Starting Right is a 5 minute Day Starter to help keep you motivated, encouraged, and focused throughout your day. DannyMac is a pastor, teacher, motivational speaker, husband, and father. His years of leading and training people have given him vast experience in helping individuals to accomplish change in their lives and meet their goals. He can help you set the course for your day by offering practical advice from God's Word in a positive and fun way. There is no better way to begin your day than by Starting Right with DannyMac.
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A stopped river is impressive. The part that can change your daily life is what God asks for next. I start with a quick pop quiz about Scripture, then walk straight into Joshua’s crossing of the Jordan River, when the priests step into flood-stage water carrying the Ark of the Covenant and God makes a way on dry ground.
But the heart of the message is the follow-up: God tells Joshua to pull twelve stones from the middle of the river and stack them as a memorial. Why? So that when children ask, “What do these stones mean?” the story of God’s faithfulness doesn’t fade. We talk about how those stones turn a one-time miracle into a lasting testimony, and how remembrance becomes a practical tool for building faith at home.
If you want a five minute devotional to start your morning with encouragement, biblical perspective, and simple next steps, press play. Subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review so more people can start their day right.
Good morning and welcome to Starting Right with Danny Mack. I'm going to be here every Monday to Friday to help you get a great five minute start to your day. So grab your cup of coffee, sit back, relax, and let me help you start your day right.
Okay everybody, I'm going to start today by giving you a pop quiz. Besides Moses, how many people were able to stop water from flowing across a river so that the river could be crossed on dry land? Do you know how many? I'll give you a hint. It was the Jordan River that stopped flowing. Have you got it figured out? Well, here, let me tell you. There were three others. One of them was Joshua, as the people were entering into the promised land, and I want to come back to him in just a moment. But just for the fun of it, the other two were both Elijah and Elisha. When they got to the river, God used them to stop the river, and they crossed the dry land as well.
But let's go back to Joshua just for a moment, because in Joshua's instance it was quite a remarkable thing. The people were now able to enter into the promised land. So when they got to the side of the river, God told Joshua that the priests were to pick up the Ark of the Covenant, walk to the river that was flowing at high season, and step into the water. As they stepped into the water, the water would stop flowing. The priests did exactly as they were told. And then the priests with the Ark of the Covenant went to the center of the river and stood there while all of Israel crossed the river on dry ground into the promised land. And then God told Joshua to do something that we didn't see anywhere else. In the book of Joshua, chapter four, it says, And it came to pass when all the people had completely crossed over the Jordan, that the Lord spoke to Joshua, saying, Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from every tribe, and command them, saying, Take for yourselves twelve stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan, from the place where the priest's feet stood firm. You shall carry them over with you and leave them in the lodging place where you lodge to night. So the men went in, they took these large stones and carried them out of the river, and piled them up on the bank, and then the river started flowing again.
But God said this about those stones, and this is what I want to talk about in chapter four, verse six. This is to be a sign among you, when your children ask in time to come, saying, What do these stones mean to you? Then you shall answer them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord when it crossed over the Jordan. The waters of the Jordan were cut off, and these stones shall be a memorial to the children of Israel forever. God was telling Joshua and the people of Israel that He wanted them to remember, specifically remember what He had done at that place for them, for the rest of their lives, and for generations to come, those stones would signify that faithfulness of God.
Each of us have marker stones in our lives, those times when God has done something specific and something powerful for us and in us. We know what they are. There are the times where God has met a need where there is absolutely no way it could happen other than by Him. There are times where God has healed us and given us direction. There's times where God has revealed Himself to us in a powerful, powerful way. There's times when we've been blessed by somebody else and it just doesn't make sense how it came together so well. There's times where God has given us compassion and peace in the middle of very difficult situations. Those are all marker stones. Those are all times that define who we are and define our relationship with God. And what we do with those marker stones is very important. We don't have a pile of stones that we've built like the people of Israel did, but we do have our times with our family where we should be talking to them about who God is and what God has done for us. And as with most things that God gives us, they're never just for us. They are for us to share and tell other people about. Especially our children. We need to teach them what it means to have a faithful God working in our lives. When God has blessed you, when God has helped you find answers to problems that you didn't know the answer for, when God has touched you and healed you, when God has given you direction, when God has given you hope, when things have turned around miraculously in your lives, those are piles of memorial stones. Those are markers that are not there just for us, but are there for us to share. What are your markers today? What are the things in your life that are important that God has done for you? Do you know what they are? Can you hang on to them? Are you telling your family and your children about them? Because that's the important thing. Your children will not necessarily know about those markers in your life unless you tell them. And that's what we need to do.
I hope you all have a great day, everyone. Encourage one another, love one another, and we will talk again tomorrow. Thank you for listening today. And I invite you to join me Monday to Friday right here on Starting Right with Danny Mack.
