Word-Faith-Rewards

I see something now beginning to appear from all the accounts I've read so far from the lives of people in the Bible, till Joshua.

Word-God gave His people, His Word, a Promise about a future event regarding their life.
Faith-People believing that God is able to do what He has promised and willing to wait or to do whatever required of them in the meanwhile and trust God with their lives, no matter how long the wait would be.No matter how tough the situations would be
Rewards-That faith then producing results in the lives of the people who believed God for His Word.

Lets see some examples from Joshua's life since this is the latest I have written about.

• Crossing Jordan: WORD- Joshua 3:7-8"7The LORD told Joshua, "Today I will begin to make you great in the eyes of all the Israelites. Now they will know that I am with you, just as I was with Moses. 8Give these instructions to the priests who are carrying the Ark of the Covenant: `When you reach the banks of the Jordan River, take a few steps into the river and stop.' " FAITH-Joshua 3:13-By Faith Joshua tells the Israelites what the Lord would do.Now let's also remember the fact that, river Jordan was in flood during this season and Joshua asked the leaders to step out into the water. Can you imagine someone asking people to step out into the flood waters? REWARD-Joshua 3:15-16 " Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water's edge, 16 the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away.... "
• Conquering Jericho:WORD-Joshua 6:2 " Then the LORD said to Joshua, "See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men." FAITH-Joshua 6- We see Joshua instructing the army and marching around the city (the weirdest battle ever) with trumpets all the seven days. REWARDS-Joshua 6:24-27 The Lord honoured Joshua and they won the battle there.

Lesson: I see a pattern here, between the time God promised something and by the time it really happened, there was a time, sometimes to wait, sometimes to do something. However at the end of the time when they lived their faith the reward was exactly as God promised.

In our lives too, God would have promised us something regarding our lives, now its on our part to trust God with His promise, because as is written in 1 Corinthians 1:9 "God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful." With the way the world is going, there is no value of someone's words anymore. We cannot trust anyone, but its not so with God.

In the time when we are waiting for God's promises to be fulfilled in our lives, maybe for a job, maybe for healing, maybe for marriage, maybe for the salvation of our loved ones. God has promised us through His Word and He is able. While we wait, are we willing to continue to trust him like Abraham did for over 25 yrs until he got his very own son or like Joseph did for 13yrs till he became the prime minister. God is able. If someone had to write the testimonies of the many believers around the world right now, who trusted God's Word for various issues and were blessed in their waiting period, it would surely be the largest book. Lets have Faith in the Word of promise our God has given us regarding whatever we're facing in life, for in due time we will reap the Rewards.

Conquering Jericho

Joshua has now been able to spy the land that God has asked him to capture. (Joshua 6:2) Jericho is terrified, no one inside the city went out or came in. Now God has also given them instructions regarding the battle.

• The priests with trumpets went for the battle
• They carried the ark of the Lord
• The armed guard went ahead of the priest and the rear guard behind the ark.
• The army was to be very quiet.

Now those were some pretty weird rules for a battle, I'd say this must have taken real faith to obey. Who in their right mind send priest carrying trumpets to war? As human beings, we seldom do something we feel is not logical, not right as per our understanding though we might think of this as a great quality, it could be a hindrance when it comes to our relationship with God.

With God nothing is impossible, that word 'impossible' does not exist in God's dictionary, so how do we -limited, finite, with more possibilties to encounter impossibilities of various kinds, how do we know the impossible for us is possible with God, well as Joshua demonstrates it-its with "Obedience". When God's power over impossiblities, in our lives, meets an obedient heart to God...together it makes the impossible possible in what we might think, the most unusual way.

Lesson: Obedience to God's Word and trusting God in every situation can turn any impossible situation around. This Lesson when read backwards also means- disobedience to God's Word, prevents God's power over impossibilites from working in our lives. Mathematically rendered it would read as below

Obedience to God + God's power => Impossible == All things are possible

Disobedience to God + (no God's power : nothing to work on) =>Impossible == Failure and more impossibilities.

+ - Added to

=> - Applied to

== - Results in

Hope for Everyone-Lesson from Rahab's Life

In the account of Joshua's life, we come across a special person, when they won their famous war at Jericho.

Background(Joshua 2):Rahab an inhabitant of Jericho, had her house on the Jericho wall. She was prostitute and as per their customs, was not allowed to have a house among the common people of the country. She was made to live on the city wall.
In those days the city wall was not a feet or two thick like we have. They were walls to fortify the city from enemy attacks. Some were made in concentric circles around the city. Some were about 12feet wide. Thats the kind of wall Joshua and Israelites broke through with their praise and shouting.

Situation:(Joshua 2:1 [ Rahab and the Spies ] Then Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two spies from Shittim. "Go, look over the land," he said, "especially Jericho." So they went and entered the house of a prostitute [ Or possibly an innkeeper ] named Rahab and stayed there.)When Joshua sent spies to Jericho, the easiest place they could sneak in without any suspicion was into Rahab's house. She was in the danger of being caught by her own authorities if they found out that the spies were there or otherwise if the Israelites attacked, her house would be the 1st to get hit.

Rahab's Action:

• She hid them on the roof (Joshua 2:4-6)
• Gave them place to stay (Joshua 2:8)
• Advised them on how to escape the Jericho soldiers (Joshua 2:16)

Why did she do all this? -The Bible says-Its because the whole city of Jericho had heard of the God of Israel and how He had rescued His people and the Red Sea crossing and about all that had happened to the kings who tried to attack the Israelites(Joshua 2:11). She knew that with a God like the One the Israelites had there was no winning against Israel. Indirectly, I find that she honoured the power of the Living God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. She had heard and now was her chance to act on what she believed, she took the side of the Living God.She wanted to take shelter with a group of people who believed and were guided by a Living God.

What she got in return? -Joshua 6:25 But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho—and she lives among the Israelites to this day. Not only was her family spared but now she got a chance to live among people, unlike the way she had been living on the wall in Jericho. Knowing society for the first time, knowing to be a part of a larger community, not being looked at as someone who deserves no respect, but as a hero I'd say. I imagine, the Israelites must have spoken about her as a woman of courage to have dared to keep the spies in her house which was probably surrounded most of the time with the soldiers in Jericho on account of it being on the city wall.

Her returns did not end there-

• Her name finds mention in the geneology of our Lord Jesus Christ-(Matthew 1:5 (Whole Chapter) Salmon the father of Boaz, whose mother was Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed, whose mother was Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse,6and Jesse the father of King David )
• Her name mentioned in the book of Hebrews, "Hall of Faith"(Hebrews 11:31 (Whole Chapter) By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient)

As I see it, she had an impact not only in the lives of the Israelites then but also on us who are children by faith, showing us an example of faith. From another angle, I see that those who run to the Living Lord Jesus for whatever it be, they are never turned down and reap eternal benefits.

Lesson: Rahab's life shows us the blessings, of a person willing to go with the Living God. Rahab shows us that she did not lose anything from trusting in the power of the Living God (which she heard about) but was blessed beyond what she could ever imagine. Many people have heard about Jesus, but do not want to have a relationship with God. Whatever situation we're in, maybe we're sitting on our own wall, not accepted by people we thought would accept us, Rahab's life teaches us God Cares not matter who you are. There is hope for everyone, if only we turned to the Lord.