2.  Or do you remember and celebrate God’s accomplishments with your life and attitude?  That’s a choice you make that will influence those around you now, but also the next generation. (12 stones)  Even with a busy schedule and a heavy work load, you have an opportunity to be an encourager, to pull people up, to focus their sights on the sufficiency of your Savior and His blessings (the roses among the thorns).  Set up some memorials to remind you of God’s GREAT power and grace in your life!

3.  Forward march! Right? No, hold your horses (or donkeys).  There was more preparation needed as we see in this Bible passage.  Israel had not been in a working agreement with God. His agreement with them (Abrahamic Covenant) had been breached, because they had been under His judgment for the past 38 years.  A vital requirement had been neglected.

4.  In this chapter we see Him directing them within that precious relationship – in their legal agreement.  They were His! Distinctly His!  The Covenant was secure, but the SIGN of that covenant had been put on hold due to judgment.  God’s plan was that His people be in the land - but also to be in fellowship with Him and in obedience to Him.  God’s goal was that their relationship be obvious - be visible through the sign of faith - circumcision.  Now at the beginning of this conquest of the land He was concerned about His people and His testimony.  …Time to dust off the details.

5.  …with Him is determined at the Cross of Calvary through faith in Christ ---Born Again? Redeemed? Saved? Bought? Justified?  Let God develop a precious fellowship with you.  Let Him display His ownership of your life.  Let there be NO DOUBT whose you are and whom you serve.  As you step into the events and duties of this fall season, confess His authority and ownership of your life. Make a clear statement that you serve the Lord – to your classmates, teammates, family, and fellow workers, best friend …  … let there be no doubt. You belong to Him.  You will know that God is doing this work in your life when:

9.  “… that the people of Canaan were astonished, and that when they observed the motions of the enemy [Israel] they thought them very strange. When soldiers take the field they are apt to think themselves excused from religious exercises (they have not time nor thought to attend to them), yet Joshua opens the campaign with one act of devotion after another. What was afterwards said to another Joshua might truly be said to this, Hear now, O Joshua! thou and thy fellows that sit before thee are men wondered at (Zech. iii. 8), and yet indeed he took the right method. That is likely to end well which begins with God.”

10.  This Day  This Week  This Month  This School Year  This Season  This Business Venture  This Child  This Dollar  This Breath