Be Strong and Courageous

 DEVOTION

JOSHUA

BE STRONG AND COURAGEOUS

Josh 1:6-9

6 "Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. 7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."

NIV

There is so much in what God told Joshua that applies to us today that we might have to camp out on this portion. The first we need to deal with is what God kept repeating, “Be strong and Courageous”. Three times God told him that, except once He said “Very courageous” We know Joshua was not a weak man, as we would believe all the men of that era who walked miles and miles every day of their lives, were men of strength and endurance. However, Joshua was given a special assignment to lead the people across the Jordan into the promised land. We must understand that we too have all been given a special assignment from the Lord. If the only thing that we all need to be strong and courageous about is loving each other, Oh, it might be easy to do that within the local church if it is a small little church, but what about if the local church has over five hundred or even a thousand and we cannot be excepted to know them all personally. But what about the people we come in contact with daily? Shouldn’t we love them? Even if we have some enemies, we are to love them. That might take strength and courage. But the takeaway here is that we need to be strong and courageous in our walk with the Lord, learning from him, living in the world but not giving in to its ways. That would include the pleasures or the love of success, money, and possessions, with include, greed, lust, bitterness, rage, anger, slander(gossip), and malice. “Be strong and courageous” and “Be strong and very Courageous” we are told many times in the revelation given to John, to the church, “to him that overcomes” It takes strength and courage to overcome, however, but our strength and courage come from the Lord. We may not be like the strong men of old, and God may call us to a task that we have no skill, or ability so that all the praise will go to Him.  Jesus told us apart from him we can do nothing, but with Him, if we remain in Him, we can ask anything, we can ask for His strength and His courage to live according to His plan and purpose for us, to lead others to the promised land. Speaking personally, I need His strength and courage to fulfill the calling on my life, as we all should, for each has been called to do His will. We still need to explore the result of the promises, but first, let us all live being strong and courageous.