Welcome to today's inspiration with my beloved pastor, prophet, Pastor Chris Williams. Give me that just before I noted you all, Ben. We are so glad that you have joined us today, and we pray that this word that comes forth about being strong and courageous in the Lord, that it will strengthen you and encouraging you as you walk out your next days, weeks and months of 2021, we pray that today is the day, that you receive revelation to apply to your life and walk it out. Amen, amen.
I'm glad to be here with my beloved prophet, is Tammy Williams. And almost sounded like that she, because we had three children, and sometimes I would go through all three of the children, and even the dogs before I actually got to the right name. So that's what I thought of when she'd done that. But again, I want to talk about being strong and courageous.
And most people, if I was to say be strong and courageous, they're probably going to go and want to think of Joshua, because that's where it's like said that in the book of Joshua. And you're right, I'm going to go to the book of Joshua, actually Joshua chapter one. And I got verses six through nine, but I'd like to, if my lovely wife will read the one through five first to kind of set the stage. After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass and the Lord spoke to Joshua the son of none.
Moses assisted saying, Moses, my servant is dead. Now therefore arise and go over this Jordan, you and all this people to the land, which I am giving to them, the children of Israel. Verse three says, every place that the soul of your foot would tread upon, I have given you, as I said to Moses. Verse four, from the wilderness and this Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river of Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites and to the great sea, toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory.
Verse five says, no man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life as I was with Moses. So I will be with you, I will not leave you, nor forsake you, how many of us love that one. Be strong and of good courage. For this people you shall divide as inheritance, the land which I swore to the fathers to give him, and I want to stop right there on verse six real quick before my husband takes off.
Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance, the land which I swore you to the fathers to give them. Verse five says, no man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life as I was with Moses. So I will be with you and I will not leave you, nor forsake you. Saints of God, before he gets into the teaching here, these two scriptures are so, so vitally important in the hour we're in.
I know many on here may, and I've been saying this in the last few episodes that you'll notice that we are in America is in a transition. America is in a place of fighting for freedom. America is in a place of uncertainty right now. And I know that you're sitting there going, where is God?
Where was he? What's happened? Why isn't he shown up and waved a sword and fixed everything overnight? But his promise is I'll not leave you no forsake you.
He's not left us, he's not forsaken us. And he is not flying by the seat of his pants that we oftentimes are. He has a plan. And in that plan and during his plan and during his timing, he is telling us be strong.
Be courageous, listen to me. Saints of God, our voices are trying to be ripped from us right now, our freedoms are trying to be taken away from us. And you may not feel very strong right now and you may be saying, I am not courageous. I can't do this.
I don't even know what to say. And God is saying, will you just be bold for me? Because I'm not going to leave you. I'm not going to forsake you.
And I'm going to give you the land that I promise you. That's a place to rest in him knowing that no matter what, the circumstances are, and I'll probably be harping on this for days and months ahead. Though we feel like we're under a microscope, the church is under a microscope. The church has dropped the ball as the body of Christ.
Hence, the status that our nation is in right now is a huge thorn in the last episode. My husband was talking about the thorn in Paul's side. And Jesus saying, I can't remove that thorn. And it was to keep us in check, right?
Yeah. OK. Guess what? Right now, we've got a whole lot of thorns keeping us in check and it's to keep us on our knees.
It's to keep us in a place that we have to trust God in all this. We have to trust God to see us through. And right now, you may be feeling like you're in a fire. And I promise you, I promise you, his word does not return void.
He says, be of good courage. Be strong. I'll not leave you nor forsake you. He's in a fire with you.
It's feeling like a pretty sharp thorn right now, isn't it? I'm sure Paul thought that. Can you just take it, God? Can you take all this mess away?
Now many of you that after last week, on January 20th, that you sat there and go, God help us. God help me. And you don't think he's helping, but he is, because it's not your plan. It's his plan.
And we will see victory. I'm going to turn this over to my husband now. Those two scriptures really stir me up. If you want to go ahead and read to verse 9.
Oh, OK. Verse 7, only be strong and very courageous that you may observe to do according to the law, which Moses, my servant, commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left. In other words, don't lean to the right.
Don't lean to the left. You keep your eyes right on him. That you may prosper wherever you go. See, it doesn't say you're not going to prosper when there's a fire.
It doesn't say that. To me, that tells me if I don't lean to the left and I don't lean to the right and I keep my eyes on him, I'm going to prosper in the midst. Say to God, we've been in a pandemic for over a year, a year now, maybe right out of here. And I can say for ourselves, we kept our eyes on the Lord.
And I'm not going to say that we did not sit at home. Y'all heard my sons' testimonies and what we've been going through with him and his sobriety and everything. There's been a lot of fires, but we prospered. Amen.
We prospered in that. Verse eight, the book of the law shall not depart from your mouth. OK, that's telling you, this cannot depart from you. If you lay this down and you lean to the left or the right, watch what happens.
You shall meditate in it day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written, not some, all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have good success. You see, you got to stay in it. You got to meditate on it day and night.
You got to communicate with a father day and night. Because he promises us and I'll make your way prosperous and that you will have good success. Verse nine, have I not commanded you? Be strong.
Saints of God, be strong in this hour and of good courage. Do not be afraid. Do not fear. Do not be dismayed.
For the Lord, your God is with you wherever you go. That is a promise. He's not going to leave you out there going, what do I do now? Go ahead.
Amen. So if you, her version and my version is just to say different. But one of the constants that I noticed in these scriptures is Jesus, and I said Jesus because I believe that was Jesus that was talking to him, he said be strong and courageous. Not once, not twice, but three times.
He said that. So what is God asking Joshua to do here, aside from emphasizing that he really wants Joshua to be strong and courageous? What was he asking Joshua to do for him to really and say be strong and courageous? Well, if Joshua could exhibit strength and courage in three areas, then God promises, promises success in every aspect of the mission he was given.
He's telling Joshua at first be strong and courageous as he leads the people. So he's got to be strong and courageous as he leads people. So he's asking Joshua to be a leader. Then he says he's asking Joshua, he was to be strong and courageous in obeying God's word.
If you, if you look at that in Joshua 1 7, it says, only be strong and courageous. Be careful to do according to the law, which Moses might serve it commanded. Understand what law we're talking about. Obey the Ten Commandments.
Whether he was once to or not because it is the only way Israel will prosper because it says it continuing. It says, do not turn from it to the right or to the left so that you may achieve success wherever you go. So he's telling Joshua to obey the commandments that Moses brought down from the mountain, that Moses brought to you, obey them. Don't let, do not lean to the left or to the right.
And if you follow that, then you'll be successful. Just what you were saying. And there's another command in verse eight. If I can speak on that for a moment.
Verse eight saying, the book of the law shall not depart from your mouth. That is an instruction. That it shall not depart from your mouth. But that you shall meditate.
There's the second instruction. I remember you're going to receive the promises. If you obey the instructions, this is what I will give you. In other words, God's saying, or Jesus is saying, I will, if you do this, I will do this for you.
Meditate, and it was funny when I went into my commentary. It meditate is the Hebrew word that denotes an active recitation. What does that mean? That means to outwardly speak it out.
Okay. So it says, meditate on it day and night that you may observe to do according to all that is written. So if meditate in Hebrew means to denote an active recitation, a re-speaking of God's words, thus they shall not depart from your mouth. Something that we always say in counseling.
What do we say to everybody? Process out loud. When we process something out loud, you're hearing it. You're receiving it.
So when I am speaking the word, when I'm preparing for something like this or whatever, I can read all day long. But when I say his word out loud, it becomes that living word. It is alive and man, it just stirs up my spirit like it is right now. See, I read this last night.
My husband gave me these notes last night. I read it. I'm going to go. But then you see what he made me do?
He said, you read these scriptures. You made a mistake because you turned it on. And it's like a button in me. When I start reading it, the Holy Spirit just starts working in you and that word becomes a lie.
And then there's an impartation because you meditate on it. You recited it. You spoke it out because God's word doesn't return void. So if you meet those conditions, guess what?
His promises are going to be fulfilled. Amen. No, you're good. Which was a point that I was going to bring out.
Think about, speak about, talk about God and His word every minute of every day. And that's what she just summed it up and how she said that. That's what I was going to say. But he's also was to be strong and courageous in terms of endurance.
Combat discouragement because discouragement will come. If you haven't been discouraged as living a Christian life, it's going to come. Our son just said in a previous episode, he said, this is hard. He said, it's hard.
You've got to walk it out daily. You know, here's a young man that's been sober for 16, almost 17 months. And he sat there and said before you all, being a Christian is hard. Yeah, he did.
He did. But what is so amazing about the word is being courageous enough to say, God, I need you. Amen. And what is the rest of my notes to say?
And by remembering, it says, be strong and courageous in terms of endurance. Combat discouragement because discouragement will come by remembering that God will be with you wherever He goes. Now, I understand. What does this mean?
Because if you stop and think, God is specifically talking to Joshua at this moment. Moses is not in the picture anymore. In fact, I believe. And if you find it anywhere, you can shoot us a message and correct me if you won't.
But I do not believe that Joshua had spoken to God or God had spoken to Him more of the way that should be said until Moses was dead. Moses was the mediator between God and man at that moment. So now, he's talking to Joshua. So all this has been specifically spoken to Joshua, not you, not me, not my wife, but Joshua.
So what does this mean to us? Well, God was addressing Joshua. So how do you put what I've just said into context and how can I walk with this? What can I take away from this?
Well, I got three points to give you. Remember, God's promises. God's promises. Remember in verse 6, Joshua 1 and 6, it says that you shall give these people possession of the land which I swore to your fathers to give them.
Remember, God's promises. God promised to deliver Israel from Egypt and give them a land of their own. And that's exactly what he done. There was a 40-year gap between the Exodus and Israel's entrance into the Promised Land, but time is incapable of weakening the promises of God.
So there are promises that is in scripture that you may not see it, you may not know about it just yet, you may not be receiving. There may be a word that has been given to you that you are sitting on, that God has made a promise to you, but I promise you that God's promises are yes and a man. And I want you to remember that his promises are yes and a man. I have to add into that that you opened this door about receiving a word, that if you receive a word and you're waiting on that promise of the word, have you met the conditions?
Yes. Because okay, when a person becomes saved, what is the condition we have to repent and believe in him, right? Right. To become saved.
There's a condition and then there's a promise. I will give you eternity if you believe. Okay, in this particular story of Joshua, he had to meditate on the word day and night, meditate meaning reciting it, becoming in a relationship. If you're waiting on a word to come to pass, but all you're doing is that word's right here.
It's right here. If I don't do nothing with this word, it's not going to pass. If I'm not praying into it, if I'm not meditating on it, if I'm not finding scriptures to go with what the Lord is telling you to do or an instruction or say a prophet has given you a word and it's saints of God, this television program that you're viewing, this is a 15-year prophecy coming to pass that was prophesied over us 15 years ago, that this would happen. And I got in the way, I had issues with my way.
Different things that I thought, no, I'm not ready for that. I don't want to do that. I delayed my own promise. So I'm telling you and he opened the door that if there is a word that's not come to pass, it doesn't mean God said no, you may have been delayed, but he's not denied you and who delayed it?
Probably you. You probably got in your own way. Do a self-checkup. Are you meditating on the word?
Are you drawing close into a relationship with him? We're not talking about religion. I hate that word. I hate the word religion.
I'm talking about relationship and you will see promises. That's when you're meditating day and night, when you're communicating with the Father because just like think about this. When you have your little kids and mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy, daddy, daddy, daddy, I want to want to want to want to want. Man, they are so quick.
But you want to know something? When you, when they're not doing that so much, then you'll be like, oh, are they in trouble? What are they gotten into? What are they doing?
And then you start missing the voice. I miss it when my kids don't call me. Well, that's communication. Are you communicating with the Father?
Are you meditating on his word? Then the yes and amen. Come on. Go ahead.
Amen. So point number two that I want to bring out. Remember God's principles. Joshua, one, seven, and eight.
Remember, God wants to be in a relationship with us. What relationships are, by definition, mutual. It's mutual. It's not God having a relationship with me.
And then I just sit back and just wait and do nothing for me and my wife to have a relationship. It's a mutual thing. So understand that relationship by definition is mutual. We need to put effort into the relationship by getting to know God through scripture and applying what we learned from him.
So here again, when he was telling Joshua to do according to the law, to obey the law, turn left to the right and you'll be successful. Do not depart from the law. Don't let it depart from your mouth that you shall meditate day and night. So understand the principles of God.
If you don't know the principles of God, I encourage you to get in a good Bible based church. If you don't have one, you're welcome to come to our church where we go, but get into a place that somebody can take you and disciple you to teach you the principles of God and the third one. I'll cut my wife loose. Remember God's presence.
And Joshua one and nine says, have I not commanded you be strong and courageous? Do not be terrified or dismayed for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. God may be a God of justice, but he is also a loving father. He does not want his children to feel alone.
You may feel alone, but you're not alone. This verse reminds us that even in our families, even if our families do not agree with our faith, even if our friends turn their backs on us or even if we become martyrs of our love for God, he will stay at our side whenever the last person abandons us. Jesus Christ is there. He says, I'll never leave you nor forsake you.
So three points. Remember God's promise. Remember God's principles and remember God's presence. And his presence, if I can, his presence, it's a place that you need to be in all the time, whether you're at home, whether you're at work, whether you're at the grocery store, get in his presence and stay in his presence.
Don't ever leave his presence because as long as you're in his presence, then you have everything that you need to survive every step that you go. Amen. You know, I talk a lot and teach a lot about presence and everybody says, well, you know, how do you do that? A lot of times people only enter into a place of presence through maybe the worship at church and get lost in a song.
You should be able to get lost in the presence of God wherever you're at because when you are in a relationship with Jesus Christ as your Savior. You say friendship, it's a marriage, it's a covenant, it's a place of peace, a place of love and a place of joy. And you say, well, how do I do that? How do I do that?
Just call on his name. Just say, Jesus, here I am. And you will feel this amazing love embrace you. And when you feel that, you won't want.
I know when I'm in that place, man, I don't want anybody disturbing me. When I'm in my prayer closet, you better leave me alone unless the house is burning down because that is my favorite place. I love my husband with everything in me. I mean, we've worked hard in our marriage and I love him.
I love him. I adore him. But I am in love with Jesus. And Jesus, like I can't even imagine because when I met him, he changed me forever and I've never forgotten my Damascus experience.
And when you practice being, and I hate to say that word, but in the beginning, it's practicing being in his presence. It's a practice to call on the name Jesus and say, here I am. Lord, can we have a talk? Can we have a conversation?
And once you continually do that, you're going to find your meeting him quicker because he's waiting on you. He's not moved. Real quick. I'm going to try to tell this really quick.
There was a time in my life when I felt very abandoned and I met with this counselor because I needed help. I, for some reason, just could not plug in. And she had me close my eyes and she said, where do you see him? And I said way far away.
And she said, you moved. He didn't. I did. I moved away.
So crawl up in his lap and say, here I am Lord, because you'll be an atmosphere change. The more you're in his presence, it will, it will everywhere you go, you will exude that relationship you have with him. And it will literally change lives around you, amen? Amen.
So we hope today that you are in a play. Oh, sorry. Go ahead. Well, before we run out of time and go, understand that what just happened about what Jesus was talking to Joshua about.
And remember that just a few chapters past this, he walked in. They basically walked in and the walls of Jericho came tumbling down. So by putting these principles to and applying them to your life, what walls are going to come tumbling down in your life? Go say what you were going to say.
Well, we love you. Yes, we love you. But more importantly, Jesus loves you. And he's waiting on you to call him into your situation, into your life and into a relationship.
And if you need anything, you can message us. You can send us through messenger. You can reach us on Facebook. We want to be a part.
If we can help you, we would love to. May the Lord bless you and keep you and make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. Amen. God bless you.
We'll see you next time. I appreciate you all watching our show this evening. If there's anything, anything whatsoever that you have heard that has spoken to your heart and you feel the need to either rededicate your life or turn your life over to Jesus. I encourage you to reach out to us.
We would be more than happy to speak with you either on the phone or via email or however you can reach out to us. And it's easy. We can say a prayer for you. Jesus says to Nicodemus that you must be born again as you enter into the kingdom of heaven.
So I encourage you to turn your life over. If you need to rededicate, that is also to turn your life back to repentance is simply turning from the direction that you were going to a new direction. You're no longer the old person that you are. But you become a new person through the gift of salvation.
It's like I encourage you to reach out to us at eagewingsfaith.org. You can click on the tab, contact us and you can put it through the website or you can email us straight ewfmchurch at gmail.com. And we look forward to hearing from you. God bless you and we will see you later.