UCB Word For Today

Here’s what you need to know about the walls of Jericho: they were immense. They wrapped around the city like a suit of armour, forty feet above the ground. They were impenetrable. Here is what you need to know about Joshua: he didn’t bring the walls down – God did. And God will do that for you too. Your Jericho is your fear, anger, bitterness, or prejudice. It’s also your insecurity about the future; your guilt about the past; and your negativity, anxiety, and proclivity to criticise, over-analyse, or compartmentalise. Your Jericho is any circumstance, attitude, or mindset that keeps you from joy, peace, or rest. Jericho blocks your way, so its walls must fall! ‘Go in to possess the land which the LORD your God is giving you to possess’ (Joshua 1:11 NKJV). The verb translated as ‘possess’ means ‘to occupy by driving out previous tenants and possessing in their place’. But Satan won’t leave without a fight. He will resist. He will push back. But he will not win. Why? Because God has already declared that you are the victor. ‘The LORD said to Joshua: “See! I have given Jericho into your hand.”’ God did not say, ‘Joshua, take the city.’ God said, ‘Joshua, receive the city I have taken.’ The same can be said about you and your challenge. You may say, ‘If God has done it for me, what do I have to do?’ 1) Receive your victory by faith, just as you received your salvation. 2) Speak victory. Be sure your words line up with God’s words. 3) Walk out your victory, one day at a time.

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

In ancient Jewish culture, formal education began at six years of age. Jewish boys enrolled in the local synagogue school called bet sefer, which means ‘house of the book’. By the time they graduated four years later, they had memorised the entire Torah – every jot and tittle of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy was engraved on their cerebral cortex via memorisation. There goes our excuse for not being able to remember, right? According to tradition, the rabbi would cover the students’ writing slates with honey on the first day of class. Then the rabbi would instruct his class to lick the honey off their slates while reciting Psalm 119:103: ‘How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!’ (NKJV). That was the first and perhaps most important lesson in their entire education. The rabbi wanted his students to fall in love with the Word of God. He wanted them to taste and see that the Word is good (see Psalm 34:8). Jeremiah thought so: ‘Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart’ (Jeremiah 15:16 NKJV). David said: ‘The entrance of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple’ (Psalm 119:130 NKJV). Solomon said: ‘For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding’ (Proverbs 2:6 NKJV). When you acquire a taste for God’s Word, the Holy Spirit, who is the author of the Word, will do two things for you. First, He will reveal it to you. Second, He will remind you of it.

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

As the Jordan River swelled to a mile in width, crossing it was no small task. Especially with millions of people! God said, ‘Go over this Jordan, you and all this people’ (Joshua 1:2 NKJV). Do you think they were scared? Would you have been? ‘The feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water’ (Joshua 3:15 NKJV). It was the smallest of steps, but with God, the smallest step of faith can activate the mightiest of miracles. As they touched the water, the flow stopped as if someone had shut off the water main. Next, we read: ‘All Israel crossed over on dry ground’ (v. 17 NKJV). By performing this miracle, God wanted them to know: ‘By this you shall know that the living God is among you.’ For Joshua’s people, assurance came as they stood on dry land looking back at the Jordan. For us, assurance comes as we stand on the finished work of Christ and look back at the cross. Let the cross convince you. Be settled about God’s faithfulness. The psalmist describes a person of faith this way: ‘He is settled in his mind that Jehovah will take care of him’ (Psalm 112:7 TLB). Life has many unanswered questions, but God’s promise to save you needn’t be one of them. ‘He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?’ (Romans 8:32 NKJV). Rest in your redemption. The past is past. Your future is bright.

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

Dr George Washington Carver overcame racial prejudice and became an educator, scientist, and inventor who was honoured by the U.S. Congress. He was also a follower of Christ. And here’s what he had to say about prayer: ‘My prayers seem to be more of an attitude than anything else. I indulge in very little lip service, but ask the Great Creator silently, daily, and often many times a day to permit me to speak to Him…I ask Him…to give me wisdom, understanding, and bodily strength to do His will; hence I am asking and receiving all the time.’ Carver gave the world many inventions and was most famous for what he could do with a peanut. He stood on the truth of these Scriptures: ‘I will go before you and make the crooked places straight’ (Isaiah 45:2 NKJV). ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know’ (Jeremiah 33:3 NKJV). ‘Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand’ (Isaiah 41:10 NKJV). Pay particular attention to Carver’s words: ‘I am asking and receiving all the time.’ Prayer was not his last resort, but his first choice. To him, it was more than religious ritual; it was a means of constant communication with the God he loved, sometimes talking and sometimes listening, but at all times sensitive to and aware of the presence of God. And daily prayer should be that for you too.

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.

Solomon wrote: ‘One standing alone can be…defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer.’ What Solomon is saying is this: ‘Be a team player.’ Deuteronomy 32 speaks of one person chasing 1,000 and two putting 10,000 to flight (v. 30). The lesson is that two working together will be ten times more effective than one going solo. Teams create synergy. The best explanation of synergy is that a hand is more effective than five fingers working independently of each other. When the press interviewed Edmund Hillary regarding the key to his success in being the first to reach the top of Mount Everest, his response was inspiring: ‘Our greatest strength on Everest in 1953 was our very strong team spirit. Individually, as mountaineers, we were not particularly expert people. We were competent climbers, but we worked together, and we were determined that someone should get to the top. All of us, of course, wanted to be that one, but it was even more important that someone in the group reached the summit. In modern-day climbing, this team spirit is not quite so common. There are many more prima donnas in the modern climbing fraternity, people who have great skills and great individualism but who may not work together as enthusiastically as we did.’ The truth is that no individual is as smart and strong as all of us are as a group. Or to put it in the words of Dr John Maxwell: ‘Teamwork makes the dream work.’ So be willing to sacrifice your personal agenda for the greater good that can be accomplished only by a team.

© 2024. Written by Bob and Debby Gass. Used by permission under licence from UCB International.