Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Take the land!

Tomorrow farewell/marching orders are issued to Officers in the UK and for the first time in 17 years my name will be mentioned in dispatches!

Along with a whole host of other Officers we will receive our appointment.

At our family devotions this morning we read the following scripture from Joshua 1: 3-9

"I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Great Sea on the west. No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. "Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong and very courageous. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go."
My understanding is that the ‘law’ for a Christian can be summarised in just two commands –

'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with your entire mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbour as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
The first command is of course a call to holiness and is for the serious believer the minimum requirement of Christianity.

I believe that if we as a couple are obedient to this command that God will fulfil the promise quoted above from Joshua.

Wherever we go - as long as we are ‘careful to obey’ and are ‘strong and courageous’ - will be the ‘promised land’ and we “will be prosperous and successful.”

This promise is for us and for all Officers.

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