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about entries links leader of the month tag
Monday, May 29, 2006
Be strong and courageous
Josh1:6-9
6 "Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. 7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."

In 4 short verses, the Lord repeated to Joshua to "be strong and courageous" 3times! Why has the Lord emphasize 'strength and courage' to Joshua so many times??

If you noe the legacy of Moses, most of us wld rather not be Joshua. Imagine with me, Moses was a man who is 'almost god' in those times, where only he wld get to meet and commune with God. Where after he comes down from the mountain, will radiate with the glory of God. Whom the Lord used to perform tonnes of miracles like parting the red sea, raining manna and water from the rocks. Imagine if you were Joshua, wld u raise up after Moses to lead over Israel?

Now imagine with me in this common real life senario. You have a struggle/issue/problem/fear, perhaps you are not doing well in your studies, in your new job, your new portfolio in ur CCA, even an increase in number of SHEEP! Your teacher tells u, 'you can do it', your leader tells u, "be bold and courageous", "do not let anyone look down on your youth", "let your light shine before man" etc etc. When u are in the downs, which of these words actually go into your heart/mind/soul?

"I failed my exams leh, now i cannot go to church, cannot attend cell, cannot go out during the holidays, have tonnes of tuitions, projects, how to you expect me to 'be still and know that [He] is God?" - very common? very real?

Now imagine you are Joshua, the Lord says "be strong and courageous" to you 3 times. Your human mind must be thinking, "siao ah! I'm so inexperienced, how to be strong? I'm so young, how to be courageous? Im taking after Moses leh, his legacy so strong leh, he shines with the glory of God leh, how can i ever achieve that?!"

So did God speak His words in vain? to become 'er bian feng' (treated as insignificant) to Joshua?? No man! The Lord did not just intend for the word, to speak to Joshua's mind/heart only, but more importantly, its to speak to his spirit. "Be bold and courageous! Joshua, raise up in your spirit". The Lord is saying to us, RAISE up in our SPIRIT! Its sometimes easy to understand with your mind, but how many times did we managed to internalise the Word of God into our spirit?

Let us not just HEAR the word, but learn to involve our spirit. Activate it, exercise it, build it up, speak to it, confess truths to it, speak in tongues.

Let Your spirit come, let Your will be done
Let Your presence fall on me

=cand=

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