Are you courageous in Christ?
20 Mar 26
Today's devotional: taken from YouVersion, Devotions on F.I.R.E. Year One
Readings:
Joshua 1
Joshua 2
Joshua 3
Luke 1:57-80
The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me? (Psalm 118:6).
Are you courageous in Christ?
The Lord plainly reminds Joshua, “Moses My servant is dead” (Joshua 1:2). Joshua must now lead the children of Israel into Canaan. He knows that there are giants in the land (Numbers 13:33). Four times the Lord commands Joshua, using the same word, to “be strong” in chapter one (Joshua 1:6, 7, 9, 18). The verb also means to overpower and to be courageous. Joshua walks by faith and not by sight, and on one unique day witnessed the sun stand still so that God would give more light to his army to defeat the enemy (Joshua 10). After the victory Joshua tells his captains, “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” (Joshua 10:25).
Employment Point: Be courageous by walking in faith.
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Reflections
It is really encouraging to read of what the Lord spoke to Joshua being lived out by him. Someone who walks by faith, is strong and courageous and does all the things God has placed on his heart to do. May we all be like a Joshua.
“Then they answered Joshua, “Whatever you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. Just as we fully obeyed Moses, so we will obey you. Only may the Lord your God be with you as he was with Moses. Whoever rebels against your word and does not obey it, whatever you may command them, will be put to death. Only be strong and courageous!””
Joshua 1:16-18 NIV
- the people do have a reverend fear of the Lord. They fear not because of who they are dealing with but who the Lord be with. It too, should be the right attitude we have towards leaders. Do not challenge them for they are the God anointed and you will know if the Lord is with them by their works and their fruit.
“When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.”Joshua 2:11 NIV
- Rahab spoke of the same thing. They fear the Lord God who has power that can destroy the whole nation. So when we know the Lord is with us, who can be against us?
- May the Lord grant us courage and strength to deal the challenges we face but yet not be fazed by it for He is with us through it all
“And the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses.”
Joshua 3:7 NIV
- God knows that the people will compare their new leader with the old one. Thus the Lord exalts Joshua in front of them to let them know that this is from God and the Lord is with Joshua as when He was with Moses
- it is too a reminder to us that the Lord knows all things and cares even for such things on how the people will look at Joshua. His name is lifted the highest when everything is done in obedience. May we all be able to obey the Lord and let His name be glorified!
“And the child grew and became strong in spirit; and he lived in the wilderness until he appeared publicly to Israel.”Luke 1:80 NIV
- wilderness does not seemed to be a nice place but out of these places is where people eventually find freedom. It is a place of preparation for what is to come.
- So we should not be discouraged if we find ourselves in the wilderness. It is where we are made to slow down to prepare for our journey ahead.
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Friendship with God
BY OSWALD CHAMBERS
March 20
Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do? — Genesis 18:17
Chapter 18 of Genesis brings out the delights and difficulties of real friendship with God.
Its delights. Real friendship with God is different from occasionally sensing his presence in prayer. To have a real friendship with God is to be in such close contact with him that you never need to ask him to show you his will. It is to be nearing the final stage of the life of faith. When you are rightly related to God, life is full of liberty and delight: you are God’s will. Unless he tells you otherwise, your commonsense decisions are his will for you, decided in perfect friendship with him.
Its difficulties. In Genesis 18, Abraham begins to plead with God to spare Sodom, but he stops before receiving God’s final assurance (vv. 25–33). Why did Abraham stop praying when he did? He was not yet intimate enough with God to go boldly on until his desire was granted. There was something still lacking in their relationship. Whenever we stop short in prayer, there is another stage to go in friendship with God. We aren’t as intimate with God as Jesus was and as God wishes us to be.
What was the last thing you prayed about? Were you devoted to your desire or to God? Did you hope to get some gift of the Spirit, or to get at God himself? “Your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matthew 6:8). The point of asking is to get to know God better. “Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4). Keep praying in order to get a perfect understanding of God himself.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD
There is nothing, naturally speaking, that makes us lose heart quicker than decay—the decay of bodily beauty, of natural life, of friendship, of associations, all these things make a man lose heart; but Paul says when we are trusting in Jesus Christ these things do not find us discouraged, light comes through them.
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Reflections
It’s interesting to read that if we are in such a close relationship with God, we will be in full liberty to anything unless He says no or stop. I think it makes logical sense in a way that if we know someone good enough, we know exactly what will cause them to be angry, what brings them joy, they likes, dislikes, habits, principles, boundaries, etc.
It also brings us to an important point that a lot of pre-believers have a wrong concept of. They think Christians are bound by so many restrictions and living a Christian life would be so tough and limiting. I think I really beg to differ because having become a Christian, I find that it is so liberating to be one, mainly because of the things He has taught us.
Just to quote some examples. Forgiveness-allows us to be free in a lot of things. The heaviness no longer weigh us down, it grants us peace and allow us to be able to be filled with so much joy. Learning to be still has taught me a lot of things need not be rushed. He has His own timing. We just need to walk in step with Him, not running ahead of Him. Just trust Him to do His thing-we need not worry too much or even overthink for who cannot control it and only He can. So what’s best than to just let Him take over and be worry free? The list goes on and I strongly recommend anyone to come and experience this themselves to fully understand how this experience is like. You will not regret.
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Lent devotion Day 31/53
taken from YouVersion, Lent for Everyone
Lent for Everyone is a devotional created and written by N.T. (Tom) Wright. For each day of Lent, there is a reading chosen from the Gospel of Matthew, plus a reflection by Wright. These readings have grown out of a project encouraging Lent reading in Northern England. This is the second in a three-volume series based on the Revised Common Lectionary of the Church of England.
Today’s reading:
Matthew 22
WEEK 4: FRIDAY
'Get me to the church on time!' It's a famous song from a famous musical. I suspect it's a favourite because we've all been to weddings, we all remember the sense of occasion, of dressing up, of this being the bride's and the groom's big day and everyone wanting to be there on time in proper order to give them an occasion to remember. Even in our own day in the western world, where marriage has been knocked about so much by careless pseudo-morality, and the divorce rate has risen alarmingly, almost everybody knows in their bones that this is some- thing to celebrate, something to do properly.
In the ancient world, especially in the ancient Jewish world where the sense of family had remained very strong, this was even more so. And if the king himself had invited you to the wedding of his son . . . well, then you would be planning for months what to wear, what gift to bring, how to make sure everything was right on the day.
All this only heightens the sense of shock, disappointment and anger at the story Jesus now tells. He exaggerates the detail to make it lurid, almost surreal. The guests, finally summoned, beat up and kill the slaves sent with the invitation, and the king sends troops to burn their city. But then comes the second shock. The king sends out some more slaves, and invites all and sundry to come to the party. In they come, 'good and bad' alike (there are echoes here of the 'good and bad' fish found in the Great Net of 13.48). Clearly the larger implications of the parable are influencing quite dramatically the way the original story is being told.
The new guests may have made it on time, but they are not all properly dressed. Here again the story has taken a lurid turn. One guest has not put on the wedding robe, and is thrown into the outer darkness. By this stage it's clear that, as with Psalm 23 which we looked at last Sunday, the original picture has more or less disappeared, and we are left with a more direct statement. The king has now invited the whole world to the wedding party originally planned for Israel. But those who attend as part of this suddenly enlarged guest-list must take care to turn up in the proper outfit.
We should not be surprised that some people have tried to suggest that Jesus never told this parable, or that this last bit was added later on. You can go to extraordinary lengths to protect your image of the gentle Jesus who wouldn't hurt a fly. But what he is saying, as he does in one way or another throughout, is that just because God's wedding party has been thrown open to all and sundry — to Gentiles as well as Jews, as Paul never tired of insisting — that doesn't mean that once they've accepted the invitation they can carry on as though it wasn't God's wedding party. All are welcome; but all must dress appropriately.
TODAY
Almighty Father, give us the joy of accepting your invitation, and the wisdom to dress in the right way for the party.
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What NT wright wrote on “But those who attend as part of this suddenly enlarged guest-list must take care to turn up in the proper outfit” specifically stood out for me, because these people are not the original guests that are supposed to come. And by His grace, they are invited to join in the celebration. They may not even know who the king’s son is. But one thing is clear. To turn up with proper clothes is giving the host a minimum respect. Just like in the last days, Jesus may open the doors and invite anyone who wants to come to His house and have eternal life. And the minimum respect would be to come in reverend awe and wonder and to present themselves in a manner worthy of a guest. We cannot take His grace for granted
Let’s pray:
Father, truly thank You for Your grace that we have been invited to sit at Your table, to share bread and drink wine. Help us Father to not take such grace for granted and behave as if we are the ones in authority. Bring to our minds Father Lord, and remind us time and again who the Sovereign One is. May we only bow our heads to Him and live a life of submission to Him. In Jesus’s name we pray. Amen 🙏🏻
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