“. . . Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

— Joshua 1:9

If someone just left thousands of people in your care with the command to lead those people through wilderness toward a promised land, how would you feel?

Joshua had that exact experience. After Moses, the Israelites’ leader, died, God handed Joshua the leadership baton, and with it came the responsibility to lead the people safely to Canaan. God had created Joshua for this role; even Joshua’s name, which means “the Lord saves,” set Joshua apart to lead the people into the Promised Land. As you might imagine, if Joshua was going to fill Moses’ shoes, he needed a little encouragement. At the beginning of Joshua’s new ministry, God exhorted Joshua to have courage. Four times in Joshua 1, God commands Joshua to be strong and of good courage. God obviously wanted to get His message across.

You and I also need courage. If we want to fulfill the destiny God has planned for us, we need to step out in courage, knowing that God will blaze our trail for us. To receive our inheritance, to successfully fulfill our life purpose, to bring glory to God, we must have a courageous character. Following Christ isn’t an easy task. It requires great strength and courage because we never know what God will call His people to do.

But we can’t muster up courage on our own. Any courage we manufacture within ourselves will vanish in the face of our first trial. We need to get our courage from the Lord. When God told Joshua to have courage, He followed that exhortation with the promise that He would go with Joshua wherever Joshua went. In the same way, God gives us courage for whatever He calls us to do. How? Through our reconciliation with God. When we come to Christ and find in Him our redemption, we gain courage to fulfill God’s purposes for us. We get our courage from knowing that God is our Father who has accepted us unto Himself and whose providence watches over us.

Since nothing can separate you from God’s love, go forth boldly into whatever He has for you this day. “Be strong and of good courage . . . for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

“Cowards die many times . . . The valiant
never taste of death but once.”
William Shakespeare

“The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world.”

— John 1:9,  NIV

Have you ever been afraid of the dark? Perhaps as a child you feared that monsters lurked in your bedroom, just waiting for the lights to go out. Or maybe as an adult you fear that people with evil intentions hide in the shadows, ready to attack.

Dangers do lurk in darkness. I refer not to “things that go bump in the night,” but to very real dangers which exist in the dark. After all, darkness is the domain of the “Prince of Darkness,” who hates the Light and does all he can to keep people from coming to the Light.

Many of the most dramatic, compelling, and illuminating stories found in the Bible took place at night. It was night when the Sodomites beat upon Lot’s doors and demanded his two angelic visitors to molest. It was night when David looked upon the form of Bathsheba bathing upon the rooftop below, then called her to his presence and committed the sin of adultery.

But the darkest “night” this world has ever seen took place at midday on Calvary. In that darkness, the noon that became midnight, humankind’s sin extinguished the Light of the World. Christ endured in body and soul the penalty, pain, and anguish which we so rightly deserve for our sinfulness.

But darkness couldn’t extinguish the Light forever. Isaiah foretold the day when the “people who walked in darkness [would see] a great light.” That great Light is Jesus Christ, whom the Bible calls the Light of the World. He promises to give us the light of everlasting day if we will yield our hearts to Him. Jesus Christ is the sun of our souls, and when He comes into the darkness of our hearts, He brings a Light which forever lightens our lives and gives us purpose. And when our time comes, Christ will take us to our everlasting home, and in that great day, we will discover there is no night there.

Because of Christ’s sacrifice, you need not fear the darkness. Today rejoice in Christ’s everlasting Light, the Light that extinguishes darkness this day and for eternity.

“When He came, there was no light.
When He left, there was no darkness.”
Anonymous

“. . . Yet their boast is only labor and sorrow . . .”

— Psalm 90:10

Perhaps nothing causes more people to stumble in their faith than the problem of suffering. None of us is exempt from tribulation. We all face it at one time or another. And in our pain and desperation, we often ask, “Why, Lord?”

Have those words ever echoed through the chambers of your soul in the middle of some dark and starless night?

We can’t get rid of all pain, trouble, hurt, injury, and sorrow. People fall off things and hurt themselves. Shall we then do away with the law of gravity? People have accidents in cars, planes, trains, and boats. Shall we then get rid of all forms of transportation? Suffering is a part of our world, and if Christians were exempt from all trouble and pain, everyone would immediately recognize the payoffs. If all Christians had an abundance of money, health, and happiness, our characters would never develop. Christianity would degenerate to a mere commercial venture.

So while we would avoid adversity if we could, it serves important purposes in our lives. First, trouble and sorrow equip us to help others by making us compassionate and willing to reach out to those in need. Second, trouble and sorrow draw us to God and drive us to our knees; they make us long for our real home, Heaven. The third and the greatest purpose of trouble is to make us Christlike. If we are to become like Jesus, we will, like Him, have to pass through the valley of the shadows. Although unpleasant at the moment, often out of the greatest suffering comes the greatest love and beauty.

Do you face adversity today? If so, ask the Lord to show you the purpose of it in your life. Then, if you can, look past your pain to the way God is using it to draw you closer to Him and to His kingdom.

“Beyond the cross there is the glory of Easter morning;
beyond the agony of the Crucifixion there is the blessedness of Paradise.”

“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 . . .”

— Joshua 7:21

Have you ever looked at a glossy home-decorating magazine and found that the home you felt thankful for an hour ago now seems junky? Or perhaps you saw a television ad for a slick car, and suddenly the car in your driveway now seems like a jalopy.

Advertisements often lead us into covetousness. Of course, we need to provide for our families; and we don’t sin when we seek to care for our needs. But we do sin when we desire the things of this world, desire them so strongly that we dwell on how we can obtain them. Sometimes we want something so dearly that we’re even willing to break one or more of God’s commandments to get it.

Achan, an Israelite at the time of Joshua’s conquest, exemplifies the seductive power of covetousness. Before the Israelites stormed Jericho, Joshua told everyone that everything in that city was devoted to destruction, that the wrath of God would fall upon the city because of the inhabitants’ sins. Later the Israelites attacked the little town of Ai, but the inhabitants of this small town defeated the Israelites, killing many of them. Joshua sought the Lord to find out why Israel had lost, and God told him that there was sin in the camp. Joshua then sought out the sin, and Achan confessed that in Jericho he had coveted some riches, so he took them and buried them under his tent. Achan’s covetousness cost him dearly—it cost him his family and his life.

When we covet, we actually rebel against God’s provision for us. God has given us so much already, and if we ever have a need, He fulfills it. As we trust God, we see His hand at work in our lives, providing so richly for us. The antidote for covetousness is contentment with God’s blessings.

How are you doing in the area of covetousness? If you find that you want something, submit it to God. Trust Him to provide it for you if you need it and be content with all He has given you now.

“Content[ment] makes poor men rich;
discontent[ment] makes rich men poor.”
Benjamin Franklin

“Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.”

— Ephesians 6:13

Do you ever feel that life is a battle for which you are ill-prepared, defenseless against the enemy’s attacks?

In Ephesians, Paul tells us that we fight spiritual battles daily and that we can win only by calling upon a strength beyond our own. So Paul exhorts us to put on the whole armor of God every day. Each piece of armor has a special purpose to protect us from Satan’s blows. The first piece is the belt of truth. Satan’s first line of attack is against the truth, confusing us with lies so that we give in. Look at Eve. Satan confused her about what God said regarding the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But when we trust in absolute truth, Satan can never defeat us. Over our hearts we place the breastplate of righteousness. We put on Christ’s righteousness to guard our hearts and keep them pure. Our own righteousness would be but a rusty breastplate full of gaping holes. Feeble and decaying, it would allow the enemy to penetrate and corrupt our good intentions. On our feet, we wear sturdy shoes made of the gospel of peace. These shoes enable us to march forward comfortably and at a steady pace. They keep our footing sure on any kind of rough or shaky ground. We also take up the shield of faith. This shield wards off Satan’s fiery darts of lust and doubt before they get close enough to destroy and consume us. To protect our heads, we wear the helmet of salvation. It keeps us rejoicing in the hope of our salvation and gives us additional strength when we feel weak. Last but definitely not least, we pick up the Word of God, the sword of the Spirit, which we use offensively in hand-to-hand combat with Satan. We can attack Satan with Scriptures that overpower him.

Notice that none of these pieces protect our backs. We don’t need that protection because, with God’s armor on, we need never and should never retreat.

Every day we must prayerfully put on each piece of armor and “stand” ready for whatever comes. We face spiritual battle daily, and on some days it can be intense. None of us can face today’s spiritual battles without the protection of God’s armor.

You can anticipate spiritual battle today. Ask God to prepare you, dressing you in His armor so that He may use you and so that you may live victoriously.

“We are called to be clothed in the armor of light,
every piece of which is Jesus Christ Himself.”

“. . . and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.”

— 2 Corinthians 5:15

Have you ever pondered what gives us the impulse to sin? Have you ever wondered what makes us go against God’s commands despite our good intentions?

I believe that selfishness lies at the root of all sin. I have thought long and hard about this, and I cannot think of any sin that doesn’t originate from selfishness, from placing self rather than God at the center of our lives. Some have suggested that perhaps a person who steals or lies for his child does not act from selfishness, yet our family is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, merely an extension of ourselves. So I believe that whatever the sin— lust, hate, pride, theft, murder—at its core, it stems from selfishness. Even good actions are tarnished by selfish motives. A person may study how to win friends and influence people, work hard at self-improvement, and join a church and become active in it, yet all of these acts may spring from purely selfish motives.

Paul exhorts us to something higher. He says, “I am crucified with Christ.” Not only is the Cross a substitution, it is a representation—we must identify ourselves with Christ in His death, crucifying our selfish nature and desires with Him. When we die with Christ, we put to death all our hopes, ambitions, agendas, priorities, and plans. We nail all we desire to the cross, becoming dead to ourselves.

Paul tells us in Romans 6 that we are to reckon ourselves dead with Christ. We must become dead to the flesh and alive in Christ. The next time temptation pulls at you, remember that you have died to sin and become alive in Christ. You have no obligation to your old nature, except to reckon it as dead. This is how we escape from selfishness, the fountainhead of all sin.

“One can be a miser or a savage and be selfish, but not a Christian.”
Anonymous

“Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances . . .”

— 1 Thessalonians 5:16–18, NIV

How is your prayer life going these days? As Christians, we should pray unceasingly, lifting praises and intercessions to God as constantly as our lungs rise and fall with each breath. Our hearts should be so in tune with God that every occasion calls forth a petition for a need, an intercession for someone else, a confession of a sin, a word of thanksgiving, or an article of praise.

So often we pray narrowly, attending only to our own needs. Instead, we should pray broadly for everyone. We should pray for the lost that they might be saved and for the saved that they might win the lost. And if we know that someone is in need, we should lift that person before God’s throne, asking Him for help.

We also need to regularly confess our sins. Do you keep short accounts with God or store up great debts of sin? Do you forget to confess many of your sins? Do you confess your sins of commission but forget your sins of omission? Do you confess wrong deeds but forget the thoughts that breed them? Do you confess sins of the tongue such as gossip and unkind words? Do you confess sins of poor attitudes such as coldness, lack of love, thoughtlessness, and unconcern?

And what about thanksgiving? When was the last time you counted your blessings and thanked God for each one: family, friends, shelter, daily bread, liberty, salvation?

How about praise and adoration, the graduate school of prayer? Do you praise God not only for what He has done for you but also for who He is? Do you tell God how much you appreciate His wisdom and power, His justice and mercy, His omnipotence and omniscience, all that He is and ever shall be?

I hope this little reminder will help you to pray more effectively. Start today by praying in a way you haven’t prayed for a long while. Perhaps you need to clear your slate with God through confession, or maybe you need to spend time thanking Him for bestowing blessings on you. Prayer is such a great privilege, and I hope you’ll engage in it wholeheartedly with every breath you take.

“Pray hardest when it is hardest to pray.”
Charles H. Brent

“. . . and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.”

— John 6:37

As you’ve walked along your life’s path, have you ever felt you’ve gone astray, entirely unable to find your way back? Perhaps even today you feel a bit lost, fearing you’ve taken a wrong turn because of a choice you’ve made . . .

John Bunyan, the seventeenth-century author who wrote Pilgrim’s Progress, a great Christian classic, wandered off the path leading to Christ. According to his own testimony, Bunyan was a very ungodly young man. During this period of his life, he wrote, “Then I said unto God, ‘Depart from me, for I desire not the knowledge of Thy ways.’” Because he rejected God, Bunyan had no peace in his heart. He felt greatly troubled by thoughts of the future, believing he had sinned beyond the possibility of hope. But at last he read John 6:37: “And the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.” As Bunyan came to God, God granted him mercy, and Bunyan began to see the Light of salvation dawn upon him. He had come to know eternal life.

Bunyan later described his journey from despair to hope, from sinner to saint, in Pilgrim’s Progress, one of the greatest allegories of all time. The book chronicles a journey from the City of Destruction through the Doubting Castle and other dangers to the Celestial City. In it, Bunyan describes how anyone who desires the pilgrim way may find it, and he warns of the dangers one will encounter along the way.

Bunyan had learned a great lesson: We are saved only by grace, free and unmerited. Bunyan reminds us that we are only passing through this life en route to a greater destination. Therefore, we must take care to not get sidetracked from the straight and narrow path. Where are you along this journey? Do you allow Christ to guide you? As you trust in God’s grace, you can persevere to the end, for Christ gives you safe passage.

“He [Jesus] hath given me a rest by
His sorrow, and life by His death.”
John Bunyan

“Now, therefore, give me this mountain . . .”

— Joshua 14:12

How would you define the word “hero”? Do you know anyone who fulfills that definition, anyone whom you hold in such high esteem?

Have you ever made an outrageous request of God then stood back in amazement as He granted it? Caleb made such a request in Joshua 14: “Give me this mountain.” At the age of eighty-five, Caleb requested a mountain, hill country filled with pagans. Why would he ask for a hillside full of hostile heathens? Even if he received the land, Caleb would have to face the sons of Anak, a whole family, generation, and tribe of giants who inhabited the hill.

How could Caleb possibly fight the Anakim and win this land? Though he was as strong as he was on the day forty years earlier when Moses sent him and the other spies to scope out the Promised Land, he surely didn’t have the strength to overcome a family of giants twice his size. Caleb’s strength doesn’t fully explain his request. We have to read a bit further in the book of Joshua to find the secret. In Joshua 14:12-13, Caleb says, “Give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day . . . the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said”(emphasis mine). Caleb based his life upon his faith and trust in the Lord. He followed the Lord wholeheartedly, and therein lies the great lesson. Out of Caleb’s trust in the Lord came the strength and courage that made this man a hero for God.

Do you have a big request to make of God today? Then follow Caleb’s example. Ask for God to give you what you need according to His will. Never mind the obstacles, but trust in Him to overcome them. Our Lord delights in rewarding those who trust Him.

“Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance;
it is laying hold of His highest willingness.”
Richard Chenevix Trench

““If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins . . .”

— 1 John 1:9

How would you define the word “hero”? Do you know anyone who fulfills that definition, anyone whom you hold in such high esteem?

These days we desperately need heroes, people we can look up to and emulate. I think that George Washington fills the bill in a remarkable way. In his own day, George Washington’s character was the wonder of the world. Not even his most relentless British foes of the Revolutionary War could denigrate his character.

But what gave rise to such amazing character? For starters, his parents, both dedicated Christians, raised him in a godly home. His father taught him to be unselfish, to love the truth, and to worship God. His mother helped him develop his prayer life. As an adult he carried on these good disciplines. Through his own writings, Washington has left us a legacy of his fervent prayers, such as “O most glorious God, in Jesus Christ my merciful and loving father, I acknowledge and confess my guilt, in the weak and imperfect performance of the duties of this day.” Almost without fail, Washington spent his mornings and evenings reading Scripture and in prayer. Every day he maintained a consistent devotional life, seeking God’s guidance. As Washington led our country, he never once trusted in his character to guide him; he trusted in Jesus Christ, the only perfect person who ever lived. Washington prayed that Christ’s blood would cleanse him of all his sins, that God would accept him because of the merits and perfect character of Jesus Christ, not his own.

As good heroes do, Washington provided us a good example of a faithful Christian. He trusted Jesus with his life and maintained discipline in his devotional life. His steadfastness contributed to his greatness. How can you follow this great hero’s example today?

“We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
Aristotle