I always thought it was strange that God so encouraged
Joshua not to fear. He was one of two
who had not feared to enter the Land so why did he need so much encouragement
not to fear? Wasn’t he chosen because of
his lack of fear, his bravery? When I
became a senior pastor I understood it a good bit better. As an assistant it was easy for me to urge
the head guy to take great risks and to be bold in my words but something
changes when the decisions are yours to make, you also bear the consequences of
those decisions. It takes a different
level of courage to be in that position, it also takes a good bit more
prayer. The senior leader needs always
to be a person of abiding prayer and study in the Word, because God calls us to
undertake things that are unreasonable for us.
The advancement of the kingdom is accomplished by taking great risks in
faith. God always calls us beyond our
abilities and our resources to a work that can only be done if He shows up and
provides what we lack. We have to be
certain we have heard His voice in these things. He promised Joshua what He had promised
Moses, “I will be with you.” Jesus
promised us the same, “I will be with you always, even to the end of the
age.” What is He calling you to do that
requires that presence to accomplish?
How big is our vision?
What is more important, courage or faith? Faith is the basis of courage. Joshua had to first have faith God would be
with him and could do whatever He set out to do. The Roman centurion had such faith in
Jesus. He believed Jesus could do
anything, speak the word only and his servant could be healed, even if the
servant never met Jesus. That is a
God-sized faith and vision. Our faith in
Jesus and His promise to be with us is all we need to undertake His
mission. The centurion showed courage in
asking Jesus to heal his servant and faith in the believing it would be as
Jesus said. He knew the limits and the
power of his own authority and recognized in Jesus one who had power over such
things as he asked of Him and whose power was without limitation concerning
time and space.
Can you imagine a bigger mission than Paul was given? He was sent to the Gentiles, everyone other
than the Jews, to preach the Gospel and extend the kingdom of God. He was also told he would suffer for that
mission and he undertook it anyway with joy and gusto and hope. Paul planted churches in many areas of the
Gentile world in his missionary journeys and God was with him in all these
endeavors. He wasn’t intimidated by the
vision, He simply believed God and acted in accord with his beliefs. His work met with opposition and success and
yet he never wavered in his commitment to the mission and the Lord. Because he always moved forward he saw and
experienced amazing things. The church
needs that boldness of vision to move into the mission we have been given.
O quickly come, great
King of all;
reign all around us,
and within;
let sin no more our
souls enthrall,
let pain and sorrow
die with sin.
O quickly come, for
thou alone
canst make thy
scattered people one.
No comments:
Post a Comment