Thursday, February 6, 2014

Are you in the wilderness or in the promised land?


Thursday’s Awakening
Topic: Are you in a wilderness? Are you pursuing your dreams?

Some of us have been living in the wilderness so long that we do not want to leave. Instead we talk about others that are doing well, instead of possessing our promise. We all have dreams and aspirations that we have talked ourselves out of pursuing. Some of us, Jesus has told us to go and possess it, and we have refused.
                                                                                  
 
 
 

The children of Israel were in the wilderness and the Lord told them they had been there long enough and it was time for them to go and posses the land that he had given them. When the children of Israel went to check out the land they became fearful and discouraged. They said the people are greater, and taller. The city was beautiful will tall buildings and they didn’t think they were good enough to acquire that land. They even said the Lord hated them (Deut1:6-27).

We often think that the people in the bible are very different from us but we are the same. How many times has the Lord showed himself mighty in our lives? Yet when we face an obstacle that seems bigger than ourselves we back down or become fearful, and never pursue what Jesus told us to possess.

The children of Israel upset God. The Lord was going to go before them and fight for them. All they had to do was go. This upset the Lord because he fought for them in Egypt, he parted the red sea so they would escape. The Lord was their compass guiding them with a cloud by day and fire by night. They lived in a wilderness and never wanted for anything. That is significant because a wilderness is an uncultivated, uninhabited, and inhospitable region. Nothing grows naturally in a wilderness. A wilderness is wild, barren and empty. There were 600,000 men not to mention women and children that left Egypt. The Lord had multiplied them greatly in an uncultivated land and provided their every need.  They had been living in this dry place for so long that they would rather live there than go and possess what God had for them.

It sounds crazy but some of us are in dead end jobs and we refuse to step out on faith and pursue what Jesus has given us. Some of us are unemployed and refuse to pursue that idea that Jesus gave us. Some of us are spiritually dead and refuse to make Jesus the head of our lives after all he has done for us and through us. Some of us enjoy the wilderness because it is familiar and we don’t have to grow. We enjoy complaining about the wilderness but don’t want to make the first step to cross the Jordan (Deut 1:27).

 
The children of Israel upset the Lord by being disobedient and the Lord cut that generation off from ever possessing the land (Deut 1:34-35). Don’t be cut off from what the Lord has for you. Repent for doubting his ability to lead you and guide you out of your wilderness. Don’t leave your wilderness without Jesus. Hear from the Lord. After the children of Israel sinned against God by speaking against him and refusing to possess the land, the Lord was not with them and they went and fought anyway. The Lord caused them to be defeated (Deut 1:41-44).

When Jesus tells us to go possess something that means to seize, inherit, or to take ownership over it. When we seize something, we quickly take hold of it. When we seize something we take official or legal possession of it. When Jesus says go and possess it, he has given us legal ownership over it. Do not consider yourself when doing so, only consider Jesus. There is nothing too hard for him and when we doubt him we are sinning against him. We begin to worship whatever we are afraid of by placing it higher than God. If Jesus said the job is yours do not consider your qualifications consider Jesus ability to give you the job. If Jesus gave you the vision to start your business and he said begin, trust that he will provide. He cannot provide if we are too afraid to possess and take ownership over what he has given us.  

Let today be the last season of your wilderness journey. If Jesus says go…go and possess that which he has for you. He will not give you all the details but if you follow him he will guide you with the cloud by day and fire by night.

God bless you and your family!

Pray

Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth,
as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those
who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
forever and ever.
Amen

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