The Only Way To Win, July 11
            
            
              This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt
            
            
              meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to
            
            
              all that is written therein; for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous,
            
            
              and then thou shalt have good success.
            
            
              Joshua 1:8
            
            
              .
            
            
              If men will walk in the path that God has marked out for them, they will have
            
            
              a counselor whose wisdom is far above any human wisdom. Joshua was a wise
            
            
              general because God was his guide. The first sword that Joshua used was the
            
            
              sword of the Spirit, the Word of God....
            
            
              It was because the strongest influences were to be brought to bear against his
            
            
              principles of righteousness that the Lord in mercy charged him not to turn to the
            
            
              right hand or to the left. He was to follow a course of strictest integrity.... If there
            
            
              had been no peril before Joshua, God would not over and over again have charged
            
            
              him to be of good courage. But amid all his cares, Joshua had his God to guide
            
            
              Him.
            
            
              There is no greater deception than for man to suppose that in any difficulty he
            
            
              can find a better guide than God, a wiser counselor in any emergency, a stronger
            
            
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              defense under any circumstance....
            
            
              The Lord has a great work to be done in our world. To every man He has
            
            
              given
            
            
              His
            
            
              work for man to do. But man is not to make man his guide, lest he be
            
            
              led astray; this is always unsafe. While Bible religion embodies the principles of
            
            
              activity in service, at the same time there is the necessity of asking for wisdom
            
            
              daily from the Source of all wisdom. What was Joshua’s victory? Thou shalt
            
            
              meditate upon the Word of God day and night. The word of the Lord came to
            
            
              Joshua just before he passed over Jordan.... This was the secret of Joshua’s victory.
            
            
              He made God his Guide.
            
            
              Those holding the positions of counselors should be unselfish men, men of
            
            
              faith, men of prayer, men that will not dare to rely upon their own human wisdom,
            
            
              but will seek earnestly for light and intelligence as to what is the best manner
            
            
              of conducting their business. Joshua, the commander of Israel, searched the
            
            
              books diligently in which Moses had faithfully chronicled the directions given
            
            
              by God,—His requirements, reproofs, and restrictions,—lest he should move
            
            
              unadvisedly.
            
            
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