The Joshua Code – Excerpt
By lb50 on April 1, 2013
By O.S. Hawkins –
The Israelites finally had land and the opportunity to start anew. Their leader, Joshua, spoke wisely about how to follow God’s law and how to be successful. Joshua 1:8 says, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” The Joshua CodeTM is a challenge to keep the Word in our mouths through memorization and in our hearts through meditation “day and night.”
The fifty-two chapters in this volume are designed to lead you on a yearlong journey by spending each week memorizing and meditating on one Scripture verse so that it becomes a living part of your very being. Topics include grace, temptation, the three levels of prayer, fruit of the spirit, and more. The outlines in each chapter can also be used by the busy pastor or Bible teacher for guiding their members. God’s Word is powerful and profitable when studied and applied by anyone, the young and the seasoned believer alike.
Vision is Vital
“Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint;
But happy is he who keeps the law.” –Proverbs 29:18
Vision is vital to Christian living. Those who grew up memorizing the King James Version of the Bible remember this verse translated as, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” According to Strong’s Hebrew Lexicon, the word revelation (vision) means “to mentally perceive; to contemplate.” The word translated restraint or perish is translated other places in the Old Testament as “to go back.” We see this in Numbers 14:3 (NIV) when those wandering in the wilderness wanted to “go back” to Egypt. Thus, those who have no vision, no perception of what they could be, seem to have no real direction in their Christian pilgrimage.
Vision is vital. Soon after the completion of Disney World in Orlando, someone asked Michael Vance, the creative director, “Isn’t it too bad Walt Disney did not live to see this?” Vance quickly replied, “He did see it, and that is precisely why we are here today!” If this is true for secular organizations, how much more vital is vision for those of us who are seeking to be followers of Christ, the greatest visionary who ever lived?
Before every great undertaking, there is someone who has a vision for the task ahead. The football coach has a game plan before the kickoff, a vision of what he wants his team to accomplish. The army commander or platoon leader sees the infantry’s strategy, a battle plan, before the fighting ever begins. The artist has a conception in his or her mind before the painting is put on the canvas. What a difference vision makes in life. Too many Christians are just going to meetings, following schedules, simply existing— and something is missing. Vision, a perception of what God wants us to be and do, is vital.
The Great Commandment
“‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’” –Luke 10:27
What is your primary purpose in life? Everything has a primary purpose. The primary purpose of an automobile is to transport us. I would rather have a Chevrolet that starts every time and got me where I needed to be than a fancy, shiny foreign car that only starts on occasion. The primary purpose of a pen is to write. I would rather have a cheap plastic one that writes well than a fancy German pen that skips and does not perform well. Our own primary purpose is found in the words of this week’s verse: “love the Lord your God . . . and your neighbor as yourself.”
All the commandments of God are pure, but only one is called “great.” And it is the one dealing with love for God and for our fellow man. This commandment is called great because it includes all the Ten Commandments within one verse. The first four of “The Big Ten” have to do with our relationship with God (Exodus 20:2–11). Thus, Jesus said, “You shall love the LORD your God.” The last six have to do with our relationship with one another (Exodus 20:12–17). Thus, our Lord continued, “And [love] ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ ”
The first half of the Great Commandment has to do with our attitude and the last half with our actions. Here again is the principle of being coming before doing that we see woven throughout the fabric of Scripture.
For more than 20 years, O. S. Hawkins served pastorates at the First Baptist Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and in Dallas, Texas. He is president of GuideStone Financial Resources, which serves 200,000 pastors, church staff, missionaries, doctors, and other workers of various Christian organizations with their retirement needs. He is the author of more than 25 books and preaches regularly at Bible conferences, evangelism conferences, and churches across the nation. http://www.thomasnelson.com/the-joshua-code.html
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