Immanuel – God With Us

Joshua 1:5-10, ‘“No-one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” So Joshua ordered the officers of the people…’ Moses was a great man of God and was able to do numerous miracles. After he died, Joshua, his assistant that had been groomed as successor was called to fill in the big shoes that Moses had left. It must have been a daunting task. Aside from that, he was supposed to deliver the Israelites into the Promised Land. And they were not just going there and find everything waiting for them but had to take everything by force, they had to evict the inhabitants. But God gave Him encouragement. He promised never to leave Joshua if Joshua never left Him. He promised to help him achieve the work ahead of him of delivering the Israelites into the Promised Land. He assured him of victory in all the battles that he was going to ever face only if he trusted in the Lord and obeyed Him. The same also applies to us as believers and the body of Christ. God will never leave nor forsake us, He is always there with us – those that believe in and trust in Him. In and through Him we are assured of victory over any circumstance that might come our way. We battle has already been won for us. As believers, we need to approach life full of assurance that the victory is ours. But to get this assured victory we need to know God intimately, know His will for our lives, submit to it and live in obedience to Him. We need to faithfully read the scriptures that are His inspired word; we need to pray on and for everything, always seeking His counsel in all matters in our lives. It only then that we can be sure of victory because our God sees the beginning from the end and knows everything before it happens and He will leads and guide us into paths of righteousness. After receiving this encouragement and assurance from God that He will always be there, Joshua became bold and ordered the officers of the people to prepare for crossing over the river Jordan into the Promised Land and so should we be emboldened like him, having placed all our trust and hope in Him, let us rise up and prepare to cross over our obstacles and take possession of the dream God has placed in us.