Friday, April 4, 2014

Encouragement from Joshua 1:8...


As we look at God's words to Joshua in chapter 1, verse 8, 
at first glance it appears that if we do A,B and C, cha-ching, 
we'll hit the jackpot of heavenly blessing!
The good news is that God is a rewarder.
He really does bless us as we obey Him.
Although God certainly does take care of and bless us in the area of our temporal needs,
our idea of blessing often remains focused on the temporal, 
while God's idea of blessing is eternal.
But, before I get the cart before the horse, let's go back to the beginning.

Study this Book continually.
 I looked up the Hebrew word for study as used in verse 8.
When I did a search of the Hebrew word and meaning that is translated study, 
one reference said, "research assistant", which I thought was rather odd.
But then I realized that as we study God's Word, the Holy Spirit teaches us, 
and we are the research assistant, recording and responding to the truths that the Holy Spirit reveals to us.

Meditate on it day and night.
The word meditate here means to think over and over about it, 
filling both your mind and your mouth with God's Word.
I love this!
I want my mind and heart to be so full of God's Word that His Word is what spills out of my mouth 
instead of the thoughts of my flesh, the world or the enemy.
It goes beyond that however.

Be sure to obey everything written in it.
The word meditate also carries with it thought that we have come into agreement with what God says
 and we are thinking about and meditating on His Words with the intention to obey.

Then, we will prosper and succeed in all we do.
Which brings me back to the point I started to make in the first paragraph.
Our thoughts of prosperity and success, as influenced by our culture, 
usually have to do with status and position and paychecks.
God's view of success, as we research the Hebrew used in verse 8,
is that we accomplish what was intended.
In other words, 
prosperity and success in God's eyes is accomplishing His purposes for us 
during our internship here on this earth.
This is the kind of prosperity and success that no stock market crash, no economic crisis, can touch.


still following,

Linking with She Reads Truth





Scripture and Snapshot






SUNDAY STILLNESS

32 comments:

  1. Good stuff! The Word of God is not lacking in anything... it can satisfy our day as nothing else can.. Thank you for your faithfulness to post regularly from the word of God.. Blessings!

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    1. Thanks for your encouragement, Patty! God's Word is my lifeline!

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  2. I love this, and that is exactly the way I love to study the Word. Honestly, there is so much to devour, word by word, in there that once we even begin to study it as a research assistant (loved that!), we can't help but meditate on it.

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    1. Thanks, Debbie. You are such a blessing and encouragement to me.

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  3. Such a beautiful post! All I can add is, "Amen!"

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  4. Oh, to accomplish what was intended! That is my daily prayer, Amen! Blessed insight, Elizabeth - thank you. Have a blessed week!

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    1. Yes, to accomplish what was intended, God's purpose for our life, me too, June!

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  5. We can't lose when we obey!
    ~Adrienne~

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    1. You're right, friend! We can't lose when we obey!

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  6. Beautiful. Thanks, Elizabeth. xo

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  7. Hi Elizabeth! I like that image of being an intern here on earth. I don't think I've ever heard that before! And hearing/reading the word is just never enough. Like you said, we have to be obedient to the words we hear. Or it's just words...

    Great interpretation today :)
    Ceil

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    1. Yes, to be a doer of the Word, not just a hearer, must be our resolve. Thanks, Ceil, for your kind encouragement.

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  8. "Meditate on it day and night" yes I want that too, Elizabeth. My words would often be different if my thoughts were filled with God's Word.

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    1. I too want my thoughts to be filled with God's Word, Jennifer.

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  9. hi elizabeth:) thanks for stopping by my blog. as you know, I'm your neighbor on Sunday Community:)

    thanks for your visit today.

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    1. It's a pleasure to meet other Jesus followers here in the blog land, Martha.

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  10. This is awesome an awesome devotional to read this morning.

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  11. Such interesting information! Thank you for sharing what you learned in your research :-) Blessings to you this day!

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    1. It's a favorite portion of scripture. I love verse nine as well, but didn't want this post to go on and on.

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  12. I wish we lived closer, Elizabeth. Your words have encouraged me time and again, and I think there's some kindredspirit-ness there. :) We're kindred ages, at least, and we each have daughters and grandkids we adore. I made the French bread you posted (Monica's) a while back and it was a hit! I will make it again. Anyway, I just wanted to tell you hello, and that your ponderings and words always bless, challenge and encourage me. xoxo Julie in MN

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    1. I agree! You are such a blessing and encouragement to me. I'm so glad you made and enjoyed Monica's bread recipe. I use it all the time.

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  13. All I can do is read His Word and focus on Him. Life interferes too often, but maybe not worse than people have dealt with for thousands of years. Joshua really had a lot on his plate that was filled with challenging from sinful people in his system. He is one of my favorites. He gave good insight and wisdom...and he made mistakes, too, when not seeing exactly what was on the plan/path. But he loved the Lord. That's what counts. And he sought forgiveness. That counts, too. Thanks much, Elizabeth. [Sure hope I see you in a few weeks when I'm out and about in the NW.]

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    1. I love the Psalm that says "Your Words have been my song on my pilgrimage". What would we do without His Word to guide, heal, correct, and encourage us?

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  14. I just saw another blogger share the same verse this weekend, and was encouraged by it - I wonder if God is trying to tell me something? ;-) Thanks for sharing!

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    1. Kym, there's a group of us that follow along with shereadstruth.com and their devotionals and once a week we all write what God has shown us from an assigned scripture passage. So, you were probably reading another gals shereadstruth.com post.

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  15. "filling both your mind and your mouth with God's Word." My heart is always/usually in the right place but aligning my tongue with the truth of what I believe - all the time? well I'm working on speaking life..ALL the TIME. this is solid teaching and a timely reminder - thank you Elizabeth. Missed everyone this week at The Sunday Community!

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    1. I think God is so merciful to include how difficult it is to tame our tongues in the book of James. That way we know it's a common problem, impossible to conquer without His intervention!

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