Scripture:

Joshua 24:14-15

14 “Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of [a]the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! 15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of [b]the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

"Choose the Lord"

This decision has been laid out before us our whole lives, the act of free will.   God loved us so much that He created us with free will. See, love is the free will act of a person; we choose to love.  Joshua lays out before the people of God this truth that every day forward, you must choose for yourselves, for your family, whom you will serve.   I love that he makes a declaration, "as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!"   You and I need to declare this very thing: "We will serve you, Lord."  

The application today is in Joshua's declaration, to choose the Lord, to serve Him, to decide that the Lord is good, and to serve Him is the only choice for me.  "I must choose!"  Decide in my heart, when the world pulls at me, choose Him, when my desires try to drag me away, choose Him, when my old self tries to drag me away, choose Him.

Lord, I pray that we would always choose you, even when life is going great, that we would consciously choose you in our everyday life, in our everyday decisions, that we would choose you and the life that comes from that choice.  In Jesus' name, Amen!

Scripture:

Joshua 21:45

45 Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.

Many things in this life may fail you; your car can fail you, your job can fail you, your plans can fail you, and even people can fail you, but God will never fail you.    His promises are good.   I love this verse, "Not a word failed of any good thing which the  Lord has spoken." Let that sink in, His word is good; it never fails us. If He says it, He will do it.

Simple: TRUST HIM!   The application here is to seek the Lord, to lean on His promises, to build your life on His precepts, because they will never fail you, you can stand on them, they are a foundation that will last forever.  If you stand in them, they will transform your life, change your future.   "All came to pass!"   Let those words sink in! Not some, not a little, not one or two "ALL."  If He said it, He will do it!

Today my prayer Lord is that we would trust you 100%, that we would begin to put your word into practice, that we would make it a light unto our path and a lamp unto our feet, that we would be rooted in it, planted by it, that our life would be fed by it and we would grow, flourish, become greater with you, in Jesus' name, Amen!

Scripture:

Joshua 10:12-15

12 On the day the Lord gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the Lord in the presence of Israel:

“Sun, stand still over Gibeon,
    and you, moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”
13 So the sun stood still,
    and the moon stopped,
    till the nation avenged itself on[a] its enemies,

as it is written in the Book of Jashar.
The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. 14 There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the Lord listened to a human being. Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel! 15 Then Joshua returned with all Israel to the camp at Gilgal.

"Nothing is Impossible"

When we read this text, I think our hearts should pound just a little with excitement, because when we understand the power and might that the Lord would express to bring us into victory.   To see that the enemy is defeated before us.  First and foremost, nothing is impossible with the Lord, as you can see in this story; they needed extra light to defeat the enemy, and the Lord caused the sun to stand still.  Maybe you ask why this is significant? Because our God still performs miracles, He is still working on our behalf to bring victory in our lives, and we should expect Him to do the same for us.

Don't hold back, "Ask" the Lord, in fact, the Bible says we have not because we ask not, there is nothing too big for God.  If God is leading you into a place of victory, know that there is nothing impossible for Him to do, so ask, believe, and trust Him for the victory, even when it does not seem possible, because He is the God of the Impossible.

Lord, I pray that when we face the enemy, we would first come to you, then we would seek your strength, your ability to defeat the enemy, that you would cause miracles to occur, that we would experience your powerful presence, that you would do whatever it took for us to overcome the enemy and that your name would become great amongst us, in Jesus' name, Amen!

Scripture:

Joshua 6:3-5

3 You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days. 4 And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. 5 It shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him.”

"Nothing is Impossible With Him"

What you will see in Joshua's life is that because of his heart after God, because He followed the Lord wholeheartedly, God was with Him.   These seven days would be a test for the people of God; they would have to follow the Lord in obedience to His instructions, but the results would be victorious the enemy would not be able to stand against them.   It would not be traditional weapons, not a sword, or catapults, or machines of war, but it would be praise.  Praise is the weapon God used to cause the walls of the enemy to fall.

Three things will change our lives: our willingness to serve God with all of our hearts, our obedience to His word, and His presence in our lives.   That day at Jericho, the enemy fell at the mighty hand of God, and nothing could stand against the victory He brought that day.  Not the great walls of Jericho, not the work of the enemy, your obedience, your willingness, you pursuit of God is the weapon that the Lord uses to defeat the strongest of enemies.  

Nothing Can Stand Against Our God, Not:

• Anxiety
• Depression 
• Anger 
• Lust 
• Fear 
• Pride 
• Hate

Lord, may all your enemies fall, may the things that try to stand against us, your people, be destroyed, may they fall at your feet.   May praise be on our lips and in our hearts.  May the enemy fear us because of you and your great name, in Jesus' name, Amen!

Scripture:

Joshua 4:5-7

5 and Joshua said to them: “Cross over before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and each one of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, 6 that this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ 7 Then you shall answer them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it crossed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever.

"Remember the Victories"

Our testimony is so important.   It may, in fact, be the only encounter someone you know has with the Lord.   On that day, the children of Israel were commanded to take up stones from the place of their miracle, the place where God met them, where He took them into the promised land.   You and I have days of victory, places we can clearly highlight in our minds,  and our testimonies matter.   For two reasons, one, they remind our souls that God is not distant, but active in our lives, taking us from victory to victory, and they remind others of the realness of God.

We should remember the places of our victory, we should share them with all who will listen so that when they hear them, they too may experience the victories we have seen, and in turn glorify God and turn to Him.   In Revelations, it says we are saved by the blood of the lamb and the word of our testimony.   Never underestimate the power of your testimony to work in the lives of others.

Lord, I pray that we would tell of your ways, your victories in our lives, that we would never be silent, that we would shout them from the rooftops, in the valleys, in the workplace, in our homes, that all who know us would know of your wondrous ways in Jesus' name, Amen!