Have No Doubt (Part 1 of 2)

I want to talk about me and you possessing our souls. We are going to look at Joshua but I want to look at a few verses in the book of James.

James 1:1-5

The trying of your faith; the trying of my faith, tries patience, which is a fruit of the Spirit. And we need to let patience have her perfect work.

In other words, if there’s something that is coming across my path that is contrary or tests my faith, the best thing is to acknowledge that it’s a testing. It’s not something that I have an emotional reaction to in which I become destabilized. “Let patience have her perfect work”

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Luke 21:15-20

So there’s a sense in which in your Christian life and in my Christian life, the circumstances that come into my life are there. My reaction to those circumstances and what it will do in my life, I can determine. I can let patience have her perfect work. I can become more of a complete person in terms of my steadiness, my faith, that God has placed in me because he is the author of my faith, and causing my faith to grow as

I let each circumstance in my life. I want God to prove more and more to me his love for me. I’m not going to ignore or get round it.

In your patience, Jesus said, “possess ye your souls.” In the Old Testament the soul is portrayed in the same way that Joshua took possession in the world. We will see parallels here in our lives.

Deuteronomy 34:12

Joshua1:1-9

Categoric, clear as day, God put it in front of Joshua’s eyes: I will not fail you, don’t be dismayed, you are to possess the land and it will become yours. Whatever you do, Joshua, meditate on the law day and night; keep your focus.
We need to read the word of God.

I know there are some people tonight who are thinking that the way God brought you here, you know was true and yet somehow, this point in time, you’re asking yourself, what’s next? And some f you are in the position where you need God to speak to you. “Be strong and of good courage. Have I not commanded you, Joshua.”

You will see that God was at the centre of Joshua’s thinking and transmitted that to the people. “Whatever you want us to do, that’s what we’re going to do,” said Joshua.

“You will show me.”

Joshua 1:10-12

Joshua 3:1-4

“For ye have not passed this way heretofore.” That’s true of you and me. Not passed this way heretofore. Who has brought us thus far? God has. Who is leading us forward? God is. In your life, the provision that you need at this time, God will provide. It might not be in a way that you expect. I know that in your circumstance some of you want the answer now; he’s heard you. He has been patient with you and now, in the circumstance you are in, he knows that you have not passed this way heretofore.

Joshua 3:5-7

The ark of the covenant represented the presence of God in their midst. They were to follow after the ark.

Joshua 3:7-12

Joshua was careful to point out to the children of Israel, that the covenant represented the Lord God.We’re not talking about some whipper snapper, we’re talking about the Holy one, the one who created everything. “Keep your eyes on the ark of the covenant,” Joshua was saying.

Joshua 3:12-18

What did the priests do? They stood firm. The were standing holding up the ark of the covenant, the presence of God. In your life, in your trial that you’re facing, what God wants you to do is focus your attention on the one who has brought you thus far.And what he wants you to do is stand firm in your faith that he’s given you. He doesn’t want you to worry. He’s your loving heavenly father.

God will see you through the circumstance that you are in at this time. He is the creator God who has done everything, to make it possible for you to go forward in your circumstance. And the faith that you have by the end, you will realise, has given you more confidence in what he is doing. “I knew that God has put that faith in me and somehow I knew he was going to bring me through. That’s how he has given me the ability to share with others. That’s how he has shown me his love for me. It wasn’t the way I thought it would be, but he got me through. And the end result is that he got the glory. I know it was God that brough me through.”

Joshua 4:1-10

As far as Joshua was concerned, they were going to keep to God’s timing. They weren’t going to make something happen that wasn’t at the right stage.

Joshua 4:11-18

That river Jordan that you are facing tonight, God is your solution and God has made the way for you. Whether it’s financial or marital provision; whether it’s something for your children in some way, who are we trusting? God. What are we going to do? Let patience have her perfect work. What does that mean? We are facing things face on. We realise that God is working out his purposes which will only bring glory to him. He loves you and he has prepared the way for you. And as we’ll see on Sunday, as they went on after this point, it was as if they came face to face that they came to that sense readily of God’s provision and Jesus himself.

He was the fourth man in the fire and here, just in a few hours from the time that we were talking about Joshua, Jesus will appear.