What makes that difference as a middle school mom, as a mom of 8 to 12 year old preparing your child for middle school, is that you've already gone through it. You have already gone through the middle school years. You have already lived to tell about it. You have life experience that your 8 to 12 year old does not have yet. And God has positioned you as the people who can help your 8 to 12 year old get ready to enter middle school. What are you doing to prepare your middle schooler? In this short window of time, they had three days. But in three days, they made three important decisions. Number one, they said, Joshua, God has put you in charge. Number two, they said, Joshua, we are going to follow you. And number three, they said, Joshua, may God strengthen you and give you courage to help us to get all God has for us. And that's the mindset you need for yourself and that you need to instill in your children. It's all about preparation. In the book, it says that they were being prepared. The name of the lesson is the people get ready. And what it's talking about is that the people are being called in. God is calling the people for Joshua to lead the people into the promised land. But it says that they have to get ready. And so what this portion is on day three is just a reminder that somebody's got to be the leader. And in your household as a mom, you are the leader of your 8 to 12 year old. You are preparing them to get ready for the middle school years. Actually, the text says in Joshua 1 um 10 through 18, it actually says, "Go through the camp." Joshua is telling this to the leaders, "Go through the camp and tell the people to get their provisions ready. In three days, you will cross the Jordan River and take possession." So, they had a plan. Three days. They had a purpose. They were going to take possession of the land. And they knew this would please God because God had given them the land. And they have known this for generations. Remember, this is the generation of kids that were under 20 years old because only Pale and Joshua were the two that were over 20 that were able to go into the land. Everybody else had died off in the 40 years of the wilderness journey. These people that the leaders were talking to were people that when they were exodus from Egypt, they were under 20 or either they were born during the ex during the wilderness journey. Then Joshua called together the tribes of Reuben died and half the tribe of Manasseh. And he told them, "Remember what Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded you. The Lord your God is giving you a place of rest. God has given you a place of tranquility. God has given you a place of peace. He has given you this land. Your wives, children, and livestock may remain here in the land Moses assigned to you on the east side of the Jordan. But your strong warriors, fully armed, must lead the other tribes across the Jordan to help them conquer their territory. What that means is is that there was three these tribes, Dad, Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh, that they had requested land earlier in a a chapter earlier in the book of Exodus, a chapter um a book earlier than Joshua. These people that are in Reuben and not the tribe of Manasseh, they had not conquered the land yet. They had um not gone over the Jordan yet to the promised land. They had actually said, "I like this better. And I want our cattle. We've got lots of cattle. This is great ga great gazing grazing territory. And so I want our cattle. I want our people. I want this land." And Moses was like, "Okay, you can have this land. This land can be yours." But what Joshua was telling them is that, "Hey, you guys have already conquered some land. You all have already obtained your land, but don't fall short to help your other the other tribes of your people get their land and get their promise." And so what Joshua was saying is as they prepare, you who have already gotten your territory, you help the other ones that are still going to get their territory to get it. And what makes that difference as a middle school mom, as a mom of 8 to 12y old preparing your child for middle school is that you've already gone through it. You have already gone through the middle school years. You have already lived to tell about it. You have life experience that your 8 to 12 year old does not have yet. And God has positioned you as the people who can help your 8 to 12 year old get ready to enter middle school just like these people were. I'm called on by their leader Joshua to help the the tribe who still need to go ahead of them get ready to go into the promised land. God has called you, mom, to get your 8 to 12 year old ready to go into the middle school years to the land of that God has provided for them into the careers that God has purposed for them into the fulfillment that God has planned for them. your God has put you in the position to be the mom of your 8 to 12 grow so that you can help your children discover all God has created them to be. So let's go on because there's more and I've got to give you um the parent encouragement for today. So let me give that to you before we end. But let me go on here. It says it says do but your strong warriors. So, it's talking to the people who had already possessed some of the land on the east of the Jordan. These people had to go through the Jordan to get to the promised land. These people had already gotten their land east of Jordan. Stay with them. It's talking about these people that had already gotten possession of some land. Joshua is saying, "You have to stay with the ones who are still going to possess the land. Stay with them until the Lord gives them rest as he has given you rest. And until they too possess the land, the Lord your God is giving them. There are some promises that God has made for your 8 to 12 year olds. Some just grace promises. Some promises that he would never leave them or forsake them. That when they trust him, he will be with them and guide them and direct them. And you are in the direct position to give your 8 to 12 year old those promises of God that they can discover that they can be confident in in the 8 to 12 year old age range so that they can know it for themselves so that they can take it with them as they go into middle school and beyond. And mom, you are going to be with them in the middle school year. But the thing is is that when they are 8 to 12, they are still listening to you. They are still thinking that their allegiance is with you. In the middle school years, and I am a middlegrade education major, that first degree of middle grades education, the number one thing that I remember from my middle grades education is that in the middle school years, allegiance changes. Allegiance changes from the parent to the friend. And I'm telling you, God wants you as the parent to remain the most allegant person that your children align with. God has put you in a position to go with your child through the middle school years and into adulthood to experience all the promise, all the purpose, all the pleasure, all the fulfillment that God has for them. And in the faith mom community, that's what we are all about. We are all about encouraging you as a mom to get fulfillment in your own relationship with the Lord, to get the rest that God has already promised you, has already provided you, and to help your 8 to 12 year olds experience that rest for themselves through the middle school years and beyond. And if you need help with that, we offer a free faith mom conversation, 15 minutes. The link is in the description. Sign up today. Don't let this time pass. This you are in this position for such a time as this. There has never been a precedent of more need for a mom to be the essential guide, the spiritual director of her child. And so we want to help you do that in the faith mom community. Here we are. Stay within. The Lord said they were just taking care of the necessary things possible for them to march forward and possess what God had already promised to give them. But I want you to understand that this what they were doing in this preparation period. The people get ready. They were adjusting their mindset. They were adjusting their mindset. And these verses help explain that. They answered Joshua. So the people heard the command and then the people answered and said okay we will do whatever you command us to do and we will go where what this is saying is the people said we see you Joshua we see you as the person who can help us get into the promised land the fulfillment of everything that we've ever hoped for everything that we've ever imagined is going to be greater than we've ever experienced before. And you're the leader. You're helping us. You are the guide. And what this mindset shift is is that they recognize Joshua as the leader. And you need to help your 8 to 12 year old recognize that you are their leader to get them everything in life that they ever want and even beyond and into eternity through the word of God. understanding the Bible through scripture that it all comes to mind that you [clears throat] need to help your 8 to 12 year old have the mind that you are the one that cares about them more than anybody else in this whole wide world. Nobody has a mother's love. Nobody has a love for a child like a mother. And you have that love for your child. And so set yourself up as the mother. You go to your child and say, "Look, a 12year-old daddy, I am the one who is going to get you through middle school. I am going to be by your side. I am going to help you." And let's go on. It says, "We" they were they were saying to the leaders, "We will obey you just as we obey Moses. And may the Lord your God be with you as he was with Moses." Does your 8 to 12 year old know that God is with you? Do they see you faith mom? Do they see you seeking the Lord with all your heart and not leaning on your own understanding? Do they see you acknowledging him in all of your ways? Do they see you following after him in truth and in righteousness? Do they see you attending church in a faithful body who loves the Lord and loves others? Do they see you honestly wanting to do what is right and keeping your life pure and not putting people before your eyes and seeking the Lord first and foremost in your life. When they see that they will be able to say you the Lord has set you to lead. The Lord has set you. So, how's your child, does your child recognize that they will follow you because you are following the Lord? There's a New Testament reference to that. Paul says, "Be follow me as I follow the Lord." And so, your children need to have that reference. They need you to say, "Look, look, Susie, you follow me because I'm following the Lord." And there's no better life that than in the perfect will of God in his plan, in his purpose, in his pleasure. There's no other um illumination that we can have that is better than that. And that's the mindset that they had in their preparation that people get ready. They had that mindset. We will obey you just as we obey you. And may the Lord your God be with you as he was with. [clears throat] Anyone who rebelss against your orders and does not obey your words and everything you command will be put to death. So be strong and courageous. And if you missed the last two days, go back and watch those. We talked about how God spoke to Joshua and God assured Joshua that he would be with him to keep the word of God as a self-t talk is determined and to be strong and courageous. And so Joshua had told the people that that's what God had said. God had told Joshua that he would be strong and courageous. He told him that was the command for Joshua. and faith. Mom, that is the command God is forming you to be strong and courageous. And when you let your 8 to 12y old know that God is strengthening you and giving you courage to be their mama and leading through to the promised land through the middle school years to life and eternal life and everlasting joy. [clears throat] When they recognize and when you let them know that you God has set you up to help them and then they will say that's the mindset shift. They will say so be strong mom and courageous. So mom you be strong, you be courageous. They will vote for you to be their leader. And that's what the mindset was. So in the Joshua Bible study when the people get ready that passage on day three you would read that passage. Now I still have the parent encouragement. Leaders including parents should always get their direction from the Lord. If you want to be successful in your life and your children to be successful the Lord is the end of success. Joshua 18:9 talks about success and only when we meditate and self-t talk the word of God will we end in success. And then Christians should help other believers fight to find rest even if they've already found it. This could not only be a issue for you as a mom helping your child in 8 to 12 prepare for their middle school years get through it, but you are teaching them how to be friends, how to help other people. So if they if they know how to deal with the peer pressure, then they can help their friend deal with peer pressure. If they know how to deal with social drama or friendship trauma, then your then your child can help their friends in that way as well. And so you are helping your child be a friend to other people. And the most important thing is to be strong in the Lord, the knowledge of God and his word and very courageous. Take a stand for what God says to do and do it. you as a faith mom are teaching that to your child and then this gives opportunity for discussion. I want to talk about preparedness. Um and [clears throat] I want to tell you faith mom what your encouragement is for this week and then I'm going to be coming back to this discussion. You as a mom your duty as a parent and right here each day has a parent encouragement. Your duty as a parent always. Your duty as a parent is to help your children. Period. Your duty as a parent is to help your children. If you agree with that, would you put help my children in the comments? I would love to see that. And then it says, "Always go ahead of them with all your might to help them enter the rest of God. Always go before them. Help them enter the rest of God." Let me tell you a little story. I heard this not too long ago. It was a this family that were going on vacation and the parents left a little bit sooner than the children. They were coming behind them in a separate vehicle. The parents left about an hour early. But about a 30 minutes into the parents procession down the road, they ran into an issue on the road. There was a a great big pothole and they were everybody was being directed around it and they were being slowed down. And so the parents picked up their cell phone and they phoned back to their kids and they were like, "Hey, you know, when you're coming, um, avoid this road that we're on because there's a pothole and it's really going to slow you down and it's going to be a real big problem." And the kids were like, "Okay, well, we we'll take a different road." But the thing was is that the parents were not smarter than the kids. It's just that they were further down the road. and faith mom, you are just further down the road. It's not necessarily that you got it all figured out. It's not necessarily that you know all the answers. You're just you have more life experience than your 8 to 12 year old. you've experienced more and God has put you in a position to be just a little bit further down the road with them to help them obtain and go into all God has for them. And so this is what you could do. This would get your child talking. Not only would the family private, which is that family tree and giving them some just some background history of where these tribes that they're going to be talking about come from, but this discussion right here, this is an excellent discussion and this would help with your child's mindset. How important was it for the people to follow Joshua? You would ask your child that in a discussion. How important was it for the people to follow Joshua? Did it matter? Did it matter? And get the children, get the 8 to 12 [laughter] year old thinking. They can think about this. How important was it for them to follow Joshua? Did the people take it seriously? What did they what did they see in the passage that they read? I read out loud. What did they see in that? Did they see that the people took it seriously? Well, yes. They were like, "Oh, we're going to do everything within our power to follow you, Joshua. We believe God has put you in charge and we are going to do everything within our power to follow you. And then the third question here is how serious are you to follow your leaders? And that's something that you can talk about with your kids. How serious are you to follow your leaders? That your children need to answer that. They need to answer between the ages of 8 and 12. How serious are they to follow you as their mom, to follow you as their leader? If you are always, if you position yourself to always get them the best that they can have, the rest of God, when you position yourself in that way, and you teach them that that's your job, that's your responsibility, and that's what you're taking them to, they will be all in. they will be all aboard to follow after you and after what you have for them. And so, Mom, I encourage you to be prepared. I've got a couple of things here. You may be wondering why I have these over on the side table, but these are these are so there is dirt and germs in our house on our bodies and on our hands. And I have these items on Amazon Prime. Subscribe and save. Do you Amazon subscribe and save? I do. I love it. And it prepares me. I don't have to think about it. I just I think about it one time. How often do I need these things to come to my house to be prepared for the germ that I want to get rid of? And so that one thing I set it up on subscribe and save. If I need to tweak it a little bit, it's so simple. you just go in there a few clicks and you got a tweet and it's and they just come right away or they can be delayed if you've got a stockpile you didn't have as many drugs as you thought you had in your household or were prepared for. But the point is is to be prepared. The this lesson here is to be the people get ready. So what I want to ask us for and then I'm going to pray for us. Are we getting ready? Not just are we getting ourselves ready. We do have to get ourselves ready. And we have to get ourselves ready before we can help other get ready. But what are you doing to prepare your middle schooler? In this short window of time, they had three days. But in three days, they made three important decisions. Number one, they said, "Josshua, God has put you in charge." Number two, they said, "Joshua, we are going to follow you." And number three, they said, "Joshua, may God strengthen you and give you courage to help us to get all God has for us." And that's the mindset you need for yourself and that you need to instill in your children. And so, let's pray toward that inner dear God, we love you. Dear God, you have given us everything that we need for life and godliness, for a knowledge of you and a knowledge of your son. God, we thank you for these examples of Joshua in the Old Testament. We thank you God that you have provided leaders in our own lives and lives. And you have established us and you have given us your word that we may understand the path that you would have us to take that we may help our children to follow after you after true righteousness and holiness and how we can help them to become all and to be and to get all that you have for them. God, you have abundant life for them. You have hope and a future for them. You have security and a sound mind. We talked about earlier in another day that you did not give them a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and of ask you, Father, that you would help our children to recognize that. Help us to instill that in them and help us, Lord, to prepare them for the middle school years. Help them Lord to continue to listen to us and continue to help us to guide them and direct them in all the ways of that you would have for them and the blessings and encouragement that you would have and the hope and the security that there is found. Lord, we love you and we thank you and we value your word and your truth in Jesus name. Amen. Well, I guess I should keep on these clothes. I just wanted to talk with you just this moment to just talk with you about preparing to go and prepare. So day three was the people get ready and I just want to help you think to get ready to lead your kids through the middle school year with success and with hope and with security. And so as we leave I'm sure you got some preparedness to get things prepared. I'm preparing these clothes to get them back in the closet so they can be ready again. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you. He
