LIFT PRAYERS to GOD; TRUST GOD; OBEY GOD; & THEN SEE GOD MOVE!
As soon as I placed my earbuds in my ears, a melody caused me to pause, to really consider the truth found in the words, so I ask you to pause right here and listen too. Hear the words. Sense the truth of the lyrics found within Jon Reddick’s song: “God, Turn It Around.”
“Then Joshua spoke to the LORD on the day when the LORD turned the Amorites over to the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel,
(Joshua 10: 12-13a NASB)
“Sun, stand still at Gibeon,
And moon, at the Valley of Aijalon!”
So the sun stood still,
and the moon stopped,
Until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies.”
What does that mean: “So the sun stood still, . . .”
The sun had reached its highest point in the sky, and it did not move one degree to the north or to the south.
THE SUN JUST STOOD STATIONARY—JUST STOOD STILL!
AS GOD PERFORMED A MIRACULOUS FEAT!
“Until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies.”
- We can trust God to answer our prayers in His ways.
- We can obey His commands that He gives us.
- We can minister to others as God leads us to do.
- Sometimes God asks us to sacrifice in ways we never expected.
- We need to be ready to obey God—even if it cost us something or someone dear to us.
GOD IS JEHOVAH—THE LORD IS SALVATION—HE IS ALWAYS FAITHFUL!
Joshua was one of the two faithful spies sent by his predecessor to search out the land. Then God took Moses to the top of Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, and showed Moses all the Promised Land He had promised to the nation of Israel. Then Moses died, and God buried him in the valley, in the land of Moab.
Then the LORD spoke to the son of Nun, to Joshua:
“Moses My servant is dead; so now arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel.
(Joshua 1: 2-3 NASB)
Every place on which the sole of your foot steps, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses.”
- Joshua did not get to choose his name when he was a baby when he was born.
- Nun (his dad) chose his name.
- Joshua—a masculine Hebrew name that means “Jehovah is Salvation.”
Help us to trust God with the people we love. Help us to constantly lift up their names in prayer, remembering that God always hears, always listens, and always answers our prayers.
“No one will be able to oppose you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you;
(Joshua 1: 5-7 NASB)
I will not desert you nor abandon you.
Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them.
Only be strong and very courageous;
be careful to do according to all the Law
[the 10 Commandments]
which Moses My servant commanded you;
do not turn from it to the right or to the left,
so that you may achieve success wherever you go.”
- These are words of comfort.
- We can apply these words to everything the LORD gives us to do.
- We seek to live a good life.
- We must obey God’s Law!
- We must never turn away from God’s Truth!
- We seek to overcome our challenges that seem unique to us.
We are to PRAY over EVERYTHING faithfully and constantly!
- Our God is Able!
- Our God is Faithful!
- Our God is Constant!
Our God—He will fight for us!
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it, for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will achieve success.
“Have I not commanded you?
(Joshua 1: 8-9 NASB)
Be strong and courageous!
Do not be terrified nor dismayed,
for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
- We must confess our sins to God.
- We must pray for one another.
- God gives us trusted friends who willingly listen to us as we verbalize, as we share our sins.
- Seek a trusted friend who will be faithful to pray for you.
- Be vulnerable.
- Ask another to pray for us.
- “so that you may be healed.” (James 5: 16a NASB)
Prayer is very powerful in what God will & can do when we remember to PRAY!
“Is it not written in the Book of Jashar? And the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and did not hurry to go down for about a whole day.
(Joshua 10: 13b-14 NASB)
There was no day like that before it or after it,
when the LORD listened to the voice of a man;
for the LORD fought for Israel.”
LIFT PRAYERS to GOD; TRUST GOD; OBEY GOD; & THEN SEE GOD MOVE!