Mensa Otabil - Good Success
- Watch
- Donate
Joshua chapter 1:8: This book of the Lord 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. After God had commanded Joshua to be strong and courageous, He gave Joshua the keys for developing his spiritual strength.
The success factor for how Joshua was going to possess the promised land was the word of God, and God told Joshua how to treat the word of the Lord. Then He said to Joshua that if he treated the word of God that way, then he would make his own way prosperous and have good success. You would have thought that God would say that if he obeyed the word, then God would make Joshua prosperous and have good success. But He said if Joshua did it, then Joshua himself would make his way prosperous and have good success. That tells us that the result of what God does for us benefits us. We are the ones who make our way prosperous; we are the ones who determine whether we will be successful or not.
The word of the Lord was the strength of Joshua; that is what he was going to take into battle. He had to get it into his mind, he had to get it into his mouth, and he had to use it as a weapon because the word of the Lord is a shield as well as a sword. It may not seem much when you go into battle, especially with people with physical weapons. It may seem that when you hold the word of God, it’s just something sentimental you are holding on to just to encourage yourself. But the word of God is a real weapon; it’s a real weapon, it’s a sword of the Spirit, and it is a shield of faith.
If Joshua was going to go into this battle, although it’s a physical battle, it had to be won spiritually before he entered into a physical battle. And for that to happen, the word of God had to be his sword and it had to be his shield. As the sword, the word of God, when we speak it out of our mouth, becomes a weapon. So when the enemy comes against you, threatens you, you have to speak the word of God. You have to let the word of God come out of your mouth, and that is the sword of the Spirit doing warfare on your behalf. Then when you hear thoughts or suggestions trying to discourage you, you have to lift up the word of God as your shield and take cover under the word of God.
So anytime you hear thoughts of discouragement, quote back the word of God; speak back the word of God. When you are doing that, you are lifting up the shield of faith that is able to keep away every wicked deed of the enemy. So when Satan throws sickness at your body, you have to speak the word of God: «By His stripes, I am healed.» When he throws the weapons of shame and disgrace at you, you say, «The Lord is the glory and the lifter up of my head.» That is your shield of faith; you don’t answer Satan back with your own brawl; you answer by the word of God, the shield of faith. Because the moment you let down the shield of faith, even before physical weapons come against you, your mind would have defeated you; your thoughts would have defeated you.
So anytime you go into the battle, take the word of God with you. This book of the Lord shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night. You shall be careful to do all that it says; then you will make your way prosperous.
Let’s pray. Say with me, «Heavenly Father, Your word is my shield and my sword. Today I release the word into my life for success and prosperity. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.»