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Hello, friends.

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Welcome to Fed by the Fruit, a podcast focused on nourishment for the mind, body, and soul.

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I'm KB, a Spirit-filled, certified life and nutrition coach with a calling to disciple women who are hungry for more.

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Each week, we will learn who God is and what He wants for and from us.

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through powerful testimonies, biblical truth, and so much more as we fuel our minds and bodies in ways that honor Him.

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Let's get fed.

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Hello, friends.

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Happy Monday.

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Welcome to Fed by the Fruit.

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How are we?

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Happy New Year.

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This is the first time I'm actually recording in 2026.

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So I'm so excited to be back.

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Today is the second week of the month.

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And so that means we're doing a deep dive into a prominent character or story in the Bible.

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And today we're talking about Joshua.

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So I'm going to jump right in.

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We ended our episode last month with Moses passing his authority onto a man named Joshua.

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But who was Joshua?

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He is known for leading the Israelites into the Promised Land after the death of Moses.

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His life is filled with leadership, faith, and courage.

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Joshua is considered one of the Bible's greatest military leaders for leading the seven-year conquest of the Promised Land and is often held up as a model for effective leadership.

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Let's take a look at his life then from a biblical perspective.

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Joshua spent many years as Moses' right-hand man.

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learning and assisting Moses in his leadership of the Israelites.

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He was chosen for this role because of his faithfulness and loyalty.

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This apprenticeship, if you will, prepared him to lead the Israelites after Moses' death.

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As a military leader, Joshua would be considered one of the greatest generals in human history, but it would be a mistake to credit Israel's victory solely to Joshua's skill as a military general.

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The first time we see Joshua is in Exodus 17 in the battle against the Amalekites.

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We're told that Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people, and so we're tempted to conclude then that Joshua's military experience saved the day.

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But in this passage, we see something odd occurring.

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In verse 11, we read, Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed.

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Eventually, Moses' arms grew so weary that a stone had to be brought for him to sit on, and Aaron and Hur held his hands up.

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Hence, we see that Joshua prevailed because God gave him the battle.

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The same can be said about the victories in the promised land.

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The Lord had promised sure victory and delivered it in convincing fashion.

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The only exception we see is in the battle of Ai in Joshua 7.

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So there are several things to note about this incident.

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Israel broke faith with God regarding the devoted things.

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God had commanded the Israelites to destroy every single thing, but Achan had kept some of the loot from the Battle of Jericho for himself.

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Because of this, God judged them by not giving them the victory at Ai.

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Another thing to note is that there is no explicit command by God to go against I.

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The purpose of putting these two battle stories side by side is to show that when God sets the program and the agenda, victory follows.

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But when man sets the program and agenda, failure ensues.

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Jericho was the Lord's battle.

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I was not.

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God redeemed the situation and eventually did give them the victory, but not until after He gave them the lesson.

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Further evidence of Joshua's leadership qualities can be seen in his rock-solid faith in God.

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When the Israelites were on the edge of the promised land in Numbers 13, God commanded Moses to send out 12 people to spy out the land, one from each of the tribes of Israel.

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Upon their return, 10 reported that the land was occupied by strong and fierce warriors dwelling in large, fortified cities.

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Furthermore, the Nephilim were in the land.

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Now remember, the Nephilim were giants from the Israelites' perspective.

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They were created by fallen angels procreating with humans.

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Joshua and Caleb were the only two who urged the people to take the land.

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Everyone else was afraid.

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Here we see one thing that sets Joshua and Caleb apart from the rest of the Israelites.

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They believed in the promises of God.

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They were not intimidated by the size of the warriors or the strength of the cities.

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Rather, they knew their God and remembered how he had dealt with Egypt, the most powerful nation on the earth at that time.

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If God could take care of the mighty Egyptian army, he could certainly take care of various Canaanite tribes.

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God rewarded Joshua and Caleb's faith by exempting them from the entire generation of Israelites that would perish in the wilderness.

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They never got to step foot in the promised land except for Joshua and Caleb because of their faithfulness and loyalty.

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We see Joshua's faithfulness in the act of obediently consecrating the people before the invasion of the promised land and again after the defeat at Ai.

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But no more clearly is Joshua's faithfulness on display than at the end of the book that bears his name, when he gathers the people together one last time and recounts the deeds of God on their behalf.

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After that speech, Josh urges the people to forsake their idols and remain faithful to the covenant that God made with them at Sinai, saying,

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And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.

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But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

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So what can we learn from Joshua's life?

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Can we draw principles of leadership from his life?

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Sure.

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That God gave him the victory in taking the promised land does not take away from his military leadership.

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Furthermore, he was a more than capable leader for the Israelites.

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But his skill in leadership is not the primary lesson we should draw from Joshua's life.

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A better lesson would be Joshua's faithfulness, his stand against the 10 spies who brought the disparaging report about the obstacles in taking over the promised land, and his zeal in ensuring the covenant faithfulness of the people.

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But even his faith wasn't perfect.

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There's the fact that Joshua sent spies into Jericho, even though God had ensured the victory.

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And then there's the overconfidence he exhibited in the battle of Ai.

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The primary lesson to draw from Joshua's life is that God is faithful to His promises.

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God promised Abraham that his descendants would dwell in the land, and under Joshua, God brought the people into the land that He had promised to give them.

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This act completed the mission of redemption that God started with Moses in bringing Israel out of Egypt.

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It also points to the ultimate redemption that Jesus brings to the community of faith.

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Like Moses, Jesus delivered us from ******* and slavery to sin.

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And like Joshua, Jesus will bring us into the eternal promised land.

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Joshua's role as a leader and savior of Israel mirrors the role of Jesus in the New Testament.

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In fact, the name Joshua is the Hebrew version of Jesus's name.

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Just as Joshua led the Israelites to victory and rest in the promised land, Jesus leads believers into spiritual victory and eternal rest.

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That is the story of Joshua.

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Our memory verse for January is 2 Corinthians 5, 17.

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Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come.

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The old has gone, the new has come.

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Thank you for being here.

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That was short and sweet.

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I hope it was helpful.

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I hope you learned something.

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I hope you'll come back next week as we learn to

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apply biblical principles to everyday life.

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I have a guest who has deeply studied the women of the Bible, and she shares what she has learned and how she has applied that to her own life.

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So I hope that you'll come back next week for an episode with Amber Hodges.

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I'm so grateful for you.

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I'm so excited for what this new year will bring.

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I have some big guests lined up for our powerful testimony episodes, and I'm just eternally grateful for what God is doing here and that he has brought you

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You here to listen.

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I'm so grateful for you.

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Please share this episode, share your favorite episode, post the link, send it in a text message.

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Just get somebody to listen.

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Someone can benefit.

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Someone in your life could use a podcast like this.

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I hope you have the most wonderful Monday.

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I love you.

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I'll see you right here next week.

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Later.

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If this podcast blessed you, please share it with a friend and hit the subscribe button so you never miss an episode.

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Leave A five-star review on iTunes and come hang out with me on Instagram at Fed by the Fruit.

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I'd love to connect with you there.

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And most importantly, I'll see you right here next week.

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Come hungry, get fed.