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"God's Will...cont." March 11, 2001 Doyle Barnett
Joshua 1:1-9 Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass, that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, [2] Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. [3] Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. [4] From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast. [5] There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. [6] Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them. [7] Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest. [8] This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success. [9] Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
God wants to encourage us to do His will.
God wants us to live right. We need to let go of yesterday. In this passage of scripture, Moses had just passed away. He represented the past. We need to let go of old things--our "old man". And we need to have GODLY expectations. So we need to hear from God everyday--"...give us THIS day...".
There are several ways to know God's will.

Through the Bible
God speaks to us as we meditate on his word.
Through prayer.
God speaks to us as we listen to Him.
Through GODLY counsel.
"...in a multitude of counselors there is safety..."
Through circumstances.
Sometimes God shows us things through our circumstances. He will cause our ears to be open to hear what He is saying in this manner sometimes.
Our desires.
Most people are led by this first, but this should be the last way we are led into God's will. He said he will give us the desires of our heart. But the first part of that verse is ..."delight thyself in the Lord...". To delight, means to lean on, count ourselves weak and unable, meaning that we are to realize that without the Lord we are unable to do anything.
God said that He would be with Joshua. And Jesus said that He would never leave us or forsake us. This is the ONLY way we can do God's will. Because He has to do it through us!
We need to obey God when He speaks to us. "...be not only hearers, but doers of the Word."
We need courage.
Courage comes from KNOWING that God is with us!!
When we look only at our circumstances and what we see, hear and feel, then we have FEAR---our courage is GONE!!!

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