You can't sit around and do nothing and expect something big to happen. He wants you to be strong and courageous. Never let the word of God leave your mouth. You don't get credit for how much bible you learn, you receive credit on how much bible you live. We should be moving forward together. The greatest resources that God has given us is the gift of one another. The will of God can not be achieved apart from community. You should move forward with the people of God. 

You should aspire to be a covenant partner. You can be a Christian by yourself, but you can't be a good one. It takes a community to become a Christian. The will of God on your life can only be achieved in the community. 

1. GET READY 
"Then Joshua said to the people of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh, Remember what Moses, the servant of the Lord, told you. He said the Lord your God would give you rest and would give you this land."  (Joshua 1:12-13)

You become valuable to others and others become valuable to you. You can't get God's best being lazy. Sometimes the hardest thing to get through is not the external obstacle but the internal obstacle. You can learn how to conquer you or you can conquer the foe that is coming at you. The biggest issue is if you can get "me" together, then you can take on anything that comes your way. Prepare yourself and what the world will throw at you. God has great things for us! We have to get ready! We can not wait for someone else to fight our battles for us. We must prepare ourselves. You can't wait till it's time to start getting ready.

2. BE SELFLESS
"Now the Lord has given you this land east of the Jordan River. Your wives, children, and animals may stay here, but your fighting men must dress for war and cross the Jordan River ahead of your brothers to help them. The Lord has given you a place to rest and will do the same for your brothers. But you must help them until they take the land the Lord their God is giving them. Then you may return to your own land east of the Jordan River, the land that Moses, the servant of the Lord, gave you." (Joshua 1:14-15)

You are enjoying but you can't rest while your brothers are rest-less. If life is good for you right now, you can not sit back on your spiritual morals. Just because your life is good does not mean the ones around you are good as well. The scripture teaches us that we must help each other achieve our promises. If you have tasted the "rest" you must help the ones who are "rest-less." You must be there and fight for somebody else's because you never know when you need somebody to fight for you.

3. BE OBEDIENT
"Then the people answered Joshua, "Anything you command us to do, we will do. Any place you send us, we will go. Just as we fully obeyed Moses, we will obey you." (Joshua 1:16-17)

There is no blessing without obedience. The Kingdom of God is not a democracy. It is a Kingdom where a King commands. The only part of say you have in the Kingdom is to obey Every living person must submit to a governmental authority that God has set up. Whether that is children submitting to parents, players submitting to coaches or workers submitting to their boss. We must all submit and obey someone.  God is King and we are subjects. You and I must all be submitted to someone. You can't dog your leaders and expect a favor. Obedience brings the blessing. If you want a blessing you must be obedient. 

4. TALK "GOD TALK"
"Whoever refuses to obey your commands or turns against you will be put to death. Just be strong and brave!"  (Joshua 1:18)

We must surround ourselves around people who have "God talk." The word says you should forgive "70x7" or your father will not forgive you. All week long strive to listen and use "God talk." Simple as that!

"All things are possible, if you believe." Mark 9:23

The Lord's Charge to Joshua
This is my command - be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:9)

Be strong & courageous.
We live in a society where we are obsessed with comfort. Sometimes knowing where you are, what to do and how to do it well is actually the greatest enemy you can have. We are called to live in the unknown. Places, goals, attainments that can not happen in our own natural ability. God orders us to courageously pursue His will for our lives.

There will come a time where you must rely on your own understanding instead of others. God has no limits on His blessings. He will do exceedingly and abundantly. The only issue in life is, "Are you willing to step out in faith when the situation is unknown?" You can knock on some doors but some times you must kick some doors down. You must build up courage to take on what is in front of you. 

You will begin to see a glimpse of the promise land when giants stand before you. God fights with us through our battles. When the Lord is fighting with us, we do not have to have concerns or doubts. Sometimes we do lose strength but that is when our faith comes into play. When God sees you can not take anymore of the battle, that is when He steps in and handles the battle for you. 

Move forward because God made a promise not to you but about you. God will bless your seed and the seed will be a blessing to the earth. One thing God can not do is not turn back on His word. He made a promise to a generation before us and we are the beneficiary of that promise. 

You can get a car, house, and a vacation without God but this is not the definition of success. To assess success, it takes intimate knowledge about a thing. You must learn why that thing is made and what God's purpose for that thing is. Without God's book (the bible) you are just guessing about your purpose in life. The point is to do and not to know. You can know the bible but that does not mean you are doing it. You can not possibly do if you do not know. We have to spend time learning what we need to know that we can know what we need to do.

How do I move forward to God's best?

1. Accept the God Ordered Changes in the Seasons of Life
2. Accept the vastness of the God given Opportunity that is in front of you
3. Accept the Guarantee of Victory that God's presents provides
4. Accept that you are a Part of a continuum of promise 
5. Accept that obedience to the scripture is the only path to true success

"A man named Job lived in the land of Uz. He was an honest and innocent man; he honored God and stayed away from evil. Job had seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred teams of oxen, and five hundred female donkeys. He also had a large number of servants."

Job 1:1-9

God has a way of moving in our lives through pain than moving in our lives through comfort. Your life is based on how much you believe God. Many times we focus too much on the "Why?"

Trusting God doesn't mean you do not have thoughts or feelings. You never know the "Why?" of your suffering but there are many things we will never understand. You can know the "Who?" during your suffering.

Suffering does not negate what God has for your future. He will restore what you have lost. Even though you may have went through the worst possible thing in your life does not mean it is the end of your life. God is not finished with you. You must trust God in the midst of what you are going through. Follower of Jesus, trust in Him.

A faith that can be tested, is a faith that can be trusted. God is a problem solver when you put your faith in Him. Great faith leads to a greater favor from God.

If you need faith, ask God for faith in Him. If you need hope, ask God for hope in Him.

In life you see three qualities of faith:

1. Faith obeys God instead of following man. Be obedient to God and He will bless you abundantly. When you follow after God, His favor will find you.
2. God will use the pain and hurt of today to prepar you for the promises of tomorrow. To have a true testimony, you must go through a TEST. We must be faithful with our hurt to bring hope to us. Don't be scared to share your testimony because your TESTimony can comfort and motivate the peers around you
3. Faith obeys God inspite what it sees. Walk by faith and not by sight. No matter what the difficulty, watch the miraculous work God will do in your life. Nothing is impossible for God. Instead of saying, "Lord deliver us from it" say, "Lord deliver us through it."

God won't let you go through your obstacle alone when you trust Him. God grows our faith when we fix our eyes on Him through the fire. Half of the battle is having faith in His plan and direction. Obedience and faith in God, will help you overcome.

When you go through the fire, have faith in His plan.

When you go through the storm, seek God in the midst of the storm.

God will show you His power in the midst of your problem when you put your trust in Him. When you go into the fire faithfully, He will faithfully pull you through. When the world sees God at work, the world will worship our God. Character is formed and forged during chaos.

Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. Pray for us, too, that God will give us many opportunities to speak about his mysterious plan concerning Christ. That is why I am here in chains. Pray that I will proclaim this message as clearly as I should. Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone. (‭Colossians‬ ‭4‬:‭2-6‬ NLT)