Leap Devotional – Day 3

Crosspointlive   -   June 18, 2026

LEAP  •  A 5-DAY DEVOTIONAL  •  DAY 3

Purpose requires a leap

KEY VERSE

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

— Joshua 1:9 (ESV)

 

SETTING THE STAGE

The first two days of this devotional laid a foundation. You are God’s workmanship! Made on purpose, with intention. You were saved not just for heaven someday, but for something right now. God has good works prepared for you to walk in.

Today the question shifts. Foundation is only useful if you build on it.

The move from knowing God has a purpose for your life to actually stepping into it requires something most people are reluctant to give: movement before certainty. That’s what a leap is. You don’t leap to somewhere you can already stand. You leap because the distance requires it.

 

ALSO READ

Joshua 1:1–9  •  James 2:14–26  •  Proverbs 3:5–6

 

Break it Down

Read Joshua 1:1–9 before you go further. The context matters.

Moses is dead. Joshua has been serving under him for decades. Watching, assisting, learning. Now the man he built his whole life around is gone, and God shows up with a direct command: get up and cross the Jordan. Take the people into the land I promised.

God doesn’t give Joshua a detailed plan. He doesn’t hand him a map or a strategy or a guarantee that everything will go smoothly. What he gives him is a command, a promise, and a repeated instruction that tells you something about what Joshua was actually feeling: be strong and courageous. Don’t be frightened. Don’t be dismayed.

You don’t tell someone not to be afraid unless they’re afraid.

Joshua was standing at the edge of the biggest assignment of his life with no Moses, no blueprint, and a nation of people counting on him. And God’s response to that wasn’t to remove the uncertainty. It was to remind Joshua of the one thing that doesn’t change regardless of the circumstances: that He with him wherever he goes.

That’s the pattern throughout Scripture. Abraham left his homeland without knowing where he was going (Hebrews 11:8). Moses went back to Egypt with a staff and a speech impediment. Esther walked into the king’s presence uninvited, knowing it could cost her life. Peter got out of the boat. None of them had the full picture. None of them waited for certainty before they moved.

Pastor Paul named this directly on Sunday: most people don’t miss God’s purpose because God is hiding it. They miss it because they’re waiting for certainty before they move. Purpose is usually discovered through obedience, not observation. You don’t find it by thinking harder about it. You find it by taking the next step that’s in front of you.

James leans in even more. In James 2, he makes the case that faith without action is dead. Not weak, dead. The same word Paul used in Ephesians 2 for what we were before God saved us. James isn’t talking about earning salvation. He’s talking about the nature of genuine faith: real belief produces movement. A faith that never changes how you live or what you do isn’t saving faith: it’s just agreement with facts.

So here’s the honest question this day is asking: what are you waiting for?

Maybe you’re waiting to feel more ready. Maybe you’re waiting for someone to confirm what you already sense God is putting in front of you. Maybe you’ve been sitting with a prompting for months (or years) and you keep finding reasons why now isn’t quite the right time.

The leap doesn’t require that you have it all figured out. It requires that you trust the one who does and take the next step anyway

 

THREE QUESTIONS WORTH ANSWERING

Pastor Paul gave us a practical framework Sunday for beginning to identify where purpose emerges. Don’t treat these as personality test questions. Sit with them seriously.

1.  What has God gifted you to do?

Not what you wish you were good at, what you actually are. Gifts show up in what comes naturally, what others consistently affirm in you, and what produces results even when you’re not trying that hard. They’re not always dramatic. Sometimes they’re practical: organizing, building, teaching, encouraging, problem-solving. If you’re not sure, ask two or three people who know you well. They’ll tell you.

2.  What breaks your heart?

What do you see in the world (in your neighborhood, your workplace, your family) that you can’t look away from? Injustice, loneliness, kids without fathers, people without hope, communities without resources. The things that break your heart are often a signal of where God is calling you to engage. This isn’t about having a dramatic calling. Sometimes it’s simply noticing what you keep noticing.

3.  Where is God opening doors?

Purpose rarely appears as a fully-lit path. More often it’s a door that’s cracked open. Maybe an opportunity, a need, an invitation that feels just slightly beyond your comfort zone. Where are those showing up in your life right now? An open door doesn’t always feel like an obvious yes. Sometimes it just feels like the next thing. Pay attention to those.

Where those three things intersect is usually where purpose begins to come into focus.

 

PUT IT INTO PRACTICE

Try to complete two of these today:

  • Write out answers to the three questions above: gifts, what breaks your heart, open doors. Don’t do this in your head. Put it on paper. When you see all three written out, look for where they overlap. Write that down too.
  • Identify the one next step you’ve been avoiding. Not the whole plan, just the next step. Write it down and put a date next to it. A decision without a deadline is just a good idea.
  • Ask two people who know you well: “What do you think I’m good at that I might not fully see in myself?” Don’t argue with their answers. Just listen and write them down.
  • Pray specifically, not generally. Don’t just ask God to “reveal your purpose.” Ask him about the specific door that’s in front of you right now. Ask him for the courage to walk through it. Then pay attention to what he does with that prayer this week.

 

PRAYER

Use this or pray in your own words. Either way, don’t skip it.

Father God, thank you for giving me gifts and purpose. I confess that I often wait for the details before leaping. But I see in your Word that you don’t usually give the whole plan up front. You give the next step and ask for trust. So today, Lord,  I’m asking for the courage to move. Lord, help me trust that you’ll be with me wherever this goes, just as you said you would be. Amen.