Joshua 24:15 – “ If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

As I read, prayed, and mused on the Word of God today, I found choice to be a focal point. Life is a series of choices, and each choice has a consequence or benefit, and maybe both.

Commitment is a choice!   In Joshua 24:15, Joshua challenged Israel to make a decision (choice). They were to choose between the world with its seeming offerings and benefits and God.   We face the same choice, often daily.   No wonder Jesus said, “If anyone is going to be My disciple, they have to take up their cross DAILY and follow me.” (Luke 9:23).

Total commitment requires total obedience. The accounts in Judges 1 & 2 reveal the danger and damage of failing to follow through on God’s directive. God said that they were to dispossess and drive out the enemies.   They did, but not completely.  Some tribes left remnants of the occupants in place. Judges 2:2-3 give the results. “They will be thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to you.”

If we do not break clean with the old way, it will cause trouble and pull us back, preventing full victory.   That is everything, from habits to actions and associations.  Victory requires commitment, and commitment requires choice.

Make the commitment, and God will provide the help.  Acts 19:18 shows commitment through choice and victory.  Action is required. Repentance is to do a 180-degree turn.  Repentance is to change course. Repentance is to take action. “Many also who had believed came confessing and recounting their practices.”

50,000 pieces of silver were worth over 135 years of wages, and depending on the coinage, it would be worth millions today.   It was a significant act. They were totally transforming and redirecting their lives.  It was All In with God.   True Conversion involves total commitment and action.  If we keep doing what we did, thinking like we thought, going where we went, we have not made the choice or commitment; we are just deceiving ourselves.

Jesus offers freedom, but freedom requires commitment! As Joshua challenged Israel, “Choose you today whom you will serve.” The ball is in your court. What is your choice?

LORD, as we make this choice, help us choose wisely and choose You!

Joshua 2:1-7 – “Then Joshua the son of Nun sent two men as spies secretly from Shittim, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” So they went and came into the house of a harlot whose name was Rahab, and lodged there. ² It was told the king of Jericho, saying, “Behold, men from the sons of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land.” ³ And the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who have entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land.” ⁴ But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them, and she said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. ⁵ It came about when it was time to shut the gate at dark, that the men went out; I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.” ⁶ But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them in the stalks of flax which she had laid in order on the roof. ⁷ So the men pursued them on the road to the Jordan to the fords; and as soon as those who were pursuing them had gone out, they shut the gate.”

As I read, prayed, and pondered the Word of God today, I was brought to a renewed awareness of transition and anointing. I was reminded of the dangers of following human reason and the power of following God’s anointing.

In Joshua 1, we learn of Israel’s plight.  Moses, the man who had become larger than life, was gone.  His assistant, Joshua, was now pressed into the role of leadership.  Joshua was untested and unproven as a leader. Joshua and the people were in danger of becoming confused, fearful, and defeated.

God immediately acted. Joshua 2:1-7: God said, “Joshua, change has come, and you need to be fully aware: Moses is no longer your focus; I AM!”   In verses 8-9, God gave Joshua and Israel a pattern and practice to help them succeed. “This Law (Torah) is to be meditated on day and night. You must carefully and diligently do everything in it. If you do, that knowledge will enable you to make your way prosperous and successful. But you cannot give in to fear. Trust Me!”

That is easier said than done.  Joshua had seen it but never done it.  He had to move from theory to experience.  So do we!  Hearing about it must become doing it. God said, “Jump,” now JUMP!

In Joshua 3, we see the absolute necessity of following the Ark (the Holy Spirit).  In Acts 4, the disciples are persecuted but choose to obey God.  In their surrender, God refilled them with the Holy Spirit, which gave them a holy boldness.

The most important thing to them became GOD!  In Acts 5:41-42, we see a group of people who were consumed with the purposes of God. It was not an occasional investment; it was daily, in the Temple and house to house, being consumed by God and His Word. They had a mission and a commission, and it was more important than life.

Joshua and the early church all followed the directive to make God their consuming passion and yield 100% of their lives to Him.  They trusted Him! Trusted His love, grace, compassion, promise, protection, and power!

We pray for revival.  God demands repentance.  Repentance brings revival; revival brings renewal; renewal results in revision; revision produces reformation, which leads to restoration!

What we have is determined by our hunger and thirst.   How desperate are we for God’s fullness? We will receive according to the level of our desperation!

Look up, Redemption is at the Door!

Ephesians 1:18-19 – “I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.”

As I read, prayed, and mused on the Word of God today, responsibility and accountability echoed in my heart and mind.   The work of Grace and our personal responsibility challenged me deeply.

Too often we pray, “God, change me.”   He usually says, “I did.”   We want God to arbitrarily take things from us without any commitment or effort on our part.  That is the epitome of laziness and shirking responsibility.  God’s Grace opens the Door, and our commitment invests in the work leading to transformation.

The Holy Spirit challenged me with Ephesians 1:18-19.  My heart has eyes, and what my eyes focus on, my heart embraces.   In Ephesians 2:21-22, we discover that as we mature, make the needed commitment, and exercise the required restraint, we are molded into the Body of Christ as a functional part.

God has placed the five-fold ministries in the Church for a specific purpose. It is not hierarchy or even structure, but ministry.  They are there, gifted and commissioned to “equip.”   That requires cooperation and discipleship.   How long is that function?   It is Until.   Until?  Yes, until we all come into the Unity of the Faith and the Knowledge of Jesus as mature believers functioning in our gifts and calling.

In Ephesians 4:22-32, we have a detailed explanation of our personal responsibility.

• We Lay Aside (abandon) our former lifestyle.
• We become renewed in the Spirit of our Minds.

How? What we focus on and how we permit ourselves to live.

• We take definitive action to stop things detrimental to godliness.

Ephesians 5:15 tells us to pay close attention to how we conduct ourselves. Then in verses 18-20, he exposes the practice of becoming inebriated with any intoxicant other than the Holy Spirit.   With booze, you lose!   You lose control of your soul.

The key to maturity and living victoriously is found in Ephesians 6:10-18. Want to be strong? Put on or become one with the one who is strength, Jesus!   He is the Full Armor of God through the Holy Spirit.   He is the Truth. He is Righteousness.   He is the Good News.   He is Faith.  He is Salvation. He is the Word of God.  He is our Door to the Father through which we go in prayer!

We must do as Ephesians 4:23-24 instructs.   Lay aside our old self with the corrupt desires.   Become renewed in the spirit of our minds, enabling us to embrace the new self that is created to be like Jesus.   We lay aside anger, bitterness, and vileness.   Take to heart the warning of Ephesians 5:3-5. God will not overlook some things and expects us to rid ourselves of them.   He gave us Grace, which opens the Door to life.   We must walk through it.

Our accountability and responsibility are to utilize His Grace and cooperate in the transformation.   He saved us and will transform us as we cooperate.   We must make the choice!

It is time to “oil the shield” of our hearts.   Isaiah 21:5.    Embrace the ministry and indwelling of the Holy Spirit!

Galatians 5:13-14 – “For you have been called to live in freedom, my brothers and sisters. But do not use your freedom to satisfy your sinful nature. Instead, use your freedom to serve one another in love. 14 For the whole law can be summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

As I read, prayed, and pondered the Word of God today, I became focused on Judgment, Exposure, Grace, and Restoration.

• In Isaiah 3-5, we find a vivid description of the characteristics of the Last Days.  
• In Isaiah 6, we begin to see the Light of transformation.

I find it interesting that Isaiah would connect his vision and divine encounter with the death of the earthly King, Uzziah.   My heart whispered, “You can’t have two kings.  You cannot see the King of kings as long as you focus on the Earthly King.”

In Isaiah 6:5-10, we see Isaiah coming under Conviction.   Once he saw God as God, he saw himself as wretched, flawed, and frail.   We see Isaiah’s Cleansing, the Call, and the Commission.  It consumed the prophet for the rest of his days.

In Isaiah 10, we hear the prophet warning of Judgment coming on corrupt leaders. We see that vividly in the Church today, and it is and will extend to every sector of life.  The difference is that, in the Church, the purpose of Judgment does not focus on punishment or annihilation.  It focuses on Restoration!

In Galatians 5:13-14 and 6:1, the purpose of God is made clear: It is Restoration!  We may agree that it may not seem possible, but it must be the focus.    Not tolerance but love, correction, and Restoration.

Galatians 6:1 does not focus on the one “caught” (exposed or stuck).   If we do what we claim we are (righteous), our motivation should be to heal the body part that is sick, harmed, and weakened.   We do so looking in God’s mirror at ourselves.

If we look with a view of superiority and exempt ourselves, we will be harsh, judgmental, and executionary.  If we look at Isaiah and, as Jesus suggested, we see our own flaws and realize, “But for the Grace of God, there goes me.”

The world needs us to be honest, to address sin, and to be loving, seeking to restore!   Personal failure is not automatically to be assumed to be the result of doctrinal error.   It may contribute, and correcting it may be part of the Restoration, but dying to the flesh and living to Christ is the key.

Galatians 6:14-16 offers a powerful remedy for the problem of sin.  The world crucified to us and us to the world.   It is becoming “New” creations. Not remodeled or reformed by New, never-before creations.  Only with New hearts can we be new people.

If you fell from grace and had a moral or spiritual failure, how would you want others to respond?   Would it be to kill and destroy you?   I doubt it.   You would hope they loved enough to try to restore you.   Do we?

Some leaders will fall, and how we respond will affect the harvest and our spiritual development.   I will not excuse sin in me or others, but I refuse to be one who burns them at the stake, giving no room for Restoration.   Love for God and people must prevail.

Lord, help us focus on what You focus on!

Numbers 20:8 – “Take the rod; and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it may yield its water. You shall thus bring forth water for them out of the rock and let the congregation and their beasts drink.”

As I read, prayed, and mused on the Word of God today, I was drawn to a truth we tend to obscure. Explicit Obedience!  In Numbers 20, we have the account of the second encounter with the Rock.  The people were in a dry place, and God, as He had before, provided water from a Rock.  The first time, Moses was instructed to strike the rock.  This time, he was to speak to the rock.

The first encounter was symbolic and even prophetic of Jesus’ crucifixion.  From Jesus comes the Living Water.  This Rock symbolized that coming reality.

The second encounter symbolizes coming to the crucified Christ in prayer. “Speak to the Rock. (v. 8).   Moses, in his impatience, acted impetuously and struck the Rock twice.  God’s anger soared.  It was as if Moses had attempted to crucify Jesus again.   God expects and demands explicit obedience.  That is not tyrannical but love. Explicit obedience empowers and protects.

1 Corinthians 10:3-4 – “And all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink – for they were drinking from a SPIRITUAL ROCK that FOLLOWED THEM, and the Rock was MESSIAH.”

Balaam was given explicit instructions. Mary gave the servants explicit instructions (John 2:5). Jesus said in John 5:19 & 30 that He explicitly obeyed the Father. He said only what He HEARD and did only what He SAW.

Jesus said in John 6:63, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh has no benefit. The words I have spoken to you are Spirit and are Life.” Peter grasped that revelation in (v. 68): “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life!”

Do we obey “explicitly” or “superficially?”   Being born again and dying to self leaves no place to include the flesh. Disobedience cost many the Promised Land, and failure to explicitly obey cost Moses & Aaron the Promised Land. The record is filled with examples of the destruction of Disobedience and the blessing of explicit obedience.

When we say, “Jesus is my Savior,” we claim to be born again and transformed.  We claim to have died to the flesh. But unless He is LORD, we will find ourselves reverting to the flesh and fail to obey explicitly. That isolates and separates.

Jesus, be Savior & LORD. I surrender ALL.