Because It's a New Day We Live with Hope for the Future

Scripture: Joshua 1:3-5a

"Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses. "From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun will be your territory. "No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life.

Insights: We now know that we don’t live in the past and we do live in the present.  What then do we do with the future?  Today’s verses give us a glimpse of insight into this truth.  The primary thing to notice in these verses is the individual speaking.  You will recognize from the context of the passage that it is God speaking to Joshua.  The reason this is significant is because it is not Joshua’s plans to take all of the land for the people of Israel.  These promises are coming straight from the Lord God.  We must quickly come to the realization that our wills, desires and wants play no part in the life of a church.  It is not the will, desire or want of the pastoral leadership either.  There is only One head of the church and that is Jesus Christ our Lord.  It is my personal opinion the greatest challenge facing the church of America is “us” inside of the church.  We have forgotten that it is the Lord’s church and we talk and act as if it is our church.  When that horrific scenario takes place multiple divisions begin to set into the life of the church.  These divisions and factions then create conflict among each other and word gets spread through the evil gossip mill.  Before you know it, lost people have heard about the church and it has nothing really to do with the Lord and His work, but instead is the fussing and feuding within the walls among “brothers” and “sisters” in the Lord.  God forgive us for this selfish attitude.  Let me be very clear.  The ONLY One who has a right to charter the course and destiny of a church is Jesus.  Beloved, notice with me the first part of verse five as we walk in that kind of obedience, “No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life.”  This verse means we live with hope for our future because we are victorious!

Questions:

1. Are you trying to tell God what your future plans ought to be?
2. Have you come to a place where you are willing to surrender your will to the Father’s?

Prayer: Father, it really is all about You!  Forgive me when I try to make it anything else.  Only Your will matters and I pray You soften my heart to be receptive to Your leadership and grace.  May my life bring You glory as I follow Your paths. Amen.