The Word For Today

After suffering a humiliating defeat, God gave Joshua a second chance at victory: 'Arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land' (Joshua 8:1 NKJV). The king of Ai, still strutting with pride from victory number one, set out for victory number two. He marched towards Joshua, leaving the town unprotected. Joshua's elite squad charged in and set fire to it. And Joshua reversed his course, catching the army of Ai in the middle. The victory was complete.

Contrast Joshua's two attacks. In the first attack, Joshua consulted spies; in the second, he listened to God. In the first, he stayed home. In the second, he led the way. The point? God gave Joshua a new plan - 'Try again, my way.' And when he followed God's strategy, victory happened. It always does!

Perhaps you, like Joshua, have suffered a humiliating defeat. If so, here are two things you need to know: (1) Don't give up on God, for he won't give up on you. 'Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon' (Isaiah 55:7 NKJV). (2) God will give you another chance. Jonah ran from the call of God, but God wasn't through with him. 'Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh"' (Jonah 3:1-2 NKJV). He did. And what God did for Joshua and Jonah, he will do for you if you turn to him.

The first thing God did when he created Adam was to put him to work. That's because work gives us a sense of purpose, meaning and dignity. 'God put the man in the garden...to...work it' (Genesis 2:15 NCV). So Adam was a gardener.

But whether you count cash in a bank, trade futures on the Stock Exchange, flip burgers in a beach-side stand, whip up pasta specials at a five-star restaurant, fell giant timber in the forest or split and deliver firewood, coach a team, pastor a congregation, publish best-selling books, deliver newspapers in the early morning hours, star in your own television show, farm a large acreage, mow and edge neighbourhood lawns, go out on the road as a salesperson for computers, drive a truck loaded with machinery, build homes, clean swimming pools, argue cases before a judge or settle family disputes as a counsellor, always do a good job. A wise man once said: 'Every job is a self-portrait of the person who does it. Autograph your work with excellence.' The biblical character Daniel did that. And like cream, he rose to the top in Babylon. 'Daniel distinguished himself above the governors...because an excellent spirit was in him' (Daniel 6:3 NKJV).

There are no small jobs, only people who perceive them as small and become small in doing them. The Bible says: 'Lazy people want much but get little, but those who work hard will prosper' (Proverbs 13:4 NLT). So always do a good job.

Goliath towered over David. But David looked at Goliath through the eyes of his omnipotent God who conquers all, and said: 'You come to me using a sword and two spears. But I come to you in the name of the Lord All-Powerful, the God of the armies of Israel! You have spoken against him' (1 Samuel 17:45 NCV). Intimidation is one of Satan's favourite weapons. He will get you to think yourself into a state of fearfulness.

One day, cartoon character Charlie Brown was having lunch at school when he confided to his friend Linus that he didn't feel good enough to approach a certain young lady: 'I can't talk to that little red-haired girl because she's something and I'm nothing. If I were something and she were nothing, I could talk to her, or if she were something and I were something, then I could talk to her. Or if she were nothing and I were nothing, then I also could talk to her. But she's something and I'm nothing so I can't talk to her.' Linus responded: 'For a nothing, Charlie Brown, you're really something!' Charlie Brown had allowed the redhead's beauty to intimidate him and force him to the sidelines.

As his redeemed child, God thinks you're really something. David said, 'Has the Lord redeemed you? Then speak out! Tell others he has redeemed you from your enemies' (Psalm 107:2 NLT). And because David's words lined up with God's word and his plan, Goliath was stopped. So whatever 'giant' you're facing today, stand up to him and announce, 'You are coming down in the name of the Lord!'

Paul wrote: 'God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work...Now he who supplies seed to the sower...will...increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion' (2 Corinthians 9:8, 10-11 NIV). Paul couldn't be more explicit. If we are faithful to give generously, when God wants to meet needs again in the future, he will remember us as capable partners and come back to us. If a restaurant gives good service, it results in repeat business. The same applies to good stewards. And if you sow generously, then God is able to give you more and more.

God takes care of faithful stewards. As long as you're in a giving partnership with him, he makes sure you get everything you need, exactly when you need it. That's his offer. True wealth is having everything you need when you need it. That should dispel all your fears about giving. Is fear holding back your generosity? Do you give leftovers because you're concerned about making ends meet?

Have you ever asked God to give you a plan for the stewardship of the money he has entrusted to you? At some point, as a Christian, you've just got to go for it and say, 'God, because I worry so much about money, I'm inviting you into my finances. I want to know that whether things are good or bad, you're involved.'

Note what the Bible says about an uncontrolled tongue: 'Sometimes it praises...and sometimes it curses...And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! Does a spring of water bubble out with both fresh water and bitter water? Does a fig tree produce olives, or a grapevine produce figs' (James 3:9-12 NLT)?

Native American Indians warned about trusting a person with 'a forked tongue'. They'll say one thing at one time in one place and the opposite thing at another time in another place. The Bible says, 'This is not right' (James 3:10 NLT)! We deceive ourselves if we think we can go through life speaking with a forked tongue. Our words are a barometer of what's really in our hearts. Hence Solomon wrote: 'Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life' (Proverbs 4:23 NLT). Sometimes a doctor will ask you to stick out your tongue during an examination. Why? Because internal problems can often be identified by the film or coating on the tongue. Now a competent physician wouldn't just clean off your tongue and send you home. No, they would determine the source of your problem and then treat it.

A heart that's surrendered to God produces a tongue that's under the control of his Holy Spirit. Again Solomon weighed in: 'Words from the mouth of the wise are gracious, but fools are consumed by their own lips' (Ecclesiastes 10:12 NIV).

In Haggai chapter one, we see a group of people whom God had told eighteen years previously to rebuild his house. They had not obeyed him, yet still didn't understand why their lives were a mess. They wondered why God was not blessing them. So he said to them: 'Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your panelled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?...Consider your ways! You have sown much, and bring in little; you eat, but do not have enough; you drink, but you are not filled...you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes....Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified' (Haggai 1:4-8 NKJV).

When God says, 'Consider your ways', he's asking you to stop and examine your life. If you're not satisfied with the way things are going, is it because you have not done what he's told you to do? James wrote: 'Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning' (James 1:17 NKJV). The words 'no variation or shadow of turning' mean that God is intrinsically good, and he longs to shower your life with his goodness. But to experience it, you must walk in obedience. 'No good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly' (Psalm 84:11 NKJV).

Obedience is your key to victory and blessing.