A Message from Bobby:
After the death of Moses, God spoke to Joshua and charged him to continualy meditate day and night over the Book of the Law (i.e. the first 5 books of the Bible) and observe all that God has commanded him. And God promised that He will never leave or forsake Joshua and He will be with him wherever he goes, making his way successful and prosperous.
Joshua 1:5-9
5 No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. 6 Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. 8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in 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. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Joshua is of the tribe of Ephraim (Numbers 13:8 & 13:16). It’s curious that he’s not of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of Moses and Aaron, the priesthood tribe. He’s not a priest and he’s not anointed as a king; yet, he was personally called and assigned by God to lead God’s people (Numbers 27:18-20). Joshua was chosen to be the successor of Moses because of his faithfulness to the Lord (Numbers 32:12). Joshua’s task was to lead God’s people into the Promised Land and to be their military and spiritual leader. God’s plan for the nation of Israel (the descendants of Abraham) was to set them apart, above all people of the earth, and to make them “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Deuteronomy 26:19; Exodus 19:6). However, God’s plan and God’s blessings on the Israelites were conditional on their obedience to His voice, His Law and His commandments. But God would not speak personally to every Israelite, but He would speak to them through the prophets, priests, and leaders He had anointed to be over the nation.
God spoke personally to Joshua, the leader of the nation of Israel. God’s promise to Joshua to be with him wherever he goes is a promise of a personal relationship with Joshua. And as we read through the following chapters of the Bible, Joshua follows God’s instructions and God guides him and speaks personally to Him time and time again. However, Joshua had to be careful to read, study and meditate on God’s written Word day and night, so that Joshua would be able to observe and do what God had commanded in His written Word, and as a result, God would bless him and God would speak personally to him, leading him to victory and great success.
Under the New Covenant, every believer is able to enter into a personal relationship with God by faith thanks to Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross (John 3:16). God has poured out His Holy Spirit on us (Acts 2:38; Romans 5:5), and through the Spirit He has inscribed in our hearts and minds His laws, and He promises that everyone, every single believer, will now be able to personally know Him (Hebrews 8:10-11). Thanks to the Holy Spirit, every Christian is able to hear God’s voice personally. Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27).Every Christian is able to be led by God by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised, “when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth“ (John 16:13). The Bible also declares,“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God” (Romans 8: 14).
The Bible says that we have been sealed with the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit is our deposit, our guarantee, our earnest, our advance payment (Ephesians 1:13-14) for the heavenly inheritance, which every believer will receive one day in the kingdom of God, our heavenly Promised Land (1 Peter 1:4).
That’s why it’s important to realize that:
What we believe matters(“by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9)),
What we think matters(“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God” (Colossians 3:1); “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. (Romans 8:5); “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” (Philippians 4:8))
What we speak matters(“Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” (Ephesians 4: 29); “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” (Luke 6:45))
What we do matters(Jesus said, “He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me.” (John 14:21); and whoever hears Jesus’s sayings and does them, he is like a person building his house on the rock (Luke 6:47-49); “The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.” (Phillipians 4:9))
We read and study the Word of God daily so that we may be able to understand it fully (Ephesians 1:18) and we may be blessed more by God with all the spiritual blessings available to us in Christ (Ephesians 1:3). We pray that we may be conformed more to the image and glory of Jesus Christ. For that purpose, we need to believe first the whole written Word (not a part of it, or only the parts that make sense to us), then interpret it correctly (i.e., one verse, when interpreted correctly, should not contradict another verse), and then seek God’s help and the power of God’s Spirit so we may be able to apply His Word more fully in our daily lives. That is why, it’s vital that we do not base our beliefs and faith purely on personal experience or emotions, but we are grounded firmly on the Word of God. Because God can only bless us as long as we align ourselves with His Word.
According to the Bible, it’s possible for believers to experience the power of God’s Holy Spirit, God’s miracles and God’s supernatural power, and yet, for those believers to turn away from the truth of God’s Word. The church in Galatia had a good foundation, being taught by the apostles of Christ, and they experienced the supernatural power and presence of God’s Spirit (Galatians 3:5). Yet, they turned away from the truth (Galatians 3:1) and apostle Paul had to rebuke them sternly and warn them that he was afraid for them that their suffering for the gospel might be in vain (Galatians 3:4) and his labor of ministry among them might be in vain too (Galatians 4:11).
Therefore, what we believe, what we think, what we speak, and what we do, especially in relation to God’s written Word holds the importance of all eternity.
Today, we have many who claim that America as a political nation has a special relationship with God. This is not new. Since the dawn of the Roman Empire, European nations and kingdoms have claimed such a special relationship for themselves and their nations. This is the belief, mostly based on the Old Testament covenant between Israel and God, that God would bless a nation militarily, economically, and financially above other nations, if that nation obeys Him. Moreover, many believe that Israel, as a political nation today, still has a special relationship with God as it once did in the Old Testament. But if such views are true, that God can have a special relationship with a political nation today, just as He did in the Old Testament with the nation of Israel, then does God speak personally today to the political and religious leaders of these nations, just as He spoke and revealed Himself to Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Samuel, David, Solomon, etc.?
The Old Testament makes it clear that obedience to God’s Law is also connected with receiving revelation or vision from God.
“The Law is no more, and her prophets find no vision from the Lord.” (Lamentations 2:9)
“Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but happy is he who keeps the law.” (Proverbs 29:18).
After all, how can two claim to have a personal relationship, unless there’s some sort of communication going on between the two? And how can one get corrected and disciplined, unless he is able to hear God’s voice clearly? (Hebrews 12:6-8)
In fact, whenever there was no vision from the Lord, whenever the Lord did not speak personally to the leaders, according to the Old Testament, that was a sign, not of a healthy relationship with God, but rather, that something had gone terribly wrong as everyone was doing only “what was right in his own eyes” (Deuteronomy 12:8; Judges 17:6, 21:25).
In the New Testament, we are called no longer to live for the political kingdoms of this world, but rather we are called to live as citizens of a heavenly kingdom (Philippians 3:20; Eph 2:19). Moreover, the Scripture clearly declares that our standing with the Lord is not based on our ethnicity or nationality (Rom 10:12-13), but only on our faith in Christ, because we are saved by grace through faith (Ephesians 2: 8-9) and not through the works of the flesh, or through political allegiance. And thanks to Jesus and God’s Spirit living in us, the Bible calls all believers from every tribe, tongue and nation “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2: 9).
Please don’t get me wrong – I pray for America and I pray for our political and religious leaders. I pray that God blesses them and gives them a heart of understanding and wisdom. I pray that they obey His written Word, seek Him daily and desire to do all His will. I pray that they clearly hear from Him and He speaks personally to them and guides them so that they may know how to govern God’s people well and be a blessing to everyone. My concern and my caution is that we must first test people’s words, as the Bible instructs us to do (1 Thessalonians 5:20-21; 1 Corinthians 14:29), before we jump to follow after anyone who claims that God is with them.
In the end, let’s mention that God does not need the help of political rulers or leaders to save and protect His people. He is able to save and fight for His people, even when they do not have a country, an army or anyone who can help them. God did it when He split the Red Sea and destroyed Pharaoh and his army. God did it when He brought down the walls of Jericho and defeated the mighty giants, who were much stronger than the Israelites. God did it when He called Gideon and his 300 men to overcome the vast army of the Midianites. So, God is able to protect and deliver His people, without the help of a political nation, boundary or country.
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