“The LORD your God has given you this land to possess”.…

‘Your eyes have seen all that the LORD your God has done to these two kings; so will the LORD do to all the kingdoms through which you pass.

You must not fear them, for the LORD your God Himself fights for you.’ 

(Deuteronomy 3:18, 21–22)

God has amazing things for you today!

Do you believe that?  It is VERY true.  Consider the amazing promise in Ephesians 2:10:

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. 

Long before you crawled out of bed and began this day, God has preceded you and has prepared things for you.  He has set up opportunities for you to serve, to pray and to enjoy.  He has made a way today for you to be involved in the most marvelous of adventures and tasks – being a part and serving the kingdom of God.

If God has promised to do this – to prepare such opportunities for you – has He really done it?  Obviously the answer to that is YES!  God is always faithful!  He has been faithful today – to prepare opportunities for you.   If you miss them – it is not because they were not there – but simply because you were not looking for them or bold enough to step into them. 

As I think and pray about this, I am drawn to a couple of key encouragements Moses gave Joshua with in obtaining the things God had prepared for them.   May they be an encouragement to you today!

First – Gain confidence in God’s past faithfulness

Your eyes have seen all that the LORD your God has done to these two kings; so will the LORD do

God had given Israel several victories already, they had seen God work amazingly.  Moses calls them to apply what they have seen God do in the past to the things before them – to what the Lord will do.  Simply, they are encouraged to learn from the past, to grow more confident in the present because of the past faithfulness of God.

Isn’t this a given?  I mean, don’t we always learn from God’s past faithfulness?  The simple answer is a resounding NO.   Israel had this horrible track record of failing to remember how faithful God had been in them.  At each new problem or juncture they would panic, not looking back at how powerfully God had worked.  The sad truth is that this is also true for most of us.  God has worked in our lives in faithful and amazing ways.  Yet, we often fail to appropriate the confidence in God for future challenges.   Can I encourage you to do this.  See what the Lord has done in your life…and gain confidence for what God will do.

Second – Don’t let fear control you!

You must not fear them, for the LORD your God Himself fights for you.

Fear and faith are opposites in our heart – to hold to one pushes the other one out.    Just knowing this is helpful.  When fear begins to take a hold of our hearts, holding us back from what God has for us, we need to see fear for what it is – a robber of God’s work in us.   If we are going to enter into the things God has for us today – we are going to have to overcome fear.  For example, if God puts someone in your path today to share the gospel with – fear will try to keep you from doing it.  How do we overcome?  Simple and huge answer – look to God.  He is and will fight for you.  He will strengthen you.  Look to Him and be emboldened to step into the things God has for you!

Today…how about you and I seek to obtain all that God has for us!

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. 

(Ephesians 2:10)

“The LORD your God has given you this land to possess”.…

‘Your eyes have seen all that the LORD your God has done to these two kings; so will the LORD do to all the kingdoms through which you pass.

You must not fear them, for the LORD your God Himself fights for you.’ 

(Deuteronomy 3:18, 21–22)

Jim