like to hear from the Lord and then act. I’d like to be able to tell those I am leading, with confidence, that “this is what the Lord has told me; therefore this is what we are going to do.” But Joshua heard from the Lord clearly, precisely, and loudly. Do we… can we… hear from God like Joshua heard from God?

That’s the problem isn’t it? If we heard from God like Joshua heard from God, it would be easy. Of course we’d believe, of course we’d act, of course we’d lead like Joshua. But God doesn’t talk to us like he talked to Joshua. He’s not as clear, He’s not as precise… right?

Selective Listening

Sorry to break it to you, but that’s just plain wrong. God does speak to us today in clear and precise ways; the problem is our tendency to listen selectively. We tend to block out God’s voice when it doesn’t conform to what we think we want or what we’d prefer to hear.

It’s funny how we’ll ask God to direct us by telling Him the direction we want to go. We’ll pray, “Lord, I’m lonely and I know you have the husband I am looking for already picked out. I know he is tall, dark, and handsome. I know he’s successful in business and good with kids. I am trusting You that his family is loving and kind and will accept me for who I am. I believe my husband will be a leader in the church, perfect and pure as the wind-driven snow. And I know this is what You want for me because this is the desire You have put in my heart. So please God, direct me to that perfect man.”

Then, after two and a half years of praying that prayer, you get frustrated with God because He is not leading you to your perfect man. Then, one day you meet Greg and wow…sparks fly! He meets all your criteria! But after four months of dating, you find out that Greg is tall because he’s got risers in his shoes, he’s dark because he spends a lot of time at the beach and very little at work, and he’s only handsome in the dark.

He may not be everything you are looking for, but you begin to pray about if he’s “the one.” You pray that prayer fervently for a few more months, after which, much to your dismay, you come to realize after a long weekend at his father’s fishing cabin, that he’s not much of a spiritual leader, he never wants kids and he can’t keep a job because of all the time he spends at the beach. So you pray more diligently: “Lord pleeeease tell me if Greg is the one.”

After a few more months of dating you decide to throw a party for his family and friends to meet your family and friends to see how they get along with each other. But afterwards your family’s response is clear… “Nice guy, but a bit strange… we don’t think he’s good for you.” Again, you cry out, “Lord, I’m begging You to tell me—is he the one?” You’ve now been dating for just shy of a decade and you are, in your mind, justifiably mad at God because He isn’t giving you clear direction on whether He wants you to spend the rest of your life with Greg or if He has someone different!

Meanwhile God is shaking His head in love because He told you very clearly in His Word to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. You’ve been seeking a husband first, expecting everything else to fall into place when you find him. God’s also clearly told you through circumstance that Greg is not the one by showing you who he is and what he wants—and how that does not fit with who you are and what you want. God also spoke clearly by sending your friends and family to tell you that he’s not right for you. He spoke to you through the Holy Spirit by putting the question in your brain in the first place… God is not a God of confusion; He doesn’t mess around with us. If after ten years you’re still not sure, then the answer is no! God has been talking to you all the while, you just weren’t listening.

God Speaks Through the Holy Spirit

In this story we see the four ways God uses to lead us and to speak to us. The primary way in which God gives us direction is by the Holy Spirit: “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you” (John 14:26).

Do you remember the day you gave your life to Christ? Maybe you were in church, and at the end of the sermon the pastor asked the congregation if anyone would like to come forward and pray the prayer of salvation. Although you didn’t understand it at the time, something pushed you out of your seat. You were sure that this was what you needed to do and you couldn’t fight it any more. You had to walk forward. Or maybe, like me, you were reading a little booklet that someone gave you and on the last page of that booklet there was a prayer. For some unknown reason you couldn’t help but know that you had to pray that prayer.

Whatever your conversion experience, the pulling you felt to give your life to Christ was the Holy Spirit. We’ve all experienced the draw of the Spirit in other ways as well. For example, when you might be doing something that you shouldn’t be doing, and know you should stop. Or maybe you’re doing something good or helpful, and you’re encouraged. Or possibly one day you were encouraging another believer and a verse popped into your head that you didn’t know you knew… that’s the Holy Spirit! I’ve personally experienced it in larger ways as well; on my first date with my wife I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she was “the one.” When my wife became pregnant with our first-born, I knew it before any test confirmed it. The Holy Spirit does lead us, and the way to hear Him more clearly is to develop a relationship with Him.

When I was in high school, my older brother Rob and I were on the wrestling team together. I am from a small town in rural Minnesota named Austin, and our high school archrival was about 30 miles away in Albert Lea. Early in my first year on the varsity wrestling team we had a home match with Albert Lea, and boy, was it a big deal! I remember the gymnasium being packed to the gills with cheering fans from both towns. The noise was deafening. Because I was the smallest guy on the team, I was the first to take the mat. The crowd went crazy. During the match I can recall the noise of the crowd, but even more engrained in my memory is what I could hear clearly through all that noise. It was the voice of my brother, cheering me on and coaching me.

How could I hear my brother in all that noise? I could hear him because I knew his voice. Over the preceding 13 years or so, I had developed a relationship with him. I had been hearing him as an infant, as a toddler, and as a young boy. I knew his voice and I trusted him. The same is true with the Holy Spirit. As you develop a relationship with Him you will learn to hear His voice, understand His direction, and discover that you can trust Him. Then when the time comes that the world is crashing in on you and you need guidance, you’ll hear His voice coaching you, encouraging you, and bringing to your remembrance all that you’ve been taught.

Listen for the Holy Spirit and do what He tells you to do. There won’t be any confusion when you truly hear His voice. In that obedience you will foster a relationship. You’ll learn over time that you can trust His voice. The more you hear, the louder it will be.

God Speaks Through Circumstances

God will also lead us through circumstance: He is the one who has the key of David. He opens doors, and no one can shut them; he shuts doors, and no one can open them (Revelation 3:7, NLT).

A few years ago, my wife and I were seeing some things happening in the organization I worked for—and we didn’t agree with them. We began praying about whether I should leave my job. I didn’t have another job lined up and I wasn’t looking, but we prayed for God to show us what He wanted us to do. I knew I had to speak up about what God was showing me, but I didn’t want to appear to be a malcontent or a dissenter. So I began praying that God would prompt my boss to ask me for my thoughts.

It wasn’t too long before my prayer was answered when my boss called me into his office to talk. I told him the truth about what I was seeing. He didn’t agree, but thought it was important that he tell the top guy in the organization what I said. A couple of hours later, that guy (my boss’s boss’s boss’s boss) called me to his office to talk. For two hours I told him the truth about what I was seeing. His defensive response to the problems I had witnessed didn’t do anything to sway my opinion to his point of view. I wasn’t fired, but it was clear that it was time for me to move on… so I resigned.

Was this God leading me? Absolutely! God showed me the problem, prompted me to speak, opened the door for me to speak, and then through that experience showed me it was time for me to go. The cool part for me was that in the process (whether my boss listened or not) God used me to shed light on a problem. Then the topper… He confirmed His direction by leading me to a new job that more than tripled my pay—and I got this job despite the fact that I was woefully under qualified for the position!

If you are seeking God in everything, He will open and shut doors that nobody else could open or shut.

God Speaks Through Others

Another way God chooses to lead and guide our everyday life is through others: And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also (2 Timothy 2:2).

The question of why God uses us to lead His people has always intrigued me. He is perfect, all knowing, all powerful, and ever present, and I could come up with a thousand better ways for Him to lead His people other than through His people. It’s like Captain Kirk using a row boat to circumnavigate the earth when Scotty is available to beam him wherever he wants to go. I don’t understand why God uses us, but I’m certainly glad He does.

There are a few pastors that God uses in my life to help direct me. I draw insight from them into the Bible and learn from their experience. God also speaks through my wife. She is a constant source of grounding, a great sounding board who knows the Bible well and will tell me if I am off course. She will also encourage me when I am on course. But the best part about God using people to lead people is that He sometimes decides to speak through me to a brother or sister who needs to hear from Him.

One of the first times I can remember being used by God is tattooed permanently in my brain because it was a life-altering experience. I was attending a conference for singles (this, of course, was before I was married) when I met Preston (name changed to protect Greg’s identity). Preston was struggling that day because just the day before, he had lost his job. Losing a job is a big deal for everyone, but it was even more so for him because of something that had happened to him a few years prior. Late one night he was driving down a dark highway when out of nowhere a huge tree jumped out in front of his car! OK, maybe the fact that he was drunk caused his reaction time to be a bit slow, but that tree had no right to pull out right in front of him like that! The car he was driving put up a good fight, hitting the tree hard. But the tree won the battle and Preston sustained several severe head injuries.

After several reconstructive surgeries and some time behind bars, he was now faced with getting a job with a criminal background and major facial deformities. Preston had given his life to Christ in the hospital and was seeking for the Lord to guide him to a job where he could support his children and begin life afresh. The Lord came through for him in a major way and he got a job as a telephone sales person in a major company despite the fact that he was honest about his criminal record in his application. It was an answer to prayer!

A couple of months went by and he was doing great in his new job, his bosses were happy with his performance, and he was praising the Lord for his new-found success. Then it happened… on the morning of the day he was going to leave for the singles conference his boss called him into his office. Preston was told that he somehow fell threw the cracks and that it was against company policy to hire someone with a criminal background, so they had to let him go. This of course devastated Preston because he knew it was God’s will for him to have that job because of the incredible miracle that took place for him to get it.

Now here I am sitting across the table from him the day after he got this devastating news. He’s searching for meaning in this tragedy, and for some unknown reason he’s asking me what he should do. How is he going to find work again? What is God’s will for him? He’s back to square one trying to find a job with a record and a deformed face.

The Lord brought to my memory a section of Scripture in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. I recited those verses (that I didn’t know I knew) and told him that if you want to know the will of God, this is a good place to start.

I didn’t spend much time thinking about what was said that night and looking back, I truthfully didn’t think it was that inspiring of a conversation. But the next day, after the conference concluded and everyone was getting ready to go home, Preston approached me. With a tear in his eye, he gave me a big hug and thanked me for what I said. He told me that it was exactly what he needed to hear at the perfect time. Wow! An incredible surge went through my body at that time that changed my life… God can use me! From that day forward I knew my purpose in life was to be used by God as a vessel to direct His people.

God will use you to direct His people as well… if you allow Him to.

God Speaks Through His Word

The last way we’ll look at in terms of how God directs us is through the Word (the Bible): Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path (Psalm 119:105).

I purposely put this last because the Bible is the anchor for all the other ways God leads us. The Holy Spirit brings to our remembrance all that Jesus has taught us—and the primary way He teaches us is through the Bible. If you are not studying the Bible (in the light of its purpose; see chapter five) then logic would dictate that there is very little knowledge that the Holy Spirit can bring to your remembrance in a time of need. When circumstances arise that appear to be pushing us in one direction, it is important to line that direction up with the Word of God. And when we are seeking counsel from others we need to know that not every person gives good advice. The Bible is where we need to go to confirm or deny if the advice we are receiving is good.

The Bible is the revealed will of God, inspired by God and written down by man. It is the single greatest source that we can go to for confirming that we are hearing from the Holy Spirit, for determining whether our circumstance should guide us, and for deciding if the counsel you are receiving is actually from the Lord. Use it!

He Shall Direct Your Path

In Proverbs 3:5-6 we are told: Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Hear this verse:

1. Trust in the LORD with all your heart. Trust Him! Trust Him with everything you have. He loves you and has your best interest in mind when He leads you. Believe that with every fiber of your being!
2. Lean not on your own understanding. Don’t try to figure God out by using your own understanding. His ways are higher than ours. He knows what He is doing.
3. In all your ways acknowledge Him. Acknowledge that He is in control. Praise Him for His faithfulness. Seek Him in everything.
4. And He shall direct your paths. Notice that it doesn’t say He might direct your path, or that sometimes He’ll direct your path… it says, “He shall direct your paths.” He promises it! He’ll come through and show you where to go and when to move. Trust Him!

Joshua heard from the Lord, trusted His leading, and acted. We, too, have that ability to hear from God and act on His direction. We just need to be listening, have the faith that He will speak, and then be willing, like Joshua, to do what He asks of us.

Chapter Six - Joshua 1:12-18

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Choose Wisely

In Numbers chapter thirty-two, the people of

Israel

, after failing to even attempt to conquer the Promised Land, were now wandering in the wilderness because of their disobedience. The old generation was dying off and a new generation was being raised up—a generation who would do what the old would not and move into the land that they were promised.

But before the time came when they were ready to move, the descendants of two of Jacob’s twelve sons, Reuben and Gad (later joined by half of the descendants of Joseph’s son Manasseh), approached Moses and his leadership to ask a favor. They were cattle and sheep herders by trade and they had decided that the Promised Land (the land west of the

Jordan

) wasn’t suited for their flocks and herds. Instead, they thought that the east side of the river would be a better place for them to make a decent living. So they asked Moses if they could have the land to the east instead of taking any land within the Promised Land.

Moses tried to give them a history lesson by reminding them that the reason they’d been wandering for the past forty years was because their fathers didn’t want to go into the land. He then asked them why in the world they would want to commit the same sin. But that didn’t change their minds, so Moses capitulated and promised them the land east of the river with the stipulation that they first had to help the rest of the nation conquer the land God had promised them.

At the end of Joshua chapter one we now find Joshua reminding those two and a half tribes of the agreement made between them and Moses a few years earlier:

Joshua 1:12-18

And to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh Joshua spoke, saying, "Remember the word which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, 'The LORD your God is giving you rest and is giving you this land.' Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side of the Jordan. But you shall pass before your brethren armed, all your mighty men of valor, and help them, until the LORD has given your brethren rest, as He gave you, and they also have taken possession of the land which the LORD your God is giving them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession and enjoy it, which Moses the LORD's servant gave you on this side of the Jordan toward the sunrise."

So they answered Joshua, saying, "All that you command us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. Just as we heeded Moses in all things, so we will heed you. Only the LORD your God be with you, as He was with Moses. Whoever rebels against your command and does not heed your words, in all that you command him, shall be put to death. Only be strong and of good courage."

Choice… it is one of the most important components in our relationship with God. We can choose to believe what He says or to believe something else, and He’ll honor that choice. The two and a half tribes here in Joshua chapter one chose to stay and live on the east side of the Jordan River despite the fact that God had been telling them for years that the land He was giving them was going to be perfect for them. Evidently, they thought they knew better than God about what would be best for them.

And so it is, I believe, with most Christians today. We hear God’s promises and see His directives, but in the end, we follow what we think is going to be a better path for our lives.

Here are some examples of how we may choose to stay outside the Promised Land of the Spirit-filled life:

Living on the Outside

I’ll use the same principles that frustrated Pastor Tom in chapter four; marital relationships, child rearing, and money management. They seem to be areas that we all struggle with. If you go to BlueLetterBible.org or the Bible search program of your choice and search for everything the Bible has to say about marriage, family, and money, you’ll find things that, quite frankly, go against societal norms.

Type in the word “wives” in the search pane and you’ll find that wives are to submit to their husbands in everything (Ephesians 5:24) and that they are encouraged to stay at home with their children (Titus 2:4, 5). Type “husbands” into the search pane and you’ll find that husbands are to love their wives sacrificially, putting their wives’ needs above their own (Ephesians 5:25). They are to give honor to their wives, seeking to understand them (1 Peter 3:7).

Search out topics about child rearing and you’ll find clear direction on how to raise your kids. Search for “divorce” and you’ll find out that God hates divorce (Malachi 2:16) and that though He may allow it in certain circumstances, it is never the best option. Keep searching about how you should control your family finances (search “tithe”) and you’ll find that every cent you have is from God and He asks you to give back ten percent—and that in giving back He’ll bless you.

All this direction, but very few families are following it. Throughout even Christian society, husbands either don’t lead or they selfishly lead, wives fight continually for their right not to submit and for control over the family leadership, children are in childcare, divorce rates are around 50 percent, and nobody feels they can afford to tithe.

“It’s hard to set aside my desires and lead selflessly; I don’t even understand what my wife wants,” the husband will say. “How can I submit to my husband when all he does is make stupid decisions?” the wife will exclaim. “Our only option to continue in the life we have is for us both to work… We use ‘time outs’… don’t you know spanking is wrong… Ten percent? I just put whatever I can afford that week into the basket as it passes. Anyway, we live under grace now and those Old Testament commands are not valid for today…”

And we wonder why there is no peace in our homes, no joy in our trials, our kids are running wild, and there is no provision for our needs? We are choosing to live on the east side of the Jordan River, outside of the Promised Land.

Promised Land Choices

“OK, I accept the premise that I can choose to stay out of the Promised Land,” you might say. “I want to choose to go in, but what must I choose?”

Here are some choices that we are often taught we need to make if we want God’s promises:

1. Choose to no longer be controlled by sin.
2. Choose to study and memorize the Word daily.
3. Choose to surrender everything over to God.
4. Choose to put aside your selfish ambitions.
5. Choose to pray and fast at least once a week.

I tried for a long time to get into the Promised Land by doing all of those things. In all honesty, not only did I fail, but doing them brought me to the brink of giving up on even trying.

You see, as long as we are in these bodies of flesh, sin will always be lurking in the shadows, and we will fail. If having control over sin gets us into the Promised Land, none of us will ever make it. If daily studying and memorizing the Word is the key, then I fail at least once or twice a week. We get busy, sleep too late… whatever the excuse, it is very hard to study as much as we’d like. If surrendering everything is the key, then we’re all in trouble because every day you’ll discover something else that wasn’t surrendered or needs to be surrendered again. Controlling our selfish ambitions is ridiculously hard. We always desire something selfishly, be it life, food, or happiness. So then… praying and fasting… if I discipline my body, that is the key. Man, I hope not because sometimes I fall asleep when I pray and I need to eat, I love my food, and fasting is hard! These things, these works, will never get you into the Promised Land. They are not the remedy; they are the evidence of the cure.

So what is it that we must choose? Back to Numbers 32. Why would the two and a half tribes want to stay on the east side of the river? God had been telling them for years that the Promised Land was a special place where they would find rest and prosperity. God told them He was going to give it to them, divide it up according to their needs, and that He would provide for them in the land… Evidently they didn’t believe God.

The Better Way of Belief

Those two and a half tribes saw the land east of the river and thought that it was a perfect land for them and they wanted it, as opposed to wanting the land God had prepared for them. What they lacked was belief. It’s not like they weren’t willing to do the work, they agreed to fight with the rest of the people. But they didn’t believe the land they were fighting for was worth living in.

Can you imagine being a warrior from those tribes? What was their motivation to fight? In battle, when it started to get ugly, how hard did they fight? When you believe that what you are fighting for is worth it, you are motivated to do the things necessary to win. When you don’t believe that your battle is worth the fight, are you motivated to do whatever it takes to win?

God has promised us a better life within His will, but for whatever reason, we don’t believe it will be better. We still do battle, and we try to do what is right. But because we don’t believe that what we are fighting for is actually worth fighting for, we fall short of doing what it takes to win.

If we truly believed that doing marriage God’s way was the best way, husbands would humbly lead and wives would humbly submit. If we fully believed that God’s way of rearing children was best, we would discipline our children with love and wouldn’t allow their desires to control how we raise them. If we actually believed that God’s way of managing finances was better than our own, then churches would never have to ask for money because we’d all be tithing. But we don’t believe, so our marriages are falling apart, our children are spoiled, and our finances are never under control. Then we have the gall to blame God for our problems!

We are told in Hebrews 11:6: …without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Faith… Belief! That is the key here!

You must choose to believe that God’s way is best, and in that belief you will find the motivation to do what it takes to live the life He wants you to live. And here’s the cool part: Once you believe, God promises to supernaturally come alongside of you, fight the battles with you, lead you through life, and give you victory!

Choose wisely… choose to believe God.

Chapter Seven - Joshua 2

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Faith That Works!

We now find ourselves in Joshua chapter two, where we read the story of a woman named Rahab. I’d like for you to read the full chapter on your own, but let me give an overview of the story.

Three days before the planned entry into the Promised Land and just after he had gathered his leadership together to give them a pep talk, Joshua sent two men into the land as spies to do whatever it was that spies did in those days… I suppose to spy.

Anyway… when they got to the city of Jericho they ended up at the doorstep of a prostitute named Rahab, whose house was attached to the wall that surrounded the city. Word got back to the king of Jericho that the men from the Israelite camp were in the city and that they were crashing at Rahab’s pad. This bothered the king, so he sent a detail to Rahab’s place to search for them. When they got there, Rahab lied to the detail, telling them that though the men had been there, she didn’t know who they were and that she thought they had already left the city.

In truth though, the Israelite spies were hiding on the roof of Rahab’s house. That evening, before night-night sleepy time, Rahab went up to talk with the men on her roof. She told them that she had heard of the great things that God had done for the nation of

Israel

. She also said that she knew in her heart that their God was the God of heaven and earth. She declared that she in no way wanted to be on the wrong side of His wrath. She believed that if the Israelite people were to fight against Jericho, Jericho would lose.

So, as a reward for hiding them from the king, she asked if she and her family could be spared from the upcoming onslaught. The spies told her that she would be spared as long as she gathered her family together in her house and tied a scarlet cord from her window overlooking the exterior of the city. Then the spies took a rope and let themselves out of that window, escaping back to the Israelite camp.

This is an interesting story and I’ve heard it taught in various and sundry ways. I’ve even heard it taught as proof that lying, when it is to protect a servant of God, is allowable. I guess that preacher believes God has a sliding scale for right and wrong. I’ve also heard it taught by spiritually connecting the scarlet cord with the blood of Jesus, and that in Rahab’s act of putting the scarlet cord in her window she was identifying herself with God—just as we are to identify with Christ through His blood. I like that spiritual connection, but that’s not where I want to go in this study.

What interests me about this story are not the details, but the subject of the story, Rahab, a lying prostitute. Rahab is interesting to me for two reasons:

Rahab’s Lineage

First, in the New Testament book of Matthew chapter one, Matthew gives a list of the genealogy from Abraham to Joseph (the step-father of Jesus) showing Jesus’ legal right to the throne of David. Rahab is listed within that genealogy. That’s right—Rahab, a lying prostitute, is an ancestor of Jesus; she is the great-grandmother of King David.

There are four women (excluding Mary) on that list of the ancestors of Jesus, and the other three are interesting as well:

Tamar: You might remember Tamar. She is the woman who in Genesis 38 had a dispute with her father-in-law and decided that in order to get back at him she’d veil herself as a prostitute and entice him to sleep with her. Then when she got pregnant from that liaison, she confronted him and disgraced him for sleeping with what he thought was a prostitute.

Ruth: The namesake for the book of Ruth was the daughter-in-law of Elimelech and Naomi. Elimelech and Naomi, as you may know, left

Israel

for

Moab

to seek relief from famine. Their sons married women from

Moab

(which was against God’s law). In Psalm 108:9, God refers to

Moab

as His “washpot,” which can better be translated today as His toilet. So, Ruth was a Moabite (or Gentile) woman from God’s toilet.

Bathsheba: Bathsheba was the woman with whom King David had an adulterous relationship. David tried to cover up that relationship by having Bathsheba’s husband killed, and then he took her as his wife. To this day David’s affair and how he handled it is one of the most embarrassing events in

Israel

’s history.

I don’t know a whole lot about my ancestry, but when I talk about my family, I don’t usually go out of the way to bring up the skeletons in our closet. However Matthew, inspired by the Holy Spirit, brings up several. Also, generally in the Biblical lists of genealogies only men are mentioned… so why did God choose to include four women in Matthew’s list, especially these four?

I believe it’s to show us, in a practical way, how much God loves us. You see, you and I couldn’t pick our families; some of us were born into great and wonderful families with great heritages, others… not so great. Jesus could pick His family. He is the only person in the history of the earth who could choose whoever He wanted to be in His family line. And He chose a lying prostitute named Rahab! He also chose you! Despite the fact that you are an imperfect, unclean, and sometimes dim-witted person, He looked past that and saw something in you that He wanted to bring into His family.

John 15:16

“You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.”

Rahab’s Faith

The second reason Rahab is interesting to me is the fact that she is mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11 (the chapter in the Bible commonly known as the faith chapter) as someone with great faith. Here is a list of the people in the great hall of faith: Abel (Adam’s son), Enoch (he never died, he was the first person to be raptured), Noah (of the ark fame), Abraham (the father of the nation of

Israel

), Sara (Abraham’s wife), Isaac, Jacob (

Israel

), Moses, and… “the harlot Rahab.” Remember the Sesame Street sketch “which of these things does not belong”? In this list of the great figures of faith, who stands out as a weird choice for the list?

Here’s my point. We don’t know a whole lot about Rahab, just what is written here in Joshua and a few more small references in Matthew, Hebrews, and James. We don’t know much of anything about what happened to her after this story in Joshua, except that her life was spared, she married a guy named Salmon, and had a son named Boaz (who had a son named Jesse, who had a son named David, who became king). What we do know is that because of this story in Joshua, she is recorded as a giant of the faith. Why? Was it because she did what no other person could do? No, anybody could have hidden the spies just as effectively. Is it because she lied to the king of Jericho? No, God hates a lying tongue (Proverbs 6:17).

The reason Rahab is a giant of the faith is because of what she said in Joshua 2:9-11:

“I know that the LORD has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you. For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.”

She believed that God was God, and that belief caused her to act. It wasn’t what she did, it was the motivation behind what she did. The act was important as James points out in his epistle (James 2:25), but as the book of Hebrews 11:31 points out, By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace.

You too can be a Rahab. All it takes is faith. Believe that He is who He says He is, did what He says He did, and that He’ll do what He says He’ll do. That’s all… just faith… the rest will take care of itself!

Below is the text from Joshua chapter two:

Now Joshua the son of Nun sent out two men from Acacia Grove to spy secretly, saying, "Go, view the land, especially Jericho." So they went, and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab, and lodged there. And it was told the king of Jericho, saying, "Behold, men have come here tonight from the children of Israel to search out the country." So the king of Jericho sent 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 country." Then the woman took the two men and hid them. So she said, "Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. And it happened as the gate was being shut, when it was dark, that the men went out. Where the men went I do not know; pursue them quickly, for you may overtake them." (But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them with the stalks of flax, which she had laid in order on the roof.)

Then the men pursued them by the road to the Jordan, to the fords. And as soon as those who pursued them had gone out, they shut the gate. Now before they lay down, she came up to them on the roof, and said to the men: "I know that the LORD has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you. For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the LORD your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath. Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. Now therefore, I beg you, swear to me by the LORD, since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to my father's house, and give me a true token, and spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death."

So the men answered her, "Our lives for yours, if none of you tell this business of ours. And it shall be, when the LORD has given us the land, that we will deal kindly and truly with you." Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall; she dwelt on the wall. And she said to them, "Get to the mountain, lest the pursuers meet you. Hide there three days, until the pursuers have returned. Afterward you may go your way." So the men said to her: "We will be blameless of this oath of yours which you have made us swear, unless, when we come into the land, you bind this line of scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you bring your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father's household to your own home. So it shall be that whoever goes outside the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we will be guiltless. And whoever is with you in the house, his blood shall be on our head if a hand is laid on him. And if you tell this business of ours, then we will be free from your oath which you made us swear." Then she said, "According to your words, so be it."

And she sent them away, and they departed. And she bound the scarlet cord in the window. They departed and went to the mountain, and stayed there three days until the pursuers returned. The pursuers sought them all along the way, but did not find them. So the two men returned, descended from the mountain, and crossed over; and they came to Joshua the son of Nun, and told him all that had befallen them. And they said to Joshua, "Truly the LORD has delivered all the land into our hands, for indeed all the inhabitants of the country are fainthearted because of us."

Chapter Eight - Joshua 3

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Put One Foot in Front of the Other

It’s time! You’ll remember from chapter one “Joshua Introduction” (and I suppose you could find it in the book of Exodus as well) that the nation of Israel, led by Moses, left the slavery of Egypt with the promise from God that He would lead them to a land that would be perfect for them, a land where they would find rest. It’s been quite a few years, and due to their disbelief, the people had gone through a rough forty-year stretch of wandering around in the wilderness.

But now here in Joshua chapter three, it is time to go in and conquer the Land of Promise. Forty years earlier, the Israelites fled slavery in

Egypt

and followed Moses to the banks of a water obstacle, the Red Sea. With mountains on each side and a pursuing army behind, their lives were in jeopardy. But then a miracle happened… God showed up, parted the sea, allowed the nation of

Israel

to walk across the sea on dry ground, and then unparted the sea on top of the pursuing Egyptian army.

In First Corinthians chapter ten, Paul equates this crossing of the sea to a baptism. In chapter one of this book, we also looked at the crossing of this first water obstacle, using Paul’s remarks to the Corinthians as our guide to symbolically link that baptism to our first baptism, the baptism of repentance. Here’s in essence what I wrote in that chapter:

After we leave the world (by reconnecting to God through Jesus) it is important for us to make a statement to the world that we are no longer under its rule. That statement is made through baptism; the Red Sea in this story is a symbol of that first baptism, the baptism of repentance. On that day when the sea collapsed on the Egyptian army, a message was sent to the king who once enslaved the nation of Israel: You no longer have the ability to control them. When we give our lives to Jesus and begin to follow Him, the king of the world (saten) will send his army out to try and destroy us before we get too far away. Our baptism lets the world know that we are no longer of this world—that Christ is now our king and leader, and saten no longer has the ability to control us.

Now the nation of

Israel

is standing on the east banks of another water obstacle, the Jordan River. The fact that they are on the east side of the river is significant to me. Look at a map. They left

Egypt

, which is west of the Promised Land, went south and ran into the Red Sea. After they crossed the Red Sea they traveled east past the Dead Sea, then north, only to end up on the east side of the river that defined the east border of the Promised land… They started west of the Promised Land, went around the south side of the Promised Land, and ended up east of the Promised Land?!

If you wanted to get from your kitchen to your dining room, would you climb out of your kitchen window, walk around the house to your dining room window, and climb in—or would you walk through the door that separates the two rooms? If the nation of

Israel

had just traveled east/northeast out of

Egypt

and followed the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea, they would have avoided all the water crossing problems! So why did God lead them that way? Perhaps it was because He wanted to teach us something.

If the crossing of the Red Sea was symbolic of the baptism of repentance, what can the crossing of the

Jordan

teach us? It teaches us about the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Unusual Plans

On the morning the crossing of the

Jordan

was to take place, Joshua led the people to the banks of the

Jordan

. The Bible tells us that because of the time of year, the river was overflowing. So picture the sight: You’ve got a nation of people wanting to get from one side of an overflowing river with a strong current to the other side, and they’ve got no bridge-making materials, no boats, and no inflatable water wings. What to do, what to do?

Joshua gathers his priests and tells them to grab the Ark of the Covenant (which symbolizes the presence of God) and take it to the edge of the water. What’s that? That’s your plan? Joshua, I love ya babe, but I woke up early today excited, thinking we’d start building a bridge or something, or possibly we’d look for a shallow area to cross. But you tell us to take the presence of God to the edge of the river… Can I go back to sleep?

Humanly speaking this was a horrible plan. It made no sense. I could have figured a much more logical solution to the problem. Isn’t that the way with us today? We face an obstacle or a challenge, but instead of looking for a God-made solution, we look for a man-made solution and usually, at least for me, it is a works-based solution. If I just get control over my sin, then I can enter the Spirit-filled life. If I were to just spend more time serving my church, then it will happen. If I give more, witness more, and do more, I will get to where I want to go. I can build a bridge, find a shallow point in the river, or I can wait till the river waters recede. But seek the presence of God, follow His leading, and have faith that He will show up and accomplish the work for me? Come on, are you serious?

I am only guessing here, but I think that in the back of Joshua’s mind he was thinking those types of thoughts that morning because the Lord comes to him and encourages him by saying (3:7): “This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.”

In other words, God says, Joshua, I am going to be with you. Trust Me, I’ll come through.

The Next Scary Step

Then He tells Joshua (vs. 8): “You shall command the priests who bear the Ark of the Covenant, saying, ‘When you have come to the edge of the water of the Jordan, you shall stand in the Jordan.’” Go step into the water? If you read the rest of the story you’ll find that when the priests step in the water, God stops the rushing waters and the Israelites walk to the other side on dry ground. But think about the men carrying the Ark…Joshua told them that God was going to come through, that He was going to show up; he told them exactly what was going to happen, but it still had to be scary for the men who where in the front of the line.

Growing up, the concept of a Spirit who helped you live life was a bit weird and foreign to me. I was taught that by good ol’ fashion discipline and hard work, by staying in the Word and staying away from smoking, drinking, movies, and dancing, I’d stay close to God, live a successful Christian life, and that God would be happy with me. If asked, I would have answered correctly that the Holy Spirit was the third person of the Trinity, but that’s about all I knew about Him.

As I grew older and began to read the Bible a little more, I began to associate the Holy Spirit with speaking in tongues and fire from Heaven. Soon, the discussion of the Holy Spirit began to conjure within me visions of snake handling, rolling in the aisles of church, and old men carrying a sign shouting, “THE END IS NIGH!” It was weird, a bit scary, and I certainly didn’t want to be one of those weirdo “Fundamentalist” Christians.

Then I started to meet some people who “seemed” to be living the life I wanted to live… Don’t get me wrong, in my mind they had to be fake. It can’t be true, life can’t be as good as they make it out to be. But the Lord started to teach me (just as Joshua taught his men) that it was true, there is a better life. He kept saying, “Trust Me and I will show up.”

As this all started to happen, I labeled and numbered some verses in my Bible (the book of John) that were words from the mouth of Jesus. These words began to change my mind about the Holy Spirit:

1. John 14:15-16

"If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever...”

2. John 14:25-26

"These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”

3. John 16:7-11

“Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.”

4. John 16:13

"However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come.”

First, I learned that Jesus would send the Holy Spirit when I started to obey His commandments. You see there in number one: “… keep My commandments. And I will…” OK, makes sense… obey His commandments. When you begin to do that, that’s when He will send the Spirit to help you. In number two, I discovered that the Holy Spirit will teach me things, and then bring to my remembrance what I’ve learned. Wait a second! I’ve already experienced that! There were times when I remembered Bible verses that I didn’t even think I knew… Was that… could that have been… the Holy Spirit?

In number three, I found that it is the Holy Spirit who convicts the world of its sin of unbelief, spurs us on to righteousness, and comforts us when everything around us is uncomfortable. I’ve felt that conviction, that encouragement and comfort… before I was fully walking with the Lord, something told me that I needed to believe. After I was saved, something encouraged me to do good, and then when I was getting beaten down by the ruler of this world, something comforted me and told me that he’ll get his comeuppance someday. That was the Holy Spirit?

In number four, I learned that the Holy Spirit will “guide me into all truth” and I realized that He had been guiding me. As a matter of fact, He was guiding me to truth that very second! This Holy Spirit wasn’t as weird as I thought He was, and I was beginning to believe that I needed Him in my life.

But, though I had experienced small doses of the Holy Spirit’s power in my life, I wasn’t fully living life in His power. I would read, for example in Romans chapter eight about living life in the Spirit, but I didn’t know how to live that life. I would read in Acts chapter one about the power that would come upon believers when the Holy Spirit comes upon them, but there wasn’t any of that power in my life. Why not?

My first thought was that it was because I wasn’t fully obeying God’s commandments like John 14:15 tells us. But the more I tried to obey all of the law, the more I felt the need for the Holy Spirit. I was stuck in a catch-22; I needed the Holy Spirit to give me power to obey, but I thought that the power of the Holy Spirit wouldn’t come until I fully obeyed… and that drove me nuts! Then I read Luke 11:9-13

"So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish? Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!"

What must we do to receive the Holy Spirit? ASK!

Here’s What’s Gonna’ Happen

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is for some a scary proposition. You are stepping into the unknown; you don’t know what is going to happen. Are you going to be carried away by the water into weirdness? Will you now be forced to jump around church speaking gibberish?

Then Jesus comes to you, like Joshua went to his priests, and tells you exactly what is going to happen. He tells you that you will receive power to live life, you’ll find rest for your soul, and your God-given gifts will be revealed. As He is telling you this, you begin to believe. That belief then causes you to act and you take a step of faith into the roaring river. But what is that step? What commandment must we obey for Jesus to ask the Father to send the Helper (John 14:15)? For the priests carrying the Ark, it was scary but simple: Put one foot in front of the other and step into the unknown, trusting that what Joshua was telling them was true. For us, it is one simple, sometimes scary step as well… ask. Believe what Jesus is telling you and take a step of faith into the unknown, trusting that what He is telling you is true.

For those who are asking but aren’t receiving, please learn from my experience. As is the case with all things spiritual, you won’t receive until you believe and you won’t believe until you hear. So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17). Open the Word and search the Scripture for what it has to say about the Holy Spirit. Just as Joshua told the men holding the presence of God exactly what was about to happen, so too will you hear within your spirit (where the presence of God dwells in you) exactly what is going to happen when you take that step of faith and ask for the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

When the priests in Joshua chapter three took that step into the water, exactly what Joshua told them would happen, happened. The water stopped and the people crossed over into the Promised Land. But the story doesn’t end there. They were now in the land, but it was not yet conquered; there were battles still to be fought. But God promised that He would be there to lead them in the battles and give them victory.

When you receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, exactly what Jesus teaches you will happen, will happen. You will receive power, you will begin to understand and hear His leading, and He will help you navigate life. But understand this as well, the battles are just beginning. He will never give you more than you can handle, but God will lead you into battle and you will be victorious over your enemies.

And remember our study from chapter three: The Purpose of Battle—it is in the battle where you find your purpose!

Below is the text from Joshua chapter three:

Then Joshua rose early in the morning; and they set out from Acacia Grove and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they crossed over. So it was, after three days, that the officers went through the camp; and they commanded the people, saying, "When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before."

And Joshua said to the people, "Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you." Then Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, "Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over before the people." So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people. And the LORD said to Joshua, "This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. You shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, saying, 'When you have come to the edge of the water of the Jordan, you shall stand in the Jordan.'" So Joshua said to the children of Israel, "Come here, and hear the words of the LORD your God." And Joshua said, "By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites: Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over before you into the Jordan.

"Now therefore, take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from every tribe. And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they shall stand as a heap."

So it was, when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest), that the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zaretan. So the waters that went down into the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, failed, and were cut off; and the people crossed over opposite Jericho. Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan.

Chapter Nine - Joshua 4

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Feeding Your Faith

In the last chapter we left the nation of

Israel

taking a step of faith into the Jordan River, believing that God was going to show up and do something. He did, and the overflowing river that was standing between them and the Promised Land stopped flowing, allowing them to cross over on dry ground. When they got to the other side Joshua, at the behest of God, had some of his guys do something interesting. He told them to go back to the middle of the river where the men carrying the Ark of the Covenant had been positioned while the people crossed, pick up twelve rocks, and bring them back to the campsite. Then Joshua went back himself into the riverbed and erected a monument of twelve stones, leaving them in the middle of the river.

When all the people had crossed and Joshua’s monument was built, God unstopped the river and the waters began to overflow its banks once again. A couple of days later as the people were camping in Gilgal, they took the twelve stones that the men had gathered and built another monument to remind them of God’s faithfulness. It was a place where men could bring their kids and tell them of what happened on the day they entered the land.

A Picture of Gratitude

Stuck in the visor of my truck today (and in the visor of every vehicle I’ve had for the past 20 years) is a photo of a 1985 Saab 900 (a car for you non-Swedes) that was taken on December 27,1988. On December 26^th I was in that car driving south on a two-lane highway just south of Owatonna, Minnesota, when I came up on an eighteen-wheeler going way too slow. Possibly the driver of that truck was being extra careful because of the snow that was coming down hard and sideways, but he was in my way and I decided to pass him.

In hindsight, I probably should have chosen a better time to pass, seeing as how there was a van traveling north in the lane I was going to use to pass the truck… but then again, hindsight, as they say, is 20/20. I was going about sixty miles an hour and the van carrying the Bain family was traveling about fifty miles an hour when we both came to a sudden stop… the van won the battle. I rolled several times and ended upside down in a snow drift with the mangled Swedish-made car on top of me.

I don’t remember anything between the time I pulled out to pass the truck and waking up with a fireman holding my head as about ten other firemen used the Jaws of Life to cut me out of the car. But it was quite obvious that something had happened. In and out of consciousness for the next couple hours, I was rushed first to the Owatonna hospital, then to the trauma center at St. Mary’s hospital in Rochester where some of the best doctors in the world practice their craft.

Despite the fact that this was a difficult time for me (even more so for the Bain family), I joke today about how the only permanent injury I sustained that evening was brain death… but in reality, I literally walked out of St. Mary’s the next morning with just a few scrapes and bruises. Every time I look at that photo I am reminded of God’s faithfulness and how He saved me for a purpose. When my son asks me why I carry that old picture in my truck, I’ll be able to tell him the story of how God loves me so much that He saved me from the natural repercussions of my stupidity so that I could be used by Him to tell others of His glory.

The Importance of Remembering

Memorials are important. Joshua, here in Joshua chapter four, erects two memorials; one in the middle of the river that no one will see, and another that many will see. Does God ask Joshua to build those two memorials because He is a prideful, arrogant God who wants people to see and be reminded of His accomplishments? Or is there another reason?

Well, let’s get this straight; God doesn’t need a pile of rocks or a picture of a mangled car to make Himself feel good about what He did in the past. He made the rocks and every piece of material used to build the car, so those memorials are in no way for His benefit. They are for our benefit. We are forgetful people who need to be reminded regularly of how faithful our Lord is.

A great example of this forgetfulness is Thanksgiving Day. Every year Thanksgiving is on the fourth Thursday of November, a day that Americans have set aside to give thanks to God for His wonderful and bountiful provision. The next day is considered Black Friday, a day that Americans stand in line for hours, engage in literal fist fights over Tickle-Me-Elmo dolls, and spend all day looking for deals on things we think we need because we just don’t have enough. The funny part is that the same things that we think we need will, in six months, be packed away in our storage containers to make room for the birthday stuff that we can’t do without. What happened to God’s bountiful provision? We forget!

When we set up reminders of God’s faithfulness, it helps us as we travel on life’s journey to trust God’s provision. We’ll remember the time He came through in our finances, and it will be easier to trust Him during the next financial crunch. We’ll remember how He showed up and comforted us in our sickness or tragedy, and we’ll look for that comfort and will trust that it will come the next time we are faced with the same type of circumstance. We’ll be reminded of His faithfulness to us when we didn’t believe, and it will be easier to believe in the future.

We need to remember these things. Write it in the margin of your Bible when the Lord speaks to you through the Word. Pay attention to the ring on your left ring finger and remember how God supplied a wonderful companion for you despite the fact that you don’t deserve her. Be careful not to turn that memorial into an idol, as is sometimes our tendency. But don’t be afraid to place in your life both private and public memorials of God’s faithfulness.

Below is the text to Joshua chapter four:

And it came to pass, when all the people had completely crossed over the Jordan, that the LORD spoke to Joshua, saying: "Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from every tribe, and command them, saying, 'Take for yourselves twelve stones from here, out of the midst of the Jordan, from the place where the priests' feet stood firm. You shall carry them over with you and leave them in the lodging place where you lodge tonight.'" Then Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the children of Israel, one man from every tribe; and Joshua said to them: "Cross over before the ark of the LORD your God into the midst of the Jordan, and each one of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, 'What do these stones mean to you?' Then you shall answer them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever."

And the children of Israel did so, just as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones from the midst of the Jordan, as the LORD had spoken to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over with them to the place where they lodged, and laid them down there. Then Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood; and they are there to this day. So the priests who bore the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that the LORD had commanded Joshua to speak to the people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua; and the people hurried and crossed over. Then it came to pass, when all the people had completely crossed over, that the ark of the LORD and the priests crossed over in the presence of the people. And the men of Reuben, the men of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh crossed over armed before the children of Israel, as Moses had spoken to them. About forty thousand prepared for war crossed over before the LORD for battle, to the plains of Jericho.

On that day the LORD exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they feared him, as they had feared Moses, all the days of his life. Then the LORD spoke to Joshua, saying, "Command the priests who bear the ark of the Testimony to come up from the Jordan." Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, "Come up from the Jordan." And it came to pass, when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the LORD had come from the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet touched the dry land, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks as before. Now the people came up from the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they camped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. And those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal. Then he spoke to the children of Israel, saying: "When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, 'What are these stones?' then you shall let your children know, saying, 'Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land'; for the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over, that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever."

Chapter Ten - Joshua 5:1-9

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You Want Me to Do What?!

The nation of

Israel

has now crossed over to the west side of the Jordan River and has set up a memorial to the crossing of the river. The writer of Joshua in chapter five, verse one, gives us a glimpse of what the enemies of Israel were thinking once the word got to them about the miracle that enabled the Israelites to cross the river.

Joshua 5:1

So it was, when all the kings of the Amorites who were on the west side of the Jordan, and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea, heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel until we had crossed over, that their heart melted; and there was no spirit in them any longer because of the children of Israel.

“…their heart melted; and there was no spirit in them any longer...” They heard what God did at the banks of the

Jordan

and they found themselves weak-kneed. They knew they had no chance against the God who could instantaneously dry up a raging river, so they were crushed.

Did you know that when you are baptized with the Holy Spirit, the enemy that fights against you—the principalities, the powers, the rulers of the darkness of this age, the spiritual hosts of wickedness (Ephesians 6:12)—will tremble in fear? Romans chapter eight is a great chapter to read if you are looking to understand what a “Spirit-filled” Christian looks like. In verses 38 and 39 Paul writes: For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

That principality, that power that tries daily to tempt you to ungodliness, will now see you in the light of what Jesus has done in your life and will tremble. Oh sure, they will still try and put up a fight, but they know that God will give you victory!

Try to Explain This!

Now to me, when I first began to study this book, this next series of verses was a bit confusing:

Joshua 1:2-9

At that time the LORD said to Joshua, "Make flint knives for yourself, and circumcise the sons of Israel again the second time." So Joshua made flint knives for himself, and circumcised the sons of Israel at the hill of the foreskins. And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: All the people who came out of Egypt who were males, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way, after they had come out of Egypt. For all the people who came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness, on the way as they came out of Egypt, had not been circumcised. For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people who were men of war, who came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they did not obey the voice of the LORD—to whom the LORD swore that He would not show them the land which the LORD had sworn to their fathers that He would give us, "a land flowing with milk and honey." Then Joshua circumcised their sons whom He raised up in their place; for they were uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised on the way. So it was, when they had finished circumcising all the people, that they stayed in their places in the camp till they were healed. Then the LORD said to Joshua, "This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you." Therefore the name of the place is called Gilgal to this day.

They had just crossed the

Jordan

into a hostile land. Its inhabitants, though they were afraid, were still going to put up a fight to keep their land. And then God tells Joshua to take all the males, the warriors, and cut the tip of… how can I say this delicately… their very sensitive nether regions (did I say VERY sensitive)… to cut the tip off! Talk about opening yourself up for defeat! This “area” that was being surgically altered with sharp rocks… well, let me say this… that area, when there’s pain down there, causes even the strongest of strong men to shiver in a dark corner crying like a twelve-year-old sissy girl!

Why didn’t God have Joshua do this a month ago, a week ago—shoot for that matter, why didn’t He just wait until the land was fully conquered before He opened the men up for ridicule and defeat from their enemies? Well, just like when He led His people the long way to the Red Sea and again out of the way to the wrong side of the Jordan River, maybe God wanted to teach us something.

What is the lesson here? For the Israelite people, the act of circumcision was initiated by Abraham at the command of God in Genesis seventeen. It was an outward sign of a covenant between God, Abraham, and his descendants. It’s like, for example, my wedding ring. My wife and I made a covenant to love and cherish each other till death do us part; as a symbol of that covenant we each wear a ring on our left hand. It is an outward sign of an inward commitment. It doesn’t make us married, but it shows that we are married.

Becoming Spiritually Vulnerable

The picture God paints for us in the story of the crossing of the Jordan River is that of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Throughout the book of Acts, when people are baptized or filled with the Holy Spirit, something happens; they might start speaking in tongues (Acts 2, 10, 19), or teach a powerful message (Peter, Stephen), or speak with boldness (Acts 4). Something that glorifies God happens.

But for many it’s uncomfortable to speak out, people may think you’re a weirdo and it opens you up for ridicule and criticism. Nobody likes to expose themselves like that. When we are baptized with the Holy Spirit, God will reveal to us our gift(s): It may be the gift of prophecy, the gift of ministry, the gift of teaching, the gift of encouragement, giving, leadership, mercy, or any combination of these gifts.

When we receive these gifts and begin to use them, we become vulnerable. That’s just the way it is, but we get over it and we find that God made us to do something. Through our vulnerability, we find our purpose. That purpose shows others an outward sign of our inward commitment. The commitment came first; the sign of the commitment came later.

When the nation of

Israel

took that step of faith, based on belief, into the Jordan River, God showed up and brought them into the Land. Then He asked them to do something that would make them vulnerable. That something, circumcision, is an outward expression of the inward commitment that they already had.

When God brings you into a Spirit-filled life (our Promised Land), He will ask you to step up and put yourself in a vulnerable position. He may ask you to talk to someone, minister to someone, or give to someone. In your obedience, you will show others that you are serious about the inward commitment that you made when you took that step of faith, based on belief, into a relationship with the Holy Spirit.

Chapter Eleven - Joshua 5:10-12

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Food for Thought

In Joshua chapter three, we saw a miracle occur when God stopped the waters of the Jordan River so that the nation of

Israel

could cross over into the Promised Land. In Joshua chapter four, God told the people to erect a memorial so that in the future, when they saw it, they would be reminded of that miracle. And in the first part of Joshua chapter five, God asked the men of

Israel

to put themselves in a vulnerable position by circumcising themselves while inside enemy territory.

Now in Joshua chapter five, something happens that is often overlooked when studying the book of Joshua—but I think it is very important.

Joshua 5:10-12

Now the children of Israel camped in Gilgal, and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho. And they ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover, unleavened bread and parched grain, on the very same day. Then the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land; and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year.

The nation of

Israel

had just entered the Promised Land when God stopped providing the daily bread from Heaven (manna). They began to feed themselves by searching the land, eating from what they had gathered. If we go back to Exodus chapter sixteen, we see that God supplied the food for the nation of

Israel

during their travels from

Egypt

to the Promised Land by covering the ground with a strange cake-like substance every morning. When the people woke up, they could gather this “manna” in baskets and have their food for the day. The interesting thing about this manna is that during most of the week it would only remain edible for a day. If they tried to gather more than they needed for the day, it would rot overnight. But on the day before the Sabbath (the day they were required to rest) the manna would somehow remain edible for two days. God was supplying their needs day by day. But now that they were in the Promised Land, that day-to-day provision of manna stopped.

A Natural Process

When my wife was pregnant with our son James Jr. (Jamey), he could not in any way take care of himself. All nutrients that aided in his development had to come from his mother until he was born. Soon after birth though, Jamey had to rely on his mother and me to gather his food and put it in his mouth. He did have a small involvement at that time, as he had to do something (suck) to get that food from our hand to his belly.

After a short time of our routine of presenting his food to his mouth, he learned to grab hold of the food and put it in his mouth on his own. Eventually he was asking for food, looking for certain foods, and feeding himself. Hopefully he will in due time not have to rely on his parents for his sustenance at all, but he will be able to search it out, prepare it, and eat it on his own. Ultimately, he will gain the skill not only to feed himself, but he will also be able to help feed others, perhaps his own offspring (my grandchild!).

What we see at work here is a natural process called growth. That is what happened with the children of

Israel

as they entered the Promised Land, and that is what will naturally happen with us spiritually when we enter our Promised Land, the Spirit-filled life.

Before we believed, though we didn’t know it, the Holy Spirit was alongside us, drawing us to God and convicting us of our unbelief (John 6:44; 16:8-9). He was, like a mother to her unborn child, feeding us… bringing us, if we allowed Him, to a point of re-birth.

When we believe in Christ and give our lives to Him, the Holy Spirit comes in and begins to hand-feed us the truth. You now have a role. You’ll have to do something, but He’ll lead you to a church where a pastor or an elder or someone a little more mature in the faith can begin to feed you the “milk” of the Word and teach you about who Jesus is, what He’s done, and how He’s still working. The Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians four:

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (vs.11-13).

There is a need for “feeders” in the body of Christ for those who, in their infancy, need to be hand-fed. But at some point a new believer needs to grow up. (See 1 Corinthians 3 and Hebrews 5.) The point at which we begin to move from infancy to adulthood is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit—or the time at which we enter the Spirit-filled life.

In Proverbs 25:2 we are told: It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter. For those who desire to grow up in the faith, God has something wonderful for you. As you begin to search out the truth apart from a “feeder,” you will begin to realize there are wonderful secrets in the Word. Although others may have found these secrets as well, they will appear to be written just for you.

Discovering Truth Combos

I like to make pies, and so a few years ago at Thanksgiving my wife asked if I would make an apple pie for her and her family who were coming over to our place for dinner. I’ve never made an apple pie (my specialty is pecan pie) but I know that cinnamon is an important ingredient for most apple-based, pie-like products. My wife does not like cinnamon, so I began to think of ways that I could make a great-tasting pie without it.

As I pondered, I recalled that one taste combination I really like is apple and peanut butter… so why not make an apple pie with peanut butter? Though I’m sure I wasn’t the first person in history to think of that, I got very excited about the possibilities. On Thanksgiving morning I made the first-ever (that I know of) Deep Dish Apple Chunk Peanut Butter Pie—and man, it was delicious! The fact that I made that fantastic pie without a recipe book makes me giddy (in the manly man sense).

Those people who are feeding you… that pastor you are listening to… is only able to bring you to places that they have been and relay to you what they have learned. They are like a recipe book… I’ve made this… it’s good… you try it. That teaching (learning from others) is valid and essential for every Christian to maintain in his or her life.

But as you begin on your own to seek out truth in the Word, taking one principle and mixing it with another, you will get all giddy when God reveals to you a truth combo that you’ve never heard or read before. Though the truth never changes (apples and peanut butter is a good combo), you’ll now be mixing them up as only you can mix them up, thereby making your own recipes to share with others. You know the old saying, “Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for life”… When you search out and uncover truth on your own, it won’t, like manna, rot overnight, causing you to have to gather more in the morning; it will sit in you, feed you for days, and motivate you to seek out more truth!

How do we do that? How do we begin to feed ourselves? Well, first and foremost, you have to believe that God wants to reveal things to you through His Word. If you don’t believe that fact, your search will end as soon as you go a couple of days of studying where you don’t “feel” God speaking to you. Jesus tells us “seek and you will find.” Do you believe that?

Second, get a Bible and a pen, ask God to guide you, and then start reading. Where? I can’t help you there… I’d just be relaying my experience. But trust that where God brings you is where He wants you. And third, underline, scribble notes in the margin, cross reference, and be prepared for the Holy Spirit to guide you into all truth (John 16:13).

Keep a Healthy Diet

I hope my son doesn’t pick up my eating habits. When I started to feed myself in college, I didn’t pay very close attention to what I was eating. As a result of the habits I formed then, now nearing the 22^nd anniversary of my 18^th birthday, I’m overweight, my body aches, and the doctor tells me I need more fiber in my diet because my blood sugar, cholesterol, and blood pressure are higher than they should be.

Is there anything wrong with occasionally having a piece of Deep Dish Apple Chunk Peanut Butter Pie? No, but always remember, as it is with food, so it is with studying: Garbage in… garbage out. Man-inspired books in moderation are fine; there are a lot of wonderful Christian authors in this world who can provide an occasional tasty meal. But if you don’t stay connected to the source of truth, God’s Word, you will soon find yourself fat, lazy, and in poor spiritual health.

God’s Word is so full of truth that you will never be able to squeeze it all out. You’ll find new things in passages you’ve read a thousand times if you keep searching. As you search you will find that something naturally happens… Jesus says in Matthew 12:34 that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. As your heart begins to fill with the truth of the Word of God, you will naturally begin to speak those truths.

You, who once had to be fed, will now feed, helping the newly born-again begin to grow! It’s a pretty cool cycle…jump aboard!

Jaymo’s Deep Dish Apple Chunk Peanut Butter Pie:

Filling:

3 green Granny Smith Apples

3 red Granny Smith Apples

¾ cup sugar

¾ stick butter

¼ teaspoon ginger

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ cup peanut butter

In sauce pan on medium low heat, melt butter and add sugar, ginger, and peeled, ½ inch diced apples. Cook for 3-5 minutes. Cool filling to room temp and mix in peanut butter.

Crumble top:

½ cup flour

½ cup brown sugar

6 tablespoon butter

Mix flour and sugar. Cut in butter till crumbly.

Crust:

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking powder

1 cup butter (cold)

6-8 tablespoon ice cold water

Mix flour, salt, baking powder. Add cold butter until crumbly. Add ice cold water a little at a time until everything is stuck together. Do not over mix! Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in freezer 15 minutes. Roll out into pie shape.

Pour cooled filling into crust, sprinkle on crumble top. Cover with foil and bake at 350° for 40 min. Remove foil and bake for 20 min. Let cool and enjoy!

Chapter Twelve - Joshua 5:13-6:27

2011-02-01T20:27:00.006-05:00

Who’s Your Lord? Test

The children of

Israel

are now in the Promised Land and, as promised, they are about to face some battles with the inhabitants of the land. The first city they came upon was Jericho. Jericho was a highly fortified city with a formidable wall around it. How were the Israelites going to conquer it? Joshua, a military leader with a great tactical mind, had gone for a walk to come up with an idea when this encounter took place:

Joshua 5:13

And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, “Are You for us or for our adversaries?” So He said, “No, but as Commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.”

He “lifted his eyes.” When I go for a walk to ponder, I generally walk while looking down at my feet, kicking rocks while strolling, my mind working feverishly. This is how I envision Joshua. He’s walking along near Jericho and pondering… “What are we going to do, how are we going to face this battle before us?”… when lo and behold, he looked up and saw Jesus (The Commander of the army of the LORD) who was already there and had things under control!

This happened to me just this morning. My wife and I have been pondering and praying about planting a church. This morning I was praying about that and got a bit anxious. “I don’t know about church planting. Who would I invite to the first service? What would we call this church? What about taxes and 501(c)3’s (whatever that is)? Can I tithe to myself?”

It was about then when I looked up. I got my eyes off the “I don’t know how’s” and put them on Jesus. “James… I’m in control, I’m here, when it’s time you’ll know and I’ve already got it figured out how… just keep looking up,” He said.

We have to remember that. We will continue to face obstacles/battles in our lives from now till we die or until Jesus returns. If we focus on those obstacles, we will fail; if we “look up,” we’ll succeed.

Pick Your Team

After Joshua looked up, an interesting verbal exchange took place. Joshua asks Jesus what team He’s on and Jesus answers “No.” You see, the question isn’t whose team Jesus is on; the question is whose team are you on? We won’t succeed until we realize that Jesus doesn’t join our team when we get saved… we join His.

Joshua 5:14-15

And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, “What does my Lord say to His servant?” Then the Commander of the LORD’s army said to Joshua, “Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.” And Joshua did so.

When Joshua recognized his Lord, he worshiped Him. (This is how we know it was Jesus, if it had been an angel, he wouldn’t have allowed Joshua to worship him.) The word “Lord” is seldom misunderstood, but very often misrepresented in Christianity. “Lord” means master, the person you worship… or in my own vernacular—the person who trumps all other people. When this person tells you to do something, you do it.

Most people understand that meaning intellectually, but few apply it to their relationship with Jesus. They might say that Jesus is their “Lord,” but their attitude is that Jesus works for them, and not vice versa. That’s why worship so often is about the worshiper and not about the One we should be worshiping.

Joshua understood what it means to have Jesus as his Lord. He worshiped Him, and then he asked Him what He would have him do. That needs to be the relationship that we have with Jesus. It’s not, “Lord, here’s what I want.” Instead it’s, “Lord, You’re in charge, what is it that You want from me?” That type of relationship comes naturally when you believe Jesus is who He says He is, has done what He says He did, and will do what He says He’ll do. If you truly believe He is in charge, then He will be your Lord.

Who’s the Servant Here?

Joshua’s understanding of who the Lord was—and who the servant was—is proven beyond a shadow of a doubt in chapter six:

Joshua 6:1-5

Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in. And the LORD said to Joshua: “See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days. And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. It shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him.”

What’s that you say? Jesus lays out the battle plan for Joshua (remember Joshua is an army general and expert war tactician). He tells him to get everyone together and march around the city blowing horns every day for six days, then on the seventh to walk around seven times and blow their horns… That’s the plan… I’m sorry, maybe it’s just me, but is that a bit strange?

In Isaiah 55:8 God tells us, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways." God doesn’t always work the way you want Him to work. The Lord asked Joshua to do something that had to confuse him; but Joshua obeyed despite that probable confusion. That is the evidence of Joshua’s belief about who his Lord is… his obedience shows his belief.

That is how it will happen with us. When we truly commit to the fact that Jesus is our Lord, we will exhibit evidence of that commitment through obedience. But here’s the kicker… the Lord will test that in your life. You might have a walled fortress like Jericho in your life that you think you will never be able to conquer. Maybe it’s your marriage… you’re marriage is falling apart and you’re at your wit’s end. Then one day while pondering what to do, you look up and there’s Jesus! You cry out, “Lord what will you have me do to save my marriage?” He says… “quit smoking.” Your response is, “What does quitting smoking have to do with saving my marriage?”

God didn’t give you the response you wanted, and so, like many of us, you will ignore the instruction. Joshua could have asked, “What is walking around the city blowing horns going to accomplish?” But he didn’t. He obeyed and confirmed his loyalty to his Lord.

God can use your quitting smoking to heal your marriage. You might not see how right away, but He can… But you’ll never know how if you don’t pass the Who’s your Lord? test. He won’t abandon you at that point, but He will keep teaching you and testing you until you do pass… He’s patient… He’ll wait.

Check Your Response

Why does God test us? After all, if He is omniscient then He knows what our response to His instruction is going to be. Since He already knows what you are going to do, then maybe the test isn’t for Him to see your response; maybe the test happens so that you can see your response. When, despite your confusion, you obey like Joshua obeyed—and God shows up and tears down walls—you’ll begin to learn test by test of God’s faithfulness.

You’ve now proven to yourself that Jesus is your Lord and that you can trust Him in everything! From that day forward you’ll be able to say, whether the circumstance you face is good or bad, great or horrible, that you are trusting the Lord because He is your Lord and He is faithful… period! (Or exclamation point… whatever…) In that trust you will find peace. In that peace you will find patience. In that patience you will receive endurance. And in that endurance you will find rest and joy for your soul!

Stop leaning on your own understanding of how things work. Look up, recognize that Jesus is Lord, worship Him, and be obedient to His instruction.

Below is the remainder of chapter six… Leaders, notice something as you read. Joshua, as the leader of the nation of

Israel

, didn’t try to undercut God’s somewhat weird instruction. He didn’t say, “I know this sounds weird, and I wouldn’t do it this way, but let’s give it a try and see what happens.” He didn’t roll his eyes and say, “You know God… He’s a bit coo-coo, but let’s do what He says.” He simply said, “Here’s what we’re going to do, now follow me as I follow Christ.”

Joshua 6:6-27

Then Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the LORD.” And he said to the people, “Proceed, and march around the city, and let him who is armed advance before the ark of the LORD.”

So it was, when Joshua had spoken to the people, that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the LORD advanced and blew the trumpets, and the ark of the covenant of the LORD followed them. The armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard came after the ark, while the priests continued blowing the trumpets. Now Joshua had commanded the people, saying, “You shall not shout or make any noise with your voice, nor shall a word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I say to you, ‘Shout!’ Then you shall shout.” So he had the ark of the LORD circle the city, going around it once. Then they came into the camp and lodged in the camp. And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the LORD. Then seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the LORD went on continually and blew with the trumpets. And the armed men went before them. But the rear guard came after the ark of the LORD, while the priests continued blowing the trumpets. And the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. So they did six days.
But it came to pass on the seventh day that they rose early, about the dawning of the day, and marched around the city seven times in the same manner. On that day only they marched around the city seven times. And the seventh time it happened, when the priests blew the trumpets, that Joshua said to the people: “Shout, for the LORD has given you the city! Now the city shall be doomed by the LORD to destruction, it and all who are in it. Only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all who are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent. And you, by all means abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. But all the silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are consecrated to the LORD; they shall come into the treasury of the LORD.”

So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword.

But Joshua had said to the two men who had spied out the country, “Go into the harlot’s house, and from there bring out the woman and all that she has, as you swore to her.” And the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had. So they brought out all her relatives and left them outside the camp of Israel. But they burned the city and all that was in it with fire. Only the silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD. And Joshua spared Rahab the harlot, her father’s household, and all that she had. So she dwells in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.

Then Joshua charged them at that time, saying, “Cursed be the man before the LORD who rises up and builds this city Jericho; he shall lay its foundation with his firstborn, and with his youngest he shall set up its gates.”

So the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout all the country.

Chapter Thirteen - Joshua 7:1; 7:10-26

2011-02-01T20:26:00.003-05:00

The Problem With Sin

There are two parts of Joshua chapter seven that are intermingled; the defeat of the Israelites at Ai and the story of the sin of Achan. In this chapter we’ll look at Achan and our problem with sin. In the next chapter we’ll dive into why

Israel

was defeated at Ai.

The people of

Israel

had just crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land when they came up against the fortified city of Jericho. As we saw in the last chapter, the Lord gave them victory in the battle against Jericho. After the victory Joshua gathered everyone together and told them: “And you, by all means abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed when you take of the accursed things, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it. But all the silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron, are consecrated to the LORD; they shall come into the treasury of the LORD” (Joshua 6:18-19).

Joshua was quite clear that the people were not to take the spoils of Jericho because they belonged to God. But one man didn’t listen.

Joshua 7:1

But the children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things, for Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi,the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed things; so the anger of the LORD burned against the children of Israel.

God doesn’t mess around with sin, so He went to Joshua and said:

Joshua 7:10-15

“Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face? Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. For they have even taken some of the accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff. Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they have become doomed to destruction. Neither will I be with you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed from among you. Get up, sanctify the people, and say, ‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, because thus says the LORD God of Israel: “There is an accursed thing in your midst, O Israel; you cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you.” In the morning therefore you shall be brought according to your tribes. And it shall be that the tribe which the LORD takes shall come according to families; and the family which the LORD takes shall come by households; and the household which the LORD takes shall come man by man. Then it shall be that he who is taken with the accursed thing shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has transgressed the covenant of the LORD, and because he has done a disgraceful thing in Israel.’”

God tells Joshua that this sin is serious and that if it isn’t dealt with, bad things will happen. He then tells Joshua to root it out, find it, and destroy this sin before it destroys them.

Joshua 7:16-26
So Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel by their tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken. He brought the clan of Judah, and he took the family of the Zarhites; and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man, and Zabdi was taken. Then he brought his household man by man, and Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.

Now Joshua said to Achan, “My son, I beg you, give glory to the LORD God of Israel, and make confession to Him, and tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.”

And Achan answered Joshua and said, “Indeed I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and this is what I have done: When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent, with the silver under it.”

So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver under it. And they took them from the midst of the tent, brought them to Joshua and to all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the LORD. Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and all that he had, and they brought them to the Valley of Achor. And Joshua said, “Why have you troubled us? The LORD will trouble you this day.” So all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones.

Then they raised over him a great heap of stones, still there to this day. So the LORD turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called the Valley of Achorto this day.

WOW! Because of Achan’s sin they stoned him, then set him on fire! They certainly did deal with the sin! God tells Joshua that the sin needs to be dealt with, and He emphasizes that point with this sentence in verse 12: “Neither will I be with you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed from among you.” I certainly want to deal with my sin because the last thing I want is for God not to be with me anymore, so I better root it out and destroy it or else…

The Struggle with the Struggle

How we do that is the question… how do we stop sinning so that God won’t leave us? Isn’t that the problem? We have this difficulty with sin… it continues and continues and continues to rear its ugly head. It’s in our nature, tattooed on our DNA. We were born sinners and we spend most of our lives struggling with this tendency. It’s frustrating when we succumb to it. Just when we think we’ve got everything under control, we mess up… We think a thought, do something stupid, become the people that we don’t want to be. We’re screw-ups… hypocrites.

No wonder we so often feel like God is not with us anymore; it’s because of our sin… right? Most of us believe there’s a line between good and bad—and we know we shouldn’t cross it. We also believe that the presence of this line is a good thing, that the line should be there. It needs to be there. The fact that we believe this is proven out by the existence of the frustration we experience after our all-too-frequent battles with sin. It is proven by the fact that we very much desire not to sin any more.

But you know, sometimes we just can’t stop ourselves. It’s as if there is something in the deepest part of us that is stronger than our desire to be on the right side of sin. And that something, way too often, pulls us over to the wrong side. Is there a way to find freedom from this struggle?

The Logical Solution

Years ago I heard what I thought to be a logical solution to our problem with sin. I’ve taught the following several times both from the pulpit and in my writings… This is, I believe, a well-reasoned plan to deal with our problem with sin:

Have you ever pondered darkness? The default in this world is darkness. Without the influence of the sun, or a light bulb, or fire, etc. as an external source for light, everything would revert to darkness. In other words, you can’t, without an external influence, drive darkness away. Walk into a dark room and try and rebuke the darkness… Demand for it to go away… it doesn’t work. Try and flail your arms, jump up and down and push the darkness out… that doesn’t work. You have to employ an external light source; light must fill the darkness for the darkness to be gone.

The same condition exists within our bodies of flesh… our default is sin… we live in a sinful state. Without an external influence we will always default back to sin… Jesus is the Light that will eliminate the darkness in your life. If you fill yourself with Him, you will find freedom from your struggle with darkness. We fill ourselves with His Light by digging deep into the Word, seeking to serve others, through prayer, fellowship, and worship. We need to discipline ourselves and starve our flesh, feed our spirit, and eliminate bad influences. When you spend time in prayer each day, read and study God’s Word first thing every morning, and join a weekly accountability group—it is then when you find freedom! Fill yourself with Light and the darkness will flee!

Does that make sense or what?! It’s fantastic! Finally a logical path to freedom!

But…

A Flawed System

Oh, brother… wouldn’t you know it… there’s always a but. I’m sorry to say, but this but is a big but… As logical and well-reasoned as this argument is… it simply does not lead to a life free from sinning. I hate to burst your bubble, but I’ve tried every way imaginable and it doesn’t work… We will not find freedom even from an ingenious, logical, well-reasoned system or routine.

This is where I get very strong opposition and rebuke from pastors, ministers, and the “disciplined” church leader. You see, for them, refraining from sin is uncomplicated; there are very few temptations that tempt them to the point of succumbing because of this wonderful system they have in place to avoid tempting circumstance. Pastors will brag that they don’t meet with women alone… thereby squelching their temptation to lust. Ministers make sure we know that they spend hours a day in prayer and Bible study… thereby avoiding any temptation to covet or lie. The disciplined church leader will spend 10 percent of their day in the Word, 10 percent in prayer and 10 percent serving… making it impossible for them to struggle with the temptations that so easily besets the undisciplined commoner.

Oh, they still admit that they sin, but in that admission is a caveat to save their image. They feel it necessary to try and convince us that this system they have set up has removed most of the struggle; therefore sin doesn’t overtake them like it does us regular folk.

But there’s one fatal flaw in this system… they’re lying. I know this because, as a former insider in the pious church leadership, I’ve witnessed these same pastors fall to lust. I’ve listened to confessions firsthand from ministers who covet greatly what the world has—and what they’ve had to give up to become ministers. I’ve seen with my own eyes way too many disciplined church leaders fail.

I don’t say that to their discredit; I was one of them. Paul the Apostle even spoke of his struggle (Romans 7:14-24, 1 Timothy 1:15). I say this because we need to know that as long as we are in these bodies of flesh, we will struggle with and fall to sin daily.

A Test

Some people question that statement. If that’s you, then I want to challenge you to a test of your ability to overcome your tendency to sin… I want you to take the next two hours of your day and not sin. And just so you know what you’re up against, let’s define what being sin-free entails: no selfish thoughts, no prideful demeanor, 100 percent in tune with the Father’s will without swaying from it for even a fraction of a second, doing everything you know needs to be done every second of every minute of every hour, never missing the mark on anything at any time, always doing the right thing at the right time in the proper manner with the proper motive.

I’m willing to venture that while you read that last sentence you sinned, but if not… your time starts now. Two hours, no sin… I’ll wait…

How’d it go? How’d you do? The whole two hours without a sin? Liar…

We can’t do it; we cannot live sin-free. But… and this but is a good but… we don’t have to be enslaved to sin. We can find freedom—not from sinning, but from sin!

I Will Repay

I have a friend; we’ll say his name is Chris because Greg told me I could use his story but asked me not to use his name. About ten years ago Chris was caught embezzling money from his employer and was fired. This embarrassed him so much that he quickly took a damage control posture; to save his image he told everyone he knew, family and friends, that he was framed. “I didn’t do it,” he said. “It was someone else in the company and he blamed it on me.”

After about two months of this charade, now broke, behind on his bills and desperate, he loaded up his car and moved into his mom’s spare bedroom five states away, hoping to start afresh. But the guilt was killing him and his lies now had to become more and more elaborate. He knew that something had to be done or he would drive himself to an emotional breakdown. Chris had been around Christian churches and believers for most of his life, and it was about then that God started to get a hold of him once again. God started slowly pulling him back into His arms. Eventually Chris broke down.

Sitting on the aisle in his mother’s church, he began to weep uncontrollably, dedicating his life to Christ. That afternoon he wrote a letter to everyone he had been lying to, telling them the truth. He even wrote a letter to his former boss Mark, asking for forgiveness. In that letter he also wrote that, despite Mark specifically telling him that it wasn’t about the money and that he didn’t want to be paid back, he wanted to make an attempt to pay back every cent of what he stole.

It was that day that Chris finally reached bottom and could start to rebuild his life. But the guilt didn’t go away. Despite his attempts to finally do the right thing, he just couldn’t shake this incredible feeling of disgust for his actions.

One year passed, then two, then three, then four, and now, fighting depression and addiction, Chris cried out for help. He was trying to do the right thing, he was trying to live life according to God’s plan, but he was failing miserably. About four and a half years after reaching bottom, Chris decided to approach one of the ministers at his church to tell him what he was going through.

“I can’t shake this disgust in myself, the guilt is driving me into the ground. I don’t know what to do. I want to pay Mark back but God hasn’t given me the financial wherewithal to do that… what should I do… how can I be free from this burden that is killing me?”

The counselor gave Chris some good advice that day, telling him that he didn’t have the answer but that God did. He instructed Chris to seek the Lord in His Word, to pray that he would be led to the perfect place within the Bible that would give him direction.

That night Chris took that advice and sat down on his bed, praying that God would lead him. He opened his Bible to, of all places, the book of Philemon. Philemon?! Is that in the Bible? Philemon, as everyone who has spent twelve years in a room with no windows studying the Bible knows, is a short letter written by the Apostle Paul to a guy named Philemon… Paul was sending to Philemon a guy named Onesimus who evidently was a former slave of Philemon’s. Apparently Onesimus had stolen something from or did something to his former master—and then scooted out of town. While he was gone, Onesimus gave his life to Christ and was now charged to go back to his old stomping grounds to minister to the people there.

Paul, in this short letter, was writing Philemon to tell him that Onesimus was on his way back. Pretty standard Bible stuff for the first 16 verses… then Chris got to verses 17-19:

If then you count me as a partner, receive him as you would me. But if he has wronged you or owes anything, put that on my account. I, Paul, am writing with my own hand. I will repay…

It hit Chris hard… it was as if Jesus was speaking to him directly… “Put it on My account… I will repay.”

I have a confession. This story isn’t about Chris or Greg… it’s about me. I was the guy who stole from his boss. I was the guy who lied to his friends and family. I was the guy who lived with a huge burden for several years. And I was the guy who was freed from that burden after reading Philemon.

Yes, just like in the days of Joshua, our sin absolutely needs to be dealt with and dealt with harshly… The reason that so many of us fail in our attempts to find freedom is because we fail to understand that it was dealt with by Jesus, on the cross. Our debt was paid. Your sin, yesterday’s, today’s and tomorrow’s, was put on the account of Jesus and we have been proclaimed innocent of all transgression. When you believe that, that is the day you will find freedom from sin. Your guilt… gone! Your burden… erased! Your sins… forgiven! You don’t have to worry about sin any more!

As Far as East is from West

“But James, James, James, you are so naïve… I appreciate your passion, but there is a difference between salvation and sanctification. Yes, we have been proclaimed innocent, but God does require us now, as Christians, to live holy lives. The Bible tells us that He will hold us accountable for the stewardship of what He has entrusted to us.”

To those who believe that to mean that God will, for example, hold you accountable for misusing the money or time He’s given you, let me ask you one question: If sin is defined as “missing the mark,” and the mark is perfection, then anything you do short of perfection is, by definition, sin. But the Bible also teaches us that for those who believe in Jesus Christ, God will remove their transgressions from them “as far as east is from west” (Psalm 103:11-12) and that He will remember our sins no more (Jeremiah 31:33). So, at the judgment where you say God is going to hold us accountable for our bad stewardship of the things He entrusted to us, which sins will God retrieve from wherever He cast them and which transgressions will He then remember that He said He would forget?

A Compelling Argument

The argument is compelling though when we read some of the parables and interpret them with the assumption that we Christians will be held to account for our stewardship. For example, in Matthew 25, Jesus says this of the coming Kingdom of God:

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money. After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

“Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’ But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”

Seems pretty clear. We are taught from many preachers (personally I’ve heard it from more than a few very well-known and highly respected mega-church pastors) that God has given us “talents,” which in this parable refers to money, but could also refer to actual talents like music or preaching or insert your talent here. We’re then told that we will be held to account at the judgment seat for what we do with or how good of stewards we are of those gifts.

If we carry the logic out to its end (something many pastors fail to do) it would mean that if God has given you $1,000 (I’ll just use money as the example because it is easy to follow), He expects you, as His servant, to bring back a return on that gift. If you bring back to Him $2,000, you will be greeted in Heaven with “Well done, good and faithful servant!” If you don’t, and only bring back the original $1,000… well, then you will be cast into “outer darkness.” Heaven, for those who are good with money and hell to those who aren’t… did I get that right? That’s what it says right?

I guess then we need to change John 3:16 and have it read: For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him [and is a good steward of everything that He gives you] should not perish but have everlasting life. But that’s not what John 3:16 says; it doesn’t have that caveat. It just reads “that whoever believes in Him should not perish”… so maybe, just maybe, we have misinterpreted this parable?

A Closer Look

This parable has, as I see it, three things that need to be defined. We need to define who the Master represents, who the servants represent, and what the talents represent. If we define those things, I think we will have a good idea of what the interpretation of the parable should be.

First, the Master: We see in the first part of Matthew 25 that the parables Jesus tells are in reference to the end times, specifically we are looking at references to the Kingdom of Heaven in the parable of the talents. When we are speaking of the Kingdom of Heaven and the Master of the Kingdom, we are talking about God the Father. So the Master in this parable refers to God the Father… You probably figured that out without me, but stick with me anyway and I’ll get to a point…

Next, the servants: If the Master is the Father, who then could the servants be? Since we are speaking about the end days when it is determined who the good and faithful servants are and who is destined for “outer darkness,” and since the servants here are the ones being judged, that would logically make the servants the human race: you, me and everyone else.

Sounds pretty standard so far… but the definition of “talents” is where I tend to separate from the common interpretation.

The talents: This is where we need to use the Bible to interpret the Bible. Let’s figure this out by examining the last servant who received one talent and buried it. At the judgment he was thrown into outer darkness where “there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” This is a fairly obvious reference to hell. Since the Bible does not contain contradictions, we must then be able to line this teaching up with the rest of the Bible’s teachings.

Now, as you hopefully will agree, the most important doctrine in the Bible is the doctrine of salvation. What does the Bible have to say about salvation? How does a human being get saved from being thrown into outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth? Seems like this is something we should know, so let’s have a look:

John 3:16

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

John 3:18

“He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

John 3:36

“He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”

John 5:24

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.”

John 6:29

“This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”

John 6:40

“And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.”

John 11:25-26

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.”

I don’t know about you but I started to see a pattern forming at about the second verse within the words of Jesus… Salvation comes to those who BELIEVE in Him… weeping and gnashing of teeth to those who do not believe.

So let’s plug this information into the parable. Since the only prerequisite to being allowed to enter Heaven is belief in Jesus, then the opposite is true as well; the only prerequisite for being cast into outer darkness would be to not believe in Jesus… So possibly, just possibly the talent in the parable is representative of belief?

Believe or Bury?

According to Romans chapter one, God has clearly revealed Himself to everyone. To some, like myself, He did so in a variety of ways… In other words… God gave me (through my family, my church while growing up, my college, etc.) several talents or opportunities to believe… What did I do with those opportunities? Did I believe and allow Him to change my life and use me to reveal Himself to others? Or did I tell Him, “Not now. I’ll bury this revelation and maybe use it when I am done living it up”?

Our Master is going to return at a time that will surprise a lot of people… what type of servant have you been? What have you done with the measure of faith God has given you? That is what the Master is going to judge us on… If you believed, your life reflected that belief, and you brought back a return on that revelation. If you didn’t believe, well then you were not faithful with the opportunities God gave you to believe—and you will be cast into outer darkness.

The bottom line is that your sin has been dealt with and all you have to do to receive the amazing gift of forgiveness is believe! If you do that you will hear the words from the Master: “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.”

Show Me Someone Who Believes

I realize there is an argument against this type of teaching, against someone telling another person that the only thing they must do to receive everlasting life is to believe—and I do understand why we are timid to say this outright. We are afraid that if we make it that easy, some people will say something like: “Great! Since my sin is taken care of through my belief then I can do whatever I want! I don’t have to be a good steward, I don’t have to live a holy life, I can do whatever I want and God will have to give me grace!”

To them I say: If you show me someone who believes, I’ll show you someone who doesn’t want to sin… and if you show me someone who wants to sin, I’ll show you someone who doesn’t believe.

You see, belief in Jesus is the cure, and with every cure there will be evidence of its effectiveness. The evidence that you exhibit when you believe in Jesus will be, and there are no exceptions to this, a changed life! Once you believe, Jesus will supernaturally take over your life.

And like Joshua did for the people of

Israel

when he rooted out and destroyed the sin of Achan, Jesus will root out and destroy the sin that is in your life… and He will never give up, no matter how deeply your sin is entrenched… He knows what you need and He will help you!

Chapter Fourteen - Joshua 7:2-9; 8:1-29

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I Did It My Way

The victory at Jericho was fresh on the minds of the people of

Israel

when they came upon the small village of Ai. Jericho was a huge fortified city with soaring walls, whereas Ai looked like just a few people with maybe a campfire. Jericho was going to be a hard-fought battle, but the Lord gave them an easy victory. Ai, on the other hand, appeared to be just a small speed bump in the road that had to be taken care of; a pesky mosquito that needed to be swatted. So Joshua, the military leader that he was, devised a plan. Here’s what he did:

Joshua 7:2-4a

Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth Aven, on the east side of Bethel, and spoke to them, saying, “Go up and spy out the country.” So the men went up and spied out Ai. And they returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not let all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not weary all the people there, for the people of Ai are few.” So about three thousand men went up there from the people…

Joshua sent out spies, and the spies said that Ai was nothing to worry about. So he sent a small delegation of three thousand warriors to completely overwhelm and take care of this pesky mosquito. But something unexpected happened… the mosquito fought back and won:

Joshua 7:4b-5
…but they fled before the men of Ai. And the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six men, for they chased them from before the gate as far as Shebarim, and struck them down on the descent; therefore the hearts of the people melted and became like water.

What happened? I believe the sin of Achan had something to with the loss; after all, our sin does have physical, worldly consequences. It will at times set us back. But I think that even more responsibility for this defeat can be put at the feet of Joshua because of something he didn’t do before he came up against the people of Ai.

An Important Life Lesson

I was supposed to be a successful professional golfer by now. Years ago I was convinced I heard the Lord tell me that He was going to use me and my future celebrity as a golfer to change the world. To this day, I still believe that God led me to play golf, that He gave me the talent to play at a professional level, and that He gave me the opportunity to play… but I failed… I’m not a professional golfer today. As a matter of fact, I don’t even like golf that much anymore. So why did God lead me to play golf?

I believe it was to teach me one of the most important lessons I have ever or will ever learn… Unless the LORD builds the house, they labor in vain who build it (Psalm 127:1). You see, back when the Lord revealed His vision for me, I heard it and I dropped everything to follow that leading… But as Ol’ Blue Eyes himself sang…“I did it my way.” That’s why I believe I failed. I heard from the Lord, then pushed Him aside to accomplish His will my way… after all, what does God know about golf?

The same thing happened here with Joshua. Turn back a couple of chapters and you’ll see that before he led the people across the

Jordan

, Joshua realized that the task was too big for him. He couldn’t do it on his own; he needed help. So he cried out to God. Then later, as he was contemplating what to do at Jericho, he saw the Lord and fell to his knees and said he’d do whatever he was told because he knew the task was too big for him. But here at Ai, there was no prayer, no asking for God’s plan. This was too small a task to involve God… he could handle this one… and that’s why he failed.

This is a very important lesson that every Christian needs to learn. Most of us have learned and believe that there is nothing is too big for God to handle, but it is also important for us to learn and believe that there is nothing is too small for God to handle. He wants to be involved in every detail of your life. You’re struggling financially? He’ll help you climb out dollar by dollar. You’ve got problems with your car? He wants to help. But here’s the deal, and this is where many of us go astray… it’s His way or the highway. His way to help you climb out of financial strain and car problems may be to have you to sell your broken-down car and walk or ride a bike for a season. This may not be what you want, but if you follow Him along the bumpy, sometimes scary road, He’ll help you. In the end He promises you’ll be better off.

Get Down and Look Up

But we don’t always seek God in our problems, do we? The fact of the matter is that, like Joshua, we will inevitably face failure. The question is how will we react to failure? Take a look at how Joshua reacted after the defeat at Ai:

Joshua 7:6-9

Then Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the LORD until evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads. And Joshua said, “Alas, Lord GOD, why have You brought this people over the Jordan at all—to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us?

Oh, that we had been content, and dwelt on the other side of the Jordan! O Lord, what shall I say when Israel turns its back before its enemies? For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear it, and surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. Then what will You do for Your great name?”

This is just like me. I mess up, try to do things on my own, and then I go back to God on my knees, weeping and asking, “Why did you do this to me?” Aren’t you glad that we serve a gracious God! But there is a lesson even in Joshua’s reaction… he was on his face before God.

After about five years of failure as a hopeful golfer, I too fell to my face before God, asking why He led me to a life of apparent futility. I was burned out, disappointed, broken, embarrassed, and blaming God for my failure… and I was right smack dab in the exact place God wanted me.

What’s that? That’s right, when I finally figured out that I couldn’t do it on my own, that is when God said… OK, now I can work with you! But the key part was that in my failure, I was on my knees looking up… and so was Joshua… and the Lord met him there:

Joshua 8:1-29

Now the LORD said to Joshua: “Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed; take all the people of war with you, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king. Only its spoil and its cattle you shall take as booty for yourselves. Lay an ambush for the city behind it.”

So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai; and Joshua chose thirty thousand mighty men of valor and sent them away by night. And he commanded them, saying: “Behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be ready. Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city; and it will come about, when they come out against us as at the first, that we shall flee before them. For they will come out after us till we have drawn them from the city, for they will say, ‘They are fleeing before us as at the first.’ Therefore we will flee before them. Then you shall rise from the ambush and seize the city, for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand. And it will be, when you have taken the city, that you shall set the city on fire. According to the commandment of the LORD you shall do. See, I have commanded you.”

Joshua therefore sent them out; and they went to lie in ambush, and stayed between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua lodged that night among the people. Then Joshua rose up early in the morning and mustered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. And all the people of war who were with him went up and drew near; and they came before the city and camped on the north side of Ai. Now a valley lay between them and Ai. So he took about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city. And when they had set the people, all the army that was on the north of the city, and its rear guard on the west of the city, Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley.

Now it happened, when the king of Ai saw it, that the men of the city hurried and rose early and went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at an appointed place before the plain. But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city. And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness. So all the people who were in Ai were called together to pursue them. And they pursued Joshua and were drawn away from the city. There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel. So they left the city open and pursued Israel.

Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Stretch out the spear that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” And Joshua stretched out the spear that was in his hand toward the city. So those in ambush arose quickly out of their place; they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand, and they entered the city and took it, and hurried to set the city on fire. And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and behold, the smoke of the city ascended to heaven. So they had no power to flee this way or that way, and the people who had fled to the wilderness turned back on the pursuers.

Now when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that the smoke of the city ascended, they turned back and struck down the men of Ai. Then the others came out of the city against them; so they were caught in the midst of Israel, some on this side and some on that side. And they struck them down, so that they let none of them remain or escape. But the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua.

And it came to pass when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness where they pursued them, and when they all had fallen by the edge of the sword until they were consumed, that all the Israelites returned to Ai and struck it with the edge of the sword. So it was that all who fell that day, both men and women, were twelve thousand—all the people of Ai. For Joshua did not draw back his hand, with which he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as booty for themselves, according to the word of the LORD which He had commanded Joshua. So Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap forever, a desolation to this day. And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until evening. And as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his corpse down from the tree, cast it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raise over it a great heap of stones that remains to this day.

Did you see that in the last paragraph? What first appeared to be a small village, a pesky mosquito, was twelve thousand strong. It was a lot bigger than Joshua thought when he sent three thousand men out to fight them. It’s often the same for us. Those things that we think are small many times will be the things that set us back in life.

I learned a lot in my failures as a wannabe golfer, but the most important lesson was that when God gives us a vision, no matter how big or small it is, He will also give us the plan to carry out that vision. Don’t try and accomplish God’s vision for you on your own. Wait on Him to give you the battle plan and then follow Him to victory!

Chapter Fifteen - Joshua 9

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If You Can’t Beat ‘Em, Join Him

The word was getting out that the Israelites were in the Promised Land and were conquering territory left and right. The people who inhabited the land were getting anxious, so some of them joined forces to fight against Joshua and his army.

But one group of people, the Gibeonites, were crafty. They decided to try and trick the Israelites into believing that they were not actually from the Promised Land and, therefore, would be no harm to them. They dressed up in old clothes, put on worn shoes, rode old donkeys, carried old moldy bread and dried up wineskins, and approached Joshua and his entourage. “We have come from a far country; now therefore, make a covenant with us,” they said. “We are your servants.”

Joshua looked at the old clothes, shoes, bread, etc. and, without consulting God, erroneously concluded that they were telling the truth. He invited them to join the Israelites’ camp. A few days later Joshua found out that it was all lies, that the Gibeonites were actually inhabitants of the Promised Land and had tricked him into making a covenant to not destroy them. When confronted, the Gibeonites came clean and told Joshua that because they had heard that God had told Moses years earlier that He would give the Israelites the land, they knew they didn’t stand a chance. So they thought, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”… So out of fear they devised the scheme and carried it out.

After hearing this, Joshua held to the covenant with the Gibeonites and did not destroy them. Instead, he appointed them as laborers for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord.

The Fear of the Lord

What can we glean from this story? I’ve been struggling with this one because seemingly nothing important happened… I realize that not every story is going to have life-changing significance in our daily life, but I generally can find something to glean. Usually when you see deception or bad choices in the Bible, you’ll also see consequences; but there was no consequence for the two things we see here that were not so good.

Number one, the deception of the Gibeonites that led to a covenant… Nothing happened when they were found out… they weren’t destroyed, they weren’t kicked out of the camp, they were spared and allowed to live peaceably with the people. And number two, Joshua and his leadership didn’t consult God in their decision to make a covenant with the Gibeonites… Nothing happened, no consequence.

So I thought, Well, maybe the Gibeonites laid low for a while and came back to destroy the Israelites years later… but that didn’t happen. They actually continued to serve the congregation faithfully up until at least the days of Nehemiah. So what happened here? What principle can be applied to this story?

The Bible tells us in Psalm 111:10: The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and in Proverbs 19:23: The fear of the LORD leads to life, and he who has it will abide in satisfaction; He will not be visited with evil. The Gibeonites feared the Lord. When they heard that God had promised the Israelites their land, they believed it and knew they didn’t have a chance against God. That fear caused them to act.

Though the action may have been bad (deception), the motivation behind that act was the fear of the Lord… God honored that motivation and gave them grace for the action. As a result of that grace the Gibeonites said, “And now, here we are, in your hands; do with us as it seems good and right to do to us” (v. 25).

Many people come to Jesus out of fear of His righteous judgment. They know they’ve sinned and want to be spared from hell, so they come. But many will come improperly, thinking they can deceive God by putting a fake smile on their faces, dressing up their children in their “Sunday best,” and walking into church holding the hand of their spouse—even though they’ve been fighting all morning prior to getting out of the car in the parking lot. Though the driving force behind their action is appropriate (they fear the Lord’s judgment), they are coming as deceivers and therefore are in need of God’s grace.

One of the wonderful things about Jesus is that He will meet us right there where we are. Something additional needs to happen though… You see, coming to Christ out of fear is just the beginning of wisdom; it’s not the end. It’s the man or woman who, when confronted with hypocrisy and in the light of God’s grace, will fall to his or her knees and say, “Jesus, please do what You will with me.” It is that person who, like the Gibeonites, is given the opportunity to live a life of service, a life of satisfaction.

As for Joshua and his leaders not seeking God’s advice before making a covenant… again, isn’t it great that we serve a gracious God? I do this all the time. In chapter fourteen we saw that we must and can come to God with both the big and small issues we face in life… but we don’t always do that. As much as we want to try and seek God in all things, we still will make decisions without consulting Him. Praise the Lord, He gives us grace.

Facing Consequences

How can we tell when we will face consequences like the people of Israel did in Joshua chapter seven—and when we won’t face consequences like here in chapter nine? I wish I knew, but I don’t… all I can tell you is that it is always best to seek God before all of your decisions. But when you fail—and you will fail—learn from those failures and repent. When He gives you grace, praise Him for that grace… In the end, understand that His judgments are always fair and perfect and that He deserves your praise in everything.

I believe God positioned this story perfectly. The people of Israel were conquering the land; they were given success over Jericho and Ai, destroying fully populated cities. They also felt the sting of defeat in chapter seven. And in chapter ten we will pick up the fighting again where more of the inhabitants of the Promised Land will be destroyed. All around them was judgment… judgment for the people of Canaan (the Promised Land) whom God had given many years to repent and turn to Him, and judgment for sin within the camp… judgment, judgment, judgment… Then here in chapter nine we find a chapter of grace!

Understand this: God will righteously judge all those who don’t turn from their sin and turn to Him. But for those who do turn to Him and make Him the Lord of their lives, He will spare them from judgment! Also understand that the fear of the Lord is just the beginning of wisdom. It’s the beginning, the start, the commencement of wisdom not the conclusion of wisdom. Like the Gibeonites, when we come to God based on the belief that He is bigger than us and we must join Him—as opposed to Him joining us—He will show us grace.

But if that grace does not lead to repentance (it is the goodness of God that leads you to repentance; Romans 2:4), you will continue to be stuck at the beginning, never fully knowing your potential in the Lord. Recognize that you can’t fool the Lord. Stop trying and drop to your knees, giving up your will for His will… In that you will find true life!

Below is the full text of Joshua chapter nine:

And it came to pass when all the kings who were on this side of the Jordan, in the hills and in the lowland and in all the coasts of the Great Sea toward Lebanon—the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite—heard about it, that they gathered together to fight with Joshua and Israel with one accord.

But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, they worked craftily, and went and pretended to be ambassadors. And they took old sacks on their donkeys, old wineskins torn and mended, old and patched sandals on their feet, and old garments on themselves; and all the bread of their provision was dry and moldy. And they went to Joshua, to the camp at Gilgal, and said to him and to the men of Israel, “We have come from a far country; now therefore, make a covenant with us.”

Then the men of Israel said to the Hivites, “Perhaps you dwell among us; so how can we make a covenant with you?”

But they said to Joshua, “We are your servants.”

And Joshua said to them, “Who are you, and where do you come from?”

So they said to him: “From a very far country your servants have come, because of the name of the LORD your God; for we have heard of His fame, and all that He did in Egypt, and all that He did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan—to Sihon king of Heshbon, and Og king of Bashan, who was at Ashtaroth. Therefore our elders and all the inhabitants of our country spoke to us, saying, ‘Take provisions with you for the journey, and go to meet them, and say to them, “We are your servants; now therefore, make a covenant with us.”’ This bread of ours we took hot for our provision from our houses on the day we departed to come to you. But now look, it is dry and moldy. And these wineskins which we filled were new, and see, they are torn; and these our garments and our sandals have become old because of the very long journey.”

Then the men of Israel took some of their provisions; but they did not ask counsel of the LORD. So Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them to let them live; and the rulers of the congregation swore to them.

And it happened at the end of three days, after they had made a covenant with them, that they heard that they were their neighbors who dwelt near them. Then the children of Israel journeyed and came to their cities on the third day. Now their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kirjath Jearim. But the children of Israel did not attack them, because the rulers of the congregation had sworn to them by the LORD God of Israel. And all the congregation complained against the rulers.

Then all the rulers said to all the congregation, “We have sworn to them by the LORD God of Israel; now therefore, we may not touch them. This we will do to them: We will let them live, lest wrath be upon us because of the oath which we swore to them.” And the rulers said to them, “Let them live, but let them be woodcutters and water carriers for all the congregation, as the rulers had promised them.”

Then Joshua called for them, and he spoke to them, saying, “Why have you deceived us, saying, ‘We are very far from you,’ when you dwell near us? Now therefore, you are cursed, and none of you shall be freed from being slaves—woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God.”

So they answered Joshua and said, “Because your servants were clearly told that the LORD your God commanded His servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you; therefore we were very much afraid for our lives because of you, and have done this thing. And now, here we are, in your hands; do with us as it seems good and right to do to us.” So he did to them, and delivered them out of the hand of the children of Israel, so that they did not kill them. And that day Joshua made them woodcutters and water carriers for the congregation and for the altar of the LORD, in the place which He would choose, even to this day.

Chapter Sixteen - Joshua 10-11

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Rest!

I got on the scale a couple of weeks ago… 260! 260?! This is the heaviest I have ever been… growing up I was skinny—small for my age. In high school I was fit and strong, in college I was so proud of my body I would do whatever I could to show it off. Today… something needs to change… I have to get this under control.

My first response was to go the Lord in prayer. “What can I do to get my weight under control, Lord? You know me better than I know me; please lead me to the right diet that will work for me,” I prayed. I decided I would start counting calories, decrease my portion size, and try to exercise a little. All those things are going to be hard for me. I like my food. I crave higher-calorie foods like steak, pizza, and McDonalds. I love Oreos, Deep Dish Apple Chunk Peanut Butter Pie, and butter pecan ice cream. I’m also in the habit of eating large portions… I look at the suggested serving size on food packages and laugh… as if I could survive on that! Then there’s exercise… come on, you gotta be kidding me! Why walk when we’ve got two cars?

Losing weight is going to be a series of battles for me, but I’ve got to win those battles for my family. I know my life will be better, my knees won’t hurt so much, and I won’t have to rock my body a couple of times to produce enough momentum to sit up and get out of bed. I’ll be able tie my shoes without holding my breath… it will be worth it… I know in the end I will find rest.

Re-Capturing Control

More than five hundred years prior to our story here in Joshua, Abraham, living peacefully in the land of Canaan, was promised by God that the land of Canaan (the Promised Land) would belong to his descendants. During a period of famine, Israel (Abraham’s grandson) decided to move the family to Egypt, miles and miles away from the land he knew was promised to him and his children. Four hundred years passed and Abraham’s descendants, now enslaved in Egypt, longed for the land that was promised to them centuries ago, so they followed Moses and then Joshua back into the Promised Land. But the land was now inhabited and had to be conquered, so the battles began.

I often wonder: if Israel had never left for Egypt, would his descendants now have to fight to take the land their fathers once lived peacefully in? If I had begun to count calories, watch my portion size and routinely exercise after college, would I have to fight to take back the body I once had? Our sin brought us into captivity of the world. Jesus saved us from that captivity, but we need to now re-capture control over our sinful flesh.

Here in Joshua chapters ten and eleven, we read of a few more battles. A couple of those battles were amazing. In one, God defeated the enemy with hailstones… He threw rocks at them until they were destroyed. In another battle, in order to have enough daylight to fully destroy the enemy, God stopped the earth from turning (you gotta read these stories… they are fantastic!) God gave the nation of Israel victory in all their battles then… ***the land rested from war* *(11:23).***

Taking a Breather

The land rested from war. We’ll see in future chapters that there were still some battles to be fought, but the people of Israel were no longer battling continuously. This is how it is also for us when we finally believe and enter into our Promised Land, the Spirit-filled life. Yes, as we are conquering the flesh, the battles are sometimes long and hard fought. But the Lord will give us victory. He will eventually give us rest from the continuous battling… our flesh will be conquered and we can live a life of rest and peace knowing that the Lord has given us that rest and peace.

I have a step-sister who is a nutrition expert. She has her doctorate, has written a diet book, and is a college professor. She is as fit as anyone I know. I don’t visit her as often as I’d like, but when we do get together it is usually for dinner… or at least food is involved someway… She never looks like she is struggling to keep her weight in check. She eats healthily, watches her portions, and exercises. This is not a battle for her… I’m sure she is still tempted by the occasional indulgence, but she doesn’t have to fight too hard to overcome that temptation because she understands the need to make sacrifices if she wants to continue to be fit and healthy. I know that if I battle hard for a couple years or so to control my weight, after those hard-fought battles and after I change my eating habits, weight control will not be as hard of a battle as it is right now. It’ll just be my diet.

That is how it is with life in Christ. When we fully believe that His way is the best way and we surrender our will for His, initially we will face some pretty tough battles with our fleshly (or ungodly) desires. Some of those battles will be hard fought, some will require miracles. But all will be won if we allow Jesus to be Lord of our lives. Eventually, even though we will still face temptation, our flesh will be conquered, the battles won’t be as difficult to win, and we will find rest.

Give in to God’s will for your life. Allow Him to direct you into battle and then enter into His rest.

Matthew 11:28-29

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”

Below is the text from Joshua chapters ten and eleven:

Now it came to pass when Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem heard how Joshua had taken Ai and had utterly destroyed it—as he had done to Jericho and its king, so he had done to Ai and its king—and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them, that they feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all its men were mighty. Therefore Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem sent to Hoham king of Hebron, Piram king of Jarmuth, Japhia king of Lachish, and Debir king of Eglon, saying, “Come up to me and help me, that we may attack Gibeon, for it has made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel.” Therefore the five kings of the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon, gathered together and went up, they and all their armies, and camped before Gibeon and made war against it.

And the men of Gibeon sent to Joshua at the camp at Gilgal, saying, “Do not forsake your servants; come up to us quickly, save us and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the mountains have gathered together against us.”

So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor. And the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not fear them, for I have delivered them into your hand; not a man of them shall stand before you.” Joshua therefore came upon them suddenly, having marched all night from Gilgal. So the LORD routed them before Israel, killed them with a great slaughter at Gibeon, chased them along the road that goes to Beth Horon, and struck them down as far as Azekah and Makkedah. And it happened, as they fled before Israel and were on the descent of Beth Horon, that the LORD cast down large hailstones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died. There were more who died from the hailstones than the children of Israel killed with the sword.

Then Joshua spoke to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel:

“Sun, stand still over Gibeon;
And Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.”

So the sun stood still,
And the moon stopped,
Till the people had revenge
Upon their enemies.

Is this not written in the Book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. And there has been no day like that, before it or after it that the LORD heeded the voice of a man; for the LORD fought for Israel.

Then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal.

But these five kings had fled and hidden themselves in a cave at Makkedah. And it was told Joshua, saying, “The five kings have been found hidden in the cave at Makkedah.”

So Joshua said, “Roll large stones against the mouth of the cave, and set men by it to guard them. And do not stay there yourselves, but pursue your enemies, and attack their rear guard. Do not allow them to enter their cities, for the LORD your God has delivered them into your hand.” Then it happened, while Joshua and the children of Israel made an end of slaying them with a very great slaughter, till they had finished, that those who escaped entered fortified cities. And all the people returned to the camp, to Joshua at Makkedah, in peace.

No one moved his tongue against any of the children of Israel.

Then Joshua said, “Open the mouth of the cave, and bring out those five kings to me from the cave.” And they did so, and brought out those five kings to him from the cave: the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon.

So it was, when they brought out those kings to Joshua, that Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said to the captains of the men of war who went with him, “Come near, put your feet on the necks of these kings.” And they drew near and put their feet on their necks. Then Joshua said to them, “Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed; be strong and of good courage, for thus the LORD will do to all your enemies against whom you fight.” And afterward Joshua struck them and killed them, and hanged them on five trees; and they were hanging on the trees until evening. So it was at the time of the going down of the sun that Joshua commanded, and they took them down from the trees, cast them into the cave where they had been hidden, and laid large stones against the cave’s mouth, which remain until this very day.

On that day Joshua took Makkedah, and struck it and its king with the edge of the sword. He utterly destroyed them—all the people who were in it. He let none remain. He also did to the king of Makkedah as he had done to the king of Jericho.

Then Joshua passed from Makkedah, and all Israel with him, to Libnah; and they fought against Libnah. And the LORD also delivered it and its king into the hand of Israel; he struck it and all the people who were in it with the edge of the sword. He let none remain in it, but did to its king as he had done to the king of Jericho.

Then Joshua passed from Libnah, and all Israel with him, to Lachish; and they encamped against it and fought against it. And the LORD delivered Lachish into the hand of Israel, who took it on the second day, and struck it and all the people who were in it with the edge of the sword, according to all that he had done to Libnah. Then Horam king of Gezer came up to help Lachish; and Joshua struck him and his people, until he left him none remaining.

From Lachish Joshua passed to Eglon, and all Israel with him; and they encamped against it and fought against it. They took it on that day and struck it with the edge of the sword; all the people who were in it he utterly destroyed that day, according to all that he had done to Lachish.

So Joshua went up from Eglon, and all Israel with him, to Hebron; and they fought against it. And they took it and struck it with the edge of the sword—its king, all its cities, and all the people who were in it; he left none remaining, according to all that he had done to Eglon, but utterly destroyed it and all the people who were in it.

Then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to Debir; and they fought against it. And he took it and its king and all its cities; they struck them with the edge of the sword and utterly destroyed all the people who were in it. He left none remaining; as he had done to Hebron, so he did to Debir and its king, as he had done also to Libnah and its king.

So Joshua conquered all the land: the mountain country and the Southand the lowland and the wilderness slopes, and all their kings; he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed all that breathed, as the LORD God of Israel had commanded. And Joshua conquered them from Kadesh Barnea as far as Gaza, and all the country of Goshen, even as far as Gibeon. All these kings and their land Joshua took at one time, because the LORD God of Israel fought for Israel. Then Joshua returned, and all Israel with him, to the camp at Gilgal.

Joshua chapter eleven:

And it came to pass, when Jabin king of Hazor heard these things, that he sent to Jobab king of Madon, to the king of Shimron, to the king of Achshaph, and to the kings who were from the north, in the mountains, in the plain south of Chinneroth, in the lowland, and in the heights of Dor on the west, to the Canaanites in the east and in the west, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite in the mountains, and the Hivite below Hermon in the land of Mizpah. So they went out, they and all their armies with them, as many people as the sand that is on the seashore in multitude, with very many horses and chariots. And when all these kings had met together, they came and camped together at the waters of Merom to fight against Israel.

But the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid because of them, for tomorrow about this time I will deliver all of them slain before Israel. You shall hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.” So Joshua and all the people of war with him came against them suddenly by the waters of Merom, and they attacked them. And the LORD delivered them into the hand of Israel, who defeated them and chased them to Greater Sidon, to the Brook Misrephoth, and to the Valley of Mizpah eastward; they attacked them until they left none of them remaining. So Joshua did to them as the LORD had told him: he hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire.

Joshua turned back at that time and took Hazor, and struck its king with the sword; for Hazor was formerly the head of all those kingdoms. And they struck all the people who were in it with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them. There was none left breathing. Then he burned Hazor with fire.

So all the cities of those kings, and all their kings, Joshua took and struck with the edge of the sword. He utterly destroyed them, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded. But as for the cities that stood on their mounds, Israel burned none of them, except Hazor only, which Joshua burned. And all the spoil of these cities and the livestock, the children of Israel took as booty for themselves; but they struck every man with the edge of the sword until they had destroyed them, and they left none breathing. As the LORD had commanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did. He left nothing undone of all that the LORD had commanded Moses.

Thus Joshua took all this land: the mountain country, all the South, all the land of Goshen, the lowland, and the Jordan plain—the mountains of Israel and its lowlands, from Mount Halak and the ascent to Seir, even as far as Baal Gad in the Valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon. He captured all their kings, and struck them down and killed them. Joshua made war a long time with all those kings. There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel, except the Hivites, the inhabitants of Gibeon. All the others they took in battle. For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that He might utterly destroy them, and that they might receive no mercy, but that He might destroy them, as the LORD had commanded Moses.

And at that time Joshua came and cut off the Anakim from the mountains: from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, from all the mountains of Judah, and from all the mountains of Israel; Joshua utterly destroyed them with their cities. None of the Anakim were left in the land of the children of Israel; they remained only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod.

So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD had said to Moses; and Joshua gave it as an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. Then the land rested from war.

Chapter Seventeen - Joshua 12

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Who Were You Before You Became Who You Are?

Joshua chapter twelve is not an exciting chapter to read, so I won’t ask you to read it. It simply lists the names of the kings/territories that God gave the Israelite army victory over as they took possession of the Promised Land. But its inclusion in the Bible is important. In this one chapter, the nation of

Israel

can find a long list of obstacles that were overcome so that they could live a life of rest and peace.

As we enter our Promised Land, a land filled with personal rest and peace for us, I think it is important to record and remember the things that the Lord helped us to overcome as He led us into the land. Why? For two reasons: To keep us humble and to bolster our faith.

Staying Humble

When we enter the Spirit-filled/led life, we will see some wonderful changes start to occur. God gives us victory and success not only over our adversaries, but also in our family life, our ministry life, and even in our careers. As we obey the Holy Spirit’s leading, we begin to find favor in the eyes of the people we are ministering to, working with, and living with. As our lives change, that change becomes obvious to those around us. Because of the transformation of your life, people will naturally migrate to you for advice about spiritual things, family problems, and even career issues.

This is a fantastic thing, but a dangerous thing as well. Why dangerous? If we fail to continually remind ourselves of who we were before the transforming power of Christ took control over our lives, we will have a tendency to start taking credit for what the Lord has done in our lives. And when we start taking credit for God’s work… God’s work starts to work elsewhere—without us.

Prior to entering the Spirit-filled life, I was a failure at just about everything I tried. I had great potential as an athlete in high school, but didn’t accomplish even a fraction of what I was capable of. I was expelled from college because I had poor grades and a lack of respect for authority. I went to flight school where, though I graduated, I couldn’t find a flying job that paid well enough to even pay my flight school bills. To try and make more money I took a job at Taco Bell and did alright, becoming a general manager relatively quickly. But I abhorred my job. While at Taco Bell I began gaining weight like crazy, had no social life and because of very poor financial decisions, I was in debt up to my eyeballs. It wasn’t long before my car was repossessed and I was forced to ride a bike to work… which did at least have the benefit of helping me lose some weight. After a couple of miserable years with Taco Bell I left to manage a retail cigar store… where I promptly made the brilliant decision to start embezzling funds from the company. I was of course fired from that job and rightfully disgraced from that industry…

So here’s what my life looked like when I finally fully gave my life over to the Lordship of Christ. I was in my late twenties, broke, living with my mom, 70 pounds overweight, battling addiction and depression, and for some unknown reason, I had no prospects for marriage… who’da thunk it?! Since then, as had the nation of

Israel

, I have been through and fought some battles in which the Lord has given me victory.

Since those battles, I have come to a place of peace and rest that was unimaginable to me ten years ago. I have found incredible, undeserved favor at my job and am as debt-free as an American can be these days. Numerous men and women have sought and still seek my advice and leadership in regards to spiritual matters. I am finding some success and getting great response from my writing. I am married to the most beautiful, wonderful, godly woman that I have ever met and I am the father of the greatest human male born since Jesus! Taking into consideration my life before I gave up control, let me ask you… can I take credit for any of that success?

The nation of

Israel

is about to settle into life in the Promised Land where they will soon find incredible success. Chapter twelve of Joshua needs to be remembered because it demonstrates the things that were accomplished by God that allowed them to find that success. Pastors, leaders, parents, and disciples: If you have entered the Promised Land of Spirit-filled living and are experiencing success, remember who you were before you entered and who gave you the success that you are experiencing. Write it down if you need too… but always, always, always remember who you were before you became who you are.

Bolstering Our Faith

I grew up in Minnesota where, needless to say, it can get a bit chilly in the winter months. Our home was situated just across the street from a lake. If you have ever been up north in the winter, you know it is not uncommon to witness people doing various activities like walking, skating, ice fishing, snowmobiling, and even driving on a lake once it has frozen over.

After the first couple deep-freeze days you might assume that the lake is safe for activities, but no one is dumb enough to just drive out on to the lake before they have tested it a bit. As kids, the first thing we’d do is find a rock and throw it out onto the ice… if it didn’t break through the surface, we’d get a bigger rock… if it didn’t break through, we’d get a stick and poke the ice as hard as we could to see if it was solid enough to walk on. If it was deemed to be somewhat safe, we’d very gingerly, one step at a time, step out on the lake, never getting too far from the edge. If the first kid (usually the most gullible kid of the group) didn’t hear any crackling or feel any movement, other kids would very gently step out and join him on the ice.

Eventually we’d all know that it was safe and we would very confidently jump around, ice skate, set up ramps to ride our sleds over… we’d play all day! Before long we wouldn’t be the only ones playing… you’d see hockey rinks pop up, along with snowmobiles and cars driving out to ice fishing shacks that were set up in the middle of the lake. (If you’ve seen the movie “Dirty Old Men,” you know what I’m talking about.)

Our walk of faith can be very much similar to this story of kids testing the ice. That first step of faith can be scary… you may just creep out into the unknown, testing things as you go. But you do creep out, you do take that step. Then something happens… God shows up and gives you victory… the ice is solid! The next time you come up against a slippery decision, it becomes just a little easier to take a step out into the unknown… It’s still scary, but you take that step and God shows up… it’s safe! It won’t be long before stepping out in faith isn’t as scary as it used to be. Why? Because you know that the ice is solid. You know that because God is leading you, He is going to show up, protect you, and give you victory.

Chronicling God’s Faithfulness

When we remember the things God has given us victory over in the past, it makes each future step of faith a little bit easier. Take a step… God shows up… take another… God shows up… take another… Write down those things that God has given you victory over… Remember them for the rest of your life and you will find that your walk of faith will steadily get easier.

My Bible is marked up with notes and dates; it is scribbled in and worn out. It is a journal of sorts, reminding me of the many victories God has given me through the years. Maybe you journal or maybe you have a great memory, but it is important to remember what God has done in your life and reflect on those things regularly. That scribbling in my Bible doesn’t mean much to anyone but me and probably, like Joshua chapter twelve, is boring to most. But it reminds me of who I was before I became who I am. It also reminds me of God’s incredible faithfulness to me despite the fact that I was who I was and still am who I am!

Chapter Eighteen - Joshua 13:1-7

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But Be of Good Cheer

In Joshua chapter one, we saw the nation of

Israel

on the outside of the Promised Land looking in. In the following chapters we watched God lead them to victory after victory, giving them success in their endeavor to conquer the land. Then in chapter eleven, verse twenty-three, we read “and the land rested from war.” They were in! God had given them the land and now they could rest! But wait…

Joshua 13:1

Now Joshua was old, advanced in years. And the LORD said to him: “You are old, advanced in years, and there remains very much land yet to be possessed.”

Contradiction! I thought they had possessed the land. I thought they didn’t have to fight any more. But now in chapter thirteen God gives them another list of territories that still needed to be conquered.

The first twelve chapters in the book of Joshua give us a great picture of how we can enter by faith into the Spirit-filled life. God, as we saw, gives us success when we follow Jesus (remember, Joshua is a picture of Jesus) into battle. He gives us rest when we finally take possession of His promises. But as was the case for the Israelites, though we rest from war, there are still battles that will have to be fought.

In John 16:33, Jesus tells the disciples what the future was going to look like for them: “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

It’s true… we will have tribulation… but be of good cheer. Jesus has already won the war!

No Rest Without Confidence

I am a football fan, and one of the best days of football that I can remember was the 2007 league championship weekend. Sunday’s early game was the AFC Championship game between the undefeated New England Patriots and the San Diego Chargers; the late game was the NFC Championship game between the Green Bay Packers and the New York Giants. Both were great games but the late game stands out.

The temperature at game time for the Packers/Giants game was 2 degrees above zero with a wind chill of minus 24. Anybody who has paid attention to football for the past fifteen years knows that Bret Favre, who was at the time Green Bay’s quarterback, was virtually unbeatable in the frigid air of Lambeau Field.

But Eli Manning and the Giants had been playing as well as any team in the NFL over the previous eight weeks, so this was shaping up to be a great game! My wife lived in New York City until she was ten, so we were cheering for the Giants. For the whole night we (and by we, I mean me… Katherine was cleaning the bathrooms) were on pins and needles, on the edge of our seats. The game was fantastic and after many nail-biting lead changes, fumbles, interceptions, and missed field goals, the game came down to the final few seconds.

With the game tied, the Giants had the opportunity to win if they could only make a 36-yard field goal. The snap was a bit high but they were able to get the attempt off and… it had the distance… but it was turning… turning… No good! Shoot… overtime. Overtime rules in the NFL state that the first team to score wins and the team to get the first chance to score is decided by a flip of the coin. It’s unfair but them’s the rules.

Unfortunately for Giants fans, the Packers won the coin toss—and after the kick off, Bret Favre and the Packers were poised to drive down the field and win the game. Again, if you are a football fan, you know that when Bret Favre has the football and 80 yards to go for the win, it’s a safe bet that the Packers will win… so I slumped in my seat waiting for the inevitable. But… after just two plays, Favre threw an interception! I leapt to my feet! The Giants now had the ball and only had to advance it a couple of yards to be in field goal range. Lo and behold, they were able to pound out those couple of yards to set up a game winning 47-yard field goal attempt. Now keep in mind, within the past seven minutes of playing time the Giants kicker had missed a 43-yarder and the 36-yarder at the end of regulation. So this was by no means a sure thing… so I slumped back in my seat with little confidence that he’d be able to make this 47-yarder. After a timeout, the Giants took the field for the game-winning attempt… the snap was good and the kick was up… if it’s got the distance, it’ll be good… it’s going… going… GOOD! I leapt back to my feet… the Giants win!

I was exhausted. The ups and downs… twists and turns of the game wore me out. I never had confidence that my team was going to win, so I couldn’t get any rest. I couldn’t find peace.

That’s how it is with our Christian walk before we enter the Spirit-filled life and take possession of God’s promises. We’re up on some days and down on others. There are days that we think our struggles with sin will never end—and other days when we find an incredible euphoria because of victories that we didn’t know were possible.

But what if you knew the results beforehand? What if during the game I found out that the Giants, beyond a shadow of a doubt, were going to win? What if I knew that nothing Green Bay could do would affect that outcome. What if I learned in advance that the Giants would miss a field goal at the end of regulation, but after an interception they’d get another chance and make it? Would I have been so nervous? Would I have been so restless?

We Know the Outcome

When we take possession of the promises God offers in the Spirit-filled life, we will know the outcome of all our future battles… God will give us victory. Because of this foreknowledge, we will have rest, we will find peace. Yes, because we live in a fallen world we will continue to experience difficulties until, like Joshua, we are old and advanced in years. But because we have seen God’s faithfulness so often in the past, we can be of good cheer knowing that He will continue to be faithful and give us victory!

How great is that… how great is our God?! We’ve seen the final score and we know we win… So rest… rest in the knowledge that God will win in the end. Face those future battles with peace and with confidence.

Chapter Nineteen - Joshua 13:8 - 22:34

2011-02-01T20:12:00.008-05:00

Let’s Open Some Gifts!

The land is conquered and the nation of

Israel

is at rest from war. We saw in the past two chapters how important it is to remember the path that God has led us in attaining our rest—and that we need to have proper expectations for the future.

Now, as we look at the last half of chapters thirteen through twenty-two, we see God dividing up the Promised Land to the Israelite tribes. To each tribe is given a plot of land: to the farmers… farmland; to the herders… land for their livestock to graze; for the lumberjacks… woodland; for the puppy lovers… puppy-land. To each group, according to their need, they were given the appropriate land to do what they were equipped to do.

Isn’t that great! God knew what each people group did well, and then provided them with the perfect land to do their thing. The same thing happens when we enter our Promised Land of the Spirit-filled life. God will look at the gifts and talents He has given you and me, and then provide us with all the tools we need to do our thing.

Gifted to Succeed

In Romans chapter twelve there is a list of seven gifts: prophecy, ministry, teaching, exhortation, giving, leadership, and mercy. All who have given their lives over to the Lordship of Christ have at least one of these gifts. Everyone who wants to use their gifts has been given the tools and the opportunity to do what they were created by God to do. Knowing what your gift is and how to use it is very important when you are seeking to serve God effectively. So in this chapter, let’s look at each gift and try to focus in on which one you have been given.

Prophecy:

Those with this gift are generally a bit on the harsh side. They are the people who tell others the things they don’t want to hear but need to hear. They aren’t the most popular people around, but to those they help they are highly respected. Generally, they struggle with speaking the truth in love. But they also have an uncanny ability to find and expose the lies of saten.

Ministry:

People with the gift of ministry serve people in practical ways. They are generally the people who set up the chairs, mop the floors, bring the food, and take out the garbage. They are very valuable—and often underappreciated. Generally they deal with signs of depression because they serve continually and are seldom noticed. But they have a great sense of what needs to be done and are willing to roll up their sleeves to do what others don’t want to do.

Teaching:

Those with the gift of teaching have the ability to make the complex simple. They are typically good communicators and are well liked. They very much struggle with pride because they are patted on the back so often, but they generally are good public speakers and help groups of people navigate life.

Exhortation:

People who have the gift of exhortation or encouragement do for individuals what teachers do for groups. They have the ability and desire to come alongside individuals to encourage and motivate them to become all that God has designed them to be. They are generally soft-spoken optimists and very popular. They sometimes have problems with negative confrontation, but when they overcome that they are excellent at speaking the truth in love.

Giving:

A person who uses his or her gift of giving will enable the truths of God to go out and reach others. Let’s be honest, money is required for just about everything in life. God knew this would be the case, so He gave some people the gift of giving. Givers are generally successful and generous. They sometimes struggle with discernment of where to give, but their generosity enables people with different gifts to use those gifts effectively.

Leadership:

Those with the gift of leadership are typically executive-types who have the ability to organize and facilitate ministry. They are usually two or three steps ahead of everyone else, seeing and solving problems before they happen. They struggle with being power hungry, but are great at organizing chaos.

Mercy:

The person who has the gift of mercy is usually very emotional. He or she will laugh when others are laughing and cry when others are crying—feeling their pain and offering a shoulder to cry on. This type of person struggles with making emotional decisions, but is a great listener.

Jesus exhibited all of these gifts fully, and each disciple of His (including you and me) has been given at least one. Some have one defining gift and maybe one or two secondary gifts; others simply have just their defining gift. God has equipped everyone according to their ability and will give us opportunities to use our gift(s) if we allow Him to.

How do we know which gift(s) we have? Most likely you already have an idea which gift you have simply by reading their descriptions. But there are a couple of other ways of determining your gift(s). The first is by placing yourself in this story:

A ten-year-old boy named Gregory comes to you in tears. He was out playing baseball with his friends when they got a little rambunctious. In the heat of the game Gregory threw his bat, hitting a passing car and breaking its windshield. He is devastated and sorry for what he did and very scared of the consequences of his actions. What do you do… what is your initial reaction?

-Someone with the gift of prophecy will probably be a bit harsh and rebuke Gregory, explaining that along with bad behavior come consequences.

-Someone with the gift of ministry will probably get a broom and go out into the street to sweep up the broken glass—and then give directions to the owner of the car on where to get the windshield replaced. This person will then call the repair shop to find out if they are open and if they are available to fix the car.

-A person with the gift of teaching will pull Gregory and his friends aside and teach them about anger control, giving them practical steps on how to better handle the situation in the future.

-The person with the gift of exhortation will pull Gregory close and encourage him that it isn’t as bad as it seems right now. He or she will assure Gregory of his or her willingness to help him through this time, and will encourage Gregory to do better the next time.

-A giver will pull out his or her wallet and offer to pay for the damage to the car.

-A leader will make sure the broom is there for the minister, that the driver of the car has all the needed contact information, and that Gregory’s parents are contacted and brought up to speed on the incident.

-Meanwhile the person with the gift of mercy will be holding Gregory in his or her arms, comforting him and empathizing with his experience.

Wouldn’t life be grand if we all came together and used our gifts to help others? I know from this story that my primary gift is teaching; one of my secondary gifts is exhortation. I also know from this story that I don’t have the gift of mercy or the gift of prophecy. My first response would be to try and help Gregory and his friends learn from the mistake. Then I would offer my support to Gregory in case he needed any help in the future.

What would your first response be? The answer to that question will give you a very big clue about what your gifting is.

Another way that I’ve learned to identify your gift(s) is to ask yourself to complete this sentence: If I were given absolute control over all decisions made at my church, I would…

-A prophet would desire that more truth about sin and the consequences of sin be proclaimed and proclaimed boldly from the pulpit.

-Those with the gift of ministry would want the church to focus more on meeting the needs of the community. They would like to see the church more involved in practical acts of service like washing people’s cars, feeding the poor, and child care for single moms.

-Those with the gift of teaching would work toward having more classes where the Word of God is taught clearly and concisely. They would also fight to have the Bible in its entirety taught from the pulpit.

-Someone who has the gift of exhortation would like for the church to concentrate more on one-on-one discipleship. He or she would want to put into place small group discussions and seek to follow up with anyone interested in learning more.

-Those with the gift of giving would try and get the congregation more active in giving personally and as a body. They would seek to give to the needy that which is received in tithes and offerings.

-The leaders of the group would want more organizational structure, a chain of command, and better communication. They would seek to pay down debt, invest for the future, and build infrastructure.

-Someone who has the gifting of mercy would want to start a hospice program, a homeless mission, and a drug rehabilitation center. He or she would seek to get the church more involved in counseling and helping the hopeless in the community.

The Bible tells us that we are all one body. He put us together for a reason and He gives us all the tools we need to accomplish His will through us. But just as a human body, the church body works best when everyone is working together, not at odds. Under the leadership of Christ we need to humble ourselves and come together, understanding that each body part is important. In doing so, we can overcome evil with good.

Start Using Them

How do we start using the gift(s) that have been given to us?

This is the bottom line… you know you have a gift, but perhaps you don’t feel empowered to use it. You may be scared or shy—and for you that is a huge hurdle to jump. You may be comfortable in your inactivity, and though serving sounds great, you don’t want to give up any personal time or space. Or, maybe you’re like I was for the longest time and you don’t have any confidence in your gift… You know you have a gift, but you are pretty sure that you’ll embarrass yourself by using it.

There are a number of reasons why we don’t use our gifts… but can I tell you… when you find and begin to use your gift, you will find that God will use you in ways that were previously unimaginable to you. So how do you start?

Well, that’s what the book of Joshua is all about. We started with the nation of

Israel

on the east side of the Jordan River; on the outside looking in. By a step of faith, the water parted and they entered the Promised Land. God gave them victory over their enemies and rest for their souls, and they were able to settle into a life of service.

How do we start using our gifts? We take a step into the water. God has this wonderful gift that He has given you, so step out in faith and start to use it. Prophets, speak the truth in love… ministers, serve people in practical ways… teachers, teach the Word… exhorters, encourage and disciple those around you… givers, give liberally... leaders, lead faithfully… and merciful ones, show mercy to those who need mercy.

We live in an egocentric society. We all want our agendas to be the main agenda and we want it done our way. But if we work together as one body, using the gifts God has given each of us while seeking to accomplish God’s agenda, we can and will accomplish great things for Him and glorify His name! Boy… wouldn’t that be great?

Romans 12

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.

Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Chapter Twenty - Joshua 23-24

2011-02-01T20:11:00.003-05:00

As For Me and My House

We come now to the last chapters of the book of Joshua. The journey started with the nation of

Israel

on the east side of the Jordan River looking into the land God had promised them many years before. How did they get there? After being enslaved in

Egypt

for a couple hundred years, God heard their prayers and sent Moses to lead them out of slavery and into the Promised Land.

The journey from

Egypt

to Canaan was a hard journey, but along the way God miraculously delivered them from their enemies at the Red Sea and led them through the wilderness with a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day. He fed them manna from heaven and gave them water from a rock. He was faithful to bring them safely to the east side of the territory they had been given, and then told them it was theirs for the taking.

But they didn’t believe God. They saw the giants in the land and the armies that needed to be defeated and decided that they wanted no part of it… so they wandered for 40 more years in the wilderness. The older generation who did not believe died in the wilderness. A new generation grew up believing that what God had given them was theirs for the taking. That’s where we started… this new generation now poised to take the land God had promised to them.

We’ve learned that the Promised Land God has promised us is the Spirit-filled life. A life of joy, peace, and rest! We’ve learned that the story of how

Israel

conquered the Promised Land as told in the book of Joshua is a wonderful picture of how we can enter and take possession of our Promised Land. The conquering of the land started for the nation of

Israel

with a step of faith into a raging river, and we have learned that our journey must also start with a step of faith into the unknown, yet perfect will of God.

We saw that through obedience, God gave the children of

Israel

great victories over their enemies. We learned that it is through obedience that He will give us victory over our enemies. We saw that there is a purpose for our battles, learned how we can be successful, and then uncovered practical principles on how God guides.

This has been a wonderful journey that has hopefully ended for you in peace and rest, as well as an understanding of where you fit in the body of Christ. Joshua, here in chapters twenty-three and twenty-four, speaks some encouraging and challenging words to the nation about how they need to remember what the Lord has done and never turn away from Him.

I’d like to do the same.

Brokenness and Humility

We live in a society that puts a high priority on self esteem. For many it no longer matters that you have an accurate self image; it is now more important for you to have a good self image. I believe that this type of thinking is destroying the very society that it claims to want to improve.

God honors the broken person who comes to Him knowing that they cannot—or will not—do life without Him. He exalts the humble who find their worth in Him as opposed to seeking to find it somewhere within themselves. It is the person who seeks after God’s plan instead of his or her own plan who will find rest within the Promised Land of a Spirit-filled life. What we cannot do and must not do is find our value and confidence in ourselves because it is then that we will begin to seek after false gods like money, sex, notoriety, pleasure… These gods all lead to death and will never lead to life.

We must find our value and confidence in Him if we want to remain in His rest. How do we do that? We remember His faithfulness to us during our journey. We must never fall into the thinking that we somehow have accomplished on our own the life of peace and rest that He has given us. We must choose to serve God and never veer from His path. We must, by faith, understand that His will for our lives is better than our own will for our lives. And we must cleave to His will and never, never, never seek our own. He’s given you the power to do that… so choose to do it!

I know most of you probably don’t read the Scriptures that are posted at the end of some of these chapters, but please read the two chapters below and apply these words to your life—as if Joshua is speaking to you personally… because he is.

Joshua 23

Now it came to pass, a long time after the LORD had given rest to Israel from all their enemies round about, that Joshua was old, advanced in age. And Joshua called for all Israel, for their elders, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers, and said to them: “I am old, advanced in age. You have seen all that the LORD your God has done to all these nations because of you, for the LORD your God is He who has fought for you. See, I have divided to you by lot these nations that remain, to be an inheritance for your tribes, from the Jordan, with all the nations that I have cut off, as far as the Great Sea westward. And the LORD your God will expel them from before you and drive them out of your sight. So you shall possess their land, as the LORD your God promised you.

“Therefore be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, lest you turn aside from it to the right hand or to the left, and lest you go among these nations, these who remain among you. You shall not make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause anyone to swear by them; you shall not serve them nor bow down to them, but you shall hold fast to the LORD your God, as you have done to this day. For the LORD has driven out from before you great and strong nations; but as for you, no one has been able to stand against you to this day. One man of you shall chase a thousand, for the LORD your God is He who fights for you, as He promised you.

“Therefore take careful heed to yourselves, that you love the LORD your God. Or else, if indeed you do go back, and cling to the remnant of these nations—these that remain among you—and make marriages with them, and go in to them and they to you, know for certain that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations from before you. But they shall be snares and traps to you, and scourges on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land which the LORD your God has given you.

“Behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth. And you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the LORD your God spoke concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one word of them has failed. Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all the good things have come upon you which the LORD your God promised you, so the LORD will bring upon you all harmful things, until He has destroyed you from this good land which the LORD your God has given you. When you have transgressed the covenant of the LORD your God, which He commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed down to them, then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and you shall perish quickly from the good land which He has given you.”

Joshua 24

Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem and called for the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God. And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the River in old times; and they served other gods. Then I took your father Abraham from the other side of the River, led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac. To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. To Esau I gave the mountains of Seir to possess, but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt. Also I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to what I did among them. Afterward I brought you out.

‘Then I brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea; and the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. So they cried out to the LORD; and He put darkness between you and the Egyptians, brought the sea upon them, and covered them. And your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. Then you dwelt in the wilderness a long time. And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, who dwelt on the other side of the Jordan, and they fought with you. But I gave them into your hand, that you might possess their land, and I destroyed them from before you. Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose to make war against Israel, and sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you. But I would not listen to Balaam; therefore he continued to bless you. So I delivered you out of his hand. Then you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho. And the men of Jericho fought against you—also the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. But I delivered them into your hand. I sent the hornet before you which drove them out from before you, also the two kings of the Amorites, but not with your sword or with your bow. I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’

“Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD! And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

So the people answered and said: “Far be it from us that we should forsake the LORD to serve other gods; for the LORD our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the people through whom we passed. And the LORD drove out from before us all the people, including the Amorites who dwelt in the land. We also will serve the LORD, for He is our God.”

But Joshua said to the people, “You cannot serve the LORD, for He is a holy God. He is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good.”

And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the LORD!”

So Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD for yourselves, to serve Him.”

And they said, “We are witnesses!”

“Now therefore,” he said, “put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to the LORD God of Israel.”

And the people said to Joshua, “The LORD our God we will serve, and His voice we will obey!”

So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.

Then Joshua wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he took a large stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the LORD. And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness to us, for it has heard all the words of the LORD which He spoke to us. It shall therefore be a witness to you, lest you deny your God.” So Joshua let the people depart, each to his own inheritance.

Now it came to pass after these things that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died, being one hundred and ten years old. And they buried him within the border of his inheritance at Timnath Serah, which is in the mountains of Ephraim, on the north side of Mount Gaash.

Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had known all the works of the LORD which He had done for Israel.

The bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel had brought up out of Egypt, they buried at Shechem, in the plot of ground which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for one hundred pieces of silver, and which had become an inheritance of the children of Joseph.
And Eleazar the son of Aaron died. They buried him in a hill belonging to Phinehas his son, which was given to him in the mountains of Ephraim.

Wow! Here are verses 14 and 15 again:

Let me re-translate that passage to the Jaymo’s Contemporary Non-Standard Broken English Version (the 2009 uninspired edition):

Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the selfishness and pride which dominated your life for so long before you entered the Spirit-filled life. Serve the LORD! And if it seems weird to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether it be yourself and your selfish desires, or the gods of this world like greed, fame, success or even your ’69 mint-condition Corvette with flames painted on the side.* But as for me and my house, we’re gonna serve the LORD.

You have taken that step of faith into the Promised Land. God has given you victory over your enemies. You have received your spiritual gift. Now serve the Lord!

*For those of you with ’69 Corvettes… I’m sorry, but if it’s your idol, get rid of it!

Chapter Twenty One

2011-02-01T20:07:00.005-05:00

Believe On the Lord Jesus Christ and You Will Be Saved

We’ve come to the end of the book of Joshua where we have learned that by faith the nation of

Israel

entered and took possession of the Promised Land. I’ve tried also in our studies to show that through faith or belief in Jesus, we too can enter the life we have been promised—a life of rest, abundance and contentment; a Spirit-filled life.

But belief is a difficult thing to define. How much belief do we need to enter this promised life? Is it enough to simply believe that Jesus existed? Is it sufficient to believe that Jesus was crucified? What is it about Jesus that we need to believe in order to be certain that we are saved?

What Must I Do to Be Saved?

In Acts 16, after being asked the question, “What must I do to be saved?” Paul and Silas are quoted as answering, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved.” What does that mean? I think we can figure that out by dissecting the phrase “Lord Jesus Christ”:

Lord: Do you believe that Jesus is Lord? That means that He is the boss, in charge of all things at all times. Do you want Him to make the decisions in your life? Do you desire to follow His leading? Do you submit to His Lordship? If you do submit, then you believe He is Lord… if you don’t, that illustrates that you don’t believe that He is Lord.

Jesus: Do you believe that Jesus is who He claimed to be, did what He claims to have done, and that He will do what He claims He will do? Jesus claimed to be the only Son of God (John 3:16)… Do you believe that? Though He is separate from God, Jesus claimed to be one with God (John 10:30)… Do you believe that God and Jesus are separate but One? (I know that defies logic, but do you believe it?) Jesus claimed to be the only mediator between God and man, and that everyone must come to Him to have access to God (John 14:6).

Jesus walked on water (Matthew 14:25), healed the sick, raised the dead (Matthew 11:5), fed 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish (Matthew 14), and He claimed to be able to forgive sin (Matthew 9:2)… Do you believe those facts? Jesus claims that He has risen from death and that He will come to earth again to receive those who believe to Himself (John 14:3)… Do you believe that Jesus is who He claimed to be, did what He claims to have done, and that He will do what He claims He will do?

Christ: Do you believe that Jesus is the Christ (Messiah)? Do you believe that He came to earth to die as an atoning sacrifice for your sin, my sin, and the sin of the world—making it possible for those who do believe to have access to God? And do you believe that He rose from death, ascended into Heaven and will soon return to righteously judge the earth and set up His Kingdom?

Do you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ?

Those Who Are Not Saved

There are millions of people in this world who say that they believe in Jesus, but in reality do they? Many people and religions believe that Jesus was nothing more than a good man who lived a good life and taught us some good lessons… Let me be bold and say unequivocally, those people, even if they may appear to be saved, are not saved.

Many people go so far as to believe that Jesus is one of God’s sons, not equal to or one with God, just a son of God… Despite the fact that they may be happy and live moral lives, they also are not saved.

Some who convincingly claim to be Christian believe that Jesus was created by God to be God. Others believe that Jesus was bound by the laws of nature, so they try and explain His miracles away with logic. Some very well-intentioned people believe that you can earn salvation by doing good things, by being a good person, and by going to church… If you believe these things, then you need to be told… you are not saved. Salvation is not a birthright. It doesn’t come to you if you are born in the right country, into the right family, or into the right religion. And salvation cannot be earned… even if you try really, really hard. There is one and only one way to be saved; you must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Trying to Make Sense

But that doesn’t make sense to most. So you think, There has to be more than that; it’s too easy. There’s got to be a system or structure that I can follow to find my way into the promised life.

Because you think that salvation has to make sense, you try very hard to use logic and reason to convince others to make some sort of general profession of faith. Then once they make that profession of faith, you try to make Christian living make sense by telling them (if you are a fundamentalist) that they must now work hard to do this, this, and this; work harder to stop doing that, that, and that… and then you encourage them to join you in the uphill struggle of living a holy life.

And if you are a liberal, you tell people that they are now safe and don’t have to exhibit any evidence of being saved because God has to forgive you when you tell Him that you went forward and prayed a prayer at Whispering Valley Epic Revolution Non-denominational Community Outreach Missional church.

Then for many of you, after a few years of going through the motions at your new church, a visiting pastor who is relatable, funny, and a good communicator, makes you and everyone around you feel uncomfortable in your short-comings and hopeful for a better life. Then he convinces you that getting saved again (or rededicating our life) makes sense, so you go forward and pray another prayer… starting again the seemingly never-ending cycle of frustration…

Will, Not Might

But the truth is that salvation doesn’t make sense… It is a supernatural event which, by definition, transcends the natural; therefore, to those who are perishing, it is foolishness (1 Corinthians 1:18). So why do we try so hard to make something that is supernatural, into something that is logical? I know why… it’s because we don’t believe. Acts 16:31 tells us that if we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ we will be saved. Notice something here… it doesn’t say believe and you might be saved, or believe and do good works and you can be saved… It simply says believe and you will be saved.

What will happen when you truly believe is that Jesus will come and supernaturally change your life. When that happens, you will yield to His Lordship and begin to naturally seek to live a life that is pleasing to Him. You will find peace, rest, contentment, and joy. Many people are working very hard to find those things before they believe… If that is you, then you’re putting the cart before the horse and your life is probably filled with guilt, indecision, frustration, and burden… You’ve got to believe first—and through that belief, God will change you!

If you are, like I was for many years, stuck on the east side of the Jordan River looking on with longing at the life you’d like to live but don’t seem to be able to live… examine what you believe and ask Jesus to help your unbelief… because when you believe, you will be saved!

Acknowledgements

2011-02-01T20:04:00.001-05:00

Thank You Lord for my wife Katherine. She is an unshakable source of strength and encouragement. Thank You for my son Jamey. He shows me daily what love is and is a constant reminder of Your faithfulness. Thank You Lord for my parents (all of them!) Their prayerful and consistent hearts have helped You mold me into the man that I am today. And thank You for my editor Carol… who was able to, by Your grace, decipher my gibberish, my dot… dot… dots… and my rather unorthodox style to make this book readable.
Most importantly Father, thank You for Your Son… whose life, death, and resurrection has given all those who believe a chance to live life to its fullest!
Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!