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Joshua 1:6-7 - "Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 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." NASU
A person who is courageous is one who tells himself he is going to be courageous at that moment. We all possess a courageous or brave spirit. Some of us fail at being courageous when we choose not to be. It isn't because we can't. It is because we chose not to be when a challenge arises. When a courageous person is faced with new circumstances or even dangerous situations, he believes he must confront them and does. All one has to do is remember the courageous NYPD and FDNY officers running into the burning twin towers on September 11, 2001 (What has become known as 911) to see courage in action. They chose to enter those towers. It was their choice. They chose to be courageous. There can be no running from the challenge as this would not be a person who is courageous but would be more in line with a person who is cowardly.
Moses had recently died and up to this point Joshua had been Moses' assistant. God spoke directly with Moses and Moses made the decisions based on what God had told him. This is all going to change. God is now going to speak directly to Joshua. Joshua will be the new leader. Joshua will be making decisions based on God's commands. Joshua was going to lead the Israelites into battle and all he has to do is believe God's promises. In Joshua 1:5 God promises him - "No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you." NASU Now it is on Joshua's shoulders to believe what God told him. God tells us the same thing in Hebrews 13:5 - that He will not forsake us. Do you want to be courageous? Then believe God's promises when your faith is being given a test because that is what courageous warriors of God do.
When you take a stand to be courageous it is a mental decision. The more you know God's Word the easier it will be for you to be courageous. I heard a preacher say one time, "If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything." People who know God's Word will not fall for anything or at least they shouldn't. Go ahead make your decision to be strong and courageous today. Stand up to the challenges that are before you today and every day and when you do you will be courageous. Think About These: The courage to speak must be matched by the wisdom to listen. Be bold in what you stand for, but careful in what you fall for. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word
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Jonah 1 :8 - "What have you done to bring this awful storm down upon us?" they demanded. "Who are you? What is your line of work? What country are you from? What is your nationality?" New Living Translation
This storm was happening because Jonah was rebelling against God's command. Does it make you wonder like it does me? Why would Jonah disobey? Why wouldn't he just go to Nineveh and preach like he was asked? Seriously, he is a prophet of God. He knows running away is not going to end well for him. Well, no one ever said, "Being a prophet makes you incredibly smart".
I would suggest asking yourself two questions: First, are you running from God or two are you disobeying Him in some other way. If you are not running or disobeying Him then the odds are you may be the victim of an attack from the evil one (to read more about this read Job 1). The devil has used torture and pain against Christian successfully for a lot of years so there is really no good reason for him to stop using these weapons.
Question 2: -"Who are you? The Lord knows I want to give you a funny answer here but I won't. The Correct Answer - "A man that doesn't want to listen to God." Question 3 - What is your line of work? I am a preacher/prophet or at least I am supposed to be. Question 4 - What country are you from? I am from Israel. Question 5 - What is your nationality?" I am Hebrew. Why are they asking Jonah all of these questions? I believe they are trying to figure out who his god is. One must remember there were a lot of local and national deities and I believe they want to know which god has caused this so that they could appease him or her. Jonah tells them in verse 10 that he is running away from his God. It says the sailors were "terrified" when they heard this and asked him "How could you do this?" Some translations ask "Why have you done this?" Why do we humans violate God's commands on a regular basis? May be we are more like Jonah that we care to admit. What are we going to do? Chapter two verse one says, "Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from inside the fish." The best advice I can give you is to pray to the LORD and ask for His help. What have you done? It may be the only thing you have done is confessed Jesus to be your LORD and Savior and because of your faith the evil one is bringing the hammer down on you. Don't worry, be happy, everything is going to turn out ok for the believers. Notice what God is going to do for those who remain faithful and are permitted to enter in to God's place of rest (Heaven). Rev 21:4 - And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." NKJV Think About These: To succeed in life you must be easy to start and hard to stop. The person who does things that count doesn’t stop and count them. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Jonah 1:1-3 - The word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, 2 "Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me." 3 But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. NASU
He knows the people of Gath-hepher and I would say he became comfortable with his lifestyle there. The problem for Jonah comes when God wants him to leave his comfortable surroundings and go to Nineveh. God's Word doesn't always coincide with our Comfort Zone.
So what road, lane, avenue or freeway is enticing you to start down and get further away from God? There is always an avenue that will take you in the wrong direction. I like to watch the FBI shows that are on TV and when they go to arrest someone and he takes off they always shout "we've got a runner". Well, Jonah is a "runner". He is trying to run away from God. Jonah went down to Joppa and then down into the hull of the ship. He would soon find out that it is impossible to run from God when there is something He wants you to accomplish for Him. What is it that God wants you to accomplish?
Jonah knows this storm has come because he is running from God. He even tells them how to make the storm stop. He says to them pick me up and throw me overboard. The men don't want to do that because they are afraid that their god would hold them accountable for this man's blood. They cared more for Jonah than Jonah did for them or the people in Nineveh.
Jonah was a runner and he is soon going to find out you can't out run God. Don't be a runner as in a person who runs away from God. Be the type of runner that runs toward God. You will most likely be amazed at what exciting adventure God has in store for you. Many times you will have to leave your comfort zone. Are you prepared to leave your comfort zone for an exciting adventure with God? Think About These: God is like oxygen. You can't see Him but you need Him to survive. When God puts something on your heart that means it is on His heart also. Faith isn't a feeling. It's a choice to trust God even when the road ahead seems uncertain. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Num. 1-4 - Now the people became like those who complain of adversity in the hearing of the LORD;…The people therefore cried out to Moses, The rabble who were among them had greedy desires; and also the sons of Israel wept again and said, "Who will give us meat to eat?..."
Num. 11:10-15 - Now Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, each man at the doorway of his tent; and the anger of the LORD was kindled greatly, and Moses was displeased. 11 So Moses said to the LORD, "Why have You been so hard on Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid the burden of all this people on me? 12 "Was it I who conceived all this people? Was it I who brought them forth, that You should say to me, 'Carry them in your bosom as a nurse carries a nursing infant, … 13 "Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me, saying, 'Give us meat that we may eat!' 14 " I alone am not able to carry all this people, because it is too burdensome for me. 15 " So if You are going to deal thus with me, please kill me at once,… Num. 12:1-8 - Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married … 2 and they said, "Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?" And the LORD heard it. 3 (Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.) 4 Suddenly the LORD said to Moses and Aaron and to Miriam, "You three come out to the tent of meeting." So the three of them came out. 5 Then the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the doorway of the tent, and He called Aaron and Miriam. When they had both come forward, 6 He said, "Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, shall make Myself known to him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream. 7 "Not so, with My servant Moses, He is faithful in all My household; 8 With him I speak mouth to mouth, Even openly, and not in dark sayings, And he beholds the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid To speak against My servant, against Moses?" NASU
The LORD has used Moses to free the Israelites from Egyptian bondage, all of the extremely hard work the Pharaoh had them doing and now they are complaining about their living conditions. THEY ARE FREE! No one is beating them with whips and what are they doing? They are complaining. You start a business and treat your employees well. The news gets out that you are a great company to work for and people now want to work for you. You give some of these people a job. When compared to their old job the working conditions with you are fabulous. Where they were before was pure hell. In six months to a year these same people have now started to complain about you exactly like the Israelites were complaining about Moses who freed them from being SLAVES. You freed them from what they use to call hell and now they are complaining about you.
OT:6035 `anav (aw-nawv'); or [by intermixture with OT:6041] `anayv (aw-nawv'); from OT:6031; depressed (figuratively), in mind (gentle) or circumstances (needy, especially saintly): (Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.) Listen, it only makes sense. Everyone is complaining to or about Moses'. The Israelites, Miriam and Aaron are all complaining about him. He is totally exhausted. He can't take it any longer. What does he do? He goes to the LORD and lays out his case. 11 So Moses said to the LORD, "Why have You been so hard on Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid the burden of all this people on me? 12 "Was it I who conceived all this people? Was it I who brought them forth, that You should say to me, 'Carry them in your bosom as a nurse carries a nursing infant, to the land which You swore to their fathers'? 13 "Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me, saying, 'Give us meat that we may eat!' 14 " I alone am not able to carry all this people, because it is too burdensome for me. 15 " So if You are going to deal thus with me, please kill me at once,… I ask you one question does that sound like a "humble person" or a "depressed person"? Depressed people want to die not humble people.
Have you ever wanted God to just give you a sign that you are on the right track? If yes, then you are a leader. Do you know what God did for Moses? He gave Him the sign he needed. You know what the sign was? It was affirmation. When you read Chapter 12 you will notice that God calls for a meeting. He wants Miriam, Aaron and Moses front and center. Notice what God says, "You three come out to the tent of meeting." Miriam and Aaron had been complaining about Moses'. They were saying, we are just as important as Moses is. Hasn't God spoken through us as well? Oh boy, they have crossed the line now. The bottom line is this God calls them out and lets them know that Moses is His Servant and He wants to know why they were not afraid to speak against His Servant.
Moses is given the affirmation from God that will be the fuel that he needs to carry on to the next project God has for him. What do I know about leadership it is a very lonely job and most times it leads one to a state of depression and just when you think you can't go another day God comes to the rescue. When you think you're lonely you really aren't because God is closer than you know. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word Luke 10:20 - "Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven." NASU
Well, they went out like He said and they were actually able to accomplish what He had asked of them. They come back all fired up. I mean they are excited. The exuberance is overflowing from them. They inform Jesus that even the demons have to listen to them when they cast them out in His name.
Jesus says, "Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you. "Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven." If you have experienced some great accomplishment(s) in your life it is okay to be happy and excited, but don't forget Jesus said this, if you want to rejoice in something rejoice in this, "that your names are recorded in heaven."
It is easy for us to lose sight of our goal from time to time. So let me encourage you to never lose sight of the fact that if you are a Christian your name is recorded in heaven. This world is not our home we are just passing through. The best news we will ever hear is our name is recorded in heaven. When we think about that truth for 10-15 minutes it seems to make the troubles we face less stressful. In fact, I would say our troubles completely vanish when compared to the "good news" that our names are recorded in Heaven. I would like for you to say this to yourself numerous times today: Your Name, rejoice because your name is recorded in heaven. When I say it I will say it this way: Gary Serago, rejoice because your name is recorded in heaven. Now you say it using your name. Think About These: He who seldom thinks of heaven is not likely to get there. The road to heaven is never overcrowded. Stay Pumped, Gary A. Serago Minister of God's Word |
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