9 - Heirs of Promises, Prisoners of Hope | Lessons of Faith from Joshua

From birth, our hearts carry a false identity, automatically trusting the wrong person and having to believe their words. We must implement salvation in our minds: our conscience needs an objective standard in order to develop trust in God and understand His word correctly. We must examine whether thoughts come from lies or truth. We let go of the lies and the Holy Spirit fills the void. This creates a connection to God and faith in Him. The whole thing is a process.

The journey of Israel shows that we must be spiritually grounded in order to know whom to believe in times of need. The 10 spies and the people missed out on grace because they could not believe God's word. Joshua and Caleb trusted God because they had given up part of the lie in their hearts. The constant test remains: Do we trust what people say, or do we trust God?

The Israelites were tested. They trusted the majority instead of God's Word. Even today, our test depends on whom we trust. We stand at the border of Canaan and our faith is being tested. Canaan's land is divided into 12 parts – one for each tribe. This is how the people get a home. Man needs a home, and God has provided for this from the beginning (Garden of Eden, Genesis 2:8).

It is a need that must be met within the realm of possibility. We consider the year of release/jubilee (Leviticus 25:8–10) and the eternal home that Christ is preparing (John 14:1–3), as well as the condition for entering the land, which is: “Believe in God and believe in me.” We will learn what this means in detail in part 9 of the series “Joshua's Teachings of Faith.”