Take Back the Land

"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go."

Joshua 1:9

Many of the conversations that I have had lately with my fellow partners in ministry is that how hard life is in ministry. It is not what we all thought it would be. What might have once been easy for us to do may now be one of the hardest things for us to do. What we might have once been in love with, we now are dreading to go to every day, week, or month. It has become more of a burden and a fear for us. I have found myself in this trap of lies. I have found myself believing that what I once loved is not for me anymore. It is not what I am into anymore and I am just sick of doing it. And then, I am reminded of the Lord's will for my life. I am reminded by the people who I interact with and who I invest my time in. I see his hand over my life and remember that this is what my heart beats for. When I think anything but that, I am only giving into the lies that are being fed to me over and over again.

The truth is that we start to fear and do not want to go forth. It is so easy for us to stay where we are comfortable. It is so easy for us to fear man and disregard the power of the Lord. Nothing else can touch us, why do we get so nervous? Just like in Joshua 1, we have our own territory that we are supposed to go in and take over. We are to command God's reign over our lives and what we do every moment of the day. This means that when we go into any situation, we are to go into it with confidence and faith in the Lord and take that situation over. When life gets tough, we should not give up the situation, but fight for it and take it over. As it says in Joshua 1, we are to be strong and courageous. When the world is coming at us from all sides, we are not to be afraid, but let the strength of the Lord rise up in us. We are to fight off the fear with the peace of the one and only peacemaker. 

It is with this truth that we should be encouraged. Nothing on this earth can touch us or overpower us. We have the most powerful force on our side and he is commanding us to take back what is ours. He is commanding us to fight back with his strength and to not give up. He is with us wherever we go and we have nothing to fear. What's the worse that can happen to us? We are killed in the flesh, but we are alive in eternity with our Lord and God. That might be a scary thought, but when thought out, it is extremely cool.