This morning we continue our series entitled, “Refined Focus”, with a mini-series within it entitled “Focusing on the Word”. We are using Joshua as a case study. We have looked at the first eight verses in the book of Joshua thus far, as they are key and central to Joshua’s assignment and success. This morning I am led to provide another overview of these verses and the context in which they were written.
So what does this mean to you today? Let’s get into it.
1. If you remain faithful and focused, your day will come. For Joshua it took 40 years. The delay was caused by no fault of his own. But Joshua remained focused for those 40 years until his day came. Make no mistake, we all have to wait on God for things and HOW you wait is critically important.
2. God-sized assignments require total reliance on Him. After the 400 years of slavery were followed by 40 years in the wilderness, Joshua was tasked to lead a new generation to take possession of new land. This was uncharted territory for them. The death of Moses marked a new season and Joshua was charged with leading untested people into battles against tested giants in land familiar to the giants and unfamiliar to them. What’s the point? The point is that God will lead you to do seemingly impossible things. He will say things like, “I am giving this to you”, or “It’s already yours”, even though taking possession of it will require a fight. Joshua had to be strong and very courageous. He had to keep his mind stayed on God. He had to keep his faith switch in the “ON” position. Guess what? You will have to do the same.
3. You are only limited by what you can believe God for. God originally told Abraham that he could have as much land as he could “see”. This was not physical sight, but spiritual. God was giving Abraham all the land he could believe for. 440 years later the Lord described the land to Joshua. He said, “All the land from the desert to Lebanon all the way to the great river (that is, the Euphrates River) and all the land of the Hittites will be yours. And all the land from here to the Mediterranean Sea in the west (that is, the place where the sun sets) will be within your borders.”
a. Abraham and his descendants received to the extent that he was able to believe. The same will be said for you and your descendants.
b. What can you believe God for? God is a God of NO limits, but His operation in your life is actually limited to your capacity to believe.
c. Meditating/medicating on the Word of God will cause you to expand your capacity to believe God. The more you believe, the more you open your heart to receive.
d. Any limit you see in your life, as you walk with God, is a limit you placed there. God doesn’t have limits.
e. It’s hard to receive what you cannot perceive. In other words, you have to SEE IT before you can BE IT. This is why it is so very important that you meditate/medicate on the Word. The more Word you get down in your heart, the more you will SEE yourself the way God sees you. The more you can SEE the more you will BE.
I will stop here for today.
Closing Confession: Father, this is a season of refined focus for me. In this season I make a conscious effort to meditate and medicate on Your Word. I put Your Word before my eyes daily. I think about it every day and throughout the day. Your Words are life to me, they are health and healing to all my flesh. I don’t live by bread only. I live by every Word You speak to me. The more Word I get down in my heart, the more I expand my capacity to believe You, the more I am able to SEE, and the more I am able to BE. Not by my power, but only by Your grace! I declare this by faith! In Jesus’ name. Amen.
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
