Godly Meditation on Courage – Dr. Charles Stanley

the most important activity in the life

of a believer

is your personal

private meditation between you and god

we usually think in terms of what prayer

is all about but meditation goes a

little deeper than that

and so i hope you’ll turn with me to

joshua chapter 1.

and i want us to

think in terms of

meditation

of a single verse

remember last time we talked about

meditation a little different

perspective

but today on a single verse

what does god expect of us what is he

willing to do for us we meditate on a

single verse

so when we think about meditation we are

thinking about

carefully

deeply

and very seriously considering what god

wants to say to us in a particular verse

so i want you to turn to joshua chapter

1

and

you recall that the nation of israel

40 years they spent in the wilderness

because they got to this very same spot

disobeyed god and after 40 years of all

the adults dying off now joshua caleb

and the rest of them were set ready to

go into the promised land

and so god said to him in joshua chapter

1

moses my servant is dead

now therefore arise

cross this jordan river

you and all this people to the land

which i am giving to them to the sons of

israel god speaking

every place in which the soul of your

feet tread

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 toward the

setting of the sun will be your

territory

then he says no man

will be able to stand before you

all the days of your life

just as i have been with moses

i will be with you

i will not fail you

or forsake you

be strong and courageous and he tells

him that three times

be strong and courageous

for you shall give this people

possession of the land which i swore to

their fathers to give them

only be strong and very courageous

listen to me when god tells you

something two or three times in a row

you better listen

and the reason he said to him be strong

and very courageous because

40 years before they got to that point

and they all chickened out and said take

us back to the wilderness back to egypt

which was a foolish statement

be strong and courageous

for you shall give this people

possession of the land which i swore to

their fathers to 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 writer 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 for then

you will make your way prosperous then

you’ll have success

have i not commanded you

be strong

and very courageous

do not tremble or be dismayed for the

lord your god is with you wherever you

go

you’ve heard me say several times that’s

the last verse is the one verse my mom

gave me before i preached my first

sermon

be strong and very courageous

don’t fear anything trust the lord

watch him work so we’re talking about

meditation

and so let’s think about what that is

and you can define it in several ways

but it’s thinking carefully

and deeply and personally something that

god is saying to you

and when i think about

how to define it

and how it takes place in our life

by reading and you may want to jot these

words down

reading the scriptures

believing

what you read i’ll come back to them

absorbing what you read

applying it to your heart obeying god so

there are five words

meditation is reading

it’s believing what you read

absorbing it taking it into your heart

and life

applying it in your daily life

and obeying god

so

this is one of the most important

lessons any of us ever learns in the

christian life

and that is learning to meditate that is

learning to

relate to the lord personally

in your walk with him

listening to him applying what he says

making it a part of your behavior your

lifestyle and your work

so

three times he says

to him be strong and courageous

so

let me define meditation one more time

it is focusing our heart on god and

shutting everything else out

when you’re meditating upon god you

can’t be thinking about something else

is focusing on him and shutting

everything else out

it’s more listening

than talking

and when i think about people who go to

church

week after week after week never carry a

bible no notebook no paper no pencil no

pen and sit and listen to somebody talk

for 30 minutes and never write anything

down there’s something wrong with that

operation

because we’re talking about relating to

god and if i should ask you

how much of a sermon do you remember

you may remember a little something here

and there but if you don’t write it down

you don’t remember it

and so it’s very important

so it’s more important than just

listening and talking

it’s important enough to write it down

so you see it and apply it to your heart

so think about this i’ll think about how

many people go to church week after week

they’re watch this their goal is to go

to church

listen to the music listen to a sermon

and then go to lunch

that’s what they think

so they don’t think about i want to

listen

i want to apply it to my heart i want

god to say something i want god to speak

to my heart this morning he is going to

speak to your heart because you came

prepared to listen you got your bible

open your notebook and your hand and

your pencil you came prepared to take

something away

meditation

involves what we said reading

believing

absorbing applying and obeying if you

don’t write it down you won’t remember

those things

and the truth is that’s true of every

message if you come to church week after

week after week

and you listen to god

you’re going to hear something you need

to take away with you and apply it to

your heart so meditation is focusing on

something you hear

and applying it to your life

so

in this particular passage we’re just

going to deal with one verse

be strong and of a good courage

do not tremble

or be dismayed for the lord your god is

with you wherever you go

so define courageous

the quality of mind and spirit

enabling one to meet danger

opposition or the challenges of life

with fearlessness calmness and firmness

you should write that down

what what is what is courageous

the quality of mind of spirit enabling

one to meet danger

opposition or the challenges of life

fearlessly

courageously with calmness and firmness

be strong and courageous you say i don’t

feel very strong and courageous well

that’s why we

we’re talking about it

and that is set your mind

your heart your spirit

to be strong and courageous

because all of us at different times in

our life we face it we face challenges

of all kinds

so to be strong and courageous

fearless

because you’re obeying god you’re

trusting him

he’s willing to do it if you’re willing

to listen to him carefully so

with that in mind i want us to look at

this whole idea of

courage the command

he first gives us a command

be strong and very courageous because

watch this 40 years before all their

parents said no we can’t do this and so

they died in the wilderness and so

joshua is reminding them for you

you don’t want to happen what happened

to your

parents so be strong

and courageous the repetition of this

command three times in those few verses

what does the repetition of command

imply

it implies the nature of the test you’re

gonna face something that’s going to

challenge you

and

so he’s saying to joshua get ready

that is make a decision now that you’re

going to put your faith in god all of us

face situations and circumstances

oftentimes in their life

that if they’re if we’re not grounded in

the word our first response is to fear

oh god what am i gonna do what caused

this to happen we begin to ask questions

be strong and very courageous

so

when he says very courageous

think about these two qualities

courage is where

listen courage is where the there’s the

absence of fear

be strong and courageous

determination that is

resolution energy firmness endurance

that is be strong

and so people say well you know what i

just don’t know if i’m going to be able

to face so and so or not yes you can

what he said to joshua

he said to that whole nation be strong

and very courageous

do not be afraid

set your mind and heart on who god is

and what god is willing to do in your

life

so i think many times people face

situations and circumstances in life

that if they just had that one verse be

strong and courageous

don’t don’t don’t fear anything set your

mind upon god but oftentimes situations

arise and that first response is fear

that first response i’ll be okay god

be strong and courageous

which simply means i’m setting my mind

upon god to face this with me

be strong and courageous fear not

neither be thou dismayed for the lord

your god is with you wherever you go

and if you started every day of your

life with that verse

things had changed your attitude would

change

your disposition would change your

actions would change

because watch this you have a promise

from god

because he promises to be with us

whatever the situation is

so here’s the command to be courageous

so

we say okay what’s

what about this courageous business

well

it’s found in this chapter

five times really if you put it all

together

and the children of israel

they’d been delivered from this bondage

all those years watching their parents

die off because of their fear because

watch this they got to the prom they

could see the promised land

they could see everything that moses had

told them about

when they got there

because

as joshua explained to them there’s

going to be a battle we’re going to have

to fight our way in this but

remember we we came out of egyptian

bondage and god led us out of egyptian

bondage and the the reason some of you

were born in the middle of a wilderness

is because your parents disobey god be

strong and very courageous

that one verse is enough to take you

through anything in life you face think

about this be strong and courageous

fear not

need to be that dismayed or discouraged

for the lord your god

is with you wherever you go

you can take that verse all the way to

the grave

because it is a promise that only god

can keep somebody else could say we’ll

do this that but this is almighty god

the sovereign god of the universe

he’s the one who’s making a promise

and you and i know that god doesn’t make

promises he doesn’t keep

and so the the the basis of our courage

is not how strong i am the basis of our

courage is

god

who said be strong and very courageous

fear not for the lord your god is with

you

that should eliminate the fear

and people every day face all kinds of

situations and circumstances that would

cause them to fear you go to the

doctrine he tells you you have this you

have that

and we can’t promise you anything

well if you listen to

their calculation about how long you

have to live or what’s going to happen

to you what about god

god is the ultimate one who determines

that life

and how we face the circumstances of

life

it’s our responsibility to be rooted in

the truth

so every believer has the privilege of

quoting that verse for themselves

and

so his task for them was to conquer

and they knew they were going into

battle

and then joshua and caleb had to say to

them

but listen

god will take us through this

he will give us victory so think about

this

oftentimes the difference between your

success in anything

and your victory in or over it is how

you believe about what you believe about

god

be strong and very courageous fear not

neither be that is made on what’s what’s

the basis of that but the lord thy god

is with you wherever you go

this is why it’s important to understand

and get a clear picture of who god is

and i wonder how many people go to

church week after week after week walk

away never give god another thought

be strong and very courageous

fear not need to be thou dismayed for

the lord your god

who is the lord in your life

who is god in your life

what is what is god like in your life

if you have a poor

understanding of who god is you’ll have

a poor understanding or experience of

what courage and

real trust and faith in god’s all about

if you understand who he is he’s a

sovereign ruler over everything

be strong and courageous fear not

neither be thou dismayed but the lord

thy god is with you wherever you go

and nothing is too great for god

not there’s nothing you face that he

can’t handle and so this is why listen

god understands our fears this is why in

these short verses three times he said

to him be strong and very courageous

why because he knew that joshua and

caleb and all the rest of them they were

human

and

think about this

they had the history of knowing that all

their parents were scared to death

turned away from god

why he said three times

because he knew

that even joshua and caleb

would have their fears if god didn’t

continually remind them now

god didn’t say to them what he was going

to do now here’s what i’m going to do

i’m going to have you surround the city

of jericho and all you have to do is

just shout and blow those trumpets and

the whole thing’s going to fall down

you’re not even going to have to fight

no

when they cross the line into the

promised land

they will go into battle

now watch this carefully

they were going to battle they expected

hand-to-hand combat they didn’t have

tanks and airplanes

hand-to-hand combat swords and spears

horses and chariots they expected to go

to battle

but god honored their faith to be

willing to fight those battles by doing

what

when they came to jericho which was a

walled city

very walled very protected and so what

did god say

climb the walls no

be strong and very courageous and watch

what i do

all i want you to do is i want you to

march around that cities six times on

the seventh there you marching around

and blowing trumpets seventh day just

relax and watch what i do

and he knocked the wall down they went

in and conquered it

here’s the problem we have some time if

we can’t figure out how god’s gonna do

something we don’t believe him

the only thing god may say to you facing

a challenge be strong and very

courageous put your trust in me

rely upon me

just see what i do don’t try to figure

it out

and because we can’t figure out how god

is going to do things in life is why we

disobey him sometime well

i don’t i don’t i can’t figure that out

they can’t figure that and i’m sure what

all that tribe of soldiers must have

thought when joshua said here’s what

we’re going to do

wall city jericho

major area

big

a big

barrier between them and the whole

promised land he said we we’re just

going to march around it are we going to

do what

we we’re just going to in fact we’re

going to just march around seven times

march around the city this is not the

way we’ve done battle be strong and very

courageous and watch what i do

when he says be strong and very

courageous remember this

holy

almighty omnipotent omniscient i’m the

present god knows exactly what he’s

going to do

this is what causes a lot of people to

stumble god will tell you to do

something and you say i pray now i

believe this is what he said but i can’t

figure that out

don’t try to figure out what god’s gonna

do

if god gives you clear direction about

something

your responsibility and my

responsibility is to be obedient not

necessarily understand it

and i’ve watched enough things in my own

life to know that’s the way he operates

and that is just do what he says and

your first few steps may be very very

scary

but if you obey him be strong and very

courageous

do not fear nor be dismayed don’t be

just be strong and very courageous now

watch this you know what that is

that’s an attitude

you just think about your brain you you

can think you can think

positive you can think negative

you can think all kinds of things just

what he said

that’s a walled city

they’re walled in and very protected

but god’s going to give us that

and i’m sure they must have said oh

somebody hi

how are we going to do that

and this is where we get in trouble

when we ask god for something

and usually our next response is well

god how are you going to do that that’s

not my

business if he tells you to do something

you obey him on the basis of what who he

is and what he said be strong

and very courageous

fear not neither be that is made for the

lord your god is with you wherever you

go

that’s the that’s the important part the

lord’s your god is with you so my

responsibility is not to know all the

details they would never have believed

those walls are going to fall down

simply by marching around it

because they were used to hand the hand

combat

it was all a big bloody mess when they

went to battle

be strong and very courageous

any circumstance

any situation that you and i face the

answer is still the same

be strong and courageous

fear not

neither be thou discouraged

dismayed

the lord your god is with you wherever

he sends you

you should write that on the table of

your heart

you should think about it anytime you

face any situation or circumstances

and so

when i look at these verses and see what

he

told them

what he was cautioning them

don’t do this don’t try this any other

way

look what happened to your parents

god set them free with all those

miracles and what happened they got to

the promised land and right across this

line was the promised land they said we

can’t do it

because they were looking through the

eyes of doubt and unbelief

whenever you look through the eyes of

doubt and unbelief you’re going to fail

when you have the privilege of looking

to the eyes of faith

and courage be strong and of a good

courage

don’t try to figure it out

they would never they would never have

figured it out

you mean we’re just going to stand here

are we going to march and we’re going to

shout and these laws that just doesn’t

happen

it does watch this it doesn’t happen

when god’s not in it

but when you and i are walking by faith

and we’re trusting god

he may challenge you to do things you

think well how how’s that going to work

if god tells you to do something and

you’re confident of what he’s saying you

just obey him

to meditate upon the word is to think

about it as we said a few moments ago

and i think i gave you about five words

to read it

to believe it to absorb it to apply it

until bad

now you can say well i’ve read it

i believed it but

i don’t

well

not not to no no no applying it and

obeying it

we’re talking about living a godly life

living a successful life

and living and living a joyous life in a

confident life and an assured life and a

happy life

you can go through all kinds of

difficulty hardships and problems with

confidence and joy in your heart

when you are trusting god and believing

that he’ll do what he said

so i think about what you’re facing in

your life and probably most people

you’re facing something and so ask

yourself the question

am i trusting god

am i really believing him

and the issue is am i willing to do

exactly what he says

how he says do it

and all of us

have different situations and

circumstances in life that we think

about

because everybody has their own life

their own challenges and their own

situations and circumstances they face

but think about the power of the word of

god

the word of god

in these simple few verses

the promise meets every single different

need

that is lived out this morning in this

group

be strong and very courageous are any

exceptions to that

no sir

no exception

be strong and courageous

fear not neither be the dismayed for the

lord your god is with you let me ask

this what more do you need than the

promise the lord your god is with you

wherever you go

what more do you need than that

and yet there are some people who would

say yeah but you don’t know my

circumstances

i know who does

god knows everybody’s

circumstances he knows where you came

from he knows your strength and your

weaknesses he knows your unbeliefs he

knows your beliefs he knows what you

struggle with he knows everything about

every one of us

and does this work for everybody

everybody

be strong and very courageous fear not

need to be doubtless made

and put what puts us all in one pot the

lord your god is with you period who is

you every single one of us

you see it all boils down to this i

believe him oh i don’t

and when

god spoke to joshua and caleb they never

could have conceived that thousands of

years later we’d be saying

to each other what god said to them be

strong and very courageous fear not

neither be thou dismayed

it is an awesome

promise

given by an awesome god who tells no

lies

who makes everything possible within his

will

whatever you’re facing

so do exactly what he says

and um

what’s the issue

meditating upon this word day and night

whatever situation circumstances you’re

facing is what you do

you come to god each day and lord you

said here’s what you said

you said be strong and very courageous

that you’d be with me in this i’m going

to trust you you say how many times do i

have to say that every day

and depending upon the nature of it

several times a day

or many times a day whatever one thing

for certain god will not fail you

he can’t because he’s god

he may not work the circumstances out

exactly like you think he would but he

will

and what he said to them i mean the

reason this is in the word of god this

is how we’re to live out our lives

meditate upon the word of god day and

night

and notice he says twice be careful to

do it

so there’s nothing missing in god’s word

be careful to do it

to meditate upon his word day and night

and so

the consequences

he said i’ll make your way successful

in other words whenever you and i turn

to god

we have the promise

that holy omnipotent omniscient

omnipresent god

will be with us

no

matter what

do you believe that

some of you do

if you really believe that say amen

right

amen that he will be with us no matter

what

that god knew that joshua’s faith would

be tested and think about this god

didn’t say to joshua

while he was still on the boundary line

into the promised land he was still in

the wilderness area he didn’t say to him

that joshua here’s what i’m going to do

you’re going to be uh in the promised

land about two weeks and then his father

you’re coming to jericho i’m going to

level that city

he didn’t tell him that

when he drew his sword and crossed the

line

the only thing he knew is that there

would be hand-to-hand

combat against spears

chariots

swords knives

but death they’d face death that’s the

only thing he knew

but he also had this

when he said be strong and never good

courage fear not need be thou dismayed

for i will be with you all the way every

step of the way

he didn’t tell him how

he didn’t tell him all the things he was

going to face the only thing he had

watch this carefully is watch listen say

amen

the only thing joshua and caleb had was

their faith

that’s all they had

their faith

they may have had long swords and long

spears

but the truth was all they really had to

fight with is their faith

so think about this the same faith that

god gave to joshua and caleb is the same

faith

that you and i have only we’ve got it

better

we have the lord jesus christ who walked

ahead of us

who demonstrated god’s love for us in a

way that joshua and caleb did not know

when he went to the cross

and he sent the holy spirit to live

within us

and so you and i are so blessed

that we have god living on the inside of

us and we have the word of god the the

promises of god and he said to him for

the lord your god is with you

wherever you go

think about this you and i

have the same privilege joshua and caleb

had when he said i’ll never leave you

nor forsake you i’ll be with you every

step of the way

we have the same promise

so when you think about challenges that

you face in life

the answer is the same

be strong and have a good courage

fear not

neither be thou discouraged or dismayed

for the lord your god

is with you

not out there somewhere

and you see the problem with the rest of

those who died in the wilderness god was

somewhere but it wasn’t with them that

was their attitude

and they wanted to go back into the

wilderness back to egypt can you imagine

such

such absence of faith after all that god

had done

by all the miracles in egypt bringing

them through the red sea when god

stacked the water on both sides so that

which when you think about all the

things that god did for them and then

they come to the promised land

we can’t do that

and they hadn’t even they hadn’t even

heard about jericho

we can’t fight them

many of god’s people live in utter

defeat

as they face their daily work and life

because they won’t believe

what god said

i will never leave you nor forsake you

be strong and of a good courage fear not

need to be that dismayed the lord your

god is with you wherever you go

this book of the law shall not depart

from your mouth now watch that part

that’s verse 8

this book of the law shall not depart

from your mouth why would he say that to

joshua and caleb

because he knew

what happened to their parents

they went they weren’t listening to the

law of moses they weren’t listening to

god this book of the lord shall not

depart from your mouth

you shall meditate on it

both day and night

so that

in all of that you may be

careful

not just not just

give it a glance careful

to do according to all that is written

in it

then you’ll make your way prosperous

then you’ll have success

it isn’t just breezing over it

let’s put it this way it isn’t just

getting up in the morning and saying a

little bit late this morning well lord

uh sam will read a pastor scripture oh

the lord is my shepherd i shall have one

he makes me loud and thank you lord i’m

probably going to have a hard day today

that’s all the time i have

what does that sound like

this book of the law shall not depart

from your mouth

you shall meditate on a day and night

so that you may be careful

careful

to do according to all that is written

in it then you make your way prosperous

then you’ll have success

notice what he said be careful

then

you’ll make your way successful

now you may be sitting here and you’re

not a christian does that apply to you

you have no promise

you’re living your life without god you

have no promises except that one day

you’ll stand before them and give an

account for your life no promises you

say well can i pray only if you pray

first of all a prayer of salvation

so if you’ve never trusted jesus christ

as you’re saved you can forget all this

it doesn’t apply to you

you say well but doesn’t god hear

everybody no

if you’re willing to come to him

confessing and repenting of your sins

yes

after that

the word of god is open to you

i challenge you to trust the lord jesus

christ as your savior and start

living a courageous bold life

then everything changes

i trust you’ll do that

father we love you and praise you

thank you for making your word

so simple so plain that even a child

understands this

give us wisdom lord to understand

and the courage to be obedient

and we’ll praise you forever lord god in

jesus name

amen

[Music]