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We Have One Job and One Job Only: Make Jesus Famous

When God Speaks—Be Quick to Obey!

SUMMARY: Never in the history of Christianity have we had so many famous pastors—and those wanting to become famous—as we do now. But the biblically approved spiritual leader, the one with whom God is pleased, has one job and one job only: to make Jesus famous! And if Jesus wants to make the leader famous, well, that is Jesus’ business.

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Joshua 6:27

So the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land.

As media technologies continue to increase, so has the universal rise of celebrity preachers. Never in the history of Christianity have we had so many famous pastors—and those wanting to become famous—as we do now. If you’re a spiritual leader and you aren’t hawking all the books you have authored, beaming your mug to adoring congregants to a multi-site campus, tweeting to your six-figure social media followers, and getting quoted by the media on the issue du jour, you ain’t all that much.

Of course, technology now allows us to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ around the world in unprecedented ways—and that is a great thing. But inherent in this ability to communicate to the masses is the danger of showcasing ourselves rather than showcasing Jesus. The god of fame lurks; the seduction of celebrity has never been stronger in the Christian world than it is right now—and that’s not a great thing!

The true spiritual leader, the one with whom God is well pleased, has one job and one job only: to make Jesus famous! And if Jesus wants to make the leader famous, well, that is Jesus’ business. Unlike far too many of today’s Christian celebrities, Joshua was a leader whom God decided to make famous. Joshua 2:7 and 4:14 says,

The Lord told Joshua, ‘Today I will begin to make you a great leader in the eyes of all the Israelites. They will know that I am with you, just as I was with Moses.’ …That day the Lord made Joshua a great leader in the eyes of all the Israelites, and for the rest of his life they revered him as much as they had revered Moses.

And, of course, our featured verse today says, “God was with Joshua. He became famous all over the land.” (The Message) How refreshing! In today’s culture of celebrity, where leaders do whatever they can to make themselves famous, here was a guy who didn’t have to. God did it for him. And there is no better PR firm than the Holy Trinity!

What makes a leader great and opens the door to his or her fame? Some would say charisma is the key. Others might say it’s a combination of skill, intellect, and the ability to inspire others to accomplish a compelling mission. Then there are those who would argue that not only are charisma and persuasion necessary, but it’s also a matter of being the right person in the right place and the right time.

I wouldn’t argue with any of those ideas. But above all else, I would argue that what makes a leader a great and fame-worthy leader is simply God’s touch upon his or her life. Where God makes a man or woman great in the eyes of the people, there you have the makings of a leader who is one for the ages. Joshua was just such a leader.

In Joshua, you find true success! Not that he leveraged his considerable talents, sharp intellect, political capital, magnanimous personality, and a stellar resume of past achievements of leading the Israelites to victory, but it was that God made him great in the eyes of the people. Never did Joshua take any credit for himself in the victories and miracles that God performed. As Moses had been a humble leader, so, too, was Joshua. Like his predecessor, he was a true servant of God and of the Israelites. He served at God’s pleasure and recognized that his success came only by God’s power and grace. And it was God who made Joshua great before all Israel.

That’s the kind of leader I want to be. I want to be a great leader because of God’s touch on my life; because of the work that he does in, for, and through me. If there is anything that makes me worth following, may it be because of what God has done. What I do through my own gifts, personality, and personal determination will, at best, quickly fade. But what God does through me will last for all eternity, and best of all, bring all the glory to the God who has equipped me to lead.

What about you? Do you desire to be a leader—a person of influence in your home, school, business, or some other arena? You might feel unqualified and unworthy. Part of you may want to let someone else to lead; someone more qualified, smarter, holier, better than you. But it could be that God has placed in you the kinds of gifts, talents, brainpower, and favor that he wants to use in leading people to extend his Kingdom in this world.

If God is calling you to leadership, submit your life to him. Then, if he chooses, let God make you great in the eyes of those you would lead.

However, if you are already a leader who has the adoration of the masses, do whatever you can to deflect the glory back to the God who deserves the glory alone. Whatever glory you give to God through your life and ministry, the more bless-able you will be—right now and throughout all eternity.

Choose You This Day: When you evaluate the spiritual leader whom God has placed over your life, make sure this is the chief indicator of their greatness: Their consuming passion is to make Jesus famous. If it isn’t, seriously pray for that leader. If so, thank God for them and do everything you can to affirm their leadership.

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There Is No “Switzerland” in Spiritual Warfare

When God Speaks—Be Quick to Obey!

SUMMARY: The realm of spiritual warfare where the Christian resides is no theological “Switzerland.” Moral issues demand that we take a stand as Kingdom ambassadors. We cannot keep our distance from this conflict; we cannot stay neutral in it. We must engage, even when the odds are overwhelming. To step forward in faith into the fray is to be on the right side of history — what we can rightly call “His story” — and time will prove it.

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Judges 5:15-18, 24-25

The princes of Issachar were with Deborah; yes, Issachar was with Barak, sent under his command into the valley. In the districts of Reuben there was much searching of heart. Why did you stay among the sheep pens to hear the whistling for the flocks? In the districts of Reuben there was much searching of heart. Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan. And Dan, why did he linger by the ships? Asher remained on the coast and stayed in his coves. The people of Zebulun risked their very lives; so did Naphtali on the terraced fields….Most blessed of women be Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, most blessed of tent-dwelling women.

In Judges 5, the prophetess Deborah composed a tune to commemorate the Israelites’ victory, led by General Barak, over the Canaanites and their leader, General Sisera. The memorable and brutal battle described in Judges 4 ended with the gruesome death of Sisera. Deborah used the occasion to memorialize the details of Israel’s victory in this song—a song she not only composed but also sang for all to hear.

The tune, however, was not just a celebration; it was a diatribe as well. Not only did she celebrate the brave hearts of several of Israel’s tribes, Issachar, Ephraim, Benjamin, and Zebulun, along with the courageous lady named Jael, who assassinated Sisera, but she also castigates the indecision of other tribes, Reuben, Dan, and Asher. These latter tribes apparently sat out the conflict because it didn’t directly concern them.

Rueben was conflicted about joining the fight, apparently not so sure there would be a good outcome, given how badly Israel was outmanned and outgunned: “In Reuben there was much searching of heart.” (Judges 5:15-16). The others, the tribes of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Zebulun, were either sitting in the safety of being far from the conflict or too busy with their own concerns to jump into the fray.

Despite the lack of participation from these four tribes, Israel conquered the Canaanites. It was an amazing victory for Israel when General Barak put the larger, better-equipped army led by General Sisera to flight. But when the time came for courage, for the reasons mentioned above, the four stayed home. In so doing, they earned the ire of this steely prophetess, Deborah. She interpreted their reluctance as disloyalty to the nation, which was tantamount to a lack of faith, disobedience, and disloyalty to God. So, she called them out publicly for seeing themselves as separate entities rather than as a part of the nation, a problem Moses had previously warned about, and a problem that became reality in future chapters throughout Judges.

 

So, what does this story have to do with you? Simply this: there is always conflict in the believer’s life. At times, the conflict is in the unseen realm, while at other times it spills over into the real world in your personal, family, social, professional, and church life. In the raging battle, there is always a right and wrong side, a side that represents good and one that represents evil. And wherever conflict invades your world, there are always three positions you can take—one right, two wrong.

The two wrong sides are like what we see immortalized in Deborah’s song. One side, represented by Reuben, is to stay neutral in the fray when the choice is clear. The Rueben mentality is conflicted, not sure what to do, worried about the cost, wanting to play it safe, but not feeling so good about sitting it out. But safe it is not, it is wrong, for in the fight of faith, there is no neutral spiritual Switzerland. Moral issues demand that we take a stand.

The second wrong side takes a definite stance to sit it out. The sit-it-out crowd is too busy, too far removed (they don’t have a dog in this fight, or so they think), and to jump into the fray would take too much effort for too little reward. But in the fight of faith, where the choice is clear, staying off the field will only get you into history books for the wrong reason. Spiritual infamy is not what you want when you are needed in the conquest.

There is only one right side, and that is to step forward in faith to fight for right. When sin threatens, encroaches, or seeks to enslave, even when it seems the odds are against you or against those who need your help, Deborah’s eternal call is to jump into the fray. Her words to Barak are the Word of the Lord to you:

This is the day the Lord has given your enemy into your hands—for the Lord is marching ahead of you. (Judges 4:14)

Where is the battle of faith calling you to take a stand today? If there is an identifiable conflict, jump into the fray. God is already there, and you are not only guaranteed a win but also an eternal song to commemorate your conquest.

Choose You This Day: Picture your greatest challenge. Once you have that in view, picture God already there waiting for you. Now get out there; go take a victory lap in a victory that God has won for you.

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The One Thing You Will Never Regret

When God Speaks—Be Quick to Obey!

SUMMARY: Whenever you step forward in faith, God will do the rest: rivers will part, dry land will appear, walls will fall, enemies will flee, the sun will stand still, and the Land of Promise will become your Land of Possession. You will never regret putting your trust in the Lord.

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Joshua 5:1

Now when all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite kings along the coast heard how the Lord had dried up the Jordan before the Israelites until they had crossed over, their hearts melted in fear and they no longer had the courage to face the Israelites.

Contrast this story with the one we read in Numbers 13-14 about the 12 spies returning from surveying Canaan. Ten of those spies came back from reconnoitering the Promised Land and gave a very pessimistic report to Moses and the Israelites. And when God’s people heard it, they lost heart and became paralyzed with fear.

But the ten spies said, “We can’t attack those people; they’re way stronger than we are.” They spread scary rumors among the people of Israel. They said, “We scouted out the land from one end to the other—it’s a land that swallows people whole. Everybody we saw was huge. Why, we even saw the Nephilim giants (the Anak giants come from the Nephilim). Alongside them we felt like grasshoppers. And they looked down on us as if we were grasshoppers.” The whole community was in an uproar, wailing all night long. All the People of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The entire community was in on it: “Why didn’t we die in Egypt? Or in this wilderness? Why has God brought us to this country to kill us? Our wives and children are about to become plunder. Why don’t we just head back to Egypt? And right now!” Soon they were all saying it to one another: “Let’s pick a new leader; let’s head back to Egypt.” (Numbers 13:31-14:4, MSG)

What a lost opportunity! If only they had remained faithful to God and confident in his call, the same story that the Israelites experienced in Joshua 5 would have become theirs. That same race of giants, the Nephilim, that made the Israelites feel like grasshoppers, were now the ones who were feeling small, as we read in our current story:

Their hearts sank; the courage drained out of them just thinking about the people of Israel. (Joshua 5:1, MSG)

Joshua 5 could have occurred forty years earlier, and the people Moses led out of Egypt would have entered their Promised Land. Instead, they forfeited the promises of God for death in the wilderness because of fear and disobedience. Untold numbers of people died over four decades, with the most disheartening words in the library of human language on their lips: “If only.” What might have been had they just trusted the God who had led them?

 

Fortunately, the next generation learned a very difficult but important lesson at their parents’ expense. They witnessed the unbelief of their fathers and mothers and the harsh consequences of shrinking back in fear, and determined that, while there might be other sins, unbelief would not be one of theirs. They stepped forward in faith, and behold, God did the rest: rivers parted, dry land appeared, walls fell, enemies fled, the sun stood still, and the Land of Promise became the Land of Possession.

No one has ever regretted trusting God. Obedience to the call of the Lord has never left a person disappointed. God has never abandoned anyone who followed his command. Not a single person who stepped out to put God’s promises to the test has ever died whispering, “What might have been if I had just NOT trusted God so much.” As the prophet said in Jeremiah 17:7-8,

But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,
whose confidence is in him.
They will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit.”

Trust God completely, and you will live a satisfying life of no regrets!

Choose You This Day: Trust God! Whatever is before you today, walk into it with confidence. If you are obeying God, he is not only with you, but also before you.

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If You Knew You Couldn’t Fail

When God Speaks—Be Quick to Obey!

SUMMARY: What would you attempt for God if you knew that he was already where your steps of faith would lead you? How energetically would you press forward if you knew he was waiting there for you to arrive? What level of confidence would you have knowing that God had gone ahead of you and secured your victory even before the battle began? The truth is, when God calls you to step out, he has not only promised to be with you, but he has also promised to go before you. And while you may not see around the bend of faith, God is already there with your victory in hand.

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Judges 4:14-15

Then Deborah said to Barak, “Get ready! This is the day the Lord will give you victory over Sisera, for the Lord is marching ahead of you.” So Barak led his 10,000 warriors down the slopes of Mount Tabor into battle. When Barak attacked, the Lord threw Sisera and all his chariots and warriors into a panic.

What would you attempt for God if you knew the Lord was marching ahead of you? What grand thing would you pursue if you knew that he was already where your steps of faith would lead you, waiting for you to arrive? What level of confidence would you have knowing that God had gone ahead of you and secured your victory even before the battle began?

When God calls you to a step of faith, you are guaranteed his presence and his power, which means that you are invincible in the journey. Moreover, he has not only promised to be with you, but he has also promised to go before you, and while you may not see around the bend of faith, God is already there, waiting for you to take the victory lap for a success that he achieved for you. How cool is that!

 

That is exactly what the prophetess Deborah is telling the reluctant general of the Israelite army, Barak. He is shivering in his boots, knowing that his army is outmanned and outgunned by the Canaanite army of General Sisera. We are told in Judges 4:3, “Sisera, who had 900 iron chariots, ruthlessly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.” 900 iron chariots to Israel’s none…no wonder, on a human level, Barak was not too excited about leading Israel into battle.

But this battle would not be fought only on a human level. No battle is. In the spiritual realm, God had already heard the cries of the Israelites and had determined to deliver them from their oppressors under the guidance of Deborah the Judge and Barak the General. Considering that, the fight was over before it even started. Barak couldn’t see that, but Deborah could. That is why she told him, “Now get out there and fight, for God is already ahead of you and has guaranteed the victory. C’mon, go take your victory lap.” And that is exactly what Barak did, and a great deliverance for Israel was accomplished.

Perhaps you are a little uncertain about what’s next for you. Maybe you’re not too confident about your future. Maybe the circumstances you face are overwhelming, from a human perspective. You are outnumbered and outgunned. But where God is asking you to step out in faith, those odds do not matter one iota. God is on your side; he is not only with you, but also before you. He is already where he has called you to go, waiting for you to walk into a victory that he has secured for you. That means you cannot lose. So, take heart!

Therefore, because of God’s exemplary record of faithful goodness in leading his people to victory, do not be afraid to trust an unknown tomorrow to a known God. Get ready! This is the day God will give you victory, for he is marching ahead of you. That is God’s promise to you!

In a verse similar to this one, King David said to his son Solomon as he gave him the daunting task of building a temple in Jerusalem to the God of Israel,

Be strong and courageous and get to work. Don’t be frightened by the size of the task, for the Lord God is with you; he will not forsake you. He will see to it that everything is finished correctly. (1 Chronicles 28:20, LB)

Whatever is before you, if God is calling you to step out, then do it with confidence; God is already out there where you have been called to go. And he has guaranteed victory if you go with him!

Choose You This Day: Picture your greatest challenge. Once you have that in view, picture God already there waiting for you. Now get out there; go take a victory lap in a victory that God has won for you.

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The Making of a Great Leader

When God Speaks—Be Quick to Obey!

SUMMARY: What makes a leader great? Some would say charisma is the key. Others might say it’s a combination of skill, intellect, and the ability to inspire people to accomplish a mission. Then some argue that not only are charisma and persuasion necessary, but it’s also a matter of being the right person in the right place at the right time. I wouldn’t argue with any of those ideas. But foremost, I would say that what makes a leader a great leader is no less than God’s touch upon his or her life.

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Joshua 4:14

That day the Lord made Joshua a great leader in the eyes of all the Israelites, and for the rest of his life they revered him as much as they had revered Moses.

What makes a leader great? Some would say charisma is the key. Others might say it’s a combination of skill, intellect, and the ability to inspire others to accomplish the mission. Then there are those who would argue that not only are charisma and persuasion necessary, but it’s a matter of also being the right person in the right place and the right time.

I wouldn’t argue with any of those ideas. But foremost, I would argue that what makes a leader a great leader is no less than God’s touch upon his or her life. Or at least that’s what should be the defining factor in great leadership. Where God makes a man or woman great in the eyes of the people, there you have the makings of a leader who is one for the ages. Joshua was just such a leader.

In Joshua, you find true success! Not that he leveraged his considerable talents, sharp intellect, political capital, past successes, and magnanimous personality to lead the people to victory, but that God made him great in the eyes of the people. Never did Joshua take any credit for himself in the victories and miracles that God performed. As Moses had been a humble leader, so, too, was Joshua. Like his predecessor, he was a true servant of God and priestly guide of the Israelites. He served at God’s pleasure and recognized that his success came only by God’s power and grace. And God made Joshua great before all Israel.

Notice the backstory to the verse I selected for today’s reading; here is Joshua 2:7 in combination with Joshua 4:14:

The Lord told Joshua, ‘Today I will begin to make you a great leader in the eyes of all the Israelites. They will know that I am with you, just as I was with Moses” …. That day the Lord made Joshua a great leader in the eyes of all the Israelites, and for the rest of his life they revered him as much as they had revered Moses.

That’s the kind of leader I want to be. I want to be a great leader because of God’s touch on my life; because of the work that he does in, for, and through me. If there is anything that makes me worth following, may it be because of what God has done. What I do through my own gifts, personality, and personal determination will, at best, quickly fade. But what God does through me will last for all eternity, and best of all, bring all the glory to the God who has equipped me to lead.

What about you? Do you desire to be a leader? You might feel unqualified and unworthy. Part of you may want to let someone else lead; someone more qualified, more intelligent, holier, and better than you. But it could be that God has placed in you the kinds of gifts, talents, brainpower, and favor that he wants to use in leading people to extend his Kingdom in this world.

If God is calling you to leadership, submit your life to him. Then let God make you great in the eyes of those you would lead.

Choose You This Day: When you think of the advancement of God’s kingdom over the millennia, it is amazing how many times this saying has been true of its leaders: “God didn’t call the qualified, He qualified the called.” Maybe he wants to qualify you! He still looks for a few good men…and women! So, have a conversation with him today about that.

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Battle Ready: Why God Doesn’t Remove Enemies of the Soul

When God Speaks—Be Quick to Obey!

SUMMARY: Wouldn’t it make your life simpler and easier if God just stepped in and vaporized your every spiritual enemy? Why doesn’t He?
Among other reasons known only to God, one important reason is that He is testing you, and he is teaching you so that He might increase your trust in Him. He allows you to be in strenuous situations to test and temper your faith, and through those moments, He forces you to learn the art of spiritual warfare. You see, the battle you are in is not flesh and blood; it is from the unseen realm, and it masquerades as people and circumstances in the seen world. And your most effective weapons in every battle are your ruthless trust in God and unquestionable obedience to His commands. So, if you’re in a battle right now, take heart. You will be victorious … if you trust and obey. Furthermore, God is doing you a favor by getting you ready for greater things!

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Judges 3:1-2,4

These are the nations the Lord left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan (he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience)….These enemy nations were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the Lord’s commands, which he had given their ancestors through Moses.

Do you ever wish God would just annihilate sin in your life? Wouldn’t it be nice if he removed everything that troubles your soul? How wonderful it would be if the Christian’s voyage from salvation to eternity were nothing but smooth sailing!

 

Yes, that would be nice. But God doesn’t work that way. He could have given Abraham and Sarah, whom he called the parents of many nations, an heir long before they were in their nineties and well past the years of bearing a son. He didn’t have to leave Joseph languishing in a prison cell for 15 years, training him to be a faithful leader in small matters and under great duress, when a weekend stay would have sufficed. The Lord didn’t have to teach Moses how to shepherd Israel over a forty-year illustrious career by first burying him in ignominy and isolation during a forty-year stint as a goat herder on the backside of the Sinai desert. And God didn’t have to take the Israelites on a forty-year meandering journey through that same desert when two years would have gotten them from Egypt to Canaan and more than sufficed to mold them into a nation.

 

The thing is, God takes his time in preparing his people. He does it apart from our sense of time because God is God. And God knows more than we do. And God can do what he wants. And God knows that it takes us a long time to learn. So, he uses the sharpest edge tool, discomfort, to test us and to train us for glorious purposes.

 

 

 

After Joshua died and the Israelites settled in Canaan, there were still more than a few enemy nations in the land. Moses had commanded that Israel wipe them out because they would ultimately lead God’s people astray by enticing them to tolerate, then accept, then actually worship their gods. Israel had failed to remove these nations, and sure enough, Israel began to intermarry with some of them and live alongside others as if it were no big deal. But it was a big deal indeed, because what Moses predicted was exactly what happened: Israel began to embrace the unspeakable pagan practices of these Canaanite nations. So God punished them.

 

Punishment came in the form of subjugation—the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites defeated Israel and put onerous demands and taxation upon them. Finally, in desperation, Israel cried out to God, who in turn raised up judges to deliver his people. This is the story of Judges: Judge after judge is raised up to lead Israel into repentance, unite and inspire them, then lead them into battle and throw off the oppressive yoke of their masters. This vicious cycle of subjugation, desperation, repentance, and deliverance took place over a period of 400 years.

 

But there was something else going on during this time. God was testing the loyalty of his people by leaving these pagan nations that Israel had failed to remove; he wanted to show them how easy and quickly they would surrender to the enticement of the false gods, which they did! And he not only tested them, but he had to teach them how to battle their way back to holiness and freedom by throwing off the yoke of their oppressors. They had to suffer the consequences of the pain that always followed enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season; they had to relearn the power of holiness; and they had to learn the literal fighting skills it would take to decimate these enemy nations.

 

Why doesn’t God completely vaporize your every spiritual enemy? Same reasons! He is testing you and teaching you. He allows you to be in strenuous situations to test and temper your faith, and then in those moments, he forces you to learn the art of spiritual warfare, of which the chief weapons are ruthless trust and unquestionable obedience. The argument could be made that you wouldn’t really need the testing and teaching if you were sinlessly perfect, but you are not. So God does you a favor by testing you and teaching you.

 

So, until you are sinlessly perfect—which means you will have died and are firmly in heaven—then praise God that in the meantime, he is getting you battle-ready!

Choose You This Day: Are you enduring hardship and spiritual harassment? Step back and think about how God might be allowing this as a test to temper your faith. Then look for ways to cooperate with God as he gets you prepared for the battle ahead.

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Faith Makes Things Possible, Not Easy

SUMMARY: Faith doesn’t make things easy; it does something far better: It makes things possible! So remember that wherever God calls you to walk today, He’s already there, waiting for you. That’s why He calls you to those steps of faith; that’s how He gives you an enduring testimony. Best of all, when you step out, your faith—the very stuff that’s necessary to please God—is dramatically increased. Your faith begets more faith! Today, get ready to walk the walk of faith!

God Speaks—I Obey // Focus: Joshua 3:9,13

Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: ‘When you reach the edge of the Jordan’s waters, go and stand in the river.’ … And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the Lord—the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap.

In matters great and small, God always calls his people to steps of faith. It is simply the law of the Kingdom. Expressing faith in the spiritual realm is akin to inhaling oxygen in the physical realm. That is just the way God operates. In fact, so fundamental to our relationship with God is faith that the writer of Hebrews explains,

No one can please God without faith, for whoever comes to God must have faith that God exists and rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:6 TEV)

In this case, the Israelites needed to cross the Jordan River to take possession of the land God had promised them. Furthermore, the river was at flood stage. Interestingly, the Promised Land never meant a lack of problems, challenges, obstacles, and otherwise “impossible” situations. In fact, just the opposite is true—there will be more problems, challenges, obstacles, and impossibilities in your Promised Land that will require God to show up and act on your behalf. As has been rightly noted: There is no testimony without a test!

Yet if God had helped the Israelites all along the way through their forty years in the wilderness, he would have a plan for them this time, too. And he did! So, what was the Divine plan? They were simply to have the priests carry the Ark of the Covenant to the banks of the swollen Jordan River, then step out into the river’s swirling currents—and as soon as they do, God will dam the flooding Jordan upriver, and two million Israelites will walk across on dry land. Simple, but not easy!

Of course, they obeyed, God did what he said he would do, and the Israelites crossed on dry ground.

Now we get to read ahead in the story, so no big deal, right? But think of it from their real-time perspective—especially the priests. This was a seriously risky step God was asking them to take.

So, since the Bible tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God, he will make sure we, too, have plenty of opportunities to express it—and on some occasions, that will mean stepping into our own Jordan River at flood stage. And like the Israelites, we will have to take that step without the perspective of already knowing the end of the story? Given that, what can we learn from these Israelites in this moment about those steps of faith? Two things to keep in mind:

First, God already knows the end of the story, even though we don’t. We only see the next step, which often looks scary and impossible. God sees the rest of the road ahead, and he will never ask of us a step that will harm us, but only that which will strengthen our confidence in his care and competence. Furthermore, while it seems we are taking a step into thin air, God’s track record of faithfulness is to build the highway of faith under our feet, albeit one step at a time. So go ahead—take the step!

Second, God’s purpose in our steps of faith is always to bring greater glory to himself—through us. Notice what Joshua said to the Israelites at the end of the story in Joshua 4:20-24—after they had, indeed, walked across the raging Jordan during flood stage on dry ground,

And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan. He said to the Israelites, “In the future when your descendants ask their fathers, ‘What do these stones mean?’ tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The Lord your God did to the Jordan just what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God.”

Faith makes things possible, not easy! Steps of faith from your perspective will never be comfortable. But you can trust God, whose best work comes as you take those steps. And while he does the impossible and he brings glory to himself, he is giving you an enduring testimony. Best of all, when you step into your Jordan, the very stuff that is necessary to pleasing God—faith—is dramatically increased in your life.

So go ahead—take that step!

Choose You This Day: Are you being called to take a step of faith? Remember, God is already waiting where you are walking. So, what are you waiting for? Step out!