“Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.” (Joshua 3:5)

When I look at Joshua, the charismatic warrior, leader, and successor of Moses, he seems so mature. He has a faith in God that is so strong, he believes God will do a miracle and doesn’t hesitate to prepare for it. 

He tells the priests to prepare and gives them God’s specific instructions. He tells the Israelites to consecrate themselves–- to prepare to see God’s wonders. He was confident that the Lord would do what He promised. This was a signature moment for Joshua- when his leadership and mature faith fully aligned.

However, he didn’t achieve this level of maturity overnight. He was mentored by Moses himself. He was the only one invited to go along with Moses up to Mt. Sinai when Moses went to meet God. Joshua was one of the spies sent by Moses to check out the Promised Land. He saw that the land was good and believed God was giving it to them, in spite of the giants. Joshua had seen God deliver on His promises again and again and again and again.

Every time he observed and remembered God’s faithfulness, his faith was deepened. This is the faith that allowed him to later be one out of two people from his generation allowed to enter the PromisedPromise Land. 

But the road to maturity takes time. In order to develop faith like Joshua, we need to keep looking for and remembering what God has done and who He is. After the Israelites crossed the Jordan River, Joshua had them build a memorial to remember how God kept his promise.  This was important because it is so easy to forget. 

The next time we face what seems to be an impossible or difficult situation, we can consecrate ourselves instead of worrying. We can long to see the supernatural work in and around our lives. We can wait in expectation for God’s wonders to happen.

If you feel like you aren’t there yet, join the club. We are all on a life-long faith journey that doesn’t end until we get to the ultimate Promised Land- Heaven.

One easy way to deepen our faith like Joshua did is to build a memorial to remember what God has done. I do this by keeping a journal. I write down significant moments when God really moved in my life. Then when hard times hit, I often go back and reread my journal. Remembering what God has done already fuels my faith and helps me wait in expectation for what He will do in the future.