January 27, 2024
On Your Mark, Get Set, GO
Min. Latshia Jackson
Joshua 1 After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: 2 “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. 3 I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses.
The scripture begins with “ After the Death of Moses” Joshua was called to lead the people.
He was called to lead the people to the land of promise. But as you can see he wasn’t called to this position until Moses was dead.
For today’s devotional I would like to take a moment and focus on being “ on your Mark”
The word mark is referred to the place on the running course where the runner starts, whether a line or a set of starting blocks.
Joshua was on his “mark.” In other words, he was positioned to be called to LEAD. Joshua had been a faithful servant to Moses. For forty years, he was Moses’ faithful disciple, who fought against Amalek, he was with Moses when he went up on Mount Sinai to receive the tablets of stone which had the law and commandments of the Lord & Joshua also remained behind at the tent of meeting after Moses went down to be with the people.
Exodus 33:11-The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent.
In these times Joshua was in position to experience and encounter the Lord for himself, able to see the Lord more clearly. With 2020 vision, he was on his mark to receive the blessings of the Lord. It was in these times the gift of faith was nurtured and strengthened. Joshua’s faith was undeterred by what most people considered to be insurmountable challenges. Joshua wasn’t only chosen just because he was available or in the right place at the right time. He was on his MARK… he was able to see not only the faithfulness of God but God Himself, therefore his faith was increased
As believers we too must be on our mark. Too often we want to walk in the promises of God but aren’t prepared. Why? Because, We aren’t on our mark. Often we are distracted by the things of this world instead of focusing on the one who is above. Often our faith is waivers because we take our eyes off Him and began to focus on ourselves
These things take us off our mark
- Money. Being more concerned with our financial investments instead of our God relationship investment. We all need it to live in this world, but we must not be owned by it if we are to be not of this world
- Media. these days the media has become one of the biggest distractions the Internet, TV, movies, music, video games & the infamous social media.. Everywhere we turn, some sort of media is right in our face. And the worst part; it’s littered with filth. Almost every commercial on TV, and every advertisement on the Internet is trying to convince us that we are missing something, and they are the ones that can fill the need. Our young girls and women are bombarded by the media with how they should look, feel, and act.
- Relationships. I’m sure you knew this one would be here. Every kind of relationship falls into this category; friends, parents, siblings, spouses, girl/boy friends, children, co-workers, bosses, etc. We can allow any of these relationships to distract us from God. It is our relationships that are our connection with the world, and it is our human nature to have them, but when we allow any one of these relationships threaten to become more important to us than God…well, they become a distraction.
- Church/Religion. WHATTTT? yeah even Church can knock us off our MARK. We can pursue church things, skewed beliefs about God, and even traditions, but forget to pursue God Himself and His Heart. We can become more concerned with doing vs being in the presence of God.
I know we think “not me,” but really think about the amount of time you spend on these things that utimately takes you off your MARK. These distractions that interfere with our preparation for Promise.
The fact is Joshua would not have been ready for the promises of God had he been distracted. And there were alot of things that could have done just that but Joshua was on his Mark ..
Get on your Mark
- Like Joshua stay in the presence of God. After Moses would finish meeting with God, Joshua would remain in the tent.We have to see God for ourselves. Pray, Read , Meditate, Pray again (We can’t depend on parents and pastor to pray to us into heaven. This has to be personal journey)
- No matter what it looks like don’t waiver. In these times, Faith has to be exercised and exemplified even more. God is preparing us. Joshua was among the 12 spies Moses sent out into the land of Canaan. Only Joshua and Caleb came back with a positive report admonishing the people to have faith in God. They were threatened with stoning because of their testimony but they did not waiver.They did not change their position (its easy to allow others to influence your thought process.. And it is easy to go along with the majority)
- Keep his commandments -Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it: We have to learn to behave according to the desires of God’s heart and not to our flesh.
- Know that God is God