The Courage to Face Difficult Tasks

Ever felt overwhelmed by an impossibly huge task? You’re in good company. Charged with leading God’s people into Canaan, Joshua was familiar with the fear that accompanies enormous responsibility. And yet somehow he was able to trust God and accomplish His will. For more messages from Charles Stanley, including this week’s broadcast, go to www.intouch.org/watch

Dear Lord,
Today…….I am asking all my prayer warriors to say a prayer that may help others. So many people are hurting right now. Many are struggling with finances and need jobs. Some are facing foreclosure and don’t even know how they are going to make it from week to week..

Many are lonely. . Many are heartbroken. . Many are facing sickness and health is fading. . Some are dealing with difficult family members. Many have lost HOPE.. Tonight, let us put our prayers and faith together decree and declare breakthrough over our families. Financial miracles WILL take place. Jobs WILL be found. Our Bodies WILL be made whole & sickness WILL flee. Marriages and relationships WILL be restored. Family members WILL find Jesus. Heartbreaks WILL be healed. JOY WILL be restored and HOPE WILL be found. In Jesus Name. Amen!!!!!! Keep God First…….

So we have a choice of facing the difficulties we face in life in one of two ways, we can do it courageously or we can do it fearfully.
And God doesn’t want his people living fearfully.
He says, I have not given you the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
God wants us to be triumphant. He wants us to be courageous and bold, whatever we face in life.
And he’s made promises to make it possible for us to face anything and everything and still be standing when the battle is over.
Next on in touch. Dr Charles Stanley begins his series courage for the Christian life.
Today’s message, courage for the difficult tasks. What do you fear most in life?
Ill health, some financial loss, loss of a loved one.
What do you fear most?
Is it death or maybe a failure in some particular area of your life?
We probably all have areas that we have to deal with.
Probably have to find ourselves talking to God about them several times, many times.
Sometimes whatever it might be may be every day.
But what are you afraid of what really haunts you.
Well, if you have courage, you can handle anything that haunts you.
And that’s what I want to talk about in this message because this is a very difficult trying time in the life of our nation.
Many people fear many different things and oftentimes they have right?
Cause but God wants you and me to live with courage, not fear.
So I want you to turn if you will to Joshua chapter one.
And as I think back over the years, all the situations, circumstances challenges that I’ve been through in life.
This is the passage of scripture.
I always go back to somehow I end up in this first chapter of Joshua.
And since my mother first gave it to me before I preached my first sermon, it has always been there for me and no matter what the situation or circumstance, I find awesome courage, strength, resilience, encouragement out of this chapter and I wanna share it with you.
So if you’ll turn to that for just a moment, listen to what happens here beginning in this verse verse.
Now it came about after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord that the Lord spoke to Joshua, the son of none saying Moses, my servant is dead.
Now, therefore rise across this Jordan, you and all these people to the land which I’m going to give to them.
The sons of Israel, every place on which the soul of your foot treads.
I have given it to you just as I spoke to Moses from the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the Great River, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites.
And as far as the Great Sea to the setting of the Sun will be your territory.
That was his promise. No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life.
Just as I was with Moses, I will be with you.
I will not fail you or forsake you be strong and courageous, but you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them only be strong and very courageous.
Be careful to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded.
You do not turn from it to the right or to the left so that you may have success.
Wherever you go, this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.
But then you’ll make your way prosperous, then you’ll have success.
And then he says this have I not commanded you be strong and courageous, do not tremble or be dismayed for the Lord, your God is with you wherever you go.
Now, your first response might be well, uh I’m not in that kind of a situation.
I do have areas of my life in which I feel weak or sometimes fear.
But uh I’m not in that kind of a situation.
So what does that have to do with me listening carefully?
The principles in this passage of scripture will take you through anything and everything no matter what.
Now, if I were 25 years of age, you may have a lot of reasons to doubt me, but I can give you enough evidence that I can tell you.
It is true every single time, no matter what you face in life, because many people are just, they’re just fearful of, of defeat and fearful of failure, fearful of many things.
So I’m gonna look at this passage as a message that God is giving us in this 21st century because the truth applies to all of us, whatever we’re going through, the truth applies.
So when I think about this passage and think about what’s happening, let me give you a couple of definitions that might be helpful.
First of all, let’s define what fear is all about fear is that uneasy feeling.
And all of us have felt it.
It’s a dreadful feeling, an internal alarm that goes off inside of us in some fashion when we’re facing imminent danger, feel threatened, feel helpless to avoid or to change it.
So all of us have felt that at some time or the other.
Then of course, uh, there’s another word I want us to define and uh it may be good to define this one.
Uh Right now, what is the opposite of fear?
And that’s courage, the quality of mind, the spirit enabling us to meet danger, face opposition, all the challenges of life with fearlessness, calmness, and firmness.
So we have a choice of facing the difficulties we face in life in one of two ways we can do it courageously or we can do it fearfully.
And God doesn’t want His people living fearfully.
He says, I have not given you the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
God wants us to be triumphant. He wants us to be courageous and bold, whatever we face in life.
And he’s made promises to make it possible for us to face anything and everything and still be standing when the battle is over.
So with that in mind, let’s look at what Joshua was facing.
Joshua now has the awesome challenge of taking this bunch of murmuring, rebellious, unbelieving, fretful.
You name it two million of them into this new land that God had promised them?
And was it a big challenge? It was a big challenge.
It’s, it would appear to be an impossible challenge because they were moving into a land across the Jordan where the enemy.
There were seven cities there. They were very well armed. Many of the cities had walls around them.
There, there were many giants there and besides that, they had chariots.
And so he has the challenge of leading these people into that land.
Now, naturally, he would have been a little bit afraid because he knew how they operated.
They were with you today and tomorrow they want to stone you to death.
And so for him to have that responsibility, God needed to say something to him.
And here’s what he said to him and he said it so beautifully in this um uh first chapter of Joshua, because here we find the basis of our courage.
Our courage isn’t something we just think of. We have a basis for our courage as a believer.
And that basis is our relationship to God through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And when we face difficult task, we need, we need courage and some of you probably facing very difficult tasks and situations in your life has nothing to do with chariots and crossing over a sea or anything like that.
What I want you to see is this the principles of scripture apply to us, whether it’s the 21st century or the second century makes no difference.
What? And I want you to see what God is saying here because what he’s saying to Joshua, we have the right to claim the same promises, not in the same circumstances, but the promise and the challenge is there and we have the right to claim that promise.
And so when I think about that I want us to begin looking in um in the fourth verse from the wilderness.
And this Lebanon, even as far as the Great River, the river Euphrates, all the land of the hit, as far as the Great Sea toward the setting of the Sun will be your territory.
And so naturally Joshua would have thought about that and think no way can I leave this crowd to do that?
But listen to what God said to Him because God listen, the truth here is as applicable for you and me as it was for Him.
Listen to what he said in verse five.
He said, Joshua, no man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life.
That is successfully just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you.
I will not fail you or forsake you.
Now, if anybody ever needed to hear that, Joshua need to hear that last part, I’ll be with you.
I’ll not fail you. I’m not gonna forsake you. But here’s what I want you to see.
The same promise he made to Joshua is the same promise he’s made to all of us.
What did he say? I’ll not fail you. I’m not gonna forsake you. Now.
He says, here’s what I want you to remember. Joshua.
Be strong, not fearful, be strong and courageous for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers together.
Be strong. And courageous. You them, if you look around, you might be afraid, be strong and courageous.
Watch this in difficult times, dangerous times. We don’t look around.
We look where up, we look up. Amen. That’s pretty weak. We look up. Amen. Amen.
We don’t look around. He said, be strong and courageous.
Now look in verse seven, if you will because not notice how He said, it only be strong and very courageous.
God is making a point. He knows the challenge.
He says, be strong and very courageous to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you.
He didn’t say be strong and courageous. And here’s my blueprint for, for victory.
He’s he, he, he, he didn’t say here’s the war plan.
He says, be careful to do all the law which Moses my servant commanded.
You do not turn from it to the right or to the left so that you have success wherever you go.
So I says, I’m not into that success. Well, are you into failure?
You’re not in the, you wanna, you wanna succeed as a parent, you wanna succeed in school, you wanna succeed in your job, you wanna succeed financially, you wanna succeed in every way of life.
He says, be strong, courageous and very careful to do.
According to all that I have said through the book of Deuteronomy, the Law of God, the law of Moses.
Now, in order to do that, he says, here’s what you must do, listen carefully.
He said, here’s the key.
The key is keeping focused on the truth, which is the word of God and, and notice how he says it be strong and very courageous.
Be careful to do a quote on all that’s written in the law.
He says this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth. Let me ask you a question.
It’s real simple. How many days go by in any given week that you don’t open the word of God days go by.
You’re busy, you got things to yourself, but you’re the, you have to. No, I don’t have to.
But even when I’m not preaching, I’m opening the word of God.
Listen to what he says, this book of the Law which would be the Bible does shall not depart from your mouth.
But you shall meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it.
If you’ll do that, he says, and you’ll have success.
Somebody says, well, now what’s this meditation business?
Let me just say this to you.
It is the simple key to accomplishing anything and everything God sets before you. You say that’s too simple.
What does God want? Make it complicated? No, but notice what he said.
He said, I want you to meditate on a day and night.
Watch this in essence, here’s what he’s saying.
A little brief skimming of it’s not gonna cut it.
I want you to meditate on it day and night and your devotions in the morning and read the word of God a few minutes or whatever it might be before you go to bed at night.
But he said meditate on it. The key is meditate on it day and night.
So I wanna give you five essentials of meditation.
First of all, it involves reading the word of God.
Secondly, believing what you read in the word of God.
And thirdly absorbing it, which means I gotta think about it.
Absorbing, it means that I think about it.
It means that I apply it to my life and it becomes a part of my way of thinking and my way of living.
So we, we absorb it, we, we, we, we understand it, we apply it to our life and we obey it.
He said, you must be careful to meditate upon it day and night.
In essence, here’s what he’s saying.
You wanna have success meditate upon the word of God day and night.
That doesn’t mean you got to give God four hours in the morning and four at night and they close it somewhere trying to find no, that’s not what it means.
Meditation is just what we said. It’s reading it, it’s thinking about it.
I’m sorry. In other words, in 15 minutes, God can do a big work in your life by meditation upon the word of God, there’s not anybody in here who’s so busy.
They can’t give God 10 minutes or 15 minutes with the open word of God every day.
Who in here is so busy? They can’t do that. That’s right. Nobody is.
You say, well, that was the Joshua. Why did God put in the Bible?
It, listen, it isn’t just the message that Joshua.
It, listen, it is a principle that applies to everybody.
You, you know, it doesn’t mean that you’re doing the same thing.
It doesn’t mean that you’ll accomplish as much as, as, as Joshua. None of us would do that.
But listen, it’s watch this.
It’s your world, your world may be this big, your world may be that big.
But the issue is the same that if I meditate upon God’s word, watch this. Here’s what you’re saying.
I’m acknowledging God that I’m not smart enough to live this life myself. I need your help.
I don’t have, I don’t have enough strength. I, I, I don’t have enough smarts.
I’m acknowledging that I need you that I honor you. And, and I’m acknowledging you as my God.
You have the right to tell me what to do and how to do it.
And Lord I’m committing myself to be obedient to you.
And so meditation is the key.
It’s the key to everything he’d said to him before then he says, this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth.
You can’t, you can’t skip it day and night so that you may be careful according to do all that is written in it, then you make your way prosperous, then you’ll have success.
And look at this last verse.
He says, have I not commanded you be strong and courageous, do not tremble or dismayed for the Lord Jehovah Yahweh Elohim, the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
Now let me ask you a question.
How do you beat that? How can you beat that promise?
Think about what clear instruction he said, he said, here’s my law and what I want you to do.
I want you to meditate and I listen, he didn’t say I want you to memorize this or memorize that.
No, he says, I want you to read it, meditate up on the day and night.
I want you, I want you to get it on the inside of you.
I want you to absorb it so that you are thinking you watch, watch this.
You’re thinking Joshua like I think and what happened?
You know why it was so particular about that? I’ll tell you one of the reason a couple of reasons.
Number one, he knew what he, what Joshua was going to face and he knew what the challenge was gonna be and he knew how doubt would rush into his mind.
So here’s Joshua, the commander and God says, all right, I want you to take Jericho.
It’s a walled city, they’re fully armed and you all have pitch forks and, and uh, pocket knives and so forth.
And that’s, that’s the way it is.
And so God says to him, here’s what I want you to do.
I want you to assemble the army and I want you to march around the wall one day.
And Joshua probably said, and do what God said, don’t do anything. Just go back to your tents.
Second day, third day, fourth day, fifth day, sixth day, seventh day, I want you to march around seven times and probably Joshua said, then what?
And God just use one word. Watch and what happens.
They did it, the walls fell down. They conquered Jericho. Big success. Well, think about this.
How many blessings do we miss? Because we think we’ve got to figure it out.
Joshua would never have come up with that strategy. Never suppose.
Joshua said, there’s no way we’re gonna attack Jericho without climbing the walls and killing him.
God said, be careful to do according to all that I’ve told you.
And what I want you to do is something that sounds very ridiculous.
All you do is line them up and march.
What, what, what battle was ever successful for just lining up people marching, watch this.
We, we have, we have to be wise enough. That’s why it takes courage, watch this.
It often takes just pure gut courage to be obedient to God because it doesn’t make sense sometimes.
And so people who are courageous enough, bold enough and people who are willing to trust God, and that’s why he says meditate on the word of God day and night because it’s meditation on the word that we said, absorb it, you know what we absorb it, it absorbs us.
And so we get courage and strength and we are willing to trust God and be fearless and bold no matter what God requires of us.
So, living in the days in which you and I live, I think that is very, very important.
Now, um I wanna give you a statement. I want you to write down.
God will never give us a schedule so full that there’s no time for him, write it down.
God will never give us a schedule that’s so full. That is that we don’t have any time for Him.
So therefore, we have no excuse for lack of meditation from the word of God.
And I’ll say again to make it clear, doesn’t mean you sit down and memorize a verse every night.
No, you just simply read a passive scription.
If you’re not used to doing that, I’ll give you a good start. Start with the book of Psalms.
Just read the first Psalm. Then tomorrow I read the next Psalm.
And when you get through the Psalms, that’ll take you a while.
In fact, uh uh several months before you get to the Psalms, start with the Proverbs you can read one proverb every day.
It takes you just one month, but you won’t be able to do that because it’s so full of rich, rich, rich, rich, rich stuff from God.
You don’t wanna read a whole chapter.
You know what if you just listen to this message, take it to heart.
God will change your life. God is ready to give you the best.
The question is, are you ready to trust in God? I wanna give you a challenge.
You are you ready to listen to say? Amen?
Read the first nine verses for the next week and the next Sunday, twice a day, it happen if you don’t have time to do that.
That’s right. You say, well, I don’t need to read it now.
I don’t need to read it every day.
Yes, you do every day and every night, something will happen to you.
I promise you it will. You want to give a testimony next Sunday morning.
Have I not commanded you to be strong, very courageous to face anything and everything and be sufficient for all things because of Him.
If you’re not saved, look what you’re missing.
And I pray that you’ll be honest enough to confess your sinfulness and your pride that you think you can live your life and be a success and do what God wants you to do without asking Him.
You may be successful now as the world, but a total failure now of God.
God’s best is a free offer of salvation.
The price being paid by Jesus to the cross when he shed his blood at Calvary, and I trust you to be wise enough to ask Him to forgive you of your sins or into your life, to him and tell him you want his best.
Amen. Father, how grateful we are. You impact so much and so little.
Such an awesome challenge. Such an awesome opportunity. We thank you for it.
Now, I pray Lord, every man, every woman here, oh Jesus, Jesus.
Jesus Jesus put it in their heart this morning to read these first nine verses twice a day for one week, Lord God, if they go to bed at night, Lord and they haven’t done it, wake them up if they start out in the morning and ignore it, remind Him of it.
You should be careful to do according to all that is written in it.
And so we wanna say thank you this morning for Moses and for Joshua and thank you God for giving us this awesome passage of scripture that we can live by, face anything and everything, live by it every day, every night in Jesus name.
Amen. If you’ve been blessed by today’s program, please visit us at entouch dot org.