Entering & Possessing Well

entering & Possessing Well

Key Text: Joshua 1:1-9 and Deuteronomy 8

There's a difference between arriving at a promise and actually possessing it. God's charge to Joshua contains three linked elements Gift, Courage and Obedience which together form the pattern for entering and possessing well.

1. The land is given, but not automatically received

·      God's promise was already "done" (past tense) yet Joshua still had to act, fight, and settle the land.

·      Promise grounds effort; it doesn't replace it (paralleled with Genesis 2:15 and Philippians 2:12–13)

·      Right order: God gives, we walk, not ‘we earn, God rewards.’ Getting this backwards leads to either presumption or exhaustion.

2. Strength and Courage — because fear stops possession, not entry**

·      God repeats ‘be strong and courageous’ three times, a deliberate counter to fear.

·      Israel's failure at Kadesh Numbers 13–14 shows fear didn't stop them from seeing the land, but from taking it.

·      Courage isn't ignoring the giants; it's remembering whose land it is.

3. Remember — because possession can corrupt (Deuteronomy 8)

Moses warns that success (full bellies, good houses, multiplied wealth) breeds forgetfulness and self-credit (‘my power... gotten me this wealth’).

The wilderness wasn't wasted time, it was training in humility and testing of the heart.

The real test isn't gratitude on day one, but remembering it's a gift on day ten thousand.

4. Enter through God's presence, not certainty

·      God's foundational promise to Joshua wasn't strategy or strength, it was ‘I will be with you... I will not leave you or forsake you’ (vv. 5, 9).

·      Confidence comes not from knowing what's ahead, but from knowing who goes ahead (echoed in Psalm 23).

Two Practical Applications

1.    Identify where fear holds you at the border, name a specific fear blocking a promise/calling/decision, and take one concrete step this week (not the whole conquest).

2.    Build a habit of remembering before comfort sets in, regularly and deliberately name God as the source of what you already have, before life gets easy enough to forget.

The land was never in question, God had given it. The question was always courage to enter and remembrance once inside. Same question for us today.