Daily Devotional for

Thursday: Living the Christian Life

Growing in the Christian life is no mystery. Christians have known what it is in all ages. It’s studying the Word of God. It’s praying. It’s fellowshipping with Christian people. It’s worshipping. It’s working for God. It’s witnessing. It’s testifying. Those are the things through which you grow. And then in response to these things, people say that it takes a long time, and that it’s difficult to read the Bible regularly. There are so many interruptions. That’s right, of course. Nobody ever said it was easy, but that’s the way it’s done.

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Southern Campaign

Thursday: Living the Christian Life

Growing in the Christian life is no mystery. Christians have known what it is in all ages. It’s studying the Word of God. It’s praying. It’s fellowshipping with Christian people. It’s worshipping. It’s working for God. It’s witnessing. It’s testifying. Those are the things through which you grow. And then in response to these things, people say that it takes a long time, and that it’s difficult to read the Bible regularly. There are so many interruptions. That’s right, of course. Nobody ever said it was easy, but that’s the way it’s done.

Keep Reading
Southern Campaign

Wednesday: Focusing on the Long-term Goal

I think this is a good point to look back over this campaign and its details and see what it teaches us about the characteristics of strong leadership, which Joshua showed. There probably are other things that can be said about Joshua on the basis of other texts. But just looking at this one campaign, I see at least six things that are worth mentioning and trying to apply to ourselves.

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Southern Campaign

Tuesday: Victory in the South

The routed armies were led by five kings. These five kings were apparently together directing the military operations. And when they saw the battle go against them and recognized that they were in great personal danger themselves, they hid in the cave near the town of Makkedah. And they went in to hide, thinking that in the battle the rush of the troops would pass by. Then after they had passed, the kings could emerge and make their way back to the city. They could regroup their fortresses and prepare to fight another day.

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Southern Campaign

Monday: A Change in the Story

In the middle of Joshua 10 there’s an interesting change in the nature of the narrative that describes the Israelite conquest of Canaan. Up to this point in the story, there have only been three real battles. There was the attack on Jericho and the destruction of that city; the attack on Ai and its destruction; and then there was the battle at Gibeon that began outside the walls of the city and continued southward as the Jewish armies pursued the retreating armies of the southern coalition. And all of that’s been given in considerable detail.

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The Longest Day

Friday: Faith in Action

The final lesson I see is this. Although God intervened here in a great way and gave a marvelous victory to Joshua and the Jewish troops, I notice that this did not relieve Joshua of his own responsibilities. He didn’t cease to be a soldier because God was about to perform a miracle. He didn’t stop fighting just because God had sent the hail. Joshua was preeminently a soldier, and he was faithful in his responsibility from beginning to end.

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The Longest Day

Thursday: Worshiping a Big God

The first thing we’re to learn from a passage like this is that nothing is too difficult for our God. If the situation involves miracles, that is not too difficult. If it involves a prolongation of a day, that is not too difficult for Him. Our God is a great God. He’s a big God. He’s a sovereign, omnipotent God.

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The Longest Day

Wednesday: Trying to Explain the Miraculous

Yesterday we concluded our study by mentioning the first explanation for the miracle of the sun and moon standing still. The second explanation is that the sun and moon appeared to actually stop because the earth itself actually stopped. Now as I say, anybody who believes in an omnipotent God in the final analysis doesn’t really have difficulty with that. “Omnipotent” means “all-powerful.” And if “all-powerful” really means what it says, then to God all things are possible. The Lord Jesus Christ said that. He can stop the sun, the moon, and the stars. He can stop the earth; and He can do it without all of the bad effects that we suppose would have to follow on the basis of our knowledge of physics.

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James Montgomery Boice

About Think & Act Biblically

James Montgomery Boice (1938-2000) was a successful inner city pastor and articulate spokesman for the Reformed faith in America and around the world. He was the pastor of Philadelphia’s historic Tenth Presbyterian Church (1968-2000) and his teaching continues to be aired on The Bible Study Hour radio and Internet broadcast. In 1996 he brought The Bible Study Hour, God’s Word Today magazine, Philadelphia Conference of Reformation Theology, and other Bible teaching ministries under the umbrella of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals.
Alliance of Confessional Evangelicals

About the Alliance

The Alliance is a coalition of believers who hold to the historic creeds and confessions of the Reformed faith and proclaim biblical doctrine in order to foster a Reformed awakening in today’s Church.

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