Taking Ground | Week 2
Day 5
“Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night…” -Joshua 1:8
There’s a moment in Joshua 1 where God isn’t just preparing Israel for a new land, He’s preparing them for a new mindset. They don’t just need a new location; they need a new way of thinking. They’ve spent 40 years wandering, circling the same mountains, dealing with the same frustrations, dealing with the same habits that held their parents back. Now they stand at the edge of promise, and God tells them something incredibly practical:
“If you want to win, you must learn to think and speak like Me.”
That’s a big statement. And it’s worth slowing down for.
God isn’t trying to turn Israel into scholars. He’s trying to turn them into people who see themselves the way He sees them. Because the truth is, the Israelites had been free for decades, but internally many of them still thought like slaves. They had been delivered out of Egypt, but the mindset of Egypt was still living inside them.
So God gives them the strategy: “Meditate on My Word day and night.”
Not once a week.
Not when disaster strikes.
Not when they “feel spiritual.”
Day and night. Let My thoughts become your thoughts. Let My words shape your words.
Sunday’s message put it this way: “Most people know what they’re running FROM, but God wants to give us something to run TOWARDS.”
And isn’t that true? A lot of people know what they don’t want to be:
“I don’t want to end up like them.”
“I don’t want to repeat the past.”
“I don’t want to fight those same battles again.”
“I don’t want to feel this way forever.”
But if all you know is what you don’t want, you eventually end up circling the same wilderness. Freedom isn’t about running from something, it’s about running toward something.
And God says the way forward is through a renewed mind.
One of the most insightful parts of Sunday’s message is the “Power of 4 Effect.” Researchers found that if someone reads Scripture 1–3 times a week, the effect on their life is minimal. But on day four, something changes. Depression drops. Anxiety lifts. Addictions weaken. Hope increases.
Why? Because the majority of the week becomes shaped by God’s voice instead of competing voices.
That’s exactly what God was teaching Joshua. Israel needed a new mental framework if they were going to thrive in a new season. They couldn’t take new ground with old thinking. They couldn’t speak new life while repeating old fears. They couldn’t win battles while listening to the inner dialogue of yesterday.
“Champions behave like champions before they are champions.” — Coach Bill Walsh
Joshua had to start thinking like the leader he would become. Israel had to start thinking like the nation God said they already were. You and I have to start thinking in alignment with the identity God has spoken over us.
And that’s not about hype or positive thinking, it’s about replacing lies with truth, intentionally, consistently, daily.
Over time, the Word of God starts retraining your responses. You begin reacting differently. You begin speaking differently. You begin seeing opportunities where you used to see obstacles. You begin feeling conviction where you used to feel shame. You begin hearing God’s promises louder than your fears.
You begin thinking like someone who belongs in the Promised Land.
And all of that doesn’t come from one big emotional moment, it comes from the slow, steady rhythm of Scripture shaping your mind, little by little, day after day.
God’s message to Israel is still His message to us: If you want to take ground externally, you must let God take ground internally. Your mindset is the first battlefield. Your words are the first weapons. Your thoughts are the first territory God wants to reclaim.
So today’s encouragement is simple:
Let God reshape your thinking.
Fill your mind with His Word.
Let His voice become the loudest one in your life.
Because when your thinking changes, everything else starts to change with it.
