Book of JoshuaSample

HOLDING TIGHT UNTO GOD

Joshua knew very well about the character of the Israelites that he led. The Israelites had a tendency toward complacency and compromise with paganism. When he was advanced in age, Joshua wholeheartedly tried to encourage the people he led to renew their faithfulness to God, as well as their commitment to the covenant.

Joshua advised the Israelites and told them to hold fast to the Lord their God because God loved them and chose them to be His people—people He protected and fought for. Joshua reminded them to be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, to not turn aside from it, to the right hand or to the left.

In order for us to be able to love God we need the commitment and determination inside our heart and commitment needs perseverance. To persevere, sacrifice is needed. By surrendering ourselves fully to God, we will be able to bring a sacrifice to Him. We can fail to love God if we rely on our strength, our intelligence or our experience.

We need to guard our heart and align it to the word of God in order to maintain our love to God. When we fail to do what God has commanded us or ignore His Words, we can fall into following the habits and ideologies of the world, which leads us further from God. 

Surrender yourself to God and let your life be open to every guidance and reprimand from the word of God and you will see that God’s strength is within you.

The more we love Christ, the more we will avoid doing things that hurt God's heart.