Josh 1:1 Now after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' minister, saying,

2 Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.

3 Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.

4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.

5 There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.

6 Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.

7 Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.

8 This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

9 Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

Let's look again at two Scriptures: Verse 3 & 9:

"Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses."

"Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee withersoever thou goest."

Before we get into this Message, there is something I want to point out to you. In verse 9, our Lord had made a promise that He would be with the Children of Israel WITHERSOEVER they went. Notice, this "withersover" only pertained to the Land of Canaan. If they went beyond these boundaries, the promise did not apply. It is also the same way with the promises of God in this day. Only as long as we remain within the boundaries of God's Word, the promises apply. If we get out of the boundaries, then the promises do not apply.

Now, let's get into our Message: In verse 3, we are told that "Every place where the sole of your foot shall TREAD".... let's look at this word tread: What does it mean? Does it mean just standing or is there a deeper meaning? Webster's dictionary gives these meanings. Number 1. To walk on, in along, across, over. Number 2: To do or follow by walking, dancing, stepping. Number 3: To press or beat with the feet so as to crush or injure. From the above, we see that it means to continue moving.

Notice, when our God gave the land of Canaan to the Children of Israel, He told them that He was giving it to them. But notice, He never told the inhabitants of Canaan that He was giving their nation to the Children of Israel. The responsibility of doing this belonged to the Children of Israel. It was also their responsibility to drive those people out.

WE today have many promises which our God has given us, of which He again, never told Satan that He gave us those things. It is our responsibility to let Satan know that our God has given us those things and to drive the enemy out so we can enjoy what our God has given us.

Of the many promises which our God gave us, there is not one which can be kept from us if we are determined to have them.

There is but one way and one way only which these promises can be kept from us and that is IF we let Satan keep them form us. There is no way Satan can keep us from receiving what our God has given us EXCEPT we let him!

At this point, I want to give a personal testimony of something which happened to me. Some years past, while living in Cheyenne, Wyoming, I felt that our God wanted me to go to work at a beef plant in Colorado.

Telling my wife what was in my heart, I headed to Colorado, sure that I would be going to work that day.

However, when I got there, I was told that I would have to put in an application at the state employment agency, and then they would call me.

This kind of put a damper on my spirit, however, I said, "Well, if this is what I have to do, I guess I will do it.

When I got back to Cheyenne I was telling a minister friend what I was sure my God wanted me to do. He told me that he knew a minister there who knew the man that owned this company and that he would call him for me.

(Let me tell you this right here. I didn't know it at the time, but this company hires 10-15 new people every week.)

A few days later I received a call from this company to come down for a physical. This time I was sure that everything would be OK and I would be going to work. NOT SO!!! I flunked the physical. That's right! I flunked the physical. This really shocked me and I came back home with my head hanging real low. I mopped around the house for days just sure that I had missed God. This went on for several days thinking I had missed God, yet, unable to get away from the feeling that it was what my God wanted me to do. But how could this be what God wanted when I could not even pass the physical?

After several days, I told my wife, "I know this is what God wants me to do. The only thing that is stopping me is this hernia. I will just go to the VA hospital and let them fix it."

The next day, I went to the hospital and asked to see the surgeon. I was told that he would not be in till the following day. The next day, I again went to the hospital. Seeing the surgeon, I told him that this hernia was keeping me from obeying our Lord Jesus, even though I knew that he didn't believe in our Lord.

After examining me, the doctor said, "Mr. Whatley, you don't have a hernia." I then asked for a letter to this fact which he gave me.

The following day, I was once again on my way to this company. The two company nurses kept me waiting about two hours while they discussed what to do. Deciding that I must again see the company doctor. I asked them to send me out to his office. They said, "We can't."

I asked why, and was told that he had been out of town for a week and would be gone for another three weeks. I then asked to see him as soon as he got back to town. Three weeks later, I was once again on my way to Colorado.

This time on the way down, something happened. After being told that I didn't have a hernia, I felt it pop out and knew it was there.

But by this time, I knew it was our Lord who was leading me so I went on to the doctor's office, and, yes, once again, I flunked the physical.

This time, when I got back to Cheyenne, rather than going home to mope, I went straight to the VA to see the surgeon. I told him, "Doctor, it's there." He checked and said, "You're right! Not only is there one on the left, but there is the beginning of one on the right." I asked if he could fix them, and was told to come in the following say and he would fix them the day after.

Six weeks later, I was released by the VA doctor and again I headed to Colorado. Again I saw the company doctor, passed the physical and was put to work.

See, Satan would have stopped me IF I had let him, but instead, I kept banging Satan's head until I won, and was able to get what God had for me.

Remember this; Satan is not going to just give up without a fight. You are going to have to keep banging on his head until you drive him away form every promise God has given us.

There is no way for you to lose if you keep banging on Satan's head, so just keep banging until you win.

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Rev. Whatley