We start this year with encouragement to put the past behind us and begin the year committed to following Jesus. Repenting of the past allows us to move forward confident and at peace. Then we talk about why God doesn't tell us everything we want to know and how we can trust and patiently obey anyway.

How can we find understanding and faith when we are confused and doubt? Is our sin of any value to us and how can we be truly set free from it? We can't bring destructive things into our lives and think they won't affect us. They will always bring us trouble in the end and they pull us away from God whether we realize it or not. Satan tempts each of us in our own ways, trying to convince us that our sin is okay. Then, if we give in to that temptation, he immediately reminds us of how wrong it was and further tempts us to hide it. But the only way to ever be truly free from our sin, is to bring it in to the light and destroy it. Confess it to God and repent of it and let Jesus cover it with His blood.

The city of Jericho was devoted to the Lord. Some of it was devoted for destruction and some of it for holiness, but it was all devoted to the Lord. Evil must be destroyed or it will harm what is good. Only Rahab was saved because she placed her faith in God above all else. We are all devoted to destruction unless we place our faith in God to save us from it and devote us to holiness instead.

Before their first battle, the Lord commanded the Israelites to renew their commitment to Him through circumcision. This was a sign of God's covenant to give them the Promised Land and make them into a great nation, yet their father's had broken this covenant and failed to circumcise them. So, now that they are in the land and God will soon fulfill His covenant with them, they must do their part in obedience, faith, and allegiance to God. It was an outward sign of their inward faith just as baptism is for us today. It is our public profession and a picture of our sins being buried with Him and washed away as we are raised with Him anew.

We can say we believe in God, but we only fully believe if we have the faith to prove it. If we refuse to act on our belief, the we don’t truly believe. We have either too much doubt, fear, or pride keeping us from trusting Him enough to take that first step. God requires that we act on our belief to prove that what we say isn’t just lip service. The way the Lord brought His people into the Promised Land is a perfect picture of faith, courage, and the Christian life.

When God reveals Himself to us, do we see Him for who He is and follow Him, or do we resist? When the people of Jericho saw God's power revealed through Israel, everyone resisted Him but Rahab. Because she feared Israel's God more than the king of Jericho and since she placed her trust in Him over their armies, she was saved. She was a prostitute (a sinful woman) yet God saved her because she placed her faith in Him. After her rescue, she lived with Israel, following God the rest of her life. God is willing to save any sinner that is willing to acknowledge who He is and follow Him. He wants everyone to profess their faith in Him and make Him their Lord and Savior.

God prepares Joshua to take the people into the Promised Land by saying it will be a fight. But God will be with Him and He will be victorious in the end. He can only be defeated if He's too scared to fight. But if He is courageous enough to go into the land and do everything God tells Him to do, then He will take possession of it. We too, if we have the courage to not only make Jesus our Savior but also our Lord and follow Him wherever He leads, we will be victorious in the end. There is a grand Promised Land waiting for all who place their faith in Him and we will dwell in it with Him forever.

First we will look back on the life of Moses, then we will reflect on our own. Life is short. In the day to day, sometimes it can feel long and hard, but if we let ourselves get caught up in the busy moments, we can easily lose sight of what's most important. The hard times don't last forever and neither do the good. When you look back on your time in school, it really was only a small portion of your life. When your children graduate and move out, you say "it all went by so fast." I assume that if we live to be 100 years old, we will say that it all went by so fast. So, we need God to teach us to number our days, so we can grow a heart of wisdom. We don't want to waste this life! But most importantly, we don't want to live it without Him. His blessings are so sweet and His love, comfort, forgiveness, guidance, and perspective is so needed. Not to mention, that one day, we will answer for our time here. If we have spent our life on earth with Him, we will spend eternity with Him. But if we live without Him here, we will live without Him forever.

We are all presented with a choice. We can align ourselves with God or we can turn away from Him. When we align ourselves with the Almighty God, we have power on our side. If we choose to turn away and go our own way or align ourselves with something else, then we reject His power. Providing that there is no power greater than that of the Almighty God, we want Him for us and not against us. There is no other that loves us like the Lord. He is worthy of our love and obedience, but also, we need His blessings. In Him we have all we need.

God goes before us to the prepare the way and He is always with us. He wants us to spend time with Him, reading His Word, learning about Him and His ways, and talking to Him. His Word teaches and guides us and when we pray, His Spirit will show us the right way. We can trust Him. He also sends us godly mentors and leaders. So, look for them and follow them. Don't rebel against the Lord or your spiritual leaders, because they look out for your souls. But, even when we do rebel and go our own way, our loving Father always welcomes us back. He loves His children and has gone to great lengths to be close to us. His Son sacrificed His life for it.