21 Days: Day 9

Devotional:Welcome to another day of 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting! We are in Joshua 3 this week, and something I really love about Joshua is that he is such a strong leader. He was always listening to God and then obeying Him. He had a level of trust in God that was particularly unique. I suspect a good reason for that was because he had walked with Moses. Joshua got to be the right-hand man to Moses. Moses had all sorts of miracles happen from the time he was standing before Pharaoh and along the way through the desert, and he heard from God directly. Joshua got to see those things. Joshua had a front row seat of learning and understanding of what it meant to listen to God and then to obey him. Through that, he learned how to trust God as well, and to walk intimately connected to the Lord.In Joshua 3, we see that the Israelites are camped next to the river named Jordan, and they are getting ready to cross over to the promised land. You might think that the promised land was promised to Moses, but it actually goes all the way back to Abraham. It was a promise that God made with Abraham that his descendants would occupy this land. We don't see it right away, but we see that after all this time, Joshua gets to be the leader that leads all of these Israelites over into this promised land. He had already been there, and he had scoped it out. He had seen that this is going to be good, even though a lot of other people doubted it. When others saw the scenario, they said it looked impossible. When Joshua saw the scenario, he said, “we got this.”They're getting ready to go and Joshua 3:3-4 says, “giving orders to the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the Levitical priests carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. THEN you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about two thousand cubits between you and the ark; do not go near it.”Now this is what I love, that as we do this, then that will happen. I love it when the scripture kind of lays this out for us. He says, when you see this happening, you have an obligation. Get up and go, then you're going to know where to go. You don't know the way ahead of you, you don't know what's going to be out there. You've never been this way before, but you are going to know, because that ark of the covenant was a representation of the presence of God and of His great power. And if you're following after that, that's going to lead you in the right direction.I love it when scripture says you don't know where to go, but follow this, then you're going to find out. I love that because there's been times in my life as well when I felt like God was leading me somewhere, but I had no clue where I was going. There was so much uncertainty and so much unknown. But at the same time, if I go back a couple of chapters, God had told me in this book as well to be strong and courageous because I'm going to be with you. It didn't really matter where I was going, and it didn't really matter what I was getting into. What mattered is that God was with me and that he was always going to be with me no matter where I went, so I could trust him. My challenge in trusting him is to just take the step that I need to take, because he's leading me somewhere, and I know that he's got my back.Further in Joshua 3:5 it says, “Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.”” I don't think Joshua even knew clearly what was going to happen, but he knew who his God was, and he had seen his God time and time again, doing incredible and amazing things. He does miracles. He makes a way where there's no way. When these priests stepped out into the Jordan River, God caused the waters to literally stop and pile up before the waters got to where they were. The people walked across the river on dry ground. God was about to do something incredible. I believe deeply that if He did it then, He can still do it in my life and he's going to do it in your life.So here's what I want you to remember today… do this, then that. Your “do this” is just take this step, whatever it is that God is asking you to do, then trust and know that amazing things are ahead.Prayer:Father God, thank you so much for this time. Thank you for the people who are just obediently following after you, who are seeking you in this time. I ask that you make yourself so very known to them. That your presence is just as abundant among them, and that their lives are changed. Change us and edify through this time, Lord, and may your will be done in our lives. Give us the courage to follow you no matter what that looks like. We ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.Thank you for joining us today for 21 Days! Tune in tomorrow and we'll have another devotional for you. Join us every Tuesday night at 6:30pm at each location as we gather together to worship, have a devotional, and pray together during these 21 Day of Prayer and Fasting.