Deut. 1:8 - "'See, I have placed the land before you; go in and posses the land which the Lord swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to them and their descendants after them.'"
A lot of people spend many years of their lives striving to achieve a place that would make them more prosperous or give them more status and authority. Some people strive for places that are just not theirs to be had. The Lord always gives direction to those who seek after it. Once He places a position or place on your heart, then it is yours to claim. He says, "See..... I have placed the land before you, now go get it!" We weren't meant to waste our lives striving for something that shouldn't be ours in the 1st place. We were meant to step into our inheritance and claim that which the Lord has laid before us. I'm not saying it wont take some work to get there, but I am saying that we have the assurance that we will arrive, because God has given it to us.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Wednesday, January 30, 2013
Promise 39 from Numbers 35:34
Numbers 35:34 - "'You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell; for I the Lord am dwelling in the midst of the sons of Israel.'" -
This message can't get any clearer. Not only does God reside in the midst of His people, but He resides in their territory. This means He can shift the political structure of the land. He can place leaders and take them out. He can overcome corruption and wipe it out. He can bring prosperity to the land. He contends for the things that you contend for regarding His kingdom because He resides in you. He can break down the strongholds and gives you strength in the mean time to stand against them. He is with you, around you and in you!
This message can't get any clearer. Not only does God reside in the midst of His people, but He resides in their territory. This means He can shift the political structure of the land. He can place leaders and take them out. He can overcome corruption and wipe it out. He can bring prosperity to the land. He contends for the things that you contend for regarding His kingdom because He resides in you. He can break down the strongholds and gives you strength in the mean time to stand against them. He is with you, around you and in you!
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Promise 38 from Numbers 35:10-11
Numbers 35:10-11 - "'Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall select for yourselves cities to be your cities of refuge, that the manslayer who has killed any person unintentionally may flee there.'" -
From the gitgo God establishes a place of refuge for those who have accidently killed someone. God's passion and understanding of the hearts of those who hurt is evident from the beginning of setting up the infrastructure of the cities. If it were man's design, nothing would be done until the first case came up, then they would, out of necessity find a place of refuge for that person, "maybe". But God, in His great design and love knew what was to come and already has in place a place where those who are hurting can be received in safety and restored in their hearts. What a compassionate God we have!
From the gitgo God establishes a place of refuge for those who have accidently killed someone. God's passion and understanding of the hearts of those who hurt is evident from the beginning of setting up the infrastructure of the cities. If it were man's design, nothing would be done until the first case came up, then they would, out of necessity find a place of refuge for that person, "maybe". But God, in His great design and love knew what was to come and already has in place a place where those who are hurting can be received in safety and restored in their hearts. What a compassionate God we have!
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Promise 37 from Numbers 33:50-53
Numbers 33:50-53 - "Then the Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho, saying, 'Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'When you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their molten images and demolish all their high places; and you shall take possession of the land and live in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it.'"
After 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, the Israelites find themselves back at the border of the promised land. This time not only does God reiterate His promise to them 40 years prior, but gives more specific instruction as to what will take place; "After you cross the Jordan, you'll drive everyone away, you'll destroy all their idols and anything that has given them their identity, and then you will move in and live there." For many people trusting in God's simple promise "Go and I'll give you the land", just isn't enough. they have to see how it will play out. They need to see the strategy first, the details laid out. This is fine sometimes, but in the process of waiting for those details to be unified, time goes by or the promise passes for some, they miss out. God is trying to teach us that He is BIG enough to have all the details sorted. We don't NEED to see how it is going to play out. And actually if we do feel we need to see those details we risk usurping what God has already planned by thinking we can do it better, or we back out if we don't like the plan. God created us unique and with different personalities, some people are organizers, planners, schedulers, flow-chart people. That's great, however there is no personality type that is exempt from the desire of God for them to simply trust that He will do what He says He'll do, He'll be who He says He is, without more details than is necessary. God will give us instruction but He will also fulfil His promise without our help.
After 40 years of wandering in the wilderness, the Israelites find themselves back at the border of the promised land. This time not only does God reiterate His promise to them 40 years prior, but gives more specific instruction as to what will take place; "After you cross the Jordan, you'll drive everyone away, you'll destroy all their idols and anything that has given them their identity, and then you will move in and live there." For many people trusting in God's simple promise "Go and I'll give you the land", just isn't enough. they have to see how it will play out. They need to see the strategy first, the details laid out. This is fine sometimes, but in the process of waiting for those details to be unified, time goes by or the promise passes for some, they miss out. God is trying to teach us that He is BIG enough to have all the details sorted. We don't NEED to see how it is going to play out. And actually if we do feel we need to see those details we risk usurping what God has already planned by thinking we can do it better, or we back out if we don't like the plan. God created us unique and with different personalities, some people are organizers, planners, schedulers, flow-chart people. That's great, however there is no personality type that is exempt from the desire of God for them to simply trust that He will do what He says He'll do, He'll be who He says He is, without more details than is necessary. God will give us instruction but He will also fulfil His promise without our help.
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Promise 36 from Numbers 30:8
Numbers 30:8 - "But if on the day her husband hears of it, he forbids her, then he shall annul her vow, which she is under and the rash statement of her lips by which she has bound herself, and the Lord will forgive her."
This passage is dealing with the vows or promises that are made. In this particular verse it is talking about promises that a married woman makes. If she makes a promise but her husband doesn't agree with it, then the promise can be annulled and she is not held to the promise nor considered wrong by God. In our day and time, this rule would not fly very well with most couples. But, if you look at the divorce rate, especially in the US, something is not working very well. Most marriages can not stand for very long in our "It's all about ME society." Most marriages break up because one or the other isn't getting out of the marriage what they expected and are not willing to make sacrifices of their own desires to accommodate the desires of the other, so they split. This verse isn't as much about keeping a promise, but it is about communication and including the spouse in decisions or promises made. If both parties of a marriage would hold off on making promises that effect both of them until they talk about it and decide together, then God will bless the words and actions of those promises, if they are honouring, of course. The promise here is that God will forgive broken promises when they come in line with His desire of joint consideration within the marriage. A vow spoken to one person should not out weigh the agreement between man and wife.
This passage is dealing with the vows or promises that are made. In this particular verse it is talking about promises that a married woman makes. If she makes a promise but her husband doesn't agree with it, then the promise can be annulled and she is not held to the promise nor considered wrong by God. In our day and time, this rule would not fly very well with most couples. But, if you look at the divorce rate, especially in the US, something is not working very well. Most marriages can not stand for very long in our "It's all about ME society." Most marriages break up because one or the other isn't getting out of the marriage what they expected and are not willing to make sacrifices of their own desires to accommodate the desires of the other, so they split. This verse isn't as much about keeping a promise, but it is about communication and including the spouse in decisions or promises made. If both parties of a marriage would hold off on making promises that effect both of them until they talk about it and decide together, then God will bless the words and actions of those promises, if they are honouring, of course. The promise here is that God will forgive broken promises when they come in line with His desire of joint consideration within the marriage. A vow spoken to one person should not out weigh the agreement between man and wife.
Friday, January 4, 2013
Promise 35 from Numbers 27:18-21
Numbers 27:18-21 - "So the Lord said to Moses, 'Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him; and have him stand before Eleazer the priest and before all the congregation, and commission him in their sight. You shall put some of your authority on him, in order that all the congregation of the sons of Israel may obey Him. Moreover, he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him by the judgement of the Urim before the Lord. At his command they shall go out and at his command they shall come in, both he and the sons of Israel with him, even all the congregation.'"
It's interesting that God, Himself says of Joshua, 'in whom is the Spirit', large "S". He doesn't say Joshua is "in the Spirit" but says the "Spirit is in him." Joshua has already been set up for great things when the Spirit came upon him (Num.11:25). Joshua has all it takes to command the multitudes because of the Spirit in him. He just needs the passing of the baton celebrating from Moses to him so the congregation knows who the boss is and he is set. When we become believers in the Jesus, God puts His Spirit on us. Jesus already passed the baton to us at the cross, He already gave us authority over man to do great things. I believe one of he reasons why we don't see more of the supernatural in our lives is because we don't recognise the authority that Jesus has already given us, nor the power we have because of God's Spirit in us, if only believers would rise up and step into their identity, Jesus would be absolutely famous everywhere.
It's interesting that God, Himself says of Joshua, 'in whom is the Spirit', large "S". He doesn't say Joshua is "in the Spirit" but says the "Spirit is in him." Joshua has already been set up for great things when the Spirit came upon him (Num.11:25). Joshua has all it takes to command the multitudes because of the Spirit in him. He just needs the passing of the baton celebrating from Moses to him so the congregation knows who the boss is and he is set. When we become believers in the Jesus, God puts His Spirit on us. Jesus already passed the baton to us at the cross, He already gave us authority over man to do great things. I believe one of he reasons why we don't see more of the supernatural in our lives is because we don't recognise the authority that Jesus has already given us, nor the power we have because of God's Spirit in us, if only believers would rise up and step into their identity, Jesus would be absolutely famous everywhere.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Promise 34 from Numbers 27:6-7
Numbers 27:6-7 - "Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, 'The daughters of Zelophehad are right in their statements. You shall surely give them a hereditary possession among their father's brothers, and you shall transfer the inheritance of their father to them.'"
This passage speaks more to the character of God rather than a promise, but if you look close enough, you might catch a promise in there as well. Zelophehad's daughters approached Moses with a request that is opposite the laws of inheritance. In a very male dominated culture, all inheritance goes to a male in the family. Where it comes to families with no direct male heir the inheritance goes to a distant male in the same bloodline. Those girls stepped up and said, "This simply isn't fair, it's not our fault that we have no brother. We should be made the heirs of our father's inheritance." Even though God is the one who gave instructions on the laws and put them into place, He heard their request and said to Moses, "You know, they're right!" God is not so unpenetrable that He can not be approached with our desires. God is not all that interested in the law as much as He is interested in relationship. If the law was more important to God than relationship then the 10 commandments would have been enough and Jesus wouldn't have had to come to earth to show us the Father. But God is very interested in what is on the hearts of His people. So look what God, the loving Heavenly Father says, "You shall transfer the inheritance of their father to them!" Did you catch it? The inheritance of the Father will be transferred to not only the sons but to the daughters as well! All that the Father has is ours with His full blessings. When Jesus died on the cross, He passed on His inheritance to us. All that was in Him, He gave to us. It would be senseless that this means we receive the inheritance after we die and are in heaven. He gave it and we received at the time we were adopted into His family. This is why He says in Jn. 14 "With the authority I've given to you, you can do what I do and even more because I go to the Father." Because Jesus rose again and is still alive, the inheritance continues to grow beyond what He revealed to us in scripture and He continues to pass onto us that which is from the Kingdom. There is always MORE that He wants to fill us with. It's a limitless inheritance. So.... He not only hears us, He cares about what we care about and He pours out His unlimited inheritance into our lives. He is such a great Daddy!
This passage speaks more to the character of God rather than a promise, but if you look close enough, you might catch a promise in there as well. Zelophehad's daughters approached Moses with a request that is opposite the laws of inheritance. In a very male dominated culture, all inheritance goes to a male in the family. Where it comes to families with no direct male heir the inheritance goes to a distant male in the same bloodline. Those girls stepped up and said, "This simply isn't fair, it's not our fault that we have no brother. We should be made the heirs of our father's inheritance." Even though God is the one who gave instructions on the laws and put them into place, He heard their request and said to Moses, "You know, they're right!" God is not so unpenetrable that He can not be approached with our desires. God is not all that interested in the law as much as He is interested in relationship. If the law was more important to God than relationship then the 10 commandments would have been enough and Jesus wouldn't have had to come to earth to show us the Father. But God is very interested in what is on the hearts of His people. So look what God, the loving Heavenly Father says, "You shall transfer the inheritance of their father to them!" Did you catch it? The inheritance of the Father will be transferred to not only the sons but to the daughters as well! All that the Father has is ours with His full blessings. When Jesus died on the cross, He passed on His inheritance to us. All that was in Him, He gave to us. It would be senseless that this means we receive the inheritance after we die and are in heaven. He gave it and we received at the time we were adopted into His family. This is why He says in Jn. 14 "With the authority I've given to you, you can do what I do and even more because I go to the Father." Because Jesus rose again and is still alive, the inheritance continues to grow beyond what He revealed to us in scripture and He continues to pass onto us that which is from the Kingdom. There is always MORE that He wants to fill us with. It's a limitless inheritance. So.... He not only hears us, He cares about what we care about and He pours out His unlimited inheritance into our lives. He is such a great Daddy!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)