Be Strong And Very Courageous

Joshua 1:6-9

Be strong and courageous, ... be strong and very courageous. --

My strength is in the Lord Jesus, who gives me strength. My courage is the result of my faith, trusting in God's presence and promises.

Be careful to obey all the Law; ... do not turn from it to the right or to the left, --

Knowing God's rules for living, I am to be careful to not go to the right, by making them too strict and confining, or to the left, by loosening their hold on me, considering them not that essential.

That you may be successful wherever you go. --

Obeying my Maker's instructions for living will result in my success in whatever I am to accomplish.

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. --

I am to know God's Word so well, and think about it all the time, to be aware of what it says about how I am to respond to whatever circumstances I may find myself in.

Then you will be prosperous and successful.

Following the Maker's instructions will allow my life to run as He designed it to run, and I will succeed in what He planned for me to accomplish; and that will result in prosperity in that which I am to have in order to be generous with those who have not; this will be a testimony of how good God is.

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. --

God will always enable me to do what He commands me to do.

Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, --

I never need to give in to fear or cowardice; I am to be strong in Him.

For the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. --

God promised Joshua that He would continue to be with him, just as He was with Moses before him; and Jesus promises me that He would never leave or forsake me.

No matter what I may face in life, good or bad, joyful or grief-filled, I can always count on God to keep His promises to me. I will be able to trust His love, wisdom and strength to bring His good out of everything that I do or happens to me. And I can rest in that.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Pondered Them In Her Heart

Luke 2:19

But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.

The shepherds had just visited, and it meant a lot to Mary, to "treasure up" this visit and to "ponder... in her heart" what they said. Imagine hearing that holy angels announced your baby's birth with the light of glory! Of course the mother thought long and hard about these supernatural things that happened.

O my Father, thank you for your record of what actually happened on that night. Help me to always treasure up these things and ponder them in my heart, to muse on all that You have done in unfolding Your plan; help me to always be mindful of Your great love-gift to us.

Even so, come Lord Jesus!

"No Eye Has Seen"

Isaiah 64:4

No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him.

I Corinthians 2:9-10

But God has revealed it to us by His Spirit.

So amazing! Isaiah had no idea what God was going to do for us. The whole New Testament testifies to all that God is now revealing to us, things which were unknowable mysteries, hidden in God in ages past. The writer of Hebrews summarizes the whole Old Testament in chapter 11, concluding that "God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect (complete)" (v. 40). Each of us has a part in God's great Plan of the Ages; "But we have the  mind of Christ" (I Cor. 2:16), and we get to be Christ's "hands and feet" to broadcast His seed of the Gospel to every language, tribe and nation.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

A Child Is Born, A Son Is Given

Isaiah 9:6-7

For to us a child is born, --

The Child was born, this is a new baby, never before seen.

to us a Son is given, --

This is the Son who was from the beginning, is now, and will be forever, the Son of the Father, proceeding from the Father as His Son from forever past; now given to us in this new baby.

And He will be called --

These are some Names of God, applied and attributed to His Son.

Wonderful, --

Full of wonder.

Counselor, --

One whose counsel is full of wonder, appropriate, complete, righteous.

Mighty God, --

The omnipotent (all-powerful), sovereign God, who has all authority.

Everlasting Father, --

The progenitor of all who will live forever with Him.

Prince of Peace. --

The Noble, who wields the power and authority to establish true Peace.

Of the increase of His government and peace --

His government will continually grow stronger and more pervasive, bringing true Peace to all who are subject to His rule.

There will be no end. --

His reign will continue forever: It will begin with the 1000 years on this Earth (Revelation 20:2-9), through the Final Battle when the Earth will explode (v.9; II Peter 3:7-12), and will continue on the New Earth which will last forever, through all Eternity Future (chapters 20 & 21). 

He will reign on David's throne --

Born as a direct descendant through the bloodline of King David and his son Nathan (Luke 3:23-37, His mother's bloodline), and inheriting the Birthright to ascend the throne through King David and his son Solomon, through the whole kingly line (Matthew 1:1-16, His legal father Joseph's descent through every king who reigned in David's dynasty).

and over his kingdom, --

David reigned over the ancient kingdom of Israel, all 12 tribes, as did his son Solomon. We know these people today as the Jews, in modern Israel and scattered throughout all the nations of the world.

establishing and upholding it --

He will make it sure and stable (by binding the Enemy, Revelation 20:2, 3, 7), and lift it up in authority and quality over every other government that has ever ruled in this world.

with justice and righteousness --

He will accomplish this by enforcing true justice among the peoples through the rightness that guides His every decision and ruling.

from that time on and forever. --

Beginning with the 1000 years, and continuing forever, see above.

The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. --

Our Lord Jesus Almighty is a very passionate God. We see His passion through the Old Testament in His pleading with His people to do right, and His discipline of His chosen nation in allowing her to be subjugated to her enemies, and His broken heart over the unfaithfulness of His "wife." We see it in the New Testament in His "Passion" on the cross, loving us so much that He was willing to suffer the agony of the pain and the separation from His Father; we see it in His designating the Church to be the Bride of Christ, indicating that He loves us, is in love with us, as a bridegroom is delighted with his bride, and desires that we respond to Him in joyful submission to Him as His bride on their wedding night, resulting in ecstatic pleasure to both Bridegroom and bride.

The greatest human passionate love is but a shadow of the zeal of our Maker, who made us in his own image and likeness, to be His children, His army, His temple, His witnesses and ambassadors shining His light, His very bride and wife, His partner for all eternity.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

The People Still Had Not . . .

II Chronicles 20:33

The high places, however, were not removed, and the people still had not set their hearts on the God of their fathers.

Asa's son Jehoshaphat devoted his heart to the ways of the Lord, and he removed the high places and Asherah poles from Judah (17:6). He also sent his officials to teach in the towns if Judah, sending with them Levites and priests, taking the Book of the Law with them; they went to all the towns of Judah and taught the people (17:7-9). Then he appointed judges in each of the cities in Judah to administer the Law and to turn the people back to the Lord (19:4-11). And when Moab, Ammon and Mount Seir got together and made war on him, Jehoshaphat sought the Lord, and set men to sing praises to the Lord ahead of his army, and God set ambushes and destroyed them (20:1-30). And still the people did not set their hearts on the God of their fathers.

Even after the reigns of both King Asa and King Jehoshaphat, who both were "good kings" and tried to turn their nation Judah back to God, the people still were stubborn and willful and clung to their false idols, replacing the "high places" that had been demolished. 

O my Father, please send us your Asa, to show the way to America, and even a Jehoshaphat to reinforce Your ways among our people. Even if the people refuse Your ways, and are determined on rebuilding the false, weak idols, we need strong leaders to show us the right way; and no one will have any excuse when Jesus returns to claim His kingdom and rule for 1000 years and forever.

Even so, come Lord Jesus!

Send Us An Asa

II Chronicles 14:2-5

Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. He removed the foreign altars and the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, and to obey His laws and commands. He removed the high places and incense altars in every town in Judah, and the kingdom was at peace under him.

O Father, God of Asa and David, please send us an Asa in America! Return us as a nation to the God of our fathers, the Founders; back to following and obeying the letter and the spirit of our Constitution which decrees Your righteousness, Lord God of the Universe. Bring us back to Yourself before the end, as You did with Judah.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

Grave Clothes

John 11:44

Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go."

This is when Jesus called Lazarus forth out of the tomb cave. Apparently Lazarus was not able to remove the burial bindings himself, and needed help to get free of them.

O my Father, am I still bound with some of those strips of grave clothes that remain of my fleshly nature? Help me, Father, to recognize them for what they are, and the strength to discard them; or send to me someone who can remove them from me if I cannot do it myself, like Lazarus. Show me how to "put off the old man" and "put on the new man" that is of Your Spirit Who lives in me. Teach me Your ways, for they are not my ways; and Your thoughts, for they are not my thoughts; that I may speak only Your words, and do only the things You have planned before time for me to accomplish to further Your kingdom here and bring glory to Your Name.

Even so, come, Lord Jesus!