Josué y Valentîa en Fe | Reflexión Bíblica

Welcome to this space of biblical reflection. My name is Victor Martinez, and if you are looking for someone to accompany you to read the Bible, or if you want to accompany me while I read the Bible, I want to invite you to join this space where I hope to share a little more with you about what I feel that God is putting in my heart through my reading and my time with him. The reality is that we are going to be discussing different books, and we are going to start with the book of Joshua, which as a church we are reading these days. So I exhort you to look for a Bible and read the book of Joshua as well. And we are not going to expose all the theological points that are in these books. However, we are going to share some reflections that I hope will bless you as I reflect on what God is telling me to apply in my life, and that maybe I can exhort you to apply it in your life as well. Joshua is a very important and interesting leader in the Bible. It is a book where the story is captured, where the people of Israel go to seek and claim the promised land that God had offered to his people. Joshua follows the footsteps of a very important leader in the people of Israel. His name is Moses, and Moses in the story is the one who leads the people of Israel from captivity in Egypt to freedom. However, at the time of reaching the promised land, Moses sends 12 spies to explore this land. And these two spies, after 40 days, return with a report. And in that report, most of these spies, in fact 10 of them, say that the risks are so great that we should not go and capture this land. However, there were two leaders, Joshua and Caleb, who say, yes, there are risks, but we must go and capture it because that is what God is asking of us. However, Moses and the people of Israel decide not to go to the promised land. Then God punishes them and they have to spend 40 years in the desert. In the time where an entire generation would have to die so that later they could try again to go to the promised land. Joshua is the leader that God chooses to lead his people in that direction. However, the risks and challenges that existed on earth when they made the report 40 years ago were still on earth. And God tries to encourage Joshua through this chapter on several occasions. And we are going to read it today in the first chapter where he tells him to be strong and to be brave. So let's go to Joshua chapter 1 and read about what God tells Joshua. 5. No one will be able to face you in all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, I will be with you, I will not leave you, nor will I forsake you. Strive and be brave, because you will distribute to this people by inheritance the land of which I swore to their parents that I would give it to them. Only strive and be very brave to take care of doing according to all the law that my servant Moses commanded you. Do not depart from it, neither to the right nor to the left, so that you may prosper in all things you do. I'm going to pause and see that it says that God tells Joshua not to be part of the law, the law that he gave to Moses, the Ten Commandments, but also many other laws and rules that he established for the people of Israel. And he says, do not depart from it, so that you may prosper in all things you do. And here we see a conditional promise that God says, I will prosper you if, on the other hand, you are faithful to me and follow the law. That is one of the things that God says here to Joshua. But look, let's continue. This book of the law will never depart from your mouth, but you will meditate on it day and night, so that you may keep and do according to all that is written in it. Because then you will make your way prosper and everything will go well for you. Look at another conditional phrase where it says that when you meditate on this book day and night, then God will make his way prosper. And finally, we see that it says, look, I command you to make an effort and be brave, do not fear or faint, because Jehovah your God will be with you wherever you go. When I was reading this, the promise that God or Jehovah will be with Joshua, always when he is faithful. to the task that he has given me, I began to reflect, God, what would be that task that you have given me, in which you are asking me to be faithful to you? And it took me quickly to the book of Matthew, chapter 28. At the end, after Jesus dies and resurrects, Jesus appears to the disciples, and Jesus tells them, with all the authority that has been given to me, he says, in heaven and on earth, therefore go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep all the things that I have commanded you. And here I am with you every day until the end of the world. God is not calling us to seek the promised land.

Certainly, he is not calling us to lead the people of Israel to claim a land. What we do see is that Jesus is inviting us, he has assigned us the great commission to make disciples of other nations. And it is important to understand that the same way that God would tell Joseph, be strong and be brave, Jesus would tell us, be strong and be brave. Now, we have the advantage and the blessing that when we accept Jesus, Jesus places us in the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit gives us strength and gives us courage. However, we still have to assume that position, because in the mission that has been given to us of sharing our faith, inviting others, teaching them what God says in his word, and baptizing them, we are going to face challenges. We are going to perhaps face challenges from people who put our character in question, where maybe they assume that we have bad intentions or that we have an agenda, a desire. However, the invitation that God gives us is so that we win and have a love for other people so strong that we cannot imagine how it would be if these people did not spend the rest of eternity with God. In fact, in the great commission we see that Jesus says that when we do these things, then he will be with us until the end of time. And certainly, I want Jesus to be with me until the end of time. I want that when, at the end of everything, everything is over, that I can spend the rest of eternity with him. And this same desire is the one I have towards other people. And as a leader that I am, as a leader that we are, that God invites us to be, the call to exhortation is that we be strong and brave. Now, I know that maybe some of us have had things in our life that we feel are disqualifying us because maybe God cannot use us. Maybe we have made a mistake.

Maybe we have done things that we regret. God invites us today to start again. And this is the invitation that I have for you. If you are listening to this, even at this point, and you are interested in understanding a little more about how God would equip a leader to do such a difficult and challenging task, I want you to know that God is also calling you to assume a role, to assume a role as a leader. And you can be inspired by how Josué navigates these things. And you should know that today we have Jesus, and with Jesus, and through Jesus, we have the Holy Spirit, who also allows us to do difficult things. So, I hope you will join me tomorrow, as we reflect on another section of Josué's book. In the meantime, I leave you with a blessing, and I ask God for you. Father, Holy, Almighty, I thank you for your children and daughters who are on the other side of this screen, who are seeking to understand more about you, your character, how you have designed them, Lord. I ask you to bless them, to accompany them, and to give them the strength necessary to overcome the difficulties they will face today and the rest of their lives. Your promises are not that we will live a life free of suffering, but that you will accompany us when we are faithful to you, and you are faithful to us. So, we thank you, and we ask you to accompany us for the rest of our days, in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. May God bless you, and we will speak soon.