If you are tired of defeat and being trampled underfoot, obeying these five commands that God gave Joshua will lead you to victory.
At that time, Moses had passed away and could not enter the promised land, but he had led God’s people to the border. Now, with a new leader named Joshua, the people of God were ready to finish the journey and enter the promised land. They only had to obey these five commands. As a result, they would receive a blessing for obeying each one. These are five steps to success.
If you take these same five steps, God will give you the same blessings that He gave the Israelites. Do not ignore these steps or let Satan rob you of your success, or your enemies will continue to oppress you as Israel’s enemies oppressed it. Prepare now to enter your promised land, and get ready to defeat your enemies by taking these five steps in obedience to God.
- “Get up and cross over the Jordan—you and all this people—to the land that I am giving to the children of Israel” (Josh. 1:2b). In other words, rise up, get off your couch or wherever you are, and by faith get going. Move! God cannot guide you to your promised land until you start walking by faith. If you go in the wrong direction, He will direct your steps in the right direction. But get going.
Start crossing the roadblocks in your life. Begin climbing over the obstacles in front of you. When you take initiative to cross the turbulent rivers of your life, only then will you begin to transcend them to get beyond them. As a result, the blessing that God will give you is that no one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life (Josh. 1:5).
- “Be strong and courageous” (Josh. 1:6a). It is natural to feel weak and discouraged when you are in a state of wandering about. It is difficult to be on the outside, peering into the window of opportunity and wishing you could grasp it, but the giants in your life overwhelm you instead.
However, if you, by sheer will power and in obedience to God, take action with all the strength that you can muster and be courageous as you cross the Jordan of your life, God will empower you to seize the land He swore to your fathers to give you and those who rely on you as an inheritance (Josh. 1:7).
- “Do not turn aside from it to the right or the left” (Josh. 1:7b). It is tempting to turn away from a fight with those who seem stronger than you. But “He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world” (1 John 4:4b). God did not give you an out. He told you to face the mountain in your life, to climb over it, get around it, tunnel through it or, by faith, command it to move, for nothing is impossible for you (Matt. 17:20). Put on your boxing gloves of faith, and throw your enemy a punch from which he, she or it cannot recover. As a result, you will succeed wherever you go (Josh. 1:7b).
- “This Book of the Law must not depart from your mouth. Meditate on it day and night” (Josh. 1:8a). This is the key to winning every battle. Doing so empowers you to speak God’s word in faith. It is a common thing to put God’s word last in one’s schedule. If tiredness and busyness are common reasons for neglecting God’s word, then these are the reasons why your enemy defeats you, and why you have not crossed over the Jordan of your life nor entered the land God promised you. But when you constantly say no to excuses, God will empower you to act carefully and according to all that is written in His will. “For then you will make your way successful, and you will be wise” (Josh. 1:8b).
- “Pass through the midst of the camp and command the people, ‘Prepare food.'” (Josh. 1:11a). As a leader of those around you, it is your God-given mandate to pass through their midst and command them to gather whatever they need to sustain them for their journey to success. This requires foresight, planting and harvesting, saving, and planning the work and working the plan. Then you and those who depend on you can get to your destination while dealing wisely with your enemies along the way to keep them out of your way. As a result, “you will cross the Jordan to take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess” (Josh. 1:11b).
But it takes commitment to obedience of all God’s commands, and also it takes an answer to God, similarly to the Hebrews’ reply to Joshua, “All that you command us we will do, and wherever you send us we will go” (Josh. 1:16). {eoa}
James F. Linzey studied church growth under C. Pete Wagner and signs and wonders under John Wimber at Fuller Theological Seminary, ministered under John on the Anaheim Vineyard’s Large Ministry Team, and is the chief editor of the Modern English Version Bible.
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