Ganti Vivek

Q1. (Joshua 3:1) Why do the Israelites have to break camp at Shittim before the day they cross Jordan? In what ways is your life settled into a routine that keeps you from fully following God's leading? What do you need to do to make yourself ready? Israelites took a break and camped at Shittim before crossing over to Jordan as were told to Moses by God, after long journey of 40 years before entering the promised land they took rest as they have to fight wars to conquer these places, they planned to counter the enemy by studying their strengths and weaknesses, and also taking instructions from God to move ahead to conquer without defeat. In our daily life when we reach the important milestones or junctions there God wants us to pause or stop and have a word with him so that he will guide us, you discuss with God your plan or God will reveal his plan to you so that you can conquer greater heights both physically and spiritually. I need to have faith in God, when I read the scriptures like in Joshua my faith gets strengthened in the great works of God which can be fulfilled in me also if I follow His Word and live according to it without deviating to the left nor to right, and finally I need His grace to be with me in what ever I do according to His will.

Q3. Prostitution/prostitutes Prostitution is the most sinful act among all the sins, as it is said in the Bible 1 cor 6:18 that prostitution is done with and within body among all sins which are done outside the body, which will eventually destroys our body which is supposed to be resurrected with Christ. Our lord is so kind and merciful that even the prostitutes he had pardoned and gaven them them eternal life when they had faith in Him left it and followed Him. But according to the Bible there is no sin which is small or big, if one sins he will fall short of salvation. God is calling us Sons of prostitutes all those who dosnt follow follow his law, because his calling us His children and he is our Heavenly father. For the wages of sin is death Romans 6:23, and we see Jesus giving life to prostitute by forgiving. And by Rahab's story God is showing his mercy by demonstrating that no sin unforgiven when repented. God wants us to keep our bodies clean and holy as he is holy, because in new testament we see that the body has become temple of God as he dwells in our hearts.

Q4. Deceit Our Lord God is all Holy and no lie sin in any form is acceptable before him, here one should not take this particular incident as a pretext and keep lying. Rahab's lying, God is not honoring but the faith in the Israeli's God by recognizing His as real God by her before her own Baal Gods. Because she had seen and heard how Yahweh is doing miracles towards Israeli's and she had faith towards God that he will deifnitely save her and her family members from death physically but her faith in real God has given her eternal life. So to deceive the evil lies may be accepted by God which lead to the eternity as in this case. There are times when God's choosen people have lied like Abraham and issac regarding their wives as sisters, and during wars and to get away from terible evil acts which lead to sin.

Rahab believed in Israel’s God Yahweh, because she had heard how the Israelite's were brought out of Egypt, the miracles that Yahweh had performed till they reached Jericho, and in v9 she confesses her faith to the spies stating that - for The LORD your God is God in heaven above and in earth below. Her faith in our lord is so great that she took risk of her life to hide the spies, if found she and her family would have been killed by Jericho king, here be can observe that she took advantage of the salvation when preached that about life and death that is ahead of her by taking right decision at right time by saving herself and her family members and others, here we are reminded about another lady in the bible Samaritan women, when Jesus was at the Jacobs well he preached Gospel to her that is about living waters which if she drinks she will never be thirsty again, she believed and brought rest of her family to salvation,that is faith we want in our lives while believing the scriptures.

The fears Joshua might be tempted I think are foremost all these 40 years they are wandering and tired and all are eagerly waiting to occupy the promised land, Now he is a new leader everybody should follow his command and should not rebel, secondly these people are very disobedient to God and his commands itself, weather they will follow his commands at the right time. Being a leader now and more so God has chosen him he is **** sure that what ever God says if he does the victory will be his, even though at 70 years he may not physically strong but spiritually he is very strong because he can smell victory in the Gods promise fulfillment to their forefathers is so close, that is giving him the courage that is Gods promises cannot go wrong. In Joshua's case the weakness is trusting his fellow men and making them obey his commands weather they do or not and moreover he himself is one of the oldest among them, His main strength is that he knows God is with him and When God is with who can defeat him, with this he got courage to move ahead by encouraging to march ahead with young Israeli worriers. The fear of lord is the base for possessing all the blessing, here the fear and faith are going hand in hand that is Joshua's faith in God that when we believe and trust Him he will do miracles in our life. The courage here comes from the faith that our Lord never fails those who believe in him and have faith in Him, and fearfulness of the following the lords commands in our lives.