‘Then you will be prosperous and successful.’ Joshua 1:8 NIV
God told Joshua: ‘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 you will have good success.’ (Joshua 1:8 NKJV) God views success as simple to achieve, and equally simple for Him to measure. If we are going to succeed in things that really matter, we must follow the instructions for life found in Scripture.
First, look it up. ‘This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth.’ In other words, ‘Don’t leave home without it!’ Success comes when you make the study of God’s Word a constant part of your life. This may mean a radical change for you. In a survey arranged by the Church of England in 2017, 55% of people who identify as Christian never read the Bible, 29% never pray, and 33% never go to church. Only 6% of adults in Britain said they were ‘practising’ Christians. Quite probably the same is true here in Papua New Guinea.
Imagine going to a doctor when you’re sick and getting a prescription that can make you well. But you only take it once a month, or when you feel like it. Would you blame the doctor for not getting well? Some of us do that with God: ‘Lord, why has this happened to me? I don’t understand it.’ Would you say the medicine doesn’t work? Not if you don’t take it.
‘My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.’ (Hosea 4:6 KJV) So the word for you today is: get into God’s Word and get it into you!
SoulFood: Jer 22–24, Matt 2:1–15, Ps 59:9–17, Pro 14:23–24
The Word for Today is authored by Bob and Debby Gass and published under licence from UCB International Copyright ©