Revive Our Hearts Pointers

Today I was listening to Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss. Nancy's current series is 'Lessons from the life of Joshua'. As I was listening to her program, I noticed that Nancy gave lot's of pointers. I thought I'd share some with you (You can go here to listen to the program today).

- The Battles did not get any easier,

They actually got harder! The more victories Joshua's army won, the more determined the enemy got. I think it's the same for volleyball; if the opposing team is beating you badly, most teams don't give up. They try harder to win! Especially if the other team hasn't lost a game, you want to be The Team to beat them! That's probably the way it was for Joshua's enemy. Then again, if I was in a real battle, I would most likely run away!

- The more battles you win, you’re taking territory from Satan. And the more you move into his territory, the more intense and focused he’s going to become.

Sort of going back to the other point. When you win a battle, Satan obviously doesn't like it! He wants you to LOSE! I've read all the Laura Ingalls Wilder books, and when Laura and her family lived out on the prairie, the Indians who had lived there before families started inhabiting the land got angry. They didn't want other people living on their land! Whoever asked them? The Indians weren't very happy with all these new settlers, and Satan isn't happy when you trust in the Lord and win your battles!

- "Don't be afraid!"

God repeats this phrase many times. He says this before Joshua is ready to go into battle at Ai:

Chapter 8:1 - "Do not fear, and do not be dismayed."
Chapter 10:8 - “Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands. Not a man of them shall stand before you.”
Chapter 11:6 - "Do not be afraid of them!"

He says:
“Do not be afraid of them, for tomorrow at this time I will give over all of them, slain, to Israel.”

God says, "I will give the victory. Don’t be afraid."

God could tell that Joshua was afraid! He knows when all of us are afraid! We are all afraid of something at some point, and that's o.k.! But the Lord tells us not to be afraid.

Then, in Joshua 10:25, Joshua says to his troops:

"Do not be afraid or dismayed; be strong and courageous. For thus the LORD will do to all your enemies against whom you fight.”

Hmm, how original! In chapter 8:1, God says almost the same exact thing! God just told him, "Do not be afraid!"

- As you get the courage from the Lord and get his promises, you can become a means of encouraging those around you.

I think that's SO true! Your mood can affect the other people's moods around you. I do that a lot :) I can get mad over little things like, oh, I don't know... lost calculators :) So I think if you are encouraging others in what they do, you will be encouraged. And I don't know about you, but I get a really happy feeling whenever I do something good and I get praised for it. Or when I just do random acts of kindness! It just makes me feel happy all over!

So what did everyone think? I thought it was kind of fun to do! Leave a comment!