You will show me the
path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy, at Your right
hand there are pleasures forevermore.
(Psalm 16:11 AMP)
Our Next Bible
Study
Philippians
Chapter 4
Joshua Chapters
21:43-45
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Praise Report:
God is sending workers to the field. Through faithful servants, many are
learning more about Christ and in turn, are telling others.
A testimony of God's faithfulness as we step out in obedience to honor Him by
bringing His Hope, Joy , Peace, Protection, Provision and Comfort to our troops
through His Holy Word so that they may be saved. May they know Him and make Him
known in Jesus Blessed Holy Name I pray...Amen!
Hallelujah!
When fretting because my prayers seemed to go no further than the ceiling, I
received this answer from my Father:
"There's no need for your prayers
to go any further than your tearstained pillow. I am here with you. I don't
expect you to ascend to me any more than a father expects his infant to jump
into his arms. I have loved you with an everlasting love and with loving
kindness I have drawn you.”
(Jeremiah 33:3 paraphrased)
WOO HOO!!
God is so good—always, all ways.
We are looking forward
to your praise reports. Please keep us informed so we can share the wonderful
grace of Jesus.
~
For
previous lessons on Joy and
previous Bible studies, please visit our
archives
May God grant you safety, reassurance of
His love, and the revelation of Jesus Christ,
Brenda Hendricks
1.
After publishing this Bible study for five years,
you’d think the process would run smoother and I’d have the nitty-gritty
details down to an exact science. My understanding of technology has
increased tremendously. However, on a scale of one to ten, I started at
minus fifteen, leaving only one direction to go. While my knowledge of
the mechanics has improved, I still hesitate every time it comes to
posting the next lesson because, inevitably, a minor glitch will delay
the procedure by hours. If it should take fifteen minutes, it will take
five hours—the new Hendricks’ law of Web mastery. Like a whiney child, I
want it done now. I don’t want to break out into a sweat. I don’t want
to pull my hair out. I don’t want to search for the answer and perhaps
climb to number two on the scale of webmaster knowledge. I want God to
intervene and correct the problem without any further delay or
aggravation or sweat on my part.
The Hebrew children must have felt much the same
way about possessing the land. They had fought or at least participated
in battle after battle as God handed them the victory after victory.
Then the time came for them to occupy their inheritance. But they
hesitated and complained the enemy wasn’t driven out completely. The
land needed cleared, plowed, and sown. Perhaps they didn’t want to break
out into a sweat to drive out the remaining previous occupants, or wear
calluses on their hands from plowshares. They wanted God to intercede
and miraculously do the work for them.
For seven years, they fought together as a nation.
They knew what to expect from one another and relied on God’s
protection. Finally, the time had come for them to separate into their
family tribes and claim their inheritance. However, at the threshold of
receiving all that God had promised, they hesitated. Uncertainty mingled
with the unfamiliar and almost paralyzed them. Then
Joshua asked the Israelites, “How long will
you be slack to go in and possess the land which the Lord, the God of
your fathers, has given you?”
(Joshua 18:3 AMP) He formulated a plan, sent scouts to survey the
land, and divided the land by lots among the remaining seven tribes. The
individual tribes moved ahead, and as He had done for the past seven
years for the nation, God defeated the enemies of each tribe, enabling
them to claim the land.
We may be part of a church that experiences God’s
presence and strength. However, we may find it more difficult to trust
God to deliver us on a personal level. Our joy isn’t complete until we
claim all that God has given us and set it apart for His glory.
The Apostle Paul held on to what he had attained,
while working for and looking forward to that which he had yet to
possess—eternal life with Jesus Christ. Paul wrote,
“I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured
and made it my own [yet]; but one thing I do [it is my one aspiration]:
forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I
press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to
which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward.”
(Philippians 3:13-14 AMP) Paul committed his body, soul, and
mind to his eternal inheritance and determined to open the path for
others to follow.
God has called us to the same purpose. How long
will we, not the church as a whole, but we as individuals, be slack to
go in and possess the land that the Lord, the God of our fathers, has
given us? Why do we hesitate?
Our bodies—Christ’s body.
-
Many of us spend more time and money
maintaining our physical bodies than what is spent working. Even
those of us, who are no longer so worried about appearance for
appearance sake, spend several hours a week doing some sort of
exercise just to keep our hearts pumping in a rhythm that suits our
physicians. What shape would the church be in if we put forth as
much effort grooming and building Christ’s body? It’s our calling to
seek the lost, edify the believer, and even to correct the
backslidden—possess the land.
-
Our souls are lean, but not
from exercise. If we fed our physical bodies with similar amounts of
food that we feed our souls with, there’d be no need for Weight
Watchers or Tops. Perhaps, we’d need IV’s and feeding tubes just to
stay alive. We’d be arrested and our children placed in foster care,
if we tended to their physical needs the way we tend to their
spiritual needs. It’s our responsibility to share Christ with the
next generations and to encourage them to seek and maintain a
personal relationship with Him. Our children are part of our
inheritance in God’s kingdom—possess the land.
-
In this day of high
technology, a myriad of activities consume our time and occupy our
minds. Virtual reality games, social networks, TVs, ipods, movies,
and the list is compounded daily. I fear we have laid aside our
helmets of salvation and replaced them with headsets of destruction.
Am I being harsh? Consider the effects this type of entertainment
has on our minds. There is a great falling away of believers in our
day. We no longer take the time needed to fix our minds on whatever
is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and
seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and
lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious (Philippians
4:8). Whether we consider food for our bodies or food for thought,
we are products of what we consume. Overindulgence in the wrong
types of food results in an unhealthy body, and likewise
overindulgence in the wrong types of stimuli decays the mind. The
mind is a terrible thing to waste—possess the land.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, the time has come for me to move
in faith without hesitation to possess all that You have given me. Cloak
me in Your armor, as I march forward into battle for the sake of my
body, soul, and mind, for the sake of my children—my inheritance, and
for the sake of my LORD
and Savior, Jesus Christ. In his name, I pray, amen.
