The Power of a Focused Life

The following ideas, outlined in God's commission to Joshua in that chapter, form the characteristics and qualities He desires in the people He places in leadership in any generation:

1. Know when to release the past and go forward: "Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them the children of Israel" (Joshua 1:2 NKJ). Many people who are approximately my age and should be the Fathers and Mothers of the faith in their churches but, instead, are hindrances because they cling to and insist on the structures, strategies, and styles of the past instead of realizing that every new generation must define these things for itself. The seniors of any church should be offering counsel, sustenance, support, and spiritual guidance to their pastors and their fellow church members instead of wasting their time and that of others yearning for things and ways of the past.

2. Assertively and aggressively possess the potentials God has given you: "Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses" (Joshua 1:3). Many lament the ineffectiveness of their work and at the same time languish in inertia and apathy instead of taking up the mantle of God and pressing forward in assertive and possessing faith. I often refer back to the words of Billy Graham in his leadership of his staff in difficult and discouraging times. He would often say: "I don't know about you, but I'm going on!" Every great work of God takes time and persistence, i.e., "every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon."

3. Be driven by a single vision. God said to Joshua: "From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your territory" (Joshua 1:4 NKJ). When one is vision driven, he cannot turn back and he won't go back. His vision drives him through the best of times and the worst of times.

4. Remain absolutely confident in God's protective power. "No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you" (Joshua 1:5 NKJ). Jesus promised that He would never leave us nor forsake us but would be with us unto the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). When one has the absolute certainty that God is with him, who can be against him?

5. Trust God's compelling promise: "Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them" (Joshua 1:6 NKJ). The promises of God are "yea and amen." Abraham was convinced that "what [God] had promised He was also able to perform" (Romans 4:21). Like Abraham, we should not waver in doubt and unbelief. James teaches that one who doubts is double minded and will not receive anything from the Lord (James 1:7).

6. Stay totally focused: "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 1:7 NKJ). One who is open to anything will fall for everything. Many are like the philosophers of Mars Hill who "spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing" (Acts 17:21). People cannot rush from one new idea, movement, or method to another and remain stable and effective in what they do. They must commit themselves to a track that they know in their heart of hearts is from God and not "turn from it to the right hand or to the left." To do otherwise is to be caught up in double mindedness and miss the greater works of God.

7. Increase your devotional life: "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success" (Joshua 1:8 NKJ). Too many fit the spiritual mentality described by Jeremiah. "For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns broken cisterns that can hold no water" (Jeremiah 2:13 NKJ). We neglect the Word of God, filling our lives and minds with material and natural things rather than exercising the disciplines of prayer, the Word, and contemplation of the things of the Spirit. God clearly teaches the poverty of one's spiritual life when such things are so.

8. Be strong and courageous in the face of any difficulty, enemy, or condition of life: "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go" (Joshua 1:9). What a glorious promise. We have nothing to fear but can go forward in utmost confidence relying totally on our Father each step that we take in His Name and in His behalf."

What a wonderful role model we have in Joshua. It is interesting to note the challenge Joshua, in his later years, made to the still struggling Israel: "And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord" (Joshua 24:15).

God give us multitudes of Joshuas today that will walk in confident and obedient faith in the face of the challenges of this age.

Jeff