Joshua 1:1-6 - God's Great Promises

First, today on this beautiful Sunday here in North Carolina, I want to give a shoutout to all the awesome mothers out there. Happy Mother’s Day! I have been blessed to have two of the greatest mothers in all the world in my life. My mother, Albertina Agnes Kozlovsky Grooms, was a Godly mother who loved and prayed for all her children and grandchildren and was a beautiful example of the Proverbs 31 wife and mother! She went to be with the Lord on October 11, 2018 at 90 years of age. We all dearly miss her and today we honor her memory! The other great mother, of course, is my wife, Edith Obenshain Grooms! She has also loved and blessed our five children and grandchildren with her prayers and sacrificial service and Godly example! The world is definitely a better place because of her! Happy Mothers Day!!!!!   We all face difficult challenges in life and need encouragement and motivation to overcome and deal with them. Joshua is a great book to teach how we can by faith find our greatest encouragement from the Lord and experience and enjoy blessed and victorious lives despite our circumstances and problems.   The last couple of days we learned how Joshua was encouraged by God because he had a definite calling and commission. He knew God placed him in his role of leadership and had given him specific instructions as to what His will and plan for his life was. Whenever we know that the Lord has called us and given us a commission, we can have confidence and courage to face whatever we must deal with.   God gave Joshua a threefold task to perform and for each of those three tasks, God gave him three special promises. God promised He would enable Joshua to cross the river and claim the land (vv. 3-4). God promised Joshua that he would defeat the enemy (v. 5). And God promised Joshua that he would be to one to apportion the land to each tribe as its inheritance (v. 6). God didn't give Joshua explanations as to how He would accomplish these things, because God's people live on promises and not on explanations. When you trust God's promises and step out by faith (v. 3), you can be sure that the Lord will give you the directions you need when you need them.   First, God promised Joshua that Israel would enter the land (vv. 3-4). Over the centuries God had reaffirmed this promise, from His first words to Abraham (Gen. 12) to His last words to Moses (Deut. 34:4). God would take them over the Jordan and into enemy territory. He then would enable them to claim for themselves the land that He had promised them. There would be no repetition of the fear and unbelief that had brought the nation into defeat at Kadesh Barnea (Num. 13). God had already given them the land; it was their responsibility now to step out by faith and claim it (Josh 1:3; see Gen. 13:14-18). The same promise of victory that God had given to Moses (Num. 11:22-25), He reaffirmed to Joshua; and He carefully defined the borders of the land.   The lesson for God's people today is clear: God has given us all spiritual blessings...in Christ" (Eph. 1:3), and we must step out by faith and claim them. He has set before His church an open door that nobody can close (Rev. 3:8), and we must walk through that door by faith and claim new territory for the Lord. It is impossible to stand still in Christian life and service; for when you stand still, you immediately start going backward. "Let us go on!" is God's challenge to His church (Heb. 6:1), and that means moving ahead into new territory. The Bible is a Book of Promises! May the Lord give us grace to believe and by faith claim them for our lives and families today!   God bless!