Be Strong

Good morning, all! Father, whatever strength we have today it is only by Your grace. We know that without You we can do nothing but when we wait on You for Your promise we are renewed. You renew our hope, You renew our faith, and You renew our strength always, Amen.

Joshua 1

3 Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.
Wherever you put your foot down in this world it will not have any hold you because I have given you that power just like Moses.

4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.
From your tough times, the times you were strong, the time when you were almost swept away and ALL through the land of your enemies, to the GREAT sea to the setting of the sun, it’s yours.

5 There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, [so] I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
NO man will be able to stop the call I’ve placed on your life and just like Moses, I’m right here with you, I will NOT fail you and leave you.

6 Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.
Be STRONG and of GOOD courage; for I have an inheritance for My people, this was the promise I made long ago.

Bottom line

What an affirmation from God this morning…BE STRONG…translation…WE got this. This is a very popular piece of scripture, Moses who was the longtime leader of Israel has just passed away and God taps Joshua on the shoulder and says YOU’RE My guy. Starting with the idea that no matter where you place your feet nothing and nobody can stand in your way of the promise, I have for you. Isn’t that a good reminder for us this morning? Do you think something is in your way this morning? Not to worry whatever God has promised for your life nothing can prevent it from happening.

[Pro 16:33 KJV] The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof [is] of the LORD. We may think our life is nothing but chance, but scripture is very clear on the matter, NOTHING happens in our life without God’s
approval. And did you notice God gives us power over ALL the enemies that occupy our land? You know the biggest enemy we have to conquer? The Hittite…known as fear, worry and unbelief. How do we beat them? Psa 119:98 Thou through thy word thou hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they [are] ever with me. You and I beat fear and doubt with faith, which is to say God’s word, when we believe God’s word over our feelings that is called faith this is what makes us wiser than our feelings. Nothing can trump God’s word it has absolute power and authority; doesn’t scripture say it can’t return void? I mean if we can’t take God at His word then we are all lost, right?

[Mat 24:35 NIV] Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. Not even heaven and earth can out last God’s word that’s how SURE and TRUE it is, maybe we ought to listen to it instead of those voices in our head. There is no greater power in our life than God’s word, scripture declares that mountains shake at His word. Didn’t Jesus give us power?

[Luk 10:19 KJV] Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you. There you have it, we have power over ALL the enemy, and NOTHING shall hurt you. Are you hurt this morning? You know we’re not speaking of a physical condition, Jesus Christ died to give us victory over all our HURT feelings. How do you TREAD over all your enemies? You begin walk above all those hurt feelings and instead of listening to them telling you what to do, you live with true strength by faith and follow God’s word. It does take courage to live by faith, to live a life based on God’s word and NOT the world’s standard. Do you have courage?

[Mat 5:39 NLT] But I say, do not resist an evil person! If someone slaps you on the right cheek, offer the other cheek also. The world would tell you to retaliate in this situation, but Jesus says let me see your courage, let me see you do the opposite of what your feelings are screaming at you to do…be strong! Instead, when you get hurt will you offer the other cheek also? Some see that as failure but according to God’s word He will NOT fail you. Maybe God’s definition of failure and success is NOT the same as the world’s? Maybe He don’t care how big our house is or the car we drive or what title we have…maybe His idea of success is based on how well we turn the other cheek…call me crazy but maybe God knows something the world doesn’t?