Good day to ya and praise the Lord for the wonderful path that leads to His promises. I had a crazy dream a couple nights ago in which everything I tried to do turned up bad. As I woke up and wondered what the dream was trying to get across to me. I believe I found the answer in the book of Joshua. Let’s pray and then I will share with you what I found.
Today’s Prayer
Holy, holy, holy are You Lord God Almighty! Your majesty fills the universe. Your works are magnificent. Your love is boundless. Your heart is full of mercy. You have the power to judge and the power to forgive. You have the whole world in Your hands. I pray for those who have not accepted Your gift of eternal life, for those who have rejected Jesus, for those who do not believe that someone will speak the Word and they will have ears to hear and eyes to see and faith to believe. I pray for their repentance. I pray for their salvation from sin and death and hell. I pray that they will be saved and serve You, dear precious and holy God. I praise You and lift up Your name, in JESUS’ name, Amen.
Let’s eat.
The Causes of Failure
You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove it. – Joshua 7:13
After going to the bible and searching scripture on the word “failure” I came upon the seventh chapter of Joshua where the bible tells us that the first battle for the people of Israel traveling from Egypt was at Jericho, once they crossed the Jordan River. God had given them a great victory at Jericho and Joshua was now ready to move to their next battle at Ai. After they spied out the enemy camp, they determined they needed only a few thousand men to gain victory. They went up against Ai only to fail miserably. They lost 32 men in a battle that should have been an easy victory, but instead they were forced to retreat. Joshua was devastated.
“Ah, Sovereign Lord, why did You ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us?” (Joshua 7:7)
In this case, the people fell short because they failed to uphold the standard God had set for them. God had told them not to take any plunder from their first battle. However, Achan hid some forbidden treasures, and God was now judging the entire nation for one man’s sin. Whenever we act without God’s complete blessing on our activity, we can expect God to spoil our plans. God’s word to Joshua was that he could not stand against his enemies as long as there was disobedience among his troops.
Whenever we launch an endeavor, we should make sure there are no unclean things in our dealings that would allow us to be vulnerable to a failed effort: unpaid vendors, disgruntled employees who were not treated fairly, lawsuits, dishonesty. Many of these things can hinder God from blessing our enterprises. These things can remove the shield of protection from our endeavors, which God wants to bless, but can’t because He is committed to upholding righteousness. His name is blemished when unrighteousness is allowed to seep into our lives.
Getting back to the dream I had, I believe that the Holy Spirit was trying to show me that the things I was trying to accomplish in the dream were not ordained by God so no matter how good I thought the ideas were, they were not spirit led but led by flesh there for I could have nothing but failure.
Is the Lord able to bless your endeavors today?
If not, you may need to go back and clean up a few things before He can do so. Take whatever steps are needed to ensure the blessing of GOD today.
Quote of the Day
Most of us know perfectly well what we ought to do; our trouble is that we do not want to do it.
Peter Marshall
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REV. ELDER G E STERRETT
FOUNDER
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James H. Taylor Sr. – Kankakee City News has published my Daily meal message for a decade.