THE COURAGE TO OBEY

• DAY 89
• Fear File: Isreal
• Scripture: Joshua 23:6-11

Therefore be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, lest you turn aside from it to the right hand or to the left, Therefore take careful heed to yourselves, that you love the Lord your God.

Joshua lived a life full of faith and courage, but it was time for him to go be with the Lord. And like every good leader, he leaves parting words for the children of Israel. Something that they could hold on to, like guidelines for them. And one thing he tells them is that they should be courageous to obey the word of God and not step away from it. This is a repetition of what God had told him when He called him in Joshua 1.

“Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.” Joshua 1:8

So Joshua knew that obedience to the Word of God was what made him successful in his assignment and what gave the children of Israel victory. And that every time they disobeyed or stepped away from the Word of God, it always ended badly. So he is not only giving them words of wisdom or advice, but he’s also telling them a strategy that he had used to succeed in life.

Obedience

“Obedience is doing what God has asked you to do, the way He asked you to do it and when He asked you to do it”. 

There is a preacher friend of mine that always said “half or delayed obedience is disobedience”. This means that it’s not enough to say you’d do something, the time and extent to which you do it counts too.

If God says, I need you to go tomorrow to a particular place and you say, okay, God, I’m going to go, but I’m not going to go tomorrow,  you’re walking in disobedience.  Or if He says go tomorrow and go wearing a white shirt, and you go wearing a blue shirt it’s still disobedience. 

As people of faith and courage, you have to know that as you walk with God, obeying God’s instruction the way that He has stated is non-negotiable. 

Something I’ve learned in life is that God can be very detailed and specific when He tells us the things that He wants us to do. He may not give the entire picture at the beginning, but He always gives enough details for us to take the first steps we need. So we need to make up our minds ahead of time to do what God asked us to do, the way He asked us to do it. It would save us a lot of trouble and we’re sure to have good success. 

Courage Is Required

Now, you might be wondering why Joshua put the word ‘courage’ there. We need the courage to obey the Word of God because it’s not easy or even possible for our human flesh to act according to the will of God. We cannot by our strength accomplish God’s divine assignment or God’s will. And I’m not saying this for only the big things that we might be thinking about, like opening a church or going into full-time ministry. I’m saying even the day-to-day simple task of forgiving your neighbor or loving your neighbor as yourself or even speaking kindly to someone. I’m talking about things like that. You require courage and faith to do the “big ones” and the “small ones” too. 

You’re going to require courage and faith because doing the work of God means that you have to step out of what you’re used to, out of your comfort zone, and do what God has asked you to do. 

And that can be very confusing and painful for the flesh and anything hurtful and painful for our flesh requires us to make up our mind ahead of time and say, “You know what, I’m going to do what God has asked me to do, irrespective of how my flesh might be taking it or how I might be feeling”. 

Obey

We see through Scripture that we have to do what the Word of God says. 

“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves”(James 1:22)

We must ask God to give us a revelation and understanding of God’s Word so that we can be able to do it. One of the reasons why people are not able to obey God or carry out a particular assignment is because they may not fully understand or comprehend what the instruction is. But if we ask the Spirit of the Lord for Revelation, He helps us to understand the things that were written, and then He empowers us to will and to do according to the good pleasure of the Lord. 

So today, let that be your prayer. Ask the Lord to give you the grace to do His will, and to obey His word. To give you an understanding of the word, to help you understand His instructions so that you can do what He has asked you to do. Ask him for the courage to obey Him when He says it, how He says it, and what He says. 

Shalom.