Our past victories should encourage us in defeat of our current enemies. Do you have any enemies? Do your 8 to 12year-old, do they anticipate any enemies in their middle school career? Joshua, the book of Joshua, which we are going through, we are on day five of the Joshua journey. And in this day is when Rahab, the text that would be read today is Joshua 2 8 through 24. That's a little bit lengthy. That's like 17 verses. If it's too much for you to read, you would want to have your children maybe listen to a Bible app or listen to it be read or you just read and let them follow along. Whatever your time constraint is, let them get into the text for themselves. This is going through the book of Joshua. Rahab has just sent this off another way. And this is day five. The enemy is faint is the name of it. And in this that your child will see that past victories display current help for current enemies. And in this, Rahab will tell the spies everything that she has heard that God has done for them. And that will encourage their hearts. But it also shows that Rahab understands that God protects those who trust in him. The parent encouragement for today is be willing to put yourself at risk. She Rahab put her and her family at risk because she needed help. She did not need help from the people of her own area that were going to be destroyed because she needed help from the Israelites and the spies that had come to take over her land. And she did not want to be destroyed with the enemy. So she wanted to make amends with the spies so that she would not be destroyed. And she had seen how God had taken care of the people who trusted in them in him. And so she wanted to side with the people who trusted in the Lord. And so she did that. She gave the spies every reason why they could trust her. They even made an agreement that she would put a scarlet cord in her window and that everybody that was in her house would be spared because it had the s signal of the scarlet cord. Now, everybody might have seen that scarlet cord, but not everybody knew the meaning of the cord. Only Rahab, her close family that were kept in the house that were believed and came into the house for safety. And then the spies, they knew the significance of the scarlet cord. And what the book of Joshua does is it brings in what this study what this study in the book of Joshua does is it brings in the New Testament into the study. And this book will ask the readers of an interesting fact. It will tell them that Rahab made the scarlet cord so everyone could see it. But not everyone understood the meaning. And that reminds us of the parables in the New Testament where Jesus spoke in parables. And he he spoke everybody heard but they did not know the meaning. So the book of Joshua helped children helps 8 to 12 year olds understand that God takes care of those who trust in him. And this is just day five. We are um on a 50-day journey through the book of Joshua. The thoughts and observations for today um for this reading are that God desires men everywhere to fear and reverence him. Rahab feared and reverenced the God of the Israelites. And because of her reverence, because of her honor of him, she was taken care of. God uses men and women to help perform his work on the earth. When your children hear that, when they recognize that God took care of Rahab and God will take care of them, God uses men and women to help perform his work on the earth. And then the third thought is God is the God of heaven and earth. Nothing is out of God's realm and God's authority. So, as you are walking through the book of Joshua with your 8 to 12year-old, get to day five and see the the how God does deal with those who trust him and how the spies how Rahab set a deal with the Israelites. And both of them, we will see, kept their their bargain and their agreement. The spies told Rahab that if her family did not stay in the house, they would not be saved. They would not be able to be rescued if they were not confined to the space of agreement. And when we follow the Lord Jesus Christ, we have to be assigned and confined to the space of agreement with him. But it is when we are in agreement with him that we have the freedom to love him, to serve him, and to be protected by him. A steering wheel on a car serves a significant reason. The car cannot go anywhere, is out of control without the steering wheel. We need the Lord in our life to be the steering wheel to make us go and to have us to go where he would want to have us be so that he can take care of us just like he took care of rehab with the with the scarlet cord and her in the house. The all of the parent encouragement says, "Be willing to put yourself at risk by telling of your need and the need of your family. Be concerned enough about your family's well-being to ask for help. Mom, what does your family need? What is the well-being of your family that maybe you need help with? Is there something that you could reach out to Faith Mom mentor that you need help with? Is there something that your family needs? Does your family need prayer? Put it in the comments. How can we pray for you? If your family needs support or help, h let that be known. There is a risk involved in letting your needs be known. But the main thing that you want your 8 to 12year-old to understand in this age group as they prepare for middle school is that they need to let their needs be made known. They do not need to hold everything in themselves in the middle school years and try to figure everything out. So between the ages of 8 and 12, help them recognize that they can bring their needs before you and to you and you all can take them to the Lord and that God will help those who trust in him. They do not have to keep everything to themselves. You are there to help them, to support them, and to provide for them. Tell them, mom, that you love them more than anybody else in the whole wide world and that you will do everything within your power to help them and to protect them and that they can risk even if it's something that they feel like is bad and that's going to make you upset or angry that they can risk letting you know those things because you, mom, are in the best position to help your 8 to 12year-old. So, what I would encourage you to do are several things. First, get the book of Joshua. The link is in the description. It's available on Amazon. Get it today. Give it to your kids as a present. Give it to them as a birthday present, as a Christmas present. Give it to them as a family project idea that you all will do together. Either five days a week or um every once a week, whenever you decide to do it together. It's something that you would do together as a family. and we do need more together time as a family. And so, um, do this today. Get the book, put in the comments how we can pray for you, and then watch this next video that I'm going to link here, and I'll see you over
