From Joshua 3

There’s a saying that I’ve heard before that goes something like, “prayer is asking for rain.  Faith is bringing an umbrella.” When we are asking God to work, or expecting Him to work, we should be prepared for the work He is going to do. The Israelites were preparing to enter the Promised Land, they were preparing for God to miraculously split the Jordan river for them, so they prepared themselves.  It says in Joshua 3:5, “consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”  To consecrate themselves meant to spiritually prepare themselves for this upcoming encounter with the work of God.  Then the Israelites come to the Jordan river and God stops the river so that they might pass through on dry land.  This is reminiscent of Israel’s escape from Pharaoh’s armies in Exodus, where God separated the Red Sea so that the Israelites could pass through on dry land.  That wouldn’t have gone unrecognized by the Israelites, whose parents and grandparents had experienced that miracle firsthand.  It served to remind Israel that the same God who led them out of Egypt still walked with them into the Promised Land.

In a commentary on Joshua, Harstad asks “how much time do Christians spend in spiritual preparation before meeting the Lord and receiving His miracles in worship?” Does your preparation for worship start on Saturday night when you go to bed early and pray for God to prepare your heart?  Does it start on Sunday morning when you wake up and read the text for the week in advance? Does it start during the car ride to church as you try and let go of the arguments of the week?  Or does it wait to start when you walk in the door?  God instructed the Israelites to prepare themselves in advance of receiving His gifts, why wouldn’t we do the same?

Focus on God

We are reminded in these verses that God graciously gives His people incredible gifts.

Function in Our Lives

We are encouraged to prepare ourselves for worship, prepare ourselves to receive God’s gifts, well in advance.

Topics to Pray About                                                               

• Thank God for leading the Israelites into the place where Jesus would eventually be born.
• Confess to God the times where you fail to prepare yourself to receive His gifts.
• Ask God to bless you in incredible ways.

In His Service,

J. LeBorious

From Joshua 2

As the Israelites enter the Promised Land, Joshua sends some spies to scope out the people and the land.  While they are completing that task, the king of Jericho is made aware of the spies’ presence.  The king sends men to find and capture the spies.  A prostitute named Rahab had taken the spies into her home and when the king’s men approach her about the spies, she sends them on a wild goose chase – even though the spies are under some flax on her roof.  The reason?  She knows that God has given that land over to the Israelites and put terror into the hearts of the inhabitants already there.  They heard about the work that God did for Israel in Egypt and they are rightly terrified.  She saves them and asks that in return they deal kindly with her household. The men leave her with instructions to signal the Israelites during the invasion and promise that they will protect her.  With that agreement in place, she helps them escape the city.  The spies return to Joshua, reporting that the land is ready for Israel to conquer.

Of particular interest here is the other place in Scripture that Rahab is mentioned, Matthew 1:5.  Rahab was the mother of Boaz, an ancestor of King David and of Jesus.  It’s worth asking, what did she do to receive the privilege of being listed as Jesus’ ancestor?  On some level we cannot answer that question, because God could have used Rahab for any number of reasons.  Some potential answers that track with the rest of Scripture point to the grace of God and the importance of faith.  Rahab was provided this opportunity to break from her past and become part of God’s chosen people – and she took it.  She also trusted in God’s promise to give Israel the land, and throughout the Old and New Testament God puts priority on trusting in His promises.  When we read this chapter today, we can marvel at Rahab’s bravery in supporting Israel, we can be reminded of God’s grace, and we can be reminded of the importance of trusting in God’s promises.

Focus on God

We are reminded in these verses that God graciously follows through on His promises.

Function in Our Lives

We are encouraged to behave in accordance with our faith in God’s promises.

Topics to Pray About                                                               

• Thank God for leading Rahab to do what she did.
• Confess to God the times where you discount the Spirit’s ability to work through someone because of their past.
• Ask God to give you wisdom to see where He is working.

In His Service,

J. LeBorious

From Joshua 1:110-18

Having received the blessing and instruction from God, Joshua returns to the people of Israel and assumes the mantle of leadership.  His first instruction has more meaning than we might give it credit for initially. He commands the Israelites to prepare themselves to cross the Jordan.  This marks the end of their years of wandering in the wilderness, their punishment for not trusting God to deliver them against the peoples who lived there. Even Moses was disallowed from entering, because he elevated himself and failed to glorify God in a significant way. A new generation of Israelites enters the promised land under Joshua’s leadership, being instructed on how they will support one another in taking the land.  The people respond with faith in Joshua’s leadership and a renewed commitment to the Law of God.

This is a great example of what yesterday’s devotion talked about.  God commanded the Israelites to take hold of the Promised Land – that is not a call for Christians today to do the same.  What we can learn from these verses is that God provides for His people, that He uses earthly means to accomplish His plans, and that He follows through on His promises.  God took care of the Israelites to get them to this point, He is using the tribes and their soldiers to install Israel into the Promised Land, and He is bringing them through like He promised.  In our lives today, we are not being asked to conquer some Promised Land, but we still trust that God will provide for the church.  We believe that God works through all kinds of people to accomplish His goals and we know that we can trust in His promises for us.  So while our situation is certainly distinct from that of the Israelites, we can mimic their response saying “all that God has commanded us we will do, and wherever He sends us we will go.”

Focus on God

We are reminded in these verses that God graciously follows through on His promises.

Function in Our Lives

We are encouraged to live according to the instructions that God gives us through Scripture.

Topics to Pray About                                                               

• Thank God for the way He used history to point to Jesus.
• Confess to God the times where you disregard His plans or His Word.
• Ask God to give you wisdom to see where He is working.

In His Service,

J. LeBorious

From Joshua 1:1-9

This devotion begins a series that will explore the Old Testament book of Joshua.  As we step into the Old Testament, however, we ought to take a minute to consider how to faithfully look at what we will be reading.  In the Gospels, we learn about Jesus’ life and ministry.  The lessons He teaches and the work He accomplished both apply in a fairly direct way to believers today.  In the epistles, we learn about the early church.  The problems they faced and the understandings they uncovered again apply fairly directly to us today.  The Old Testament requires a little more discernment.  In the Old Testament, we read about the history of God and His people.  We read about the lineage that leads up to Jesus.  We need to look at these passages with an awareness that when God speaks to Israel, we cannot immediately say that God is commanding the same things of us. Jesus fulfilled the covenant God made with Israel, He revealed God in the most incredible way possible – and that changed a lot.  So, when we read the Old Testament today, what we glean from it is a chance to witness how God interacted with His people and how He expected His people to interact with one another.  From there, we can trust God’s character to be consistent and know that the same God is alive and active today.  It might sound like a minor distinction, but it makes a big difference when it comes to our takeaways.  For example, in the Old Testament God commands the Israelites to make regular sacrifices.

If you read that command directly and apply it to us, the conclusion would be that we ought to be making animal sacrifices.

If you read that as a historical way God interacted with His people, the conclusion is that God takes sin seriously, that there must be payment for our sins, and it gives us a renewed appreciation for Jesus as our sacrificial Lamb.

Like I said, sounds like a minor distinction, but it can make a pretty big difference for where we end up.

In the first nine verses of Joshua, we hear the instructions that God gives to Joshua as he takes up the mantle of leadership following Moses’ death.  He calls Joshua to be “strong and courageous,” particularly when it comes to standing by the Law that God gave through Moses.  God tells Joshua to meditate on His Word day and night and reassures him that “the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” In these verses, we see God acknowledging that leading the people to remain faithful will require strength and courage.  We see that God wants the leaders of His people to lead them in accordance with the instructions He has given, that He wants His Word to be a constant companion to His people, and that He will always be there.

As we look back on Joshua’s experience, we know that God still wants His people to follow His Word. That requires strength and courage today, because the world still seeks to pull us away from that.  The world would like nothing more than for Christians to leave the will of God behind.  We also know that God still wants His Word to be a constant companion for us and that He still promises to be with us, wherever we go.  Brothers and sisters, be strong and courageous – cling to God’s Word, His instruction, and His promises!

Focus on God

We are reminded in these verses that God graciously promises to be with us wherever we go.

Function in Our Lives

We are encouraged to regularly, consistently be in God’s Word.

Topics to Pray About                                                               

• Thank God for the encouragement He gave to Joshua.
• Confess to God the times where you are weak or cowardly in regards to holding to His Word.
• Ask God to give you strength and courage.

In His Service,

J. LeBorious

From Matthew 28:16-20

The last five verses of Matthew set the foundation for what the church is supposed to do.  Jesus instructs His disciples to “go therefore and make disciples of all nations.” He means for them to baptize people in the name of the Triune God and to teach them to observe everything Jesus commanded during His earthly ministry.  Before He tells them to take on this daunting task; however, He reminds them that all authority has been given to Him by the Father.  This means that He has the authority to protect and save them, no matter what situation the world tries to put them in.  This statement of Jesus’ power becomes one of comfort when He reminds them that “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” The disciples are being sent out on a difficult mission, but they are never alone.  The God of all creation walks with them and fights for them.

The Great Commission (that’s what these verses are commonly referred to as), doesn’t have a statute of limitations.  Jesus didn’t tell the disciples that it was only a job for them, because as they made disciples, those disciples would in turn make more disciples.  As a result, we receive Jesus’ instructions to the disciples as our own.  Each and every Christian, all those who claim that Jesus is Lord and believe God raised Him from the dead, is tasked with making disciples of all nations and teaching them to observe everything Jesus commanded.  We are in this position, and it hasn’t gotten any easier.  Discipleship is a long process that won’t ever be truly finished until Jesus returns.  It’s a process that takes multiple people and plenty of time.  Frequently, this passage is used as a call to evangelism – and it certainly is.  It’s more than just that though.  This passage challenges parents to lead their kids in devotions and worship attendance. This passage challenges teachers and leaders to help people build their character to what Jesus would ask it to be. This passage challenges the community of the church to help one another constantly come closer to Jesus’ will for their lives.  And maybe your part in making disciples is evangelizing and introducing Jesus to your friends and neighbors, maybe your role is to teach, maybe your role is to encourage, maybe your role is to be an example for others to look up to, maybe your role is to learn – maybe it’s a little bit of all of those or maybe it’s something else entirely.  We are each called to help support this monumental task, whenever we can and in whatever way we can.

Focus on God

We are reminded in these verses that God graciously promises to go with us.

Function in Our Lives

We are encouraged to make disciples of all nations.

Topics to Pray About                                                               

• Thank God for promising to be with us to the end of the age.
• Confess to God the times where you neglect opportunities to help in making disciples.
• Ask God to help you become a better disciple.

In His Service,

J. LeBorious