“Have I not commanded you, ‘Be strong and Courageous, Do not be afraid {terrified} or discouraged, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”-Joshua 1:9
Some things never change!
The evil one, as he did in Joshua’s day uses the same tactics today- “Fear (Terror), and Discouragement to tempt God’s people to turn aside in the battle from choosing to obey, trust and honor God.
The LORD speaks the same thing to Joshua 3 TIMES in Joshua chapter 1 to “be strong… and courageous,” it is necessary if he is to do His will. It is not optional. It begins with adopting God’s attitude and following through with a maintained action.
Why do you need to be strong and courageous? In order to do God’s revealed will from the heart and also to counter the evil’ one’s attack, through fear {Terror} and discouragement. What is the Motivation to go forward in the battle of faith against these two evil foes? The assurance of God’s presence with you!
Joshua must CHOSE to do so. Joshua is PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE TO OBEY THE COMMAND! He is told this BEFORE he goes into battle.
1. GOD IS PREVIOUS.
Before the many fights he would encounter, God has come to Joshua and spoke to Him. Often in those seasons of calm, we read something or hear something from His Word and in the battle or sometimes afterwards we can look back and remember God has been previous and given us a verse, a passage that would refer to our circumstances and battles that we have just encountered. Remember the Lord is always Previous! Often we can look back and see God had given us a verse sent someone to share with us, allowed us to listen and hear from His Word something that would help us in the conflict.
2. IN THE WILL OF GOD THERE IS CONFLICT.
It is to be expected. Two of the evil one’s COMMON ATTACKS are FEAR AND DISCOURAGEMENT. THE ATTACK IS ON YOUR MIND, EMOTIONS! The battle is for your FAITH! The goal is to stop you from going forward in Obedience to God!
“By definition, FEAR is anticipation that we may suffer harm or that things might go wrong. Dismay is DISCOURAGEMENT.
FEAR comes when we are opposed by something of strength superior to our own. DISMAY comes when we consider our own resources. We look inside ourselves and come to the conclusion that we are not strong enough to fight the battle that is before us. That is how the two work” – Carter Conlon
3. GOD DOES NOT TERRORIZE OR DISCOURAGE HIS PEOPLE!
LESSONS FROM FISHING;
It is a little like fishing, if you are having success and achieving your goal of catching fish through using a specific bait/lure, you do not change it, why not? It is working the evidence is in the fish you have caught. So the evil one uses different “lures/ bait’s” two being fear and discouragement to inject into your thoughts, affect your emotions and tempt you to STOP… Trusting- STOP= Praying in faith- STOP -Obeying God…
The word “fear” is translated “terrify.” God imparts peace to His people. God never terrorizes His people. This is important for you and me to grasp when the evil one plants thoughts of terror in your mind. It is not from God!
Fear’ or Terror’s goal is to attempt you to yield and to spiritually paralyze you. To look to the “giants of the land” and to conclude, irrespective, of what God has said- it cannot be done. To lean to our own understanding, rather than on the God of the Word. Fear is to take matters into our own hands and not trust God as Abram when he said his wife was his sister and place her in a compromising position because he feared for his life! He failed to trust God. Fear has the potential when yielded to, for us to Lie and deny God as Peter did, in denying the Lord Jesus. Fear when yielded to produces hypocrisy, as it did Peter in the book of Galatians when he withdrew from the brethren because he feared the opinions of others. Fear can influence others to also do evil, as with Barnabus been led astray by Peter’s hypocrisy. Fear and anxiety always travel together-Luke 12. Fear and discouragement which means to lose heart – will, as in Nehemiah’s day seek to cause us to cease to be about God’s business, “They tried to make us fearful and discourage us so the work might not be done”-Nehemiah 6:9
GOD DOES NOT DISCOURAGE HIS PEOPLE; Discouragement seeks to cause us to lose heart in DOING God’s will. Discouragement means to lose heart, to dishearten,
God is the God of encouragement. He imparts encouragement through Himself- Rom 15:5;His Word-Rom 15:4; and His people- Heb 3:13. We are called to “encourage one another, Day after day as long as it is called ‘Today’-Heb 3:13
4. GOD’S ASSURANCE IN THE CONFLICT
” …I Am with you wherever you go.”
Over the recent years this assurance of His presence has brought great comfort at times to my troubled heart. It does not matter how I “feel” for feelings can be deceiving, but the assurance God is with me wherever I go, is an anchor for my soul. He is here in the now!
NOTE: His assurance of His presence is given to among others -those He sends out to make disciples-
A. TO THOSE WHO SHARE ; Matt 28- for those who go need the assurance perhaps when they “see” or “feel” their labors are in vain. His assurance is given …
B. TO THOSE WHO ARE SUFFERING; He writes to the immature and suffering- with great assurance, “I will never leave you, no, nor forsake you.” It is easy to believe the lie and look at your circumstances in times of suffering and believe God has forgotten or abandoned you.{See Psalm 13:1-3}. But to the suffering He assures them why? They need to know, otherwise He would not have had it written down for generations! Keep going….don’t yield to fear, don’t yield to discouragement. You do have the power not to!- Choose to be strong and courageous for in order to do God’s will -, you and I must! Be assured He is with you, and it has nothing to do whether you “feel” He is, or not! His Word assures you He is- and He cannot lie! I love what one dear man says “Keep going, He is worth it!”
As He was with Joshua, He is with you- and He is Victor! “Be strong, be courageous don’t yield to fear, don’t yield to discouragement. Be assured the LORD is with you wherever you go!
In the will of God Joshua was informed he would encounter conflict, and specifically the weapons of fear and discouragement. But, with the revelation of the evil ones tactics of terror and discouragement came the command how to combat and the assurance God was with him in the conflict. Troubles do not ify God’s wisdom or resources. You have all in Him that you need for the onslaught you may find yourself in-use them. Choose to believe and obey Him. Be strong, be courageous…for the LORD is with you.
HE IS – GOOD NEWS
“Have I not commanded you, ‘Be strong and courageous do not be afraid or discouraged for I am with you wherever you go.”
APPLICATION
- RECOGNIZE the two prong attack- FEAR and DISCOURAGEMENT.
- REFUSE- TO yield. How? By choosing to obey God’s command to be strong and courageous!
- REST ASSURED- Wherever you go THE LORD is WITH YOU! You have the PROMISE of His presence and the POWER to obey His command, to be continually strong and courageous.
Perhaps you could.
- Memorize and Meditate and Apply this verse- this week to your circumstances.
- Pray this for others this week to choose to be strong and courageous and not to yield to fear or discouragement CONFIDENT He is with them wherever they go, whatever the Battle- He is LORD
- SHARE HIS HOPE – WITH OTHERS THIS WEEK- Joshua 1:9; Recognize-Refuse-Rest Assured