Consider this

             When Joshua became the new leader of the Israelite nation, he had to be a little worried. Moses was dead and the journey was not yet complete.   The Promised Land still had to be conquered and Joshua really did not have a lot of experience.   Therefore, to get him ready, God gave him three instructions, each of which preceded by the words “Be strong and courageous”.   Firstly he is told to “Go”.   Strength and courage would come with action.   Secondly, he is reminded to read and treasure the Law of Moses.   Knowing God’s thoughts and values would shape Joshua’s own actions and values.   The third encouragement is the subject of this article.                      “Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).                I am convinced that “fear” and “discouragement” are two of Satan’s best tools against us.   If he can get us to be too scared to try, or if he can

            As Joshua was getting ready to lead God’s people into the Promised Land, God gave him three instructions that would help him do this job well.   The first one (which we looked at in last week’s article) was simply “Go”.   In other words, God told him that “strength and courage” would be found as he went about doing what God asked him to do.   If he waited until he felt strong or courageous then he would never do anything.   A good lesson for us too.              Here is the second instruction to Joshua:   “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. 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” (Joshua 1:7-8).              Obviously, for Joshua to be a good and effective leader, he

            As the Biblical book of “Joshua” opens, God’s people are faced with two huge problems.   First, Moses, the one who had been leading their journey from slavery to the Promised Land, is dead.   Second, the journey is not finished.   The people are on the east side of the Jordan.   They can see the land, but they are not there yet.   The job of leading the people and completing the journey has now fallen on the shoulders of Joshua.            If I was him, I was would be worried.   This is a huge job and there are many obstacles to face.   In addition to that, even the great leader Moses could not always keep these people in line.   They were hard to lead and they were easily discouraged and distracted.   Joshua had been Moses’ assistant and he had seen both the success and the struggle and so it is not surprising that God takes him aside and gives him some advice.   In fact, three times God tells Joshua to be “Strong and Courageous” and then gives him something that

             How would you react if the Queen of England crashed your wedding?            That sounds sort of stupid, unless you are Manchester’s John or Frances Canning and then it is a valid question.              Like many couples, John and Frances planned their wedding to be a small, quiet, civil ceremony.   As it turns out, the Queen and Prince Philip were having lunch in the same building that day and they decided to drop in on the unsuspecting bride and groom.               “It was bizarre!   She knew our names!” Frances said.   “I am definitely going to have to go buy more photo albums than I expected”.               When the Queen drops in, everything changes.             Did you know that this sort of thing is not completely unprecedented?   In fact, God does it all the time.   Many times, we see God dropping in and “interrupting” the normal, calculated lives that people had planned out.   People like Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Mary and Paul would be g