Joshua 1:9 The Message (MSG) “Make sure you carry out The Revelation that Moses commanded you, every bit of it. Don’t get off track, either left or right, so as to make sure you get to where you’re going. And don’t for a minute let this Book of The Revelation be out of mind. Ponder and meditate on it day and night, making sure you practice everything written in it. Then you’ll get where you’re going; then you’ll succeed. Haven’t I commanded you? Strength! Courage! Don’t be timid; don’t get discouraged. God, your God, is with you every step you take.”
In Joshua 1:9, there was nothing left to chance in the instructions that God gave to Joshua, Moses’ successor. It was a great task ahead of him to lead the Children of Israel, and he had to make sure to get to where God wanted them to go. Heavenly Father fully prepared Joshua for what laid ahead. The instruction was easy to understand, encouraging, and to the point. It begs us to ask ourselves why did God instruct Joshua in this way? The answer is simple; He didn’t want Joshua to miss a beat. God had a plan for the Children of Israel, and the way for them to be blessed and remain under God’s protection was to follow God’s instruction to the letter. The same goes for us today.
God laid out the recipe to succeed and claim the promise He made to the Children of Israel. They were told to think on His Words day and night, and meditate on them. This was the mental part of God’s instruction, and it was extremely important. The mind is where the battles of spiritual warfare are fought. When we think back to Adam and Eve, we have the first record of satan’s deceptive tricks. The first thing that the enemy did was to plant a seed of doubt in Eve’s mind.
Like He had done with Joshua, God gave Adam and Eve very specific instructions. In Genesis 2:17, God told them that if they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, “thou shalt surely die.” The enemy told them in Genesis 3:4, “Ye shall not surely die.” The enemy used God’s very Words to manipulate their minds, and caused them to entertain the idea that Heavenly Father was withholding blessings from them. They doubted God’s Word and gave in to the spirit of disobedience.
This paints a very good picture for us of how fickle an undisciplined mind can be. Jesus Christ spoke on this when he told the Pharisees in Matthew 12:34 The Message (MSG), “You have minds like a snake pit! How do you suppose what you say is worth anything when you are so foul-minded?” God created our minds to be fertile ground upon which good things could be planted, and then harvested. When we put God’s Word in our minds, the outcomes we experience in life will be pleasing to us. God’s Word will produce a good harvest, but when we don’t put it on in our minds, our lives will take on a very negative tone.
God told Joshua to make sure he kept the instructions He had given him in his mind and heart, so that if there was a chance, (and we know there always is) that he slipped up, he’d remember the Word of the Lord, and he would stay encouraged and continue to press his way through.
There is so much disruption and chaos happening in the world around us, and much like it was for Joshua and the Children of Israel, there’s a lot at stake for us too. We don’t want to miss out on what God has for us. As His kids living in this day and time, we don’t have the luxury of sleeping on any of His Word. We have to know it for ourselves. It’s the key that unlocks the door to all the good things that God has in store for us.
We have a destination that God has ordained for our lives. We may not know all the ins and outs; we do not know the turns, twists, and tosses that we may encounter in route, but we have God’s assurance that if we follow His roadmap, we will reach the destination that He has planned for us safe and sound.
2 Timothy 1:13-14The Message (MSG) tells us, “So keep at your work, this faith and love rooted in Christ, exactly as I set it out for you. It’s as sound as the day you first heard it from me. Guard this precious thing placed in your custody by the Holy Spirit who works in us.” Our concerns must be focused on the reality that we very definitely have a destiny in Christ. It’s what God has planned for us; and it requires us to have our minds prepared by anchoring our thoughts in His Word. This is what we should be focused on daily. It’s required to get to where we’re going. ■
Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.
“Get to Where You’re Going”, written by Kim Times, edited by Rev. F. Mack for Sundie Morning Sistas ©2017. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ, our Lord! SMS is dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Christian Women through the Word of God.