Bible In One Year-Day 95 (Saturday, April 5, 2014)

Commentary: Joshua22-24. Matthew 6:33 “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”

Joshua’s life and leadership was a demonstration of this verse of the scripture. To seek the kingdom of God is to seek for the will of God, the mind of God and the position of God concerning all situations and conditions. Joshua made the first mistake when he went to fight with Ai without seeking the position of God and he failed. In the spirit of education, that was the last of it; he never repeated that same mistake again. This means he had a teachable spirit, the spirit that learns from mistakes and does not defend mistakes or errors. He recognized what the problem was and he dealt with his weakness. When you know how to deal with weaknesses, you will eventually become a champion, a star and a leader worthy of emulation; making less and less mistakes. You will have many children who want to be like you. The seeking for the righteousness of the kingdom is to live the kingdom life. Joshua lived by the book, i.e. by what is written; no shifting or compromise. He sought the Lord with all his heart. He was not a leader that instructs while engaging himself in a thing contrary, he lived by example. That was why he could boldly tell the Israelites to follow suit. The results of Joshua’s leadership are that God gave them rest from all their enemies and not a thing failed of God’s promises to them, Josh23:1&14. An effective and efficient deliverance ministry takes after Joshua’s teaching in chapter 23:

1. Boldness, steadfastness and obedience to the word of God, Josh23:6
2. Do not adopt their deity or adapt to their way of life, Josh23:7. Your life style should follow the Kingdom life.
3. No marriage, i.e. no covenant in any form. This breaks spiritual immunity and defense, Josh23:12&13. This is talking about the world in the church and the church in the world. Worldliness has taken over the churches now and the power of God is not felt anymore. You could not differentiate between the world and the church in terms of dressing any longer. Ahab is the pastor and Jezebel now the prophetess, seeing visions and dreaming dreams.

Inability to obtain quality deliverance is due to the violation of one or all of these.

Joshua, being used to using natural things in warfare, took a stone and set it in place as witness to the Israelites’ affirmation of serving the only true God;

Joshua 24:27 “And Joshua said unto all the people, Behold, this stone shall be a witness unto us; for it hath heard all the words of the LORD which he spake unto us: it shall be therefore a witness unto you, lest ye deny your God.”

In Joshua’s days, the Israelites served the Lord, obeyed Him and worshiped Him, the consequence was that the people conquered the land through trust in the power of God. When we live in obedience, the power of God will work for us. Though Joshua died in a very good age, there were still lots to be done. The lesson we could learn is that you should live a life that will not make you regret old age; Ecclesiastes 1:2-11 “Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity……”

In a soccer game, the players go through tough moment trying to advance through oppositions, but those watching are going through exciting moment. Both of them will end their experience at the blow of the final whistle, and then commentary starts from different quarters. You are a major player of your life and people are watching, they can’t get into the field with you. The final whistle will be blown one day. The commentary by the grave side cannot bring the life back for replay. It is better to play right and play well to win the trophy;

Hebrews 12:1 “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,”

Moses gave account of his role in God’s agenda, Joshua gave his, what will yours be? Here we conclude the book of Joshua. The next book is Judges and our reading for today is Judges1-3. Keep the fire burning and alive.