I have decided to begin a systematic study of the Book of Joshua and I'm finding so many principles leaping out of the pages. Here are some key thoughts I have right now. Joshua 1:2, "Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give...to the Israelites...(vs. 5)...No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life." What a promise! But it is founded on another promise...that God would be with him and never forsake him. Yet, in the midst of the promise that no one could stand against him, and that God would never leave him or forsake him, God commands Joshua four times to be strong and courageous. Verse 6, "Be strong and courageous because you will lead these people..." There are a few things that interest me here. God didn't give Joshua a if/then proposition. He didn't say, "If you are strong and courageous then you will lead." He says, "because you will lead be strong and courageous." God had chosen Joshua. He was going to use Joshua and he needed Joshua to rise up to the call. I think the people following Joshua needed him to be strong and courageous more than anything. He had to win their confidence and trust. The key to Joshua's leadership success, however, wasn't that he was strong and courageous, but that he was careful to obey all the law, not turning from it, and meditating on it day and night. Verse 8b, "Then you will be prosperous and successful." Our competence as leaders must be motivated by obtaining a clear vision from God and then having the strength and courage to cast that vision to those who will follow us, while maintaining the priority of living out the Word that is hidden in our hearts.
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