Joshua’s Formula For Success (Part 3)

Today we continue our series entitled, “Back to the Bible,” with Part 8: Joshua’s Formula For Success (Part 3).  For the last few days we have been looking at Joshua and the events surrounding the possession of the Promised Land to drive home the importance of meditating and meditating on God’s Word day and night.  The Lord made it explicitly clear to Joshua that his success was tied God’s Word.  If Joshua could keep God’s Word in his mouth, on his mind, and make it the foundation for his actions, he would make his own way prosperous and he would experience divine success.  I believe one of the key aspects of all of this has to do with the way we think and expanding our capacity to believe God.  The more Word we get down in our hearts, the more we expand our capacity to believe in a God of NO LIMITS!  That will be the theme for today’s message. I will with expanding our capacity to believe God, as we learn from the events pertaining to Joshua chapter one.

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. This is why it is important to get God’s Word down in your heart.  The more you think like God, the stronger your endurance will be while you wait on Him to manifest what He promised.

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 the new land.  This was uncharted territory.  The death of Moses marked a new season.  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.  This is how we live the life of faith, and this is why it is critical to meditate and mediate God’s Word.  If you don’t keep God’s Word on your mind and on your lips while you wait on God, your faith will fail along the way.  You then run the risk of missing out on God’s best, and it is not God’s fault.

3.  You are only limited by your capacity to believe God.  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.  However, 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.  If you see a limit, you ARE limited, but you are not being limited by God.  Your lack of belief is actually limiting God’s operating in your life.

e)  You will not receive what you cannot perceive.  In other words, you have to SEE IT before you can BE IT.  This is why it is important to meditate/medicate on the Word of God.  The more Word you get down in your heart, the more you will SEE yourself the way God sees you.  The key is believing what God believes about you!

Closing Confession:  

Father, this is a season of expectation for me.  In this season I make a conscious effort to meditate and medicate on Your Word day and night.  I put Your Word before my eyes every day and I think about it throughout each 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.  I believe what You believe about me!  I will become the man/woman You called me to be. I will complete my divine assignment before I die.  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!