Joshua 14:10-11 “10 ‘Now behold, the Lord has let me live, just as He spoke, these forty-five years, from the time that the Lord spoke this word to Moses, when Israel walked in the wilderness; and now behold, I am eighty-five years old today. 11 I am still as strong today as I was in the day Moses sent me; as my strength was then, so my strength is now, for war and for going out and coming in.’”

GOD’S ENERGY

Forty-five years have passed since Joshua and Caleb and the other ten spies had gone into the land of Canaan at Moses’ command to bring back a report of the land.  Of course, you know that only Joshua and Caleb said, “Let’s go!”  The other ten, whom I bet you can’t name, were scared and discouraged the people.

Now here we are at the same spot, ready to enter the land.  Caleb steps up to Joshua and says, “I’m ready again!  I am still strong and can fight.  Let’s go!”  He’s eighty-five!  But God has sustained him all these years in the wilderness.  Age is relative.  God can give anyone the strength and power if He chooses.  And because Caleb had been obedient and faithful, God empowered him.

TEACHING MOMENT

The next time your children come in from a long day of play and fall out on the couch or the floor, share this passage.  Talk about how long Caleb was in the wilderness.  Explain how discouraged he may have become knowing that he had done the right thing but still had to endure the 40 years.

Sometimes fatigue is hard.  Sometimes we feel we can’t go on.  Remind your children that God is our source of strength.  It doesn’t come in a Monster drink or a dose of Geritol (I’m telling my age now).  Real strength to achieve great things only comes from the Father.

Are you tired?  Are you weary? Do you feel you have been wandering in the wilderness?  Turn to Him.  He can refresh you and give you the strength you need to carry on.  Remember, Caleb had seen the Promised Land.  Those forty years may have seemed long and hard, but he had the image of what was to come.  We have that same vision.  We know what is coming.

Look ahead!  Look to eternity!  With that in mind, the things of this earth seem meaningless.  God has prepared us a place.  Prepare yourself for it.

2 Corinthians 7:10 “For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.” 

NOT A BAD THING

Why is it we think having sorrow is a bad thing?  We are always trying to “cheer up” those who are going through a hard time.  God says very plainly here in this verse that sorrow which comes from God is good because it produces repentance.  Feeling sorry or remorseful for a wrong done is a good thing.  It drives us to repentance without regret.

Have you been sorrowful lately over your sins?  Too many of our churches today are afraid to confront sin and bring believers to repentance for fear of driving them off.  Other churches want to accept anything just to keep up the membership.  That is NOT of God.  God demands repentance, and all of us need to repent.  None of us have arrived.

TEACHING MOMENT

Your children need to understand that sorrow is not a bad thing, when it comes to God produced sorrow.  The Holy Spirit in them will convict them of sin which can produce sorrow.  That’s okay!  We do not need to live there, but we must pass through it.

How can you tell your child is saved?  Do they show remorse for a wrong done, not for getting caught?  Do they truly feel bad and want to make it right?  That is the Holy Spirit in them driving them to the cross.  They may not use all the “churchy” language, but you will know when they repent.

As the old hymn asks, “How long has it been since you knelt at the cross and told Him your heart’s hidden secrets?”  We need to be on our knees so much more, bearing our souls in repentance.  We need to be sorrowful for our wrongs.  Don’t allow the world to make you feel sorry for politically incorrect things. That is world produced sorrow that leads to a false repentance.  As the verse says, that leads to death.

Will you get on your knees right now and make things right with the Father?  Will you thank those who confront you regarding your sin?  Will you be obedient today as you hear the Holy Spirit speak your name?

Repent!  Be sorrowful! And then accept the cleansing power of the Lamb.

Joshua 9:14-15 “14 So the men of Israel took some of their provisions, and did not ask for the counsel of the Lord. 15 Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live; and the leaders of the congregation swore an oath to them.”

TRICKED

Even leaders make mistakes.  Here in this passage it is obvious.  Joshua and the “men of Israel…did not ask for the counsel of the Lord.”  Now, before you start pointing fingers and judging them, how many times have you made a decision without consulting the Lord?  If you are like me, plenty.  Why don’t we learn?

The Gibeonites come up again and again in the Old Testament.  They were an issue with Saul and then David.  All of this could have been avoided if Joshua had stopped and talked to the Lord before making promises.  Hmmm, that sounds like very good advice, doesn’t it?

TEACHING MOMENT

Has your little Gertrude ever invited a friend over to spend the night before asking you?  Has little Johnny promised his friend he could go with him to the movies before asking you?  These are perfect times to talk about this story.  You see, God knew that Canaan needed to be cleared of all the pagan people or His children would be led astray.  He knew what was best for them in the future, in the same way you can know what is best for your child.

Our children need to learn to trust us with their plans while they are small so they can learn to trust the Lord with their future.  Once again, we are modeling for them what the Lord wants to do for them.  But, in order for us to do that, we have to consult the Lord first.  We have to make sure that we are directing them in the way the Lord wants us to.  Isn’t that your desire?  Don’t you want to lead them wisely?

Are you on the wrong path right now?  Is the Lord trying to steer you left but you want to go right?  Is He pointing you in a whole new direction, but you are stubbornly refusing to budge?  Don’t be foolish!  Allow the Lord to guide you.

If there is one promise I can make you it is this.  God will never lead you where He can’t keep you.  If He is leading, you are safe, no matter how dangerous it may appear.  Trust Him!

Joshua 8:1-2 “Now the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Do not fear or be dismayed. Take all the people of war with you and arise, go up to Ai; see, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. 2You shall do to Ai and its king just as you did to Jericho and its king; you shall take only its spoil and its cattle as plunder for yourselves. Set an ambush for the city behind it.’”

REPEAT

What a setback!  This bunch, under Joshua’s leadership, come to the second city in Canaan and get whooped!  They get run off.  Thirty-six men die as they turned their backs and ran from the men of Ai.  But what Joshua didn’t know was there was sin in the camp.  Achan had taken forbidden spoil and the nation (yes, the entire nation) suffered.

So, here we are in chapter 8, and God sends them back to Ai but with a different battle plan.  God is saying, “You aren’t done, yet.  You just have to obey me, and I will be with you.”  In the same way, God tells us today, “Get back up!  Listen to me this time.  I will give you instructions on how to be successful.  But you have to obey me.”

TEACHING MOMENT

If this isn’t a perfect story to teach obedience to our kids, then I don’t know of one.  How much more clear could it be for our kids?  Read them chapters 7 and 8, though.  They need to see the whole story.  They need to see that God gives specific instructions for us.  We don’t have to guess what He wants us to do.  It is very clear.

When we obey the Father, He fights for us.  When we disobey, we suffer the consequences and can even cause others to suffer.  That is why we, as parents, must be clear with our discipline.  We are teaching them spiritual truths through our parenting.  Or at least we should be doing that.

Are you following the Lord’s instructions?  Are you being obedient to what He has called you to do?  Or are you intent on doing things your own way.  I truly believe that we don’t fail God’s tests.  We just repeat them until we get them right.

It is so much better to do it right the first time.  Don’t you agree?

2 Corinthians 4:4 “in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

JUST CAN’T SEE

Do you ever wonder why people you know just don’t understand the love of God?  They doubt His existence.  They ignore His Word.  Well, this verse tells us why.  The “god of this world” has closed their eyes to the things of the Lord.  That “god” does not want them to see the truth, and the only way he can prevent that is by blinding them.

Think about it.  If you were blindfolded where you could see absolutely nothing, how helpless would you be.  I recently saw a blind man in Uganda.  He was being led around by another man.  Where we were walking was riddled with steps, ditches and small walkways over those ditches.  Without his friend, he would have been hopelessly lost and probably hurt.

TEACHING MOMENT

Our children love to play blindfold games.  What a great way to teach them this verse.  Make an obstacle course in your house or on your lawn and have them walk through it without assistance.  Make sure they can’t see at all with those blindfolds and turn them loose.

After failing, take off the blindfold and have them walk it again.  They will probably say, “Mom, that’s silly.  Of course, I can walk it now.  I can see.”  Bingo!  Now give them this truth from God’s Word.

But let me ask you something.  How many days do you tie on the blindfold?  How many times do you try to maneuver through life without allowing the great Guide to guide you?  We think we can handle it on our own, but we can’t.  We need a guide.  We are blind and helpless without Him.

Will you open your eyes?  Will you trust the All Seeing One?  Will you tell the “god of this world” to take his blinders elsewhere?  You know the truth.  Now live it!

Joshua 3:17 “And the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan while all Israel crossed on dry ground, until all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan.”

DRY GROUND

God performed another miracle for the Hebrew children.  This time He parted the waters of the Jordan.  But instead of sending a strong wind to do it over night, like He did at the Red Sea forty years earlier, He simply had the priests step into the flood level Jordan and the water stopped about 12 miles upstream and the rest flowed on down.

But God didn’t stop there.  He DRIED the ground.  With all the women, children and livestock, walking across a recently emptied river bed would have been messy and slow.  So, what did God do?  He dried the ground so they could cross without getting stuck.  God is a God of details.

TEACHING MOMENT

One of the things I grab from this story is that God doesn’t just haphazardly work in our lives.  He is deliberate and thoughtful.  He does things right.  He wants everything to be perfect, as He is perfect.  In fact, He demands that we be perfect, too.  Now, He knows we can’t be, but He still expects us to strive toward perfection by allowing the Holy Spirit to direct us.

Can you imagine what those little children thought when they saw the waters flowing on by and the riverbed dry up?  Talk about that with your kids.  They may have been looking for fish or frogs or other “critters” on the riverbed.  Wouldn’t your little Elrod been doing that?  I sure would have.  Visual this story with your children.  Talk about the miracles God continues to do in our lives every day.

Do you believe God is still a God of miracles?  I do.  I have seen Him do miraculous things.  I got to hold a newborn baby recently.  That’s a miracle.  I had the privilege to lead three people to Christ.  That’s a miracle.  I have seen Him heal people who should have died and have also seen Him heal others by allowing them to die.  Those are both miracles.  Don’t ignore God’s handiwork all around you.

Too many of us want to see a “Jordan” parted.  We ask for those kind of miracles or signs.  But God is working all around us.  He works in ways we cannot see.  Open your eyes and ask Him to reveal Himself to you today.  You might just be surprised at what He is doing in your presence.

2 Corinthians 2:14 “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.” 

SLAVES TO HIM

I can still hear Ron Dunn, an evangelist I knew, preach “Chained to His Chariot.”  He used this text to share how we have been made slaves to Christ through our surrender of our will to His.  Just as the Roman generals would chain their defeated foes to their chariots and lead them into the city upon their return home, we are chained to the “chariot” of Christ, willingly and obediently following Him.

My problem is I keep pulling at the chains.  I want to go my own way.  I want to be identified with Christ, but I also want to be the one leading the chariot.  Have you ever felt that way?  Come on, be honest.  We all do from time to time.

TEACHING MOMENT

Obedience and surrender of our will to the Father is a sweet thing, if we will just do it.  It gives us such freedom because everything becomes the responsibility of the Master.  He directs our every step.  We simply do as He asks.  We are NOT mind numb robots, but we are eager to serve and please Him.

Parents, that is exactly why we teach our children obedience.  We are preparing them to be obedient to the Father.  We are teaching them to be obedient to a future employer.  We are simply teaching them submission.  A child that won’t submit to the authority of their parents is a child destined to struggle in all other relationships in the future.  I truly believe that.

So, are you helping your child by letting them have their way?  Are you really preparing them for a successful future by allowing them to dictate what and when they do things you have asked them to do?  I believe in giving children choices, but there also needs to be some boundaries which they cannot cross.

I don’t know about you, but I need to get back behind that chariot, readjust my chains and simply follow my Master.  Why?  Because I know He will only lead me where He is going!

Best Verse: Psalm 113:3 “From the rising of the sun to its setting the name of the Lord is to be praised.”

FROM SUN UP TO SUN DOWN

This verse in Psalm 113 is pretty clear.  We are to praise the Lord all day, every day.  From the time the sun rises until the sun sets we are to have our minds on Him.  From the time our eyes open until we shut them at night, we should have our focus on Him.

Is that possible? How do you do that?  I do not believe we are to be on our knees all day.  We can’t spend every awake moment in a perpetual state of worship.  We would be so heavenly minded we wouldn’t be any earthly good.  But we can measure all our words and thoughts through Him.  We can bring His Word to remembrance as we converse with others throughout the day.

TEACHING MOMENT

What a sweet concept to teach our children.  If we can get them, at an early age, to keep their minds on the Lord Jesus each day, most of the issues they will face will be much easier.  Notice I said much easier, not easy.  God does not promise us a bed of roses, contrary to what many believe.  My brother-in-law used to say, “The Christian life isn’t for sissies.”  LOL.

But, man oh man, when we have our eyes on Him, it does all make sense.  He will reveal to us, when we are ready, why He allows all things to come our way.  He is constantly preparing us for eternity.  He is chiseling off the big chunks of self and sandpapering the rough edges.  When the Master Builder gets through with us, all others see is Jesus.  Don’t you want that for your child?

How about you, though?  Are you willing to focus your attention on Him?  What might you have to give up each day to do that?  I just returned from a two week trip overseas where I did not have access to television.  I did not miss it one bit.  But just after a couple of days home, I find myself drifting back into the habit or sitting and watching eternally void programs.  I am committing to stop that today.

I know my time, no I should say His time, is much more valuable than tv time.  I am not going to be legalistic about it, but I am going to be more frugal.  I want to give more of myself to Him, so I will become more like Him.  I already have ALL of Him.  He just can’t disclose Himself fully until I am willing to let go of stuff.

Will you join me today in laying it all down from sunup to sundown?  Let King Jesus reign in your life today!!!

Psalm 108:1 “My heart is steadfast, O God; I will sing, I will sing praises, even with my soul.”

UNMOVABLE

I just love this picture of our hearts in this verse.  We who are believers “fix” or “nail down” our hearts with God.  Nothing in this world can move them.  We are attached to God, Whom we know is unmovable.  The gates of hell may come against us, but we shall not be moved.

Have you ever been in a hurricane?  I lived in Florida for 8 years and went through several. The winds can be incredible.  I will never forget during one storm in which the roof of our house creaked and moaned.  It was a category 3 storm and had winds over 111 mph.  The roof held because it was attached properly with hurricane straps.  Even though it felt the brunt of the storm, it held.

TEACHING MOMENT

Teaching our children about being “fixed” on Jesus is an important part of our discipling them. They need to know that when their heart is attached to Him, nothing can move them.  They can decide to move, but that is their choice.  But they cannot blame the world or anything in it.  If they rely on God to keep them fast, there is no power in heaven or on earth that can move them.

Our children will learn that best by watching us face life’s storms.  We should be like the Psalmist in this verse. We should choose to sing praises, even with our souls.  Singing in the midst of storms allows us to practice that peace that comes from within.

Are you praising Him today?  Are you allowing your children to see you remaining steadfast in your heart to God?  If we look toward Him He will hold us close.  He longs to hold us.  He wants to feel us close.  He WANTS us to depend on Him.  There is nothing weak about relying on Him.

The world will tell us we are using Him as a crutch.  That’s okay.  I admit that I am a cripple.  I admit that I am feeble.  I admit that I am helpless.  But with Him as my crutch, I have access to the power of the universe, to the All Powerful One, to the Creator of all things.

Who needs an energy drink or a power booster when you have Jesus!  Stay fixed on Him!

Deuteronomy 34:5-6 “5 So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. 6 And He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor; but no man knows his burial place to this day.”

PRIVATE BURIAL

Isn’t it amazing that the only person whom God buried was buried in a private, “for family only” service?  Why was that?  I think there were a couple of reasons.  First, if the people had known Moses’ gravesite it would have become a shrine.  God did not want that.  Secondly, God needed to be alone with Moses when He died.  He did not want a crowd of millions wailing and crying over Moses’ death.

God had a personal, intimate relationship with Moses.  Perhaps, other than Adam and Eve in the Garden, Moses was the closest to Jehovah.  God loved him and chose him for a very specific purpose.  Now that was done, God wanted Moses to come home, his real home – Glory.

TEACHING MOMENT

Death is reality.  We parents do not need to shield our children from this.  They need to know that when someone dies, we will NOT see them again this side of eternity.  Depending on their salvation status (saved or lost) we may or may not see them there.  Telling our children anything else is deceptive and not helpful.  You need to decide at what age it is appropriate for them to know this, but don’t hide this truth from them.

I have heard parents tell their children that grandma or grandpa had to “go away” and one day they would see them again in heaven.  Two things are wrong with this.  They didn’t “go away.”  They died.  And secondly, they will only see them again if they both end up in the same place, heaven or hell.

This may be the heaviest devotion I have written.  Speaking of where someone will spend eternity is sobering, but it is so important.  Are you sure where you are going one day?  Do you know for sure that you will spend eternity with our loving Savior?

How about your children?  Have they asked the Lord Jesus in their hearts to secure their name in the Lamb’s Book of Life?  There is no other decision on earth that is more important.

When others come to your graveside one day (should the Lord tarry His return), what will they say?  Will they know where your spirit is residing at that moment.  Let them know while you are still alive that you will be HOME!