Joshua 1:1-18. Moses has passed on, and Joshua, at 85 years old, is working with God to lead Israel into the Promised Land. At age 85, God was not finished with Joshua. God’s instructions include that God will not leave them. They must obey His Word and be “strong and courageous” (verses 6, 9 and 18). Israel had been wandering in the desert for 40 years and will need to refocus and be strong as they move forward.
His challenge in verse 8 is that we must read His Word, meditate on it and be obedient. This will bring us prosperity and success. God, through His Word, will continue to change our hearts to be more like Him. As we become more like Him and know Him better, our definitions of prosperity and success will begin to match God’s definitions.
Spend time in His Word this week. Start a daily reading program of ten minutes or thee chapters per day to begin with. Take verse 8 and pray through it to focus on His commands – strong, courageous and obedient – and His promises to be with us in prosperity and success. Joshua 1:8 would also be a good memory verse. It is in my pack of memory verses, and it is one of my first verses I memorized. My pack of verses includes over 100 verses. I have memorized all at some point by may not know all of them today. At times, I use my verse pack for some time with the Lord and review them. This does help to keep the verses somewhat fresh. I rubber band them in a sandwich bag. I started this after they survived the washing machine in my pocket years ago. My ongoing challenge is to ensure I am obeying Him and as discussed above, my definition for prosperity and success does match God’s. Hopefully, as I live my life in Him, I am seeking Him and not following worldly definitions of success. Maybe time to review or start your list of Bible verses?
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