December 2014 Jesus our Joshua

Messianic Jews refer to Jesus using his Hebrew name Yeshua, which is the same Hebrew name that the person we call Joshua had.During this Christmas season we thank God for our Joshua (Jesus) who was prepared to trust God to bring people into an eternal promised land, just as the old Joshua did (Numbers 14). * During this Christmas season we pray that there will be moments when we are aware that we are standing on holy ground (Joshua 5 – December 7th).* During this Christmas season let us not give up hope for peace in our troubled world in which walls go up between people, sometimes literally as in Bethlehem. . * During this Christmas season let us come to our Joshua (Jesus) and ask him for our inheritance, so that we like the original Joshua (in Joshua 14 – December 14th), may live in a place of binding friendship, like British and German soldiers did, albeit briefly over Christmas in 1914* Let us rejoice that on December 24th the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT), becomes binding international law, having been ratified by 53 nation states. * During this Christmas season let us respond with courage to our Joshua (Jesus)’s challenge to “Decide this day whom we shall serve”, by saying that “we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24- December 21st ). In doing so we WILL be a peaceful presence in this troubled world.* During this Christmas season we may have travelled geographically a long way to see friends and family, and we have also journeyed “in heart and mind” to Bethlehem as we have followed the Christmas story. The question is then “Where do we go next”. We look to press on, on our journey (Philippians 3:10-14 December 28th)