Bible Studies

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Making Your Way Prosperous Through the Word

1 After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses' aide: 2 "Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. 3 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. 4 Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Great Sea on the west. 5 No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.
6 "Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. 7 Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. 8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:1-9

Moses my servant is dead.
It is good to mourn. We’re all human. And this is the case here Moses, the great man of God was gone. Dead and gone. Here was not coming back regardless how the Israelites grieve about him. The reins of authority were now on the shoulders of Joshua, the commander-in-Chief. God had transferred the command to him when Moses laid hands on him.
God did not mince words when he visited him.’ Moses is dead’ he told him. Get to grips with it. It is time to move on.
God wants us to mourn, but not to mourn as those who do not have hope.

Get ready to cross the River Jordan into the Promised Land.
God has a promised Land for each one of us. This is constitutes the vision He has for us , that Land of good things, the purpose for our lives, the dream for which we live , the reason for our being. He said in the bok of Jeremiah,

11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.(Jer 29:11-13)

God has a future filled with hope for each one of us and we need to prepare to enter that Land.

9However, as it is written:
"No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him"— 10but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.
The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.
(2Cor2:9-10)

God has glorious things in store for you and me and we are introduced to them by the Holy Spirit

The Land Is already ours in God’s mind.
In verse three God tells Joshua that ‘wherever the soles of your feet shall tread I have given you’.(KJV) In other words, in His mind it is a done deal. As we approach the promised, we need to see things form His point of view regardless of the obstacles we see.

The Premise of the Promise
We stand on these promises in our walk of faith. We have exceeding great and precious promises through the knowledge of Jesus. His promises are yes and amen in Christ Jesus. We obtain the promises through patience.

'...who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,(Heb11:33)
'..But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.(Heb8:6)

His presence is Of the Essence
God promised His presence to Joshua and the same promise is for us. Jesus told his disciples:

18Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."Matt28:18-20

Be strong and Courageous
Notice that this was repeated three times in verses 6,7 and 9. This is emphasising the fact that you and I would need strength and courage. There would be many situations that will tend to discourage you and I on our way to the Promised Land, but we must be strong and courageous.
V8 gives us the blue print for well-being - prosperity in the promised Land.
The word of God must be the focus. We must look at it like a mirror and see what we really are.’ It must not depart out of sight.’ We must meditate on it (ponder on it, mutter it to ourselves) daily ( day and night), not once in a while. We must live in it like John 15 tells us. We must delight in it more than our daily food as Job tells us. We must love it and eat it like Jeremiah did.

The purpose
The reason for meditating on the word of God is not to have a head full of His word but a heart empty of it. It is for the word to motivate us to do it , live it, mirror it as to obtain the promises and be successful.
The benefit of Doing the Word of God is clear:
to obtain the promises.
‘You will make your way prosperous.’
God has given us the blue print for our well- being. So when we are not having it as He said we should, we need to examine ourselves and see where we’re getting it wrong.
Always there it is a timing and season involved in the realisation of the promises of God and we need to know the correct timing otherwise we might be too hard on ourselves and become very frustratedand give up before the time.
God is for us, He wants us to be successful. It is up to us to pay the price for the prize.

Let them shout for joy and be glad, Who favor my righteous cause; And let them say continually, “Let the LORD be magnified, Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.”Prov.35:27

Good Success
If there is a good success, then there is a bad success. Often prosperity is equated with having lots of money, houses, cars and the like. This is ‘goods’ success. God wants us to have God’ Success which is Good Success. He wants us to be successful in spirit soul, and body; to be prosperous in every respect-not just materially.
'Goods Success' could be misleading and can be destructive hence the word of God tells us the prosperity of the fool shall destroy him.

For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.Prov.1:32 KJV

Questions to consolidate your studies

What should our attitude be towards our losses?
Do you have a Promised Land?
Do you know what it is?
Why should we go forward towards our Promised Land?
Apart from giving us our Promised Land what else has the Lord promised?
Why do we need to be strong and courageous?
What is the blue-print of God for Success?
What is the purpose of living in God’s word?
What is the purpose of Prosperity?
What do we need to consider if the promises of God are not yet realised?
What is the difference between Goods Success and Good Success?
What is the danger of prospering outside God?

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