Today was... good. Busy.
Got up. Did school. Went to the high school to sign up for the PSAT. Came home. Did more school. Ate lunch and watched Fireproof. Did school. Babysat for Nate. Talked to Hannah on the phone. Went on a walk. Talked to Kayt for a while. I love her. And now I'm watching 27 Dresses with my mom and dad. :)
I love this movie. New York movies are the best! :) And Kathrine Hiegel (or however you spell her last name) is awesome. As is James Marsden. :)
So I finished Acts yesterday. It took me a long time. And now I'm starting one of my personal favorite Old Testament books.
Joshua.
We talked about Joshua a lot at LT. And I'm looking forward to revisiting this book. So here goes...
Joshua 1:1-18
1 After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses' aide: 2"Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. 3 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses.
Okay. A little background: Joshua was Moses' assistant. Moses dies and God hands things over to Joshua. Now that Moses is dead, God tells Joshua to lead the people across the Jordan River into the land that he promised them. Them being the Israelites. And God promises some amazing things: "I will give you every place where yous et your foot, as I promised Moses." Emphasis by me. Obviously. But that's a promise that God made twice. Not necessary, but he did it. He made sure that Joshua had the same knowledge of his promise that Moses had.
4 Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Great Sea on the west. 5 No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.
God then tells Joshua where they're going to live. No one, no one, will be able to stand up against them.
And God gives Joshua another promise: "As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you." God promised to always be with Joshua. Here's something: Moses was so close to God that his face would glow for days at a time after being in the presence of God. No joke. This happened. It was a huge promise.
God makes that promise to us today too. He's always with us. He'll never leave us no matter what happens. Your friends ditch you? God's still there. You feel all alone in the world? God's still there. He will never leave you. And that's a promise that I cling to daily.
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."
This has to be the best four verses ever! Be strong. Be courageous. Be those things because you are a leader. Be these things. Be careful to obey the laws that Moses gave you. You will be successful if you stay within these laws.
Don't let these laws ever leave you. Meditate on them always. Day and night. Do this so that you will be careful to do everything written in it. How often are we careless with our thoughts, our words, our actions? If we meditated on the word of God day and night, do you think we would be more careful with them?
When you follow God's word you will be prosperous. Successful. Those are words that appeal to our generation. Being successful is something that I strive to be. Do I strive to be the right kind of successful? Probably not.
Then God says "Have I not commanded you?" It's a command to be strong and courageous. Don't be afraid. Don't be discouraged. The LORD, Yahweh, Jehova Jirah (the God who provides), will be with you wherever you go. Anywhere.
Amazing.
10 So Joshua ordered the officers of the people: 11 "Go through the camp and tell the people, 'Get your supplies ready. Three days from now you will cross the Jordan here to go in and take possession of the land the LORD your God is giving you for your own.' "
A'ight. So Joshua gets the officers aka people who are in charge together and tells them to get everyone read to go. He tells them that they're going to cross teh Jordan in three days.
I could be wrong, but from what I remember, I think that the Jordan River would've been at flood level (or above) at the time that they were to cross. Aka it wasn't possible to cross it by boat. Not that they had boats. I don't know, though.
12 But to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joshua said, 13 "Remember the command that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: 'The LORD your God is giving you rest and has granted you this land.' 14 Your wives, your children and your livestock may stay in the land that Moses gave you east of the Jordan, but all your fighting men, fully armed, must cross over ahead of your brothers. You are to help your brothers 15 until the LORD gives them rest, as he has done for you, and until they too have taken possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving them. After that, you may go back and occupy your own land, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you east of the Jordan toward the sunrise."
To two and a half of the twelve tribes, Joshua said that they would cross ahead of everyone else. Their women, children, and livestock could stay, but they were going ahead to fight the battles that awaited them. And until the Lord "[gave] them rest" they wouldn't be completely settled in the land. Once all of this was said and done, they could go back to their land that was promised to them.
16 Then they answered Joshua, "Whatever you have commanded us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go. 17 Just as we fully obeyed Moses, so we will obey you. Only may the LORD your God be with you as he was with Moses. 18 Whoever rebels against your word and does not obey your words, whatever you may command them, will be put to death. Only be strong and courageous!"
They told Joshua that they were with him 100%
They obeyed Moses and they were going to obey Joshua. They were his buds. "May the LORD your God be with you as he was with Moses. Whoever rebels against your word and does not obey your words... will be put to death." Strong words there. They were committed to helping Joshua. Some good guys. They had a good mindset: "only be strong and courageous!" Don't be anything less. God will give you the strength and the courage that you need.
It's funny. I feel like this blog isn't for me. It's for other people. Kind of like how exciting things don't happen to me. They happen to other people.
But so many times, I'll type words that I know come from God. Because I realize that, woah!, I needed that. It's like slapping myself in the face sometimes! It's wonderful though. I love that God can speak to me through... me. Ha. Lame sounding, but still awesome. Because it's God.
And now, slightly randomly, I'm going to give a little plug. It's for LIVE620. CLICK THAT LINK. And if not that one, then this one. (They're the same thing. Just visit the site!)
LIVE620 is Encounter62's new name. There's some awesome stuff on that website. Stuff by my best friend and my sister and... me. :) (Shameless self promotion. Horrible, I know.)
I'll post links whenever new stuff goes up. Which is pretty much every day. So just check it out! "like" it on Facebook. Follow on Twitter (@LIVE620).
Click on over. There's a ton of great stuff. And it's awesome. And now I'm done.
:)
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