The Journey (Lesson 1)
Teacher’s Guide Page
A. Moses, the man who had been chosen by God to lead His people out of bondage, had died. He was loved by all the people of Israel and so when he died they grieved for about a month. (Deuteronomy 34:8) The bible tells us, they grieved for thirty days until the time of grieving was over. There are times in our lives, when we are at loss. Maybe the loss of a loved one, the loss of a relationship, the loss of a job, whatever it may be and there is a time of grieving. The grieving process is not pleasant but it is healthy and necessary. However, there is a time when the grieving time is over and we must go on and do what God has called us to do in our life time here on this earth. God will be with His children. His word tells us that He is a comfort to the broken hearted and that He is a refuge in times of trouble. (Psalm 23:4; Psalm 71:21)
B. Joshua had been an aide to Moses for some time. I’m sure he did not know all that God had in store for him but God was raising him up this whole time to take the place as leader. He was about to step into his destiny. In the book of Exodus 33:11, we see that Joshua was with Moses in the tabernacle and that when Moses went back into the camp, Joshua remained. He was in training. If we are going to be successful on our journey, it is going to take some time and preparation. We are going to have to be willing to spend some time in God’s word and in prayer. We are going to have to be willing to obey God and to pray for wisdom and to keep our hearts open. When one begins a new job, there is a time of training. Everyone understands this. More importantly we must understand that in life, there is a time of training and we must be willing to learn and take the steps necessary to be successful. God had promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that they would inherit the land. However, they would have to go get it. He told Moses, the land that your feet walk upon will be yours. (Deuteronomy 34:4; Joshua 1:3; Joshua 14:9)
God could have just said the land that you see will be yours, but He did not. He wanted them to step out by faith, on this journey with Him trusting and obeying Him so that they would receive the promise! There would be obstacles, there would be battles but God wanted them to learn to lean on Him and trust Him because He would win the battles for them but they were going to have to fight and put forth the effort and so are we. God has placed a promise out before us and we are going to have to step out on the journey with Him to reach it and the places our feet touch, God will bless and He will give it to us. He always…ALWAYS honors His promises.
C. Explain that Joshua had never been in this position before and that he was afraid and we know that because in chapter 1 God tells him many times not to fear. The devil will try to get us to fear so much that we will be paralyzed and not move when God says to move but we must step out in faith and in obedience to God.
God has planned each of our lives since before the foundations of the world! If He has
placed you and I in a new direction or position on The Journey, He will make sure we are
victorious when we obey Him. We are more than conquerors through Christ who loves us!
(Psalm 139:17-18; Ephesians 1:4)