Bible Verse Friday #15

"Have I not commanded you?  Be strong and courageous.  Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go".~Joshua 1:9

This verse is just one of the many things that God told Joshua, son of Nun, Moses's aide; after Moses died.
Joshua was given the important task to take the people across the Jordan river to the land that God promised to Moses.

Let's take this verse and disect it.
God asks "Have I not commanded you?"
How often do we go day to day doing our will instead of the will that God has commanded us to do?
We get selfishly overwhelmed in day to day musings and forget that his purpose is greater than our own.
I am guilty of getting caught up in my own mess and then Sunday rolls around and I finally remember, "Oh yeah...that's how I should have handled this or that situation".

God commands "Be strong and courageous"...not weak and scared, not meek and skiddish...
STRONG!
COURAGEOUS!
Have any of you read Captivating by John & Stasi Eldredges?
an excerpt from the Amazon website describing this book says this:
"the Eldredges reveal in the first chapter what every woman's three core desires are: to be romanced, to play a role in her own adventures and to display beauty."
God has put it in our hearts to want to be part of a big adventure...how can we possibly do this if we are anything except strong and courageous!

God says, "Do not be afraid"
Now that is hard.
We have so many reasons to fear.
Have you watched the news?
Is there anything out there that isn't scary?
Have we not all experienced something tragic that we are afraid to experience again?
I am dealing with this right now (it goes back to my worst day ever in November...don't worry I'm getting much closer to being able to share that with all of you).
I am struggling with a fear that I will go through it all over again and that I might not be able to get past it so easily if it happens again.
But know that there is also a HUGE part of me that is not afraid.
I'm praising God daily and letting his plan swing into motion.
So do not be afraid, instead when that fear creeps in....
STOP.
PRAISE GOD.
CLAIM HIS PROMISES.
Believe it or not, this simple action helps those waves of fear turn into ripples and eventually makes them placid.

God also says, "do not be discouraged".
This might be even harder than "do not be afraid".
I don't know about you all, but when something doesn't go as I intended I DO get discouraged.
Take this quilting class I'm taking.
My sewing machine has experienced one problem after another.
My teacher finally told me Wednesday night that I really should bring it to be serviced.
That's discouraging for a number of reasons.
A.) it's $65-80 to have a sewing machine serviced- and yes I know that after they work on it I shouldn't have to have it serviced for a while again.
B.) I feel like I've moved slower than anyone else in the class because of my machine trouble.
C.) It's made quilting seem more daunting that it probably really is.
We get discouraged when traffic is bad, when dinner burns, when our to do lists don't turn into things done list.
But he tells us not to become discouraged.
Does anyone have any advice for how we can overcome those moments of discouargement?

Finally God assures us, "for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go".
Do you feel that?
The weight of the world lifting off of your shoulders.
I literally read that and breathed a sigh of relief.
No matter what happens God is with me.
When I am afraid, he is there.
When I get discouraged, he is there.
When I set out on an adventure, he is there!
And with that I know that I can...
STOP.

PRAISE HIM.
CLAIM HIS PROMISES.
And he will ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS be there.
Take solace in this.

I hope you all have a Blessed Friday!

P.S. I'm linked up here today!!!