Day 10
WHOLEHEARTED DEVOTION
As the Israelites were to settling into their new land, stepping into a season of peace after a long war, Joshua reminded them to stay devoted to the God who got them there.
It is interesting that he instructs the people to get rid of the gods their fathers had worshipped all the way back in Egypt, some 40 years earlier. This new generation who had learned to trust God as they wandered the wilderness, eating food that He provided each day, drinking water God gave them out of rocks…loved God, and yet they still carried with them worthless gods who their fathers and mothers had worshipped back in Egypt. And now Joshua, almost in a teasing way, says that if it didn’t please them to serve the God who provided for them 40 years in the wilderness and gave them this new land, they could choose to worship the god’s He conquered back in Egypt or the gods who were not capable of keeping them out of the promised land they now called home. It doesn’t seem like much of a choice does it? Why would they worship a god in capable of helping? And yet they did, just 1 generation later.
We are living many generations later, our ‘gods’ look very different, and yet we still carry things with us that cannot save and can’t even help. In our weakness, we sometimes hold on to things that distance us from God.
But God wants to free us from these ‘gods.’
As you pray today, begin with prayer for yourself, asking God to show you any ‘god’ you are holding on to which is keeping you from being fully devoted to Him. Then pause, confess it to Him and give it to Him once and for all. Receive His forgiveness which is promised in 1 John 1:9. Ask God to use your life to bring glory to Him and to bring much fruit for His kingdom, lives transformed into the image of Christ!
Now pray for the people you’ve written in your prayer journal, your 16 or your 290!
Ask the Lord to raise up people within your community and within your relational connections who will love Him with all their heart, walk in obedience to Him, share Jesus with others, and who will train others to be multiplying disciples as well.
Joshua 22:5
Only carefully obey the command and instruction that Moses the LORD's servant gave you: to love the LORD your God, walk in all his ways, keep his commands, be loyal to him, and serve him with all your heart and all your soul."
Joshua 24:14-15
“Therefore, fear the Lord and worship Him in sincerity and truth. Get rid of the gods your fathers worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and worship Yahweh. But if it doesn’t please you to worship Yahweh, choose for yourselves today the one you will worship: the gods your fathers worshiped beyond the Euphrates River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living. As for me and my family, we will worship Yahweh.”
1 John 1:9
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
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