PERSONAL JOURNAL:
SIN (verse 8a): I find Your repetition of these exact words of encouragement to Your people to be interesting. You often tell them “do not be afraid or discouraged” as they are about to take on what may appear to be an unsurmountable task. I have heard and felt You tell me these same words many times throughout my life, Father. Sometimes I have honored You in my response and sometimes I have not. I have allowed fear and discouragement to control me at times and I am not proud of that. Please forgive me for this, Father, as it shows my lack of trust in You at times. It shows that I do sometimes give into my flesh instead of leaning on You and trusting in You through whatever I am about to do. Help me, Father, to be the one who is not afraid nor discouraged in this life if what I am doing is Your will for me.
PROMISE (verse 8): In this first verse I also see a great promise to Your people. You start off by telling them not to be afraid or discouraged as they are about to go into battle against a city who had just defeated them not long ago. You promise them that You have handed them over to You, from their king to their people, to their actual city, to all of their land. It will all be handed over to Your people, as You have promised, if they simply do not give into fear nor discouragement.
ATTITUDE (verses 30-35): After their victory in Ai, what’d Joshua lead Your people to do? They didn’t party and celebrate themselves. They didn’t go onto the next city in their minds to try and claim another victory. They didn’t do any of that. Instead, they chose to build an altar to You, then praise and worship You. Through this process, Joshua also wrote and recited all of the Law of Moses, both the positives and the negatives, to act as a reminder to Your people of how they are to act according to Your truth. I do need reminders quite often in my life, Father. At the same time, I also need to be better at going into praise and worship towards You when victories occur in my life. Help me to embrace an attitude of persistent praise and worship, Father, so that nothing in this life occurs without me looking right back at You with a grateful heart.
COMMAND (verse 8a): Not only does this entire verse encompass a promise and a conviction on my heart, but I also see the start of this verse as a direct command from You. You tell Your people to not be afraid nor discouraged. Even though they had just felt a small defeat shortly before this day, You assure them that they will not be defeated again. If they fully trust in You and are obedient to You as a people, then they need to go into this battle with the mindset that they are not to be afraid nor discouraged because You are with them this time. Help me to follow this command in my own life, Father. Help me to remember that You are with me and that as long as I am trusting in You and obedient to You, then I have no reason to fear nor be discouraged in this life.
EXAMPLE (verses 1-3, 30-35): I find this set of verses to be an amazing example and testimony to how we are to live. We will get knocked down every so often in life. It may be because God wants us to in order to teach us a lesson. It could also be because of our own fleshly ways taking control of us in those moments. No matter the reasoning behind it, if God is with us, then nothing can defeat us—not even something that defeated us recently. That is what happened here. Your people felt defeat from AI recently at this point because someone in their midst had sinned against the covenant they made with You. Your people quickly resolved that issue and You were with them, again. They recognized this and had no issues going into battle against the same foe without fear nor discouragement just a short timeframe later. Immediately after their victory thanks to You, they built an altar to You and celebrating their victory because of You. This celebration had nothing to do with them, as Joshua led their people in building an altar to You along with writing and reciting all of the Law of Moses to Your people throughout this celebration period. This celebration was 100% focused on You and not themselves. This is how I should be living my life, Father. My celebrations in this life should be God-focused, not Filip-focused. My celebrations should be my way of praising Your accomplishments, not something I think I did. Help me to remember this throughout my life, Father, so that my celebrations in the future are always God-focused, God-driven, and God-celebrated.
*DAILY NOTE: Another chapter of scripture on a battle within a lengthy war, yet I feel many convictions on my heart about how I have treated You throughout my faith journey. This chapter may have used words to describe a battle and the victory of Your people, but I see it as a lesson in perseverance through You, obedience to You, and trust in You. I see it as a lesson in how we are to celebrate the blessings You have given. Thank You for the great conversation today, Father, but also thank You for the great convictions. I know I would be so very lost without You in my life and I am grateful for the amazing changes in my life You have driven me to, but also the many blessings in my life over the last year of change which can only be from You. So many great things have occurred that this world would say I did, but I know who the real author is for this chapter of my life—You. Thank You, Father, for helping me to make so many changes in my life. Thank You for helping me to persevere without fear or discouragement in this massive life change and transition from a long military career to now attempting to find stability in a non-military world. Thank You for all that You are, Father.
EXPAND TO READ: GENERAL NOTE FOR MY QUIET TIMES
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