“So Joshua said to the people of Israel, how long will you put off going in to take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers has given you?”
– Joshua 18:3
What a phrase. Joshua was saying, God is giving you this land. How long are you going to put off going in to take it? I read that and I think, “Ah, I don’t want to put off doing anything God has called me to do. Taking any step God has called me to take.” Oh, why would I, why would we, put off God and what he is calling us to do, and yet we are prone to this. We are prone to hear God say do this or do that and to put it off, to delay obedience. And this is where we realize delayed obedience is disobedience and it’s foolishness.
God, we confess that we have put off your Great Commission and neglected the call to make disciples.
Joshua 18:3 Reminds Us to Obey God
Why would we put off obeying God? Why would we put off experiencing all that God desires and designs for us?
So we pray Joshua 18:3. Let’s just pray together today. God, help us to walk fully into all that you have designed for us, that you desire for us today. God, help us not to put off anything you’re calling us to do. Help us to not put off any steps you’re calling us to take. And help us to walk by faith fully into all that you have for our lives, for our families, for our churches.
Oh, help us to walk fully into the future, faith trusting in you and your power and your promises and your presence. All that you desire to give us. God, help us to take fully. Help us not to waste a moment, none, in delaying obedience to you. Help us to live in total full immediate obedience to you. And the way we teach our kids to obey all the way, right away, with a happy heart. God, help us to obey you today all the way, right away, with a happy heart. God, help us. Keep us from delaying obedience. And God, we pray for this, especially in light of the great commission you have given to us. You’ve made it clear, oh Lord, make disciples of all the nations and we have delayed obedience.
This Verse Leads Us to Pray for Unreached People
God, the fact that on this podcast we pray continually for unreached people groups that just are showing we’ve put off what you’ve called us to do. That 2,000 years after you spoke those words to us, Jesus, that there are still thousands of people groups yet to be reached by the gospel. God, we confess that we have put off your commission. We have put off your command to us to make disciples of all the nations. And we’re saying today in prayer right now, we don’t want to put it off anymore. We pray, use our lives, our families, our churches, to get the gospel to the remaining unreached people groups.
God, we pray for the Bonna of Pakistan. Please cause the gospel to go to them. God, you’re calling somebody specifically, laborers specifically to go to the Bonna, and God we pray today for faith for those laborers to obey you, to not put off obedience to you. And God, we pray that if it’s us, you would make that clear. God, we pray that you would raise up more and more and more of us to take the gospel to those who are unreached. And God, we pray that when you do, we would not put you off.
God, may it not be said of any of us that we put you off in all that you were calling us to do. God, we want to step fully into all that you have for our lives. Help us to hold nothing back and to not put you off. We pray this according to Joshua 18:3, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
