“Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.”– Josh. 1:9
After preaching from this verse last night I was delighted when I read this article by F. B. Meyer this morning. Hopefully it will bless you as it did me. We face many challenges today and are in great need of courage. By means of His Word God has provided everything we need to do everything we should. It is the means to might for the fight. Any failure will be on us, not God. Meyer wrote:
It was a host of young men and women that stood on the verge of Jordan, waiting the signal to enter the Promised Land. God had said that He would give them every place upon which the sole of their foot should tread (Jos 1:3). What an incentive this was for pressing on! Every time an Israelite put his foot forward on the territory of Canaan, he realized that piece of land would come into the possession of his people.
There is a counterpart of this in our own experience. We must learn to put down our foot upon the Promises of God’s Word, and say: “These are mine by right, and shall be mine in actual enjoyment.” In General Gordon’s journal, he tells us that often before he reached some strange or hostile tribe, it seemed as though they had been given to his faith and subdued before he reached them. In combating your spiritual foes, dare to believe that God has given them into your hand, and go forward assured that not one of them shall stand before you. This is a blessed promise: “There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee” (Jos 1:5). It does not matter how fierce the tempter, how often you have failed, how inveterate the bad habits, if you will dare to believe that God is with you, not one of all the band of besetting sins shall be able to stand before you. God cannot fail, and will not forsake; be strong, and go forward!
The one thing that God asks of all of us is that we should obey up to the hilt.
Here are our marching orders, and we must keep them well before us”
(1) We must meditate upon the Scripture day and night; it must not depart from our heart or mouth.
(2) We must be strong even when obedience seems impossible, and when all influences are brought to bear to weaken our resolution, we must still dare to obey the voice of God. And as we advance we shall find that the dreaded forms of opposition are but shadows; when they are touched with the spear-point of faith, they will divide and we shall pursue our way. F. B. Meyer
David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
5801 FM 1960 E
Humble, TX. 77346
