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With All Faithfulness

Words of Faith Final

With All Faithfulness

Words of Faith 10-19-2020

Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2020

Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com

Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL

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Joshua

    [14] "Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. [15] But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord."

 

       So how do we respond to the remarkable grace of the Lord?  What do we do in response to His work on our behalf?  For Joshua, it was very clear.  Fear Him and serve him with all faithfulness. 

       The Hebrew word used here for fear means to revere, reverence, or frighten.  We often want to soften this to imply only reverent respect for the Lord. Still, a legitimate "fear" of the Lord should be part of our response to His awesome power and might. 

        The Hebrew word for serve means to be in bond-service or enslaved.  The Israelites were not enslaved to God because of His threat.  They were enslaved because of His love, which had set them free.  As believers, we are enslaved by His love.  As believers on this side of the cross, we are not enslaved to the Law; we are bondservants in our gratitude to Him.  The Apostle Paul often described Himself as a bondservant. 

       So how do we fear the Lord and serve Him with all faithfulness? 

       First, throw away the gods of your forefathers.  The word here literally means to lay-away or aside, rebel or revolt against, be sour or withdraw from.  Following the one true and living God requires cutting our connection even to sentimental connections to our forefathers' false gods.  We are to sour against and withdraw from anything that is not rightly connected to the Lord God. 

       Secondly, it is to choose daily whom you will serve.  The sarcasm of Joshua points out how ludicrous the choice of serving other gods is.  The point is that serving God is daily. This is not a verse about salvation or predestination and free will.  It is simply the practical exhortation that we are accountable every day to make choices that reflect where we really are with God.  Every day we make decisions that either reflect a life of grateful surrender to Him or continued rebellion.  We are either in revolt against the false gods of our forefathers and our culture-- or we are in rebellion against God Almighty Himself.

         The third is to declare the ownership of one's home as belonging to the Lord.  Joshua powerfully declares an intention that is possible only in the Spirit and grace of God.  "As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord."  Life in the Promised Land called for bold commitment and leadership in the home.  Life in the Promise required a setting apart of the family as wholly committed to the Lord.  

         How is your walk with God these days?  Do you have any trappings that remain of the gods of your forefathers?  Any remnants of your former life before Christ that you need to get rid of?  Are there connections to the occult or secret societies that need to be broken and cast aside?  More importantly, have you formed the holy habit of daily seeking the Lord and choosing to follow Him in everything? Have you set forth servant leadership in your home such that it belongs to Him?

 

        Father God, keep me from being lulled by the good times I live in.  Teach me the fear of the Lord.  Show me how to walk in humble service to You.  Help me to cast aside any remnant of life without Christ.  May I follow You and walk closely with You this day. May my household belong to You in every way.  In Jesus' Name.

 

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2005, 2020

Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)       

2820 Business Center Blvd.

Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200

Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com

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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2010 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.