Try Again

Wow! I read a great devotional by Max Lucado this morning. Here's part of it.

The Bible says that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1). Thousands upon thousands of saved saints are looking down on us. Abraham. Peter. David. Paul... and Joshua. Your grandma, uncle, neighbor, coach. They’ve seen God’s great grace, and they are all pulling for you.

Press your ear against the curtain of eternity and listen. Do you hear them? They are chanting your name. They are pulling for you to keep going.

“Don’t quit!”

“It’s worth it!”

“Try again!”

After reading this, it reminded me of how many times I have failed at something and wanted to quit forever. Maybe you have done the same thing. 

Maybe you set goals about trying to implement a quiet time and it lasted a week. Or maybe you set a goal to lose weight or exercise and you were eating brownies by the second day. Perhaps your goal is to really be patient with your coworkers and show Christ to them but after a really stressful day, you found yourself acting like an unsaved person. I hate when I do that.

I have the very best intentions and set wonderful goals about what I want to accomplish. I want to write this blog everyday and I can't seem to do it. But the enemy wants to kill, steal and destroy. He genuinely wants us to fail. And he knows what triggers to push. When he makes me stumble, I want to give up say, "I am not equipped to do this."

This verse was a much needed reminder that "we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses" who are cheering us on. What a smile this brings to my face. Moses is cheering me on and I will thank him one day when we meet. Abraham and Joshua and Joseph and some of my other favorites want me to be "fit" and they are cheering me on. They are cheering you on, as well. So pick up the pieces and get busy!

Face your Enemies

““So get started. Purify the people. Tell them: Get ready for tomorrow by purifying yourselves. For this is what GOD, the God of Israel, says: There are cursed things in the camp. You won’t be able to face your enemies until you have gotten rid of these cursed things.”
Joshua 7:13 MSG

If you feel any calling at all towards leadership, devour the book of Joshua. You will not be disappointed. My reading today had so many things I could write about that it was hard to decide. But this verse stuck out more than any other.

I will NOT be able to face my enemies until I get rid of these cursed things. I actually wrote a blog yesterday about getting rid of the idols I worship but I never posted it. When I read these verses this morning, I realized I was on the right track.

First of all, identify your idols. I made the word plural because if you worship one idol, there is bound to be others. To worship an idol means you have a heart issue, a trust issue. How to tell if you have an idol...the habits that "bite back if you poke at them." Is food your idol? Is it money? Relationships? Is it "likes" on Facebook?

See there are good habits that only bring you joy and peace like reading the Bible or praying about everything. Those habits will never harm you but they will strengthen you.

When you figure out the cursed idol that you have allowed in your camp, it says simply, "Get rid of it." You can't defeat the enemy until you remove the cursed thing. It may take a stick of dynamite to remove it instead of just a small nudge. We just want to stare at the idol or put it away until another day or ignore it.

If it is a food issue, you may have to say goodbye to some foods forever like cheesecake or fried foods or candy bars. I don't know what your idol is. If it is a possesions issue, give half of it away:):):). Joshua woke up at the crack of dawn and dealt with the issue. The next battle was a resounding victory because they had dealt with the stolen idols. I want some victories in my life. God is telling me plainly how to have those victories!

Like

Like

Love

Haha

Wow

Sad

Angry

Comment

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

“The men of Israel looked them over and accepted the evidence. But they didn’t ask GOD about it.”
Joshua 9:14 MSG

If you don't remember the story, I will remind you. Joshua's fame spread through the countries that God had promised the Israelites. There was a justified fear. "Because it was told to your servants for a certainty that the Lord your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you—so we feared greatly for our lives because of you and did this thing.”
Joshua 9:24 ESV

The Gibeonites deceived them into thinking that they were a far away country. The children of Israel bought the story and made peace with them. They were bound to carry this group around forever. They took on dead weight that they did not need.

I have done that many times. I have made decisions without seeking the Lord guidance. I bought the story that the salesman told me about how much I needed the item he was selling. For years I would have to carry that purchase and clean it and repair it and maintain it. It could have been avoided if I had sought the Lord's guidance before I bought the lie.

God cares about every decision that I make, whether it is big or small. He never fusses at me for asking for wisdom.
“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”
James 1:5 NIV

Get Started

“All the Israelites gathered together at Shiloh where they set up the Meeting Tent. The Israelites controlled that country. They had defeated all the enemies in that land. But at this time there were still seven tribes of Israel that had not yet received their land. So Joshua said to the Israelites, “Why do you wait so long to take your land? The Lord, the God of your ancestors, has given this land to you.”
Joshua 18:1-3 ERV

This is another one of those verses that I forget is in the Bible:). Maybe only a teacher can see the similarity to her students and the children of Israel. Joshua is a little surprised that the promised land is conquered and yet still undivided. The next verses in the Bible are a list from Joshua of what needs to be done to divide the land.

It made me smile because it really sounds like an email I got last night from a student. He just can't take any steps without me to get ready for a test we are having today. Joshua is probably feeling the same way with the children of Israel.

Just like my student and just like the Israelites, they don't seem to want to think for themselves. But wait...am I like that sometimes? There are some obvious steps that I can take to "become fit for his glory." I just seem to want to wait until someone kicks me to make me get started. I already know what to do-maybe today is a good day to start.

Place of Refuge

“Then GOD spoke to Joshua: “Tell the People of Israel: Designate the asylum-cities, as I instructed you through Moses, so that anyone who kills a person accidentally—that is, unintentionally—may flee there as a safe place of asylum from the avenger of blood.

“A person shall escape for refuge to one of these cities, stand at the entrance to the city gate, and lay out his case before the city’s leaders. The leaders must then take him into the city among them and give him a place to live with them. “If the avenger of blood chases after him, they must not give him up—he didn’t intend to kill the person; there was no history of ill-feeling. He may stay in that city until he has stood trial before the congregation and until the death of the current high priest. Then he may go back to his own home in his hometown from which he fled.””
Joshua 20:1-6 MSG

if you ever have read through the Old Testament, these verse were probably some that you skipped:):):). God commanded them to create cities that provided a place of protection if someone killed someone by accident.

I was thinking about the principal behind this verse this morning and a comforting thought came to me. As Christians, we need people who provide a place of refugee when we really mess up unintentionally. I have done this many times. Maybe I was so tired, I said something without thinking that hurt someone's feeling. Perhaps I did not know all the facts and I made a terrible choice. Last month at school, I walked out at 4:00 and totally forgot the faculty meeting. Totally forgot!

When that happened, it is nice to know that there may be a friend, family member or co-worker who will defend my innocence and not crucify me with gossip.

Works both ways-I can be a place of refugee to someone. I can be a person they will run to and I can help until their innocence is declared. I can stop the gossip mill by not adding to the accusations.

Lord, thank you for providing places of refuge when I need it. My sisters, friends and co-workers are a gift to me. Remind me to be that for them when they need it.

Deal With Your Anger

Ephesians 4:26-27 ERV

“When you are angry, don’t let that anger make you sin,” and don’t stay angry all day. Don’t give the devil a way to defeat you.”God understands that we will get angry. We can get really angry. We can be disappointed. We can believe that life is unfair. But for our own good, we have to work through our anger and disappointment. There must be an end to the anger. Allow God to bring his perspective to our situation. Plead for his help in dealing with the anger.

Because if we don't...the devil will defeat us. We must realize that the enemy wants us to stay angry, to think that life is unfair, to think that God can not take care of us. The more we allow the anger and resentment to reside in our hearts, the more we allow a bigger foothold for the enemy.

I am thankful that God says in his word that "when you angry." I am always relieved that the book of Job is in the Bible. Job whined for about 40 chapters. But there was an end to it. There must be an end to our anger and bad attitudes-for our own good.

What does your soil look like today?

"Listen. What do you make of this? A farmer planted seed. As he scattered the seed, some of it fell on the road and birds ate it. Some fell in the gravel; it sprouted quickly but didn't put down roots, so when the sun came up it withered just as quickly. Some fell in the weeds; as it came up, it was strangled among the weeds and nothing came of it. Some fell on good earth and came up with a flourish, producing a harvest exceeding his wildest dreams. (Mark 4:3 MSG)

One of my favorite things to do is to plant flowers! I love when it is time to go and buy some old favorites and try a couple of new kinds of plants, as well. I am saying the obvious when I state that the soil needs to be dark and rich and loose. You just know when you plant that flower in that rich soil,  that as long as you supply the water, it will be amazing.

God is continuing to throw out seeds(his word) to us. We read the Bible, we listen to podcasts, we buy books, we read devotionals, we hear great wisdom from friends...you name it. The problem is not  that the word is weak and powerless, but the soil is not the best. Sometimes I read the most amazing scripture in the morning and as soon as I read it, I do not even remember what I read. Other times, I read it and I am excited but my heart is gravelly because of complacency in my walk with the Lord and my lack of character. So it never puts down a root, when a difficulty arrives.

I especially saddened by the soil cast in weeds.

“but their lives become full of other things: the worries of this life, the love of money, and everything else they want. This keeps the teaching from growing, and it does not produce a crop in their lives.”
‭‭Mark‬ ‭4:19‬ ‭ERV‬‬

I want to have the kind of soil that when I hear the word, and the word will be perfect and powerful and just and true, I want to embrace the truth and produce a harvest beyond my wildest dreams. The problem will not be with the seed but with my soil.