The Response to Faith

Joshua heard the call of God and the command of his God:  “Get the people ready for in three days you shall cross this Jordan and enter the Promised Land. (Joshua 1:11) The land was promised and they must enter it.  The house was there and they did not build it but it must be inhabited.  The produce they did not grow but they must harvest it!  They responded by the Word of the Lord and by the leader – Joshua!  Like the Israelites we must also inhabit the heaven but we must first appropriate it by a living faith. An active faith!  No time to procrastinate!  The old adage “Strike while the iron is hot.”  Delay in itself is disobedience.  There are four characteristics of Joshua that need to be respected in this word:

(1) No absorption of the difficulties confronting him.

(2) No inventing excuses for non-performance of the task.

(3) No tardiness of action.

(4) Prompt obedience.

He responded like David:  Psalm 119:60:  I will hasten and not delay to obey your commands. As ours should be when the Lord commands us to go forward.  Col. 3:23:  Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, nor for men. When we stand debating instead of doing, reasoning instead of running…. Something is seriously wrong!  Disciplined response must be and must remain in the house of God!  The spiritual concept of this word is quite obvious:  We must be equipped for our warfare.  Have confidence in the living God!  We must conduct ourselves as those who have been risen with Christ!  Overcoming the flesh, the world and the Devil!  This can only be done through obedience and faith!  Many have come to the river but never crossed because they lack one of these most important requirements!  Our inheritance is to be enjoyed now: by faith and by hope in Christ Jesus.  We need to set our affections on things above not on this earth!  Prepare your supplies means that we must discharge our responsibilities!  We must have unreserved obedience to the Lord our God!  Remember that we must meet our obligations as Christians and we must abandon the world.  Amen!

Dennis

Remember prayer moves the Hand of God.