Has God ever called you to a difficult task? Maybe you were led to witness to a friend or family member who was resistant to the Gospel. Or perhaps God wanted you to lead a Bible study or small group. How did you feel? Were you frightened, nervous, hesitant—or all of the above? God knows that our human emotions can sometimes hold us back, and that is why Jehovah Jireh, the Lord Our Provider, gives us all the encouragement we need to do His work. God will not give us an assignment and then just walk away to let us do the work alone. He provides the resources we need to get the job done. He walks with us every step of the way, guiding us and encouraging us. He will never abandon us when we allow Him to work through us. In the words of the psalmist, “. . . you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel and afterward you will take me into glory” (Psalm 73:23-24). In Joshua 1, we see God encouraging Joshua just before he is about to cross the Jordan River into the Promised Land. As the new leader of the Israelites, Joshua was in need of some encouragement. God gave an encouraging promise to Joshua: “Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them” (Joshua 1:6). Joshua knew he would ultimately have victory because God promised the end result. When God makes a promise, we can be fully confident that He will never fail us. We can find comfort and strength in the promises of God: “I rejoice in your promise like one who finds great spoil” (Psalm 119:162). When we trust in the promises of God, we will have confidence to overcome any worry about the obstacles, rejections, or critics we will face. Prayer: God, thank You for Your promise to never abandon me. Help me to trust in Your promises, like Joshua did, so that I may overcome my worries and fears. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Visionaries are people who see the big picture and are not afraid of change. They don’t hold back, refusing to leave their comfort zones. Those who have the “show me” mentality move only if they see proof that the change is good. They embrace the vision if they see evidence and proof that it is the right direction. Then there are those who refuse to change or adapt at all. The Israelites arrived at the edge of the land the Lord had promised to them after a long journey from Egypt. The journey was a process of learning lessons of obedience and faith. Now they were ready to enter the land. “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders'” (Numbers 13:1-2). The mission was simple: “See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many” (v. 18). After forty days of looking around, the twelve men returned and reported incredible prosperity and fertile land. However, ten of them gave a bad report because of the fortified cities. Only two, Joshua and Caleb, had a different opinion. What seems impossible to us is possible to God—no matter how daunting. Do you fall into the “show me” category, like the majority of Moses’ scouts? Do you want complete proof of success before you will participate in change? It is better to be like Joshua and Caleb—visionaries who could see that with God on their side they could not fail. Prayer: Lord, help me to live confidently in You. May I follow You even when trials come, remembering that You are sovereign and that You love me. May my trust in You and Your unchanging faithfulness to me bring You glory. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

God had promised to give the Israelites the land of Canaan. They simply had to believe His promise and take the land, but when they heard the scouts’ report of fortified cities and people of great size, fear gripped their hearts. The majority is always wrong when God is not its focus. When we look at our circumstances from a human perspective, we often see impossibilities instead of God’s provision. Then we miss out on the blessings of God. Doubt, unbelief, and negativity can lead us to question God’s Word. It is obedience, and not opinions, that will bring you blessings. God had promised to give His people a land flowing with milk and honey—the Promised Land. But even though He had delivered and sustained them and had guided them day and night through the wilderness, the moment they faced an obstacle, Israel asked, “Where is God?” Read Numbers 13-14. When spying out the land God had promised they would occupy, ten scouts saw the Canaanites as giants and themselves as grasshoppers (see Numbers 13:33). Only two, with the eyes of faith, saw themselves as giants because of God’s promise. Only someone who is strong in his faith can challenge unbelief. When you take a stand for Him, the Lord will never let you down. Obedience has its own reward. Two of the twelve men Moses had sent to explore the Promised Land knew that if the Lord was with them, He would defend, protect, and lead them. While worry, anxiety, and fear won’t stop us from entering the ultimate Promised Land through the blood of Jesus Christ, these emotions can prevent us from enjoying God’s many blessings. Do you wake up in the morning worrying about the future? Do you go to bed at night thinking about the giants in your life? Place your faith in God, be obedient, and trust His Word, and with the eyes of faith, you will see that next to our God, who fights for us, these giants are nothing but grasshoppers. Prayer: Jesus, thank You that You are always with me—even to the end of the age. May I trust in You and Your promises, remembering Your steadfast love and faithfulness. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

After 25 years of waiting in faith, Abraham and Sarah finally received the first “star” God promised. Abraham was already 100 years old when Sarah, herself 91, gave birth to Isaac. Imagine Abraham’s joy as he held his son for the first time, reflecting on the long journey of faith he had walked with God. Then, when Abraham finally had a star he could see, God commanded him to give it up, to sacrifice his son as a burnt offering (see Genesis 22). But here’s the amazing thing: Abraham didn’t complain. He didn’t question. He didn’t give God a long list of excuses. Abraham simply obeyed. We don’t know exactly what was going through Abraham’s mind as this was taking place, but in Hebrews 11 we read, “Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death” (v. 19). Abraham’s faith had come a long way since the days when he stalled in Harran or fled to Egypt for safety. He knew now that there could be no conflict between the promises of God and God’s ability to fulfill them. He knew that if God had said Isaac was the son of promise, through whom many more promises would be fulfilled, then the Lord would find a way to keep His word. Abraham knew God could accomplish this, even if it meant raising Isaac from the dead. Abraham exercised faith and trusted the God of the impossible, and because of his faith, God allowed him to see something incredible: a foreshadowing of the cross, where God’s only Son, Jesus, would be the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. As father and son walked up Mount Moriah that day, Isaac noticed something was missing for their burnt offering. He asked, “[W]here is the lamb for the burnt offering?” (Genesis 22:7). Two thousand years later, John the Baptist, standing along the Jordan River, answered when he saw Jesus: “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). What “star” is God calling you to count today? Let Abraham’s testimony be yours, too. His faith was not in vain, and neither is yours. For, “from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore” (Hebrews 11:12). Prayer: Lord, I praise You for Your gift of salvation; it is the brightest and best star I can count. Help me to remember Your many promises that stem from that precious gift and to trust in You, counting stars from here to eternity. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Some parents who are knee-deep in diapers and family deadlines may wonder if there will ever be a time when they can just relax and enjoy their children. The Truth is children can be a great comfort from the Lord. In them we can learn to see life from a different perspective—one of wonder and freshness. When we get older, our children will be the hope of our heritage. Abraham understood this principle. He longed for a son but remained childless. God had promised him that Sarah would have a son. As the years moved on, Abraham wondered if this promise would be fulfilled. Then when Sarah was past childbearing age, she gave birth to Isaac. Scripture says: Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. (Genesis 21:1-2) Isaac’s birth was a cause for celebration but not just because of his birth. We rejoice over the fact that God did exactly what He promised He would do. Like Sarah, you may have waited for years to have a child. Or there may be another promise you have from the Lord that has up until this point gone unanswered. When you think all hope is gone, God will step into your situation with an answer to your deepest prayer. There is no higher calling than to be a person who helps to mold and shape the life of a child. And there is no greater experience than to trust in Jesus Christ. Prayer: Father, thank You for the gift of my children. Teach me to be a parent whose life is guided by Your Truth and wisdom. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

When Sarah first heard that she would become pregnant in her old age, the notion was so far-fetched that she couldn’t contain her laughter (see Genesis 18:12). A year later, at the age of 91, Sarah delivered her firstborn son Isaac, and she laughed again—but this time with joy, saying, “God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me” (Genesis 21:6). God took her laughter of sarcasm and gave her the laughter of salvation. What a God we worship! Read Genesis 21:1-7. As incredible as it was for a woman who was barren and in her nineties to have a child, Sarah’s experience is really not all that unique. You see, the birth of Isaac is a picture of a deeper spiritual reality that is available to everyone in Jesus Christ. Every single person who puts their trust in the Lord experiences a miracle that makes Sarah’s blessing pale in comparison. Being born again is the greatest miracle there is. And in this passage, we can see four similarities between Isaac’s birth and the believer’s new birth. First, the birth of Isaac was humanly impossible. The bodies of Abraham and Sarah, for all intents and purposes, were dead. Though they were living, their bodies were dead. And that’s precisely what we were before our hearts were awakened by the Holy Spirit (see Ephesians 2:1). Second, Isaac’s birth required faith. The Bible says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness” (Romans 4:3, cf. Genesis 15:6). It’s the same way with our new birth. God’s Word says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). Third, Isaac’s miraculous birth came completely from God. In the same way, our new birth as believers is not based on our works, so God gets all the glory (see Ephesians 2:8-9). Finally, Abraham’s story was not written for him alone but also for us (see Romans 4:23-24). In the same way, God wants to use your life and mine to reach others for Jesus Christ. This is the laugh-out-loud joy that Sarah discovered. And it is our joy as well. It comes from realizing just how amazing the love of God truly is! Prayer: Father, Your love displayed in the Gospel of Jesus Christ is overwhelming. May I bask in the joy that flows from my new identity, my new standing before You as Your righteous child by the blood of Jesus. Thank You for new life; use me to bring new life and joy to others. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.