This Day With God – A Spiritual Journey | Share The Word

Jump into Life with Enthusiasm

Posted on March 23, 2017 by Mark Shields

Joshua said to them, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Be strong and courageous. This is what the Lord will do to all the enemies you are going to fight.” – Joshua 10:25

As shared in the post “Victory Builds Momentum for Future Victories”, the Ammonites were the people of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon. The kings of each joined together to attack Gibeon. But Joshua and his army came to their rescue and God was with them as He produced hail stones to kill the enemy. He even stopped the sun so that Joshua and his army had the extra daylight to pursue the five kings.

The kings could not get away so they hid in a cave at Makkedah (vv. 16-17) but they were found and Joshua told his officers to put their feet on the king’s necks to engender trust in God for future victories (v. 24).

Joshua’s army always returned to Gilgal (v. 43) for rest, encouragement, inspiration, and to develop a strategy. My friend, let us daily return to God for study, prayer, and encouragement. He inspires us to jump into life with enthusiasm. We can pray, listen for instructions, and get things done now. Opportunities to do great things are right in front of us so let’s give God our best.

When we believe God is for us and if we see God at work in our life; confidence grows, victories come our way, and these victories can be used to build momentum to face future challenges just like in this song by Newsboys Live with Abandon.

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Posted in Devotionals, Enthusiasm | Tagged Bible Study, Confidence, Devotional, Encouragement, enthusiasm, Inspiration, Momentum, Praise, Prayer, victory | Leave a comment

Victory Builds Momentum for Future Victories

Posted on March 22, 2017 by Mark Shields

The Ammonites decided not to make peace with Joshua but instead were a group that made plans to attack Gibeon. Reading in Joshua 10, the Ammonites were the people of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon. The kings of each joined together to attach Gibeon. Since the Gibeonites had made peace with Joshua, they ask him for help so Joshua and his entire army marched up from Gilgal to help (v. 7).

The Lord was with Joshua and his army who took the Ammonites by surprise and completely defeated them at Gibeon (v. 10). Victory builds momentum for future victories. When the Ammonites retreated, Joshua and his army pursued them. God had His hands in the battle as large hail stones killed many of the Ammonites.

The Lord also stopped the sun so that Joshua and his army had the extra daylight to pursue the five kings. The kings could not get away so they hid in a cave at Makkedah (vv. 16-17) and Joshua told his soldiers to roll large rocks to the mouth of the cave to trap them. A few soldiers stood guard while the rest of Joshua’s army continued to go after their enemies.

Many of the Ammonites were killed but some did manage to reach their fortified cities (v. 20). Then Joshua’s army returned to Makkedah. They opened the cave and Joshua told his officers to put their feet on the king’s necks to engender trust in God for future victories (v. 24).

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This day with God, have confidence my friend that God’s presence and power is in your life now and will help your future situations. As in today’s passage, the ONE who can produce hail stones to kill the enemy and the ONE who can stop the sun is with you today. In the battles you face now and into the future, seek the Lord’s help and then give Him the credit when the victories come.

Posted in Bible Study, Enthusiasm | Tagged Bible Study, Confidence, Devotional, enthusiasm, Momentum, Prayer, victory | 2 Comments

The Straight Path

Posted on March 21, 2017 by Mark Shields

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. – Proverbs 3:5-6

Written about in the post “Seek Direction“, was how the leaders of Israel were fooled by a plan of deception. They were caught off guard by the misleading plan of the Gibeonites but the biggest mistake was their failure to seek direction from God to follow the straight path.

The lesson for us is to always let God be a part of our decision and approval process. This includes concerns with our family, business, organization, or job. The good news is that as the title of the song Grace is Enough by Matt Maher, we have grace to always fall back on when we make mistakes. We can take in the lessons, seek God’s direction, and be guided to better decisions in the future.

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Posted in Accurate Thinking, Devotionals | Tagged Bible Study, Blessings, Decision, Devotional, Direction, Future, Grace, History, Lesson, Path, Praise, victory | Leave a comment

Seek Direction

Posted on March 20, 2017 by Mark Shields

The Gibeonites tricked the Israelites into a peace treaty as explained in Joshua 9 because they were afraid of being totally destroyed. They had heard what Joshua and his army had done to Jericho and Ai.

Leaders of Israel were caught off guard by the deceptive plan of the Gibeonites but the biggest mistake was their failure to seek direction from God (vv. 14-15). The lesson is to always let God be a part of our decision and approval process. This includes concerns with our family, business, organization, or job.

We live in a very deceptive world in which it is hard to know when we are being taken advantage of and like described in today’s passage, we can be caught off guard. It is easy to make mistakes but we can turn mistakes into a victory if we take in the lessons learned.

Because the grace of God, blessings can be received even from our past mistakes. When Brett Favre was inducted into the NFL’s Hall of Fame, he gave a speech and one line of the speech was about a negative record he holds. With all his greatness, few people know that he is also a record holder in number of interceptions.

This day with You Lord, we have taken in from this passage that there are things we can learn from history that will help in making decisions for the future. The problems we go through in life are not stop signs; they are guidelines and it is during tough times that You provide sure signs of a brighter future. In Jesus name. Amen.

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Posted in Accurate Thinking, Bible Study | Tagged Bible Study, Blessings, Decision, Devotional, Direction, Future, Grace, History, Lesson, victory | Leave a comment

The Week Ahead

Posted on March 19, 2017 by Mark Shields

This week, we will continue the journey and share some thoughts from the study of Joshua 9-10.

Below are some questions for reflection.

Joshua 9
Why do the Gibeonites devise their plan of deception? Why are the leaders of Israel fooled by them? What can you do to avoid this kind of mistake?

Joshua 10
How is the Ammonites’ reaction to the invading Israelites different from the Gibeonites’? How does Joshua use this situation as a basis for engendering future trust in God? In what ways is God’s presence and power in your life today related to your future situations?

Believe that God has a great plan for you.

Victory starts by having a plan. By accepting God’s plan for us, all we need to do is follow and believe He will provide the power. He will give the upper hand to make what seems impossible possible.

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