Machine-generated transcript; wording may contain errors.
Hello, you're listening to Strong and Motivated, where you will find stories, words of encouragement, and scriptures intended to motivate you to positive action. I'm your host, and my name is Kina Small. Today is Christmas Eve. What a wonderful time of year. It's the time for celebration, family, and friends. But most of all, it's the time for giving thought and thanks for the birth of the baby Jesus. Merry Christmas to you. I'm happy you took the time out of your busy schedule to listen to the podcast. Today's episode, Strong and Courageous, came from a simple question. Yes, a simple question put my mind in gear and the wheels of thought began to move. I was recently asked the question, How do animals know where to get their food? Now, I'm no expert on animals and can only give my opinion, but immediately this is what came to mind when asked the question. I thought for a quick second, How do animals know where to get their food? And then I said, Well, because God made them to know certain things. When a female animal has her little ones, no one has to tell her how to feed them. I mean, she doesn't take a class from an expert in the field. She just knows what to do. When pups are born, they instantly know how to get to the mother's milk source. When prey animals are on the hunt, they have an idea where to look for their next meal, and the hunted have an idea of how to avoid being devoured. All in all, the system God set up is an order of things in the world. Animals were created with an instinctive idea of what they should and should not do. They also have the parent animal there for giving instruction or training of sorts. But there is something within the animal, a natural instinct there for help in time of need. A natural instinct. I pondered this and began to think about the way we were created. If the animal has natural instincts for living and survival, think about what we have. Think about our makeup. God created us in His image. Each one of us has a very unique makeup. Even our fingerprints are unique to each individual person. How wonderful is that? Think about your personal unique qualities that enabled you to be different. Can you recognize them? The question I was asked, God needed thinking about our overall makeup and the way we think. Several things stood out to me while thinking about all of this.
The first thing was, sometimes we are unsure about who we are and what we should be doing. The second one was, when we finally get that figured out, we are afraid to do anything. And number three, if we do something and it doesn't work out at the time, it can cause us to feel inadequate, confused as to whether we should have done it in the first place, whatever it is. Let's think about that and see if we can come to terms with ourselves and the direction we should be going before the new year. Psalm 139:14, it reads, I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows very well. That's the New King James Version. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. The making of each of us was a marvelous work. We are exceptional and each of us unique in our own personal makeup. I don't know about you, but I like that. I love the fact that when I was being created, God gave detailed thoughts to my design and my unique abilities. Think about when a person has a wound or a small sore. That sore will automatically begin to heal itself by creating a scab that will protect the wound. However, we can alter that healing if we pick at the scab and interrupt the healing process. The process is an automatic process that was designed for our good. Yes, we can interfere with the process by doing the wrong thing and in turn altering the time frame of the healing. That's a small example of our wonderful makeup, but given a larger scale, it could work the same. I think that's the part about being fearfully and wonderfully made. God created each of us with wonderful qualities and individual abilities that help each of us along the way. The thing is, we are not always aware of what they are or even give thought to their existence. If God gave the animals the instinctive abilities they have, trust me, we have much more than they. So, who are we? Who are we and what are we supposed to be doing? We are created beings with exceptional qualities and abilities. We were made in the image of God. Now that's a good thing. Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. From the very beginning, God began a good work in us. That was from Philippians 1:6. This good work God has done in us is a continued work until the end. We have so many opportunities.
and wonderful experiences ahead if we can align with God's plan and trust Him. Okay, so here's our first Bible story for the day. You know how much I love those. Joshua and Caleb were acting spies that were told to go and spy out the land God had promised to the Israelites. There were ten spies altogether that went into the land to see what was available and who the inhabitants were. They all came back and began to share with Moses and the people all they saw. They explained how beautiful and plenteous the land was. They brought back gigantic samples of some of the available fruit. They also told the people, even though all the things were good that were there, they were facing giants in the land and didn't see a way they could overcome them. The people began to listen intently and became discouraged and afraid. Out of the whole group of spies and out of the whole group of all the people, Joshua and Caleb were the only people who believed they were capable of overcoming the giant people, and they weren't afraid to speak up and say so. Here's the scripture in Numbers chapter 13:30. Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it. That's the NIV version. We can see Caleb wasn't afraid to speak up, and he believed they could defeat the people. We have been fearfully and wonderfully made. One of the unique qualities Caleb possessed was the ability to walk in faith and believe if the people went forth with fighting for the promised land, they would prevail. He believed God would bless them and hold to the promise He had given the people. Caleb and Joshua knew who they were and what they were supposed to do. They eventually did fight for the land and occupied it as well. But before they went up and fought, God spoke and let Moses know how He felt about the people not believing in His ability to help them. He was offended and angry with the people. After all He had done for them, supplying their needs and bringing them out of slavery from the Egyptians, He thought the people would continue praising Him and believing in Him. Instead, they grumbled and complained. Is there something in your life where you are being stretched to have faith and believe God for something specific to your needs? He's right there and available. So listen to what was said. The Lord replied, I have forgiven them, as you asked. Moses had gone to God about what He wanted to do to them. Verse 21 says, Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as
Surely as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth, not one of those people who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times, not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it. But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it. Take note. God said the people disobeyed and treated him with contempt, all because they didn't have faith. They grumbled and complained. They didn't believe and have faith after all they had seen God do. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. So tell them, as surely as I live, declares the Lord, I will do to you the very thing I heard you say. In this wilderness, your bodies will fall, every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hands to make your home, except Caleb, son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, son of Nun. Is there something in your life where you're being stretched to have faith and believe God for something specific to your needs? I say it again. He's right there and He is available. Do you remember the story in the Bible about David, the little shepherd boy who eventually became king? Well, before he became king, there was a time when the people of God were being taunted by a very large man who was considered a giant at the time. He was in the company of soldiers who wanted to go to war with King Saul's army. Saul was the king of Israel at the time. All the soldiers in the army were afraid to fight and didn't know what to do. Goliath wanted to fight just one man, and if they beat him, then all the enemy ranks would become their servants. Saul's army of men were afraid. They didn't go forward, but cowered back in fear. They knew what they were supposed to do, but didn't do it. Goliath taunted the army for forty days and still no one went forth. David heard about it and volunteered to fight the giant. David was a very young man at the time. He wasn't in the army like his brothers and was made fun of because he was only a shepherd boy. All right, let me point out, before David volunteered, he asked the question.
What will be done for the man who kills the Philistine and removes the disgrace from Israel? He wanted to know what the reward was. He also asked, Who is this Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? David knew something the others didn't. The other men believed the army belonged to King Saul. David recognized no matter who was in charge, this was God's army and they would not be defeated because God was with them. David's brother talked about David and reminded him that he was just a shepherd boy. That sounds familiar. The minute you decide to go forward with what you believe God is calling you to do, someone will challenge your motives and talk negatively about you and your plans. David didn't get sidetracked. He asked the question again and went forward. After David volunteered and King Saul gave him the opportunity, I mean, why not? No one else was going forward. Imagine this, a whole army hiding in the background of a boy who dared to take a chance and go forward believing God would be with him. The king gave David the military army attire, including sword, helmet, coat of armor, and the king's tunic. David wasn't used to this type of gear. He was skilled at killing animals that would attack the sheep. He had killed bear and lion, but never had he been at war with man. David did indeed kill the giant. David, the giant slayer, killed with a stone and a slingshot. He knew what he was called to do and he went forth and did it. Because he took the leap of faith, he was rewarded. His reward was the king's daughter, David's family being exempt from taxes, and David given great wealth. All it took was one day and David's life was changed in a moment of time. He saw an opportunity and used what he had to go forward in faith, believing he would prevail with God's help. Remember the three questions earlier? The first one, sometimes we are unsure about who we are and what we should be doing, and we read how Joshua and Caleb were rewarded because they knew what to do when the other spies were unsure. And the second question, when we finally get that figured out, we are sometimes afraid to do anything, like the soldiers who wouldn't fight the giant. And then number three, if we do something and it doesn't work out at the time, it can cause us to feel inadequate and confused as to whether we should have done it in the first place, which leads to my next example. This example shows a person who follows through, but things don't work out right away. Remember the story about Joseph being wrongly cast into prison? If you missed it, you can listen to the story in the episode.
Joseph was not lost. Joseph was cast into prison. While in prison, he encountered a couple of prisoners having dreams they did not understand. He was familiar with dreaming. He inquired of the Lord concerning their dream and received the interpretation. He happily shared the interpretation with the two men. Their dreams came true, and Joseph was very hopeful they would not forget his help and speak a word of kindness on his behalf to someone able to assist with his release. They did not. Joseph continued his prison stay until there was a need to interpret another dream given to someone else, which was the Pharaoh. So we see there are times when we do the right thing and hope for what it is we desire, and it doesn't always happen when we expect it. Joseph did indeed get released from prison. His release wasn't right away, but when it came, it came with great reward. Joseph eventually became the right-hand man to the Pharaoh. What are you hoping for? Where do you place your faith? And what giant needs slaying in your life? My dad used to tell me often, Kina, if you can whip fear, you can whip anything. Those are great words to reflect on. I once heard, Fear is false evidence appearing real. Those are great words to reflect on. But most importantly, I leave you with the words given to Joshua in the Bible. Joshua was a great soldier, and God said in Joshua 1:9, Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. All right then. Until next time, Merry Christmas to you and yours.
