Joshua Enters The Promised Land: Pt. 5 — A ‘Time With God’ Audio Devotion

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Transcript

Good morning. I hope you’re well this morning, and as we start this day, we want to start it by listening to God. We do that by reading the Bible.

The Bible is God’s word to us, and you know, the Bible’s existed for so long as God’s word, and sometimes we can think, well, the Bible just has sort of these statements of sort of theological truth that are true down through the ages.

But what happens when you open the Bible with your heart open to God is this God is not just in history. He is here today.

And God recognizes an open heart when He sees it. When you open up your Bible and you say, God, I want to hear from you. God then takes what’s in the Bible and speaks to you personally through it.

And as your heart is open to Him, and you’re saying to Him, OK, God, I see what you’re saying, and I’m going to adjust my life on the basis of what you’re saying to me.

Then God is using His word that’s timeless but making it very personal to you and it’s life changing. And when you put that into your daily practice, then your whole life begins to be changed by God. Not only that, it’s not just a behavioral thing.

You yourself start getting to know God Himself personally, and that is the most beautiful, awesome thing that there is in life – to know God, not just to know about Him, not to just obey Him or follow him, but to know Him.

Well, that’s worth anything in your life, and it’s certainly worth taking a few minutes every morning to open your Bible, read it, and listen to God. That’s what we do together each weekday morning at this time.

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We open the Bible and learn from God, and all this week we’ve been looking at the first few chapters of the Book of Joshua in the Old Testament as the people of Israel have finally after wandering for so long in the wilderness, arrived at the promised land, and Joshua is leading them into the promised land and they experiencing God’s hand at every turn.

You remember that before they started wandering the wilderness, they were slaves in Egypt, and God sent Moses to bring them freedom from Egypt. And as they followed Moses, remember that the armies of Egypt were chasing them.

And they arrived at the Red Sea. Everyone thought, we’re trapped now, but Moses said, no. God has brought us here, and God will deliver us. And you remember that God parted the Red Sea and allowed the Israelites to cross on dry land. And once they had crossed, God released the seas as the Egyptians were chasing them, and the seas crashed in and killed the Egyptian army.

Well, now, many, many years later, after wandering in the wilderness for 40 years, they’ve arrived at the brink of Israel on the other side of the Jordan River, which is in flood, and to show the people of Israel that God is with Joshua just like he was with Moses, God allows them to cross over that river in flood, and he stops up the waters of the Jordan – and it dries up, and they cross over on dry ground, all those hundreds of thousands of people on dry ground. It’s just the promise. I’m still with you.

Here’s what it says when they finished crossing over in chapter 4.

When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, Take 12 men from the people, one from each tribe. Command them, saying, Take 12 stones from here out of the middle of the Jordan, from the very place where the priest’s feet stood firmly, and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight.

A few verses later, it says, when your children ask in time to come, what do these stones mean to you? Then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off, and so these stones shall be to the people of Israel, a memorial forever.

And you know in your life it’s so important to remember and tell the stories of what God has done for you. Tell your kids about the times when you are desperate, and God answered your prayers. Tell the stories of how following God has shaped your life. Help them look at the lives of people they know and you know who have pushed God away and the outcome in their lives.

You need memorial stones that remind your children and other people in your life how good it is to follow God and to put Him at the center of your life. Everything you remember about that should point you and those who know you to do the same in their life.

I’m John North.

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