Taking Ground | Week 2
Day 4
“Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night… Then you will be prosperous and successful.” -Joshua 1:8
One of the quiet truths God built into the book of Joshua is that greatness rarely bursts onto the scene all at once. It grows. It builds. It compounds. And Sunday’s message captured this truth: “Big wins are the result of consistent small wins.”
That statement isn’t just motivational, it’s profoundly biblical.
Joshua is standing on the brink of the Promised Land, but before he ever leads a battle, before he ever crosses a river, before he ever rallies the people, God reminds him of the daily work:
Meditate on My Word.
Keep it on your lips.
Do what it says.
Stay faithful.
Stay steady.
Stay consistent.
It’s almost surprising, isn’t it? God doesn’t tell him, “Joshua, go defeat giants,” or “Joshua, go destroy fortified cities.” Instead, God tells him to focus on the small, repeatable disciplines that shape a whole life.
It echoes what God told Israel years earlier: their victory would come little by little.
Not overnight.
Not instant.
Not with one dramatic miracle.
Little by little. Small win by small win.
And Joshua is a perfect example of this. His leadership didn’t suddenly appear the day Moses died. Joshua had a forty-year collection of small wins, habits formed in the wilderness, choices made in obscurity, faithful steps no one applauded at the time.
He was learning humility.
He was learning patience.
He was learning obedience.
He was learning to hear God’s voice.
“We do not decide our future… we decide our habits, and our habits decide our future.”
Small wins build the muscle memory of faith.
And maybe that’s the part we overlook in our own lives. We want “Promised Land” results but often struggle with “wilderness” consistency. We want God to hand us breakthroughs in big, dramatic moments, but God grows us through the slow, steady rhythms most people never see.
The truth is, most of the spiritual victories you’ll ever experience won’t come from one powerful moment at an altar. They’ll come from a dozen unseen choices:
Reading Scripture when you don’t feel like it.
Choosing prayer over panic.
Speaking life instead of negativity.
Showing up when you’re tired.
Serving when it’s inconvenient.
Forgiving even when it’s hard.
Letting God work in you even when no one else notices.
These are the small wins that add up over time.
God loves to work through people like that. People who don’t need spotlight moments, just daily grace. People who aren’t trying to impress anyone, just walk with God one step at a time. People who understand that daily obedience is more powerful than occasional intensity.
Maybe that’s God’s invitation to you today:
Stop trying to “arrive” instantly.
Stop waiting for the one big break.
Stop thinking growth should feel dramatic.
Just take today’s small step. Show up today. Be faithful today. Make the one right choice in front of you today.
Big wins will come, but they’ll come as the fruit of dozens of quiet, hidden, steady small wins.
So don’t underestimate the small things. Don’t rush past the daily disciplines. Don’t despise the slow work of God. The Promised Land wasn’t conquered in a moment. Neither is a life of purpose.
Joshua didn’t lead by being flashy. He led by being faithful. And that’s how you take ground too.
