Tag: men of valor

53.d. Joshua 1:10-18

 

 

Jos 1:10-18  And Joshua commanded the officers of the people, “Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, ‘Prepare your provisions, for within three days you are to pass over this Jordan to go in to take possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.’” And to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh Joshua said, “Remember the word that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, ‘The LORD your God is providing you a place of rest and will give you this land.’ Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall remain in the land that Moses gave you beyond the Jordan, but all the men of valor among you shall pass over armed before your brothers and shall help them, until the LORD gives rest to your brothers as he has to you, and they also take possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession and shall possess it, the land that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise.” And they answered Joshua, “All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. Just as we obeyed Moses in all things, so we will obey you. Only may the LORD your God be with you, as he was with Moses!  Whoever rebels against your commandment and disobeys your words, whatever you command him, shall be put to death. Only be strong and courageous.”

John 14:23.   Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.

 Deuteronomy 5:27     Go near and hear all that the LORD our God will say, and speak to us all that the LORD our God will speak to you, and we will hear and do it.’

 Psalms 90:1     Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.

 Psalms 91:1    He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

 Isaiah 57:15      For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.

 Romans 8:9-11  You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.  But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.  If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

 Revelation 7:15-17    “Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.  They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.  For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

The people of Israel engage to obey Joshua; All that thou commandest us to do we will readily do, without murmuring or disputing, and whithersoever thou sendest us we will go. The best we can ask of God for our magistrates, is, that they may have the presence of God; that will make them blessings to us, so that in seeking this for them, we consult our own interest. May we be enabled to enlist under the banner of the Captain of our salvation, to be obedient to his commands, and to fight the good fight of faith, with all that trust in and love his name, against all who oppose his authority; for whoever refuses to obey him must be destroyed. (Henry)

I will not leave you orphans, or fatherless, for though I leave you, yet I leave you this comfort, I will come to you. I will come speedily to you at my resurrection. I will come daily to you in my Spirit; in the tokens of his love, and visits of his grace. I will come certainly at the end of time. Those only that see Christ with an eye of faith, shall see him for ever: the world sees him no more till his second coming; but his disciples have communion with him in his absence. These mysteries will be fully known in heaven. It is a further act of grace, that they should know it, and have the comfort of it. Having Christ’s commands, we must keep them. And having them in our heads, we must keep them in our hearts and lives. The surest evidence of our love to Christ is, obedience to the laws of Christ. There are spiritual tokens of Christ and his love given to all believers. Where sincere love to Christ is in the heart, there will be obedience. Love will be a commanding, constraining principle; and where love is, duty follows from a principle of gratitude. God will not only love obedient believers, but he will take pleasure in loving them, and will rest in love to them. He will be with them as his home. These privileges are confined to those whose faith worketh by love, and whose love to Jesus leads them to keep his commandments. Such are partakers of the Holy Spirit’s new-creating grace. (Henry)

There is a correlation between time spent in God’s Word in Faith, Belief, Trust, Obedience, and Reliance, and the Leading of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life expressed in love for God and others.  The key here is “Time in God’s Word”. There is too much in our lives that draws and entices us to spend more time thinking about and doing worldly and fleshly stuff. I like to listen to Christian music. It is on all the time in my car and shop. If this was all I did for growth and maturing in my Love for God and the leading of the Holy Spirit in My life, it would be a sad and very limited expression of commitment, dedication, and desire to honor and glorify Jesus Christ. Too often this is the case in many lives. There is limited time in His Word so they will get their dose of devotion by listening to a Christian music station.  

Nothing can replace personal time in God’s Word in our growth, understanding, and knowledge of God and godly living. Nothing.  If God’s Word was food and water for our souls, would we be wasting away and slowly dying from starvation and thirst? 

God’s Word is: 

A lamp to our path

Food for our soul

Living water

Our strength

Where we find peace, joy, hope, refuge

Instruction for righteousness

Knowledge and Understanding

How we know truth

Maturity and growth

How we discern false

How we hear the quiet whispers of the Holy Spirit

How we know what is worldly and fleshly

How we grow in love for others

God’s Word should be our nutrition and food for living.  Christian music is like a vitamin to help us rejoice and worship Jesus Christ.

2.x. But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction.

2 Chronicles 26:3  Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. He set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God, and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper. He went out and made war against the Philistines and broke through the wall of Gath and the wall of Jabneh and the wall of Ashdod, and he built cities in the territory of Ashdod and elsewhere among the Philistines. God helped him against the Philistines and against the Arabians who lived in Gurbaal and against the Meunites. The Ammonites paid tribute to Uzziah, and his fame spread even to the border of Egypt, for he became very strong. Moreover, Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate and at the Valley Gate and at the Angle, and fortified them. And he built towers in the wilderness and cut out many cisterns, for he had large herds, both in the Shephelah and in the plain, and he had farmers and vinedressers in the hills and in the fertile lands, for he loved the soil. Moreover, Uzziah had an army of soldiers, fit for war, in divisions according to the numbers in the muster made by Jeiel the secretary and Maaseiah the officer, under the direction of Hananiah, one of the king’s commanders. The whole number of the heads of fathers’ houses of mighty men of valor was 2,600. Under their command was an army of 307,500, who could make war with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy. And Uzziah prepared for all the army shields, spears, helmets, coats of mail, bows, and stones for slinging. In Jerusalem he made machines, invented by skillful men, to be on the towers and the corners, to shoot arrows and great stones. And his fame spread far, for he was marvelously helped, till he was strong.  But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the Lord his God and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. But Azariah the priest went in after him, with eighty priests of the Lord who were men of valor, and they withstood King Uzziah and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have done wrong, and it will bring you no honor from the Lord God.” Then Uzziah was angry. Now he had a censer in his hand to burn incense, and when he became angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead in the presence of the priests in the house of the Lord, by the altar of incense. And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead! And they rushed him out quickly, and he himself hurried to go out, because the Lord had struck him. And King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death, and being a leper lived in a separate house, for he was excluded from the house of the Lord.

Have I ever allowed my walk with God to drift?  Have I ever been neglectful and complacent with His word and with listening and serving Him?  Have I ever just said today is mine to do as I want?  Have I ever allowed myself to seek and desire that which is self-centered, self-satisfying, prideful, greedy, and hurting to someone else?  Have I pretended to be ok?  Have I trusted in myself, my possessions, and my own actions? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, and yes?

I have allowed my desire of Him to be taken over by desires for things of this world that are pleasing to me.  I have allowed my pride to allow me to think I can handle things on my own.  I have sought more for myself than seeking and humbly serving Jesus Christ.  I know who I am and the tendencies I have to glorify and satisfy self.  However, when I commit to start each day humbly serving Him and am studying His word I see the day in the newness that can only come from Jesus Christ.  I hear the guiding whispers from His word speak into my heart and mind and soul.  I am made aware of this sinful nature within me that shouts pride, hate, greed, unforgiveness, selfishness, and self-seeking desires.  In His word I am able to make a distinction between serving, honoring, following, trusting, and obeying God and that which is not.  I grow in understanding and knowledge.  I find peace, joy and rest when I commit and yield to honor, follow, trust, and obey Him.

Uzziah’s actions are no different than what each of us has done.  We may not be a leader of a nation but we all must be aware of the sinful nature knocking at our heart’s door.

Oh God, please allow us to see our sinfulness and be able to recognize it for what it is and make it clear that we have a choice before we commit to giving in.  Give us eyes to see it and a mind to understand it so that we clearly know what we choose – to either give in to self or to commit and yield to You.  Keep us on paths that honor you.  Speak loud into our heart and mind.  Fill us with more and more desire for You.