Friday, March 15, 2013

In Joshua's farewell address, he reminds the people then, and us Believers today, of the following:
1. Love the Lord your God
2. Walk in all His ways
3. Obey His commands
4. Hold fast to Him
5. Serve Him with all your heart and soul

How are all of us as Believers doing on these five things? Loving the Lord is easy, holding fast to Him is easy, serving Him is another matter, and walking in His ways and obeying His commands... well that's another matter entirely.

Oops, guess we forgot about Deuteronomy 30:1.
"The command that I am giving you today is not too difficult or beyond your reach.

However, in order to walk in His ways and obey His commands, we must know what they are. We do that by studying His word and listening to the Holy Spirit speak.

Joshua also reminds the people...
Jos 23:6
And be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the Law of Moses, so that you do not turn aside from it to the right or to the left;

To keep those five things listed above, we must be courageous. We must be different. There will always be something there on the left or the right for us to turn to. That takes many forms today.

God offers again to push the current inhabitants out of the land if only His people would obey His laws and commandments.  He had already prepared the land for them.  All they had to do was to go in and claim it as their own.  It seems as if God is, in effect saying that even though they have been disobedient in the past, He is offering them a "do-over", a chance to obey Him and start over. But do they take Him up on His offer?  They said they would and even set up a monument of stone as a witness.

What great words from Joshua, “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”Joshua was the decision maker for his family. He was the spiritual leader of his house. Again, how are we as Believers doing with that one? We must choose every day, even several times a day, whether or not we will serve the Lord. When we are tempted to turn to the right or to the left, we must choose to serve Him. He's given us this promise.
Isa 30:21
Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way; walk in it."

“He is a holy God; he is a jealous God.”God tells us early on that He views our relationship with Him as a marriage. He doesn’t want any other “god” taking our attention. We (Phil and Patti) find great comfort in that!

No comments:

Post a Comment