Year C # 694
Be Strong and of Good Courage
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Hello! This is Dorothy We are looking at the Book of Joshua. You might be saying, “You
told us a little bit about Rahab. I have been listening to that, but I
do not quite understand what had been happening before this.” I
want to talk to you about this man, Joshua. Joshua was a person
who had obeyed and been a great servant unto Moses. He had taken
detail and followed it.
There is a lovely verse that is at the
beginning of chapter 1. - (Revised Standard Version) -5
No man
- God speaking to Joshua - shall be able to stand
before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will
be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you.
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Be strong and of good courage . . . - Take that verse to
heart today. God is saying to you:
Be strong and of
good
courage.
Be strong and of good courage; for you shall cause this people
to inherit the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.
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Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do
according to do all the law which Moses my servant commanded
you; turn not from it to the right hand or the left, that you may
have good success wherever you go.
What about your success situation? I am not talking about whether
you do well in the work that perhaps you have carried on over the
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years or whether you feel you are an extra good mother or if you
have done something that has been good at the church. I do not
know, but I am saying this to you: good success, from God’s point of
view, is very, very different from what people feel good success is all
about. It is the obeying the Lord in the detail of the day. It is by
taking the Word of God and what God says to you today from His
Word as you read consecutively that you say, Yes, Lord, I will do that.
I want that and, by your enabling, that is what I want to follow.
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This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth,
but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may be
careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you
shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good
success.
So how do you have good success? From God’s point of view, it is
as you take the Word of God. I want you right now to ask God, if
you love the Lord, to give you a great hunger for His Word.
I am not
just talking about some little verse that you might read or a little
devotional or perhaps even a short reading when you can fit it in. I
am talking about having a hunger that in everything
you are doing,
you relate it in your mind and in your heart to the Word of God.
Then you will know, in every detail, what you are supposed to be
doing, because the Word of God is directing by the Spirit of God right
in your being.
If there is one thing we have failed to do in this
generation, it is to let people understand how if they were totally
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alone in the world with the Lord and with the Word, the Word of God
would feed them. The Word of God would instruct them. So, would
you please take the Word of God and say, Lord, speak to my heart?
There is a book, Food for Faith, which has been written in order to
help you to not only have the Word of God in your head, but in your
heart and in your actions. We want you to have a copy. That book
has been instrumental in not only helping an individual here or
there, but also strengthening the church. It could be when you go
to a ladies’ group, if you are privileged to meet with other ladies who
love the Lord, take this and to read it chapter by chapter.
know of many churches where this is normal
We
when somebody
comes into Christ They are given Food for Faith and start to realize
it will help them to make the Word of God alive to them. I also want
to encourage
you to bring this to your pastor or speak to the
church. We know of churches that have been strengthened in this
hour, because they are taking the Word of God to be the Word of
God.
The Word of God also goes on to say in Joshua 1 9
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good
courage; be not frightened, neither be dismayed: for the Lord
your God is with you wherever you go.
There is a peace of God, a security in Christ, that even if you are in
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the worst situation, the Lord is in control when you are reigning in
the heavenlies and the Lord is the Captain of the Hosts over you.
He is bringing you to that place of extraordinary peace. I want that
peace for you. I realize in these days God has allowed that you
should happen to be listening to this programme, so that you might
say, Lord, I want to enter into that peace, that protection. I do not want
to be nagged any more by the enemy because of sin in my life. I want
to walk cleansed, filled afresh with Your Spirit. I am open for that.
As you pray that prayer, please send for that book, Food for Faith.
We want to send it to you free.
In Jesus’ Name. Amen.
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