Focus: Get Him Gingered

Text: Dt.1:38

"But Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it."

Future makers are those who ginger the younger or next generation to accept responsibility and to live selflessly, responsibly and accountably. Leaders, at some point, must pass the baton to the would-be successors. 

In Joshua 1:1,2, we read, "Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spake to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying, Moses my servant is dead, now therefore arise, go over this Jordan…" This life is turn by turn. The end of one man is the beginning of another. Moses is gone, just like that, and God calls on Joshua to take over and take charge. Life goes on. Work continues, God's people move on, and the purpose of God advances.

Success in this life requires predecessors and successors.

What is even more touching is that God instructed Moses to encourage Joshua to take over from him. God says, "But CHARGE Joshua, and ENCOURAGE him, and STRENGTHEN him: for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which thou shalt see" (Dt.3:28). God is essentially saying to Moses, 'Joshua is the next man after you; prepare him for the job.' 

Leaders are marked out, not by their achievements, but by their successors. Successors preserve and advance the legacies of their predecessors.

What is even more interesting is that God Himself did neither encourage Joshua nor ask one of His angels to do so. It was solely Moses' responsibility to do that. Don't expect God to do for you what you should do for yourself or others. God made man to work in collaboration with Him, not to watch God do everything.

God tells Moses to charge, encourage and strengthen Joshua for his future role as the leader of God's people. The word 'encourage' is châzaq in Hebrew, and it is differently translated in the King James Version as force, fortify, aid, help, prevail, conquer, sure, repair, amend, lean, harden, urgent, and so on. God was telling Moses to harden Joshua for the job - get him ready, make him willing and able, equip him, ginger him, enliven and energize him, galvanize him, pep him, fortify him, encourage him, make him pursue the divine purpose with force, vigor, and a sense of urgency. God is asking Moses to put Joshua together for the work of bringing the people into the promise land.

Joshua was Moses' minister as Moses was God's servant. There's someone close to you who needs your encouragement. There's someone carrying divine oil on his head for you to encourage and support the best way that you can. There's someone God has called and raised to champion and advance the cause of the kingdom of Christ, and he needs your encouragement and support. Christ instructed Peter to strengthen his fellow disciples when he bounced back from his temporal setback. David said to Joab, "Encourage thou him" (2Sam.11:25). In Second Chronicles we read, "And he set the priests in their charges, and encouraged them to the service of the house of the LORD" (2Chron.35:2). God wants us to be encouraged and poised for exploits in the name of the Lord.

Apart from the encouragement of others, you need also to encourage yourself amid the challenges that you are faced with. The Word says that "David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God" (1Sam.30:6). Like David, encourage yourself in Christ. 

We read in the book of Judges, "And the people the men of Israel encouraged themselves, and set their battle again in array in the place where they put themselves in array the first day" (Judg.20:22). We read in Second Chronicles, "Moreover he commanded the people that dwelt in Jerusalem to give the portion of the priests and the Levites, that they might be encouraged in the law of the LORD" (2Chron.31:4). God wants you to be encouraged in the word of God.

Get your Joshua gingered. God has something for him to do. Assist others who will take over from you. Encourage the future generation. Let God use you to prepare another for what God has for him in this life. Commit yourself to gingering others, inspiring and motivating them to get into their God-given assignments. Get the Joshuas gingered. Let God's work not die with you. Leave a lasting legacy for others to carry on.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter