Today we continue our series entitled, “Pursuing Grace-Based Success!”
Here are our foundational scriptures:
(Ephesians 2:8-10 ERV)
8 I mean that you have been saved by grace because you believed. You did not save yourselves; it was a gift from God.
9 You are not saved by the things you have done, so there is nothing to boast about.
10 God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us new people so that we would spend our lives doing the good things he had already planned for us to do.
(1 Corinthians 1:30,31 NLT)
30 God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin.
31 Therefore, as the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord.”
(2 Timothy 1:9 NKJV)
Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.
We have been looking at Joshua 1:8 for today. Today we will also look at verses 16-18.
(Joshua 1:8 KJV)
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
(Joshua 1:16-18 ERV)
16 Then the people answered Joshua, “We will do whatever you command us to do. We will go wherever you tell us to go.
17 We will obey whatever you say, just as we obeyed Moses. We only ask that the Lord your God be with you just as he was with Moses.
18 Then anyone who refuses to obey your commands or turns against you will be killed. Just be strong and brave!”
So what does this mean for you today? A few things about Godly leadership.
1. Don’t take on the pressure to perform as a leader.
— Joshua was facing a tremendous challenge. The onus and the spotlight were on him. Moses was dead. Millions of people were looking to him for guidance. Thousands of families were banking their future on every word from Joshua’s mouth. If Joshua took on the pressure to perform, it would be enough to make any man buckle. But God did not want Joshua to take on that kind of pressure. God did not expect him to operate in human ability alone. The grace of God was on Joshua to succeed. Joshua simply needed to think like God, speak like God, and then do whatever he was led by God to do.
— If you take on human pressure to perform what God called you to do, it will lead to fear, frustration, doubt, and stress. Because you CANNOT accomplish God’s will for your life from a human point of view.
— It has been said, and I agree, that pressure can burst a pipe. God calls you to do things that far exceed your power, ability, and strength. So if you take on the pressure to perform and think you need to do all God has called you to do in your own strength, the pressure can cripple you.
— There are many good people who love God, who quit on their divine assignment (leaving what God called them to do), or even quit on life (sadly committing suicide) becuase they could not handle the pressure of their divine assignment. Please don’t let this be you!
— I need you flat-out tell you, without cutting corners, that YOU CANNOT DO what God CALLED You to do without Him. Period! But the good news is that you don’t have to, and God does not expect you to! Without God, you can’t. But with God, you can do all things!
— What God calls you to do is supernatural. So if you try to do it with your own human ability, you will get stressed out and possibly even burned out.
— In Joshua 1:8, the Lord instructed Joshua to keep His Word in Joshua’s MOUTH, MIND, and METHODS. I will briefly speak to each.
a) By keeping God’s Word in his MOUTH, Joshua would not only continually convince himself of God’s commitment to him and the nation of Israel, but by speaking God’s words, Joshua would also convince those who were following him. People want to follow a leader who speaks like a winner, and keeping God’s Word in your MOUTH, on your LIPS, will help you do just that.
b) By keeping God’s Word on his MIND, Joshua would keep his soul in check. Solomon would later write: “Be careful what you think, becuase your thoughts control your life” (Proverbs 4:23). Mental health is a topic that keeps coming up today. People are struggling to maintain peace and confidence in their minds and hearts. This is where meditating and medicating on God’s Word day and night comes in. If you do so, you will have peace and confidence in your soul, which is critical becuase you will never become (on the outside) what you do not believe (on the inside).
c) By keeping God’s Word on MOUTH, MIND, and then METHODS, Joshua would instill confidence in the people. Not just confidence in God but also confidence in his leadership. This is critical as a leader because if you fail to gain the confidence (buy-in) of those you lead, then leadership will be a burden and not a blessing.
*** Leadership is not easy. It is not for the faint of heart. But if you keep God’s Word in your MOUTH, MIND, and METHODS, then you will be in a position to tap into God’s grace to do what you are called to do. Once God’s grace is flowing TO you and THROUGH you, you will find that people will gladly follow you!
*** When the time came for Joshua to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land, the grace of God was already on Joshua to succeed. He just needed to see himself the way God saw him. Joshua needed to believe what God believed about him. What was true for Joshua is true for us. God’s grace is already on us to do what He called us to do. God does not have to give us anything else. Jesus does not have to do anything else. God’s part is done. Our part is to now see ourselves the way God sees us, to believe what God believes about us, and to launch out to DO what He has called us to do. You already have the grace for it. GO DO IT!
2. Learn to think like God and meditate on God’s opinion of you.
— You are the way you THINK you are (Prov 23:7).
— Success and failure both start in the mind.
— The greatest barrier to God’s blessing is your capacity to believe. The more you can believe, the more God can achieve THROUGH you.
— You are only limited by your capacity to believe God. Nothing is impossible to the person who believes (Mark 9:23).
— God is limitless. If you see limits to His operation in your life, you see limits YOU placed there. Remove every artificial limit you have ever placed on your limitless God, and your life will never be the same.
— As a Godly leader, it is critical that you see yourself the way God does and believe what God believes about you because you have your success on the line and people who are counting on you. You have people hanging on every word that comes out of your mouth.
— When you take on the grace to be a leader, you take on the grace to impact the lives of others. When you consider the people God has ASSIGNED to your leadership, you must realize that their prosperity is in your mouth! God puts the keys to their success in your heart, and He expects you to communicate them with confidence and courage. This is how you INSPIRE those you lead. But you will never get there if you can’t INSPIRE and CONVINCE yourself to believe what God is saying!
— Taking control of your thought life and developing a prosperous soul will impact you, but it will also positively impact all those you are graced to lead!
3. Godly leaders gain the confidence of those they are assigned to lead.
We have looked at Joshua 1:1-8 quite a bit. But that has to do with God dealing with Joshua, telling Joshua what to do, and reassuring Joshua that he will be successful. In the latter part of the chapter, we see how the people responded to Joshua once Moses was dead, and he became their leader. They said:
(Joshua 1:16-18 ERV)
16 Then the people answered Joshua, “We will do whatever you command us to do. We will go wherever you tell us to go.
17 We will obey whatever you say, just as we obeyed Moses. We only ask that the Lord your God be with you just as he was with Moses.
18 Then anyone who refuses to obey your commands or turns against you will be killed. Just be strong and brave!”
— When you take on the grace of God to lead, He will empower you to lead supernaturally.
— This is what any leader wants to hear: “We will do whatever… We will go wherever… We will obey whatever… anyone who refuses to obey your commands or turns against you will be killed… be strong and brave!”
Why were the people so passionate about Joshua and his leadership position?
— They knew that their prosperity was in his MOUTH and MIND.
— They knew that God is a God of order and structure. So God works through leadership.
— They knew that God was going to speak to Joshua the same way He did with Moses.
— They already had an example of Godly leadership in Moses. So they knew what to expect. They expected Joshua to be the one who was hearing from God for them. They knew God was going to lead them THROUGH Joshua.
— The leadership structure is God’s idea. The Bible is full of teaching about leadership, organization, and authority. If you don’t like authority, then you don’t like God because He is the one who instituted it.
— If you have a Godly leader, then pray for them and open your heart to what God is saying to you THROUGH them. If you are a Godly leader, then take your responsibility seriously. God has entrusted the lives of others to you. Honor that trust. Seek God and lead them the way He wants you to lead them.
— Once people have confidence in you, as a Godly leader, there is NOTHING you can’t do, and the impact you will make in the lives of others (by God’s grace) will be amazing!
*** This is what Godly success looks like!
Declaration of Faith:
Father, I thank You for teaching me about grace-based success.
I refuse to take on the pressure to perform. I rest in Your grace.
I CAN and WILL do ALL You called me to do!
I see myself the way You see me. I base my opinion of me on Your opinion of me. I am who You say I am. I can do what You say I can do.
I will accomplish all I was born to accomplish. I have the grace to succeed. I am a believer and not a doubter. I walk by faith and not by fear.
I have confidence in You and those I lead have confidence in me. As I follow You, they follow me. You have graced me to lead and I lead with divine confidence.
I lead them and You lead me. Together, we will change the world!
Living this way, I know GREATER IS COMING FOR ME! I declare this by faith. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
This is Today’s Word! Apply it and Prosper.
