Today's post is by Heather Thomas. Heather is wife to Deric Thomas and mother to John Deric, Simon, Anna, and Grace. She has a passion for motherhood, family, adoption, and mentoring young couples alongside her husband.

There is something magical about God's Word. It's transformative. It is the God-given tool for renewal of the mind. It is how we learn of God and how we learn to obey and serve Him well. I've long come to the conclusion, though, that I'll not obey it if I don't read it and continually learn what it says on a consistent, daily basis. If we study His Word and obey it, God promises fruit. We are a people who are forgetful. I can't go too long without feasting on the Word before I start to feel the effects of it. I start to feel spiritually hungry, even starving. I start to feel weak and needy and unfulfilled. I too quickly forget how good He really is. I too quickly forget how sin ensnares and binds up and how deceptive my own heart is as well as our greatest enemy, Satan. I need the written Word, and I need it a lot!



Joshua was assistant to Moses. Moses died, and it was time for Joshua to arise and lead God's people, Israel. God appointed Joshua to fulfill His promise to Israel, to lead them into the land of Canaan which was the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This was the climactic moment that the first five books of the Bible are progressing towards. Joshua would need courage and strength to obey and complete this task. God said, "Be strong and courageous, for you [Joshua] shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them" (Joshua 1:6). Joshua was the man that God's people, thousands of years later, would still be talking about. He was given such an important role and was obedient in it so that now, thousands of years later, God's people are still naming their sons after him. So how did God tell him this task would be accomplished? What did Joshua need or need to do to make this happen?

In verses 7& 8, God is unmistakably clear about how Joshua's success would come about. It was guaranteed if this one condition was met. God was virtually saying to him that success and victory are already in your hand if you continue in "...being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success."

God-fearing, God-loving and God-worshiping, fruitful obedience is at its highest when we come daily to the fountain of living water. "You shall meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do all that is written in it" (Joshua 1:8). Let's make it our highest pursuit to know God in his self-revealing Word. Let's pay the price for the discipline of daily study of the Word. We need it, and we need it a lot!