Steadfast and Successful

 

“Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:7 [NASB])

This success is not what we consider as success. It is not rising in the ranks from worker to junior management to upper management. It is not a big salary, elite car, or posh home.

Consider what God imperatively commanded of Joshua. He commanded this of the Israelites, too. God told them to obey His commands that Moses gave them. By doing this, they would succeed.

God knew and we should understand that following Him comes with a cost. That is why He told the Israelites to be strong and courageous. God told them to be resolutely confident and firm in their faith in Him. He knew following Him would need courage. They would need to be steadfast and bold to follow Him, no matter what it costs.

Being God’s children (His people) requires a cost, courage, and confident faith in Him. It definitively gives a reward from Him, too. The reward is the fulfillment of God’s promises to you.

That is the definition of success - you steadfastly following God and His fulfillment of His promises. God only gives good things to His children. He wants the best for each of us. God knows specifically what each of us needs. Often those needs require different things. Whatever the need, God’s filling of that need is success.

Your faithfulness to God, shown by your loving and steadfast obedience and His faithfulness to you, shown by the good gifts - success - given to you, shows the love you have for Him and He for you. It shows your strength and courage in the face of those who set up a stumbling block for you. It shows to them God’s love and faithfulness to you as a shining example of who He is.

God chose the Israelites to be a light on a hill. He chose them to show Him to other nations so that each person would believe in Him. Through the Israelites, God presented His Son as the Messiah, to die for each person’s sins and give each believer in Him forgiveness of those sins and salvation from sin and death. That is the ultimate success God gives. Steadfast and courageous belief in Him in the face of opposition opens the door to receiving the success of good gifts from God that meet our needs and, through us, the needs of other people.

God gives true success to people who are absolutely faithful to Him.

So, be strong and courageous in obediently following God and He will reward you with success, receiving person-specific good gifts from Him.

Listening to His Voice

 

“Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning; For I trust in You; Teach me the way in which I should walk; For to You I lift up my soul. Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies; I take refuge in You. Teach me to do Your will, For You are my God; Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground. For the sake of Your name, O Lord, revive me. In Your righteousness, bring my soul out of trouble. And in Your lovingkindness, cut off my enemies and destroy all those who afflict my soul, For I am Your servant.”

(Psalms 143:8-12 [NASB])

The psalmist basically asked,

Lord, do these things only You can do because You are good. 

Let me hear Your voice.

Teach me to obey You.

Lead me in a way that I do not stumble.

Revive me when I grow faint from troubles.

Bring me out of trouble.

Cut off my enemies.

Destroy those who assault my soul.

Why do I ask? Because I am Your servant.

------------------------------

The psalmist can ask these things from God because he knows God can do them. He’s experienced God doing them and has heard about God’s goodness and power. He trusts God completely with his life. Because of what he knows and believes about God, he can declare himself as God’s follower, His slave.

Do we know God well enough that we entrust our life to Him?

Do we know Him well enough that we proclaim ourselves as His servant,

one who recognizes He is God, and we are far below Him in stature and

one who knows only God can do these things we need, so we ask?

Are you listening for God’s voice?

Are you listening to God’s voice?

Are you obeying what He says?

Are you trusting in God’s leading?

Are you trusting God will revive you when you are weary and overwhelmed?

Are you trusting God will cut off your enemies and lead you out of trouble?

Are you trusting solely in God to defeat Satan’s assaults against you?

-----------------------------------

What God can do and does is far greater than what people and Satan can do. Only God can defeat these adversaries.

You may trust in the wisdom, knowledge, and understanding of other people, but God’s wisdom, knowledge, and understanding surpasses even the wisest person. 

You cannot even trust in yourself to teach, lead, provide, revive, and rescue yourself.

Listen for and to God’s voice and obey Him. He only does good and gives good things.

Decide for yourself now whom you will serve - yourself, other people, or God. Only one is almighty, all-knowing, and good. 

Decide for yourself; “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15)

Stagger Them with Your Power

“Don’t kill them, for my people soon forget such lessons; stagger them with your power, and bring them to their knees, O Lord our shield.” (Psalms 59:11 [NLT])

Who is “them” to David? Saul’s men, who he sent to keep an eye on him.

Who is “them” to you? People, difficulties, anticipated trouble, fear?

Do you need to remember God staggers our enemies with His power? He still staggers Satan with His power. Can you hear God saying to Satan, “You think you know Me? You don’t know just how great and powerful I am. You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”

Are you still in awe of God or have you forgotten the depth of His love for you? Don’t forget about God. Don’t forget His great power that He’ll use for you. God still loves you. He has a plan. If you wonder how God is going to “fix” this problem, hear Him tell Satan, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!” That’s our God. 

Whether we remember Him in our daily lives and crises or not, God is still powerful. He is still majestic. God still knows all things and knows what you are facing.

Worship this God, our God, who David praised before He intervened for him. David was saying through his praises, “Saul, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. My God is almighty!”

What trouble do you need to give to God in praise, knowing God is almighty? He has already taken care of it. There isn’t anything He has not seen. Let God stagger you with His power.