Christians today know that it is becoming increasingly more difficult to follow Christ in our culture. \u00a0This doesn’t diminish our calling to follow Him in any way. \u00a0The following devotion was shared with the staff of Westlake Baptist Church at our monthly staff meeting in March 2018.<\/p>\n
Scripture<\/strong>: Joshua 1<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Being in leadership today, whether paid or lay staff is incredibly difficult.\u00a0 Most every church I know has a similar complaint to this one, it\u2019s hard to find people to help.\u00a0 It is easy to become discouraged when you struggle to find volunteers.\u00a0 It can be discouraging to have personal excitement, but not see it on the face of others who are working in your area of ministry.\u00a0 It can really be discouraging when you are doing what you believe God has told you to do, but you are seeing the results that you expected to see.\u00a0 As I read Joshua 1 the other day as part of my Bible reading plan for this year, I was struck by the number of times I saw a particular phrase.\u00a0 The phrase was \u201cbe strong and of good courage.\u201d\u00a0 That phrase appears four times in 18 verses.\u00a0 I pondered on why did God keep telling Joshua to \u201cbe strong and of good courage\u201d?\u00a0 Then it hit me.\u00a0 God told Joshua to be strong, because a weak leader will never be able to lead a strong-willed group of people.\u00a0 If you study the book of Exodus you will quickly see the group that Joshua was inheriting from Moses was a strong-willed group.\u00a0 On multiple occasions the people complained and willfully rebelled against God.\u00a0\u00a0 It lead God to call the \u201cstiff-necked\u201d or what we would call stubborn.\u00a0 We must be strong in the Lord, stand and fight in the power of Him.\u00a0 The greatest way to be strong in the Lord is to be a man or woman of prayer.\u00a0 But God also told Joshua to be of good courage.\u00a0 As a leader, it is very easy to get discouraged.\u00a0 Satan will do whatever he can to put stumbling blocks in front of you, place difficult people around you, and anything else he can think of to discourage and distract you.\u00a0 However, we must remember a few important lessons if we are to remain of good courage.<\/p>\n To remain as a leader of good courage we must:<\/p>\n May we as Christians be able to say as Paul did in 1 Corinthians, “Follow me as I follow Christ.”<\/p>\n Pastor Justin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Christians today know that it is becoming increasingly more difficult to follow Christ in our culture. \u00a0This doesn’t diminish our calling to follow Him in any way. \u00a0The following devotion was shared with the staff of Westlake Baptist Church at … Read More \n