Cohen got my early rising gene. Our day began at approximately 4a, when he woke up electrified by a dream that a dragon was eating all of his cheerios. I wish you could have seen his little face as he told me the whole sordid tale…it was a mixture of terror and indignation with the weight of the expression all in his eyebrows which were arched in sheer passion. I assured him that there were no cheerio eating dragons in the house and then got up and poured him a bowl just to be sure.
What a way to start the day, right? I am thankful he’s entertaining on mornings when he’s raring to go and I would love a little more shut eye.
It is still snowing and for those of you who live outside of these snow storm’s reach, I am praying God will help me to still like you. 🙂 I attempted to get out of the house yesterday to go and do some work on my own house, but when I got there I realized I had nowhere to park my car (due to massive snow piled up right in front of my driveway by the snow plows numerous trips up and down the street). I couldn’t even park on the street because it was basically one lane (again due to the mounds of snow) so I just looked wistfully at my house and sadly drove back to my parents’, knowing full well it would be awhile before I got out again.
One thing is sure… the snow is affording me some good reading time I don’t always get when I am out and about.
This morning in between disciplining and redirecting the three little boys, I read the book of Joshua and the Lord began to speak to my heart something I wanted to share with you.
But, naturally, I have to back up a little first to give you some context. You don’t mind, do you?
Moses was one of the most reluctant leaders of the Bible (literally back tracking and making excuses until God wanted to take him out) but he turned out to be a very bold man in the end. I suppose that’s what following God will do for you…transform weakness into strength. If its been awhile since you read Exodus, I encourage you to sit down with a warm beverage on these cold days and read it straight through so you can really appreciate Moses’ transition from weak-kneed whiner to bold friend of God.
God promised Moses that the Israelites would inherit a land flowing with milk and honey and that He would “utterly” drive out all of the people of the land ahead of them. Scouts were sent to the land and charged to bring back a report. The report brought back to the people was largely one that “made their hearts melt like water”. The scouts could only see that the people were as big as giants and they became full of fear. Caleb and Joshua urged the people to believe God and because of that, they were the only ones of the whole group who got to enter the land which God had promised them. Moses got to see it far off just before he died, but for forty years the Isrealites wandered in the wilderness until all who had not believed God had died.
After the death of Moses, God chose Joshua to lead His people and about a million times in the book of Joshua God tells him “be strong and courageous”. Okay a million might be a stretch, but literally almost every single time it is recorded that God spoke to Joshua he begins with that command. It doesn’t take long before that Word gets down into the spirit of Joshua and we hear him instructing the Israelites in just the same way.
So Joshua leads the Isrealites into the land and sure enough, the Lord makes good on His promises and drives out the nations before them. If you are in a battle be it emotional, physical, spiritual…make Joshua a point of reference. Every battle the Lord fought for them is recorded and it will strengthen your heart to read how all of the creative ways the Lord fought for His people.
I love the conclusion that Joshua makes near the end of the book (21:43-45):
“And the Lord gave to Israel all the land which He had sworn to give their fathers, and they possessed it and dwelt in it. The Lord gave them rest round about, just as He had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies withstood them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hands. There failed no part of any good thing which the Lord had promised to the house of Israel; all came to pass.”
Imagine that… God making good on His own word. You might want to highlight that in your Bible so the next time the enemy of your soul tries to make you doubt God, you can throw that at him… It makes me think of a verse we’d all do well to cling to (Numbers 23:19):
“God is not a man that He should tell or act a lie, neither the son of man that He should feel repentence of compunction [for what He has promised]. Has He said and shall He not do it? Or has He spoken and shall He not make it good?”
You have to love those rhetorical questions.
The Lord made good on what He promised. He said it and He did it just as He said He would. He followed through completely on His own word.
So it struck me as interesting when Joshua spoke to 7 of the 12 tribes who had yet to stake out their land and asked this, “How long will you be slack to go in and possess the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you?”
Hmmm…
A few weeks ago a dear friend of mine, Sarah, was home from IHOP, where she and her husband serve. She was turning 30 and her sweet husband got her a plane ticket to Ohio and set up a brunch with a group of her friends.
I felt torn… I thought I felt torn because though I love Sarah and couldn’t wait to see her for the first time in almost a year I also had some anxiety about seeing other people I hadn’t seen since my baby shower for Cohen. I wrestled with it for a few days and ultimately on the morning of the brunch I asked God.
“Should I go?”
“Yes.”
So I got dressed and took my semi-insecure self to Springfield, singing praise music on the whole 45 minute ride to keep my nerves in check… or so I thought.
The brunch was beautiful, Sarah more so. Four months pregnant with her third child, she was absolutely radiant. The whole time I was thinking how glad I was that I had come. I reconnected with some old friends, held babies (I was the only one who had not just had a baby or was pregnant in a crowd of 20 women), and enjoyed the Lord together with them.
As I was about to leave, Sarah asked if there could be at time of prayer for me. Never turn down prayer, right? So I sat back down and she annointed my head with oil and laid hands on me and prayed. She prayed and a few old friends prayed and a few ladies I had just met prayed and my whole body was enveloped in chills. Things were spoken that are too precious for me to even recount, though I am treasuring them in my heart.
I wasn’t battling going that Saturday morning because of insecurity… that’s just what the enemy wanted me to think. I was battling because he was trying to keep me from the Word of the Lord and those beautiful prayers. The praise music on the way in? It wasn’t for my nerves… it was my battle song.
The Lord spoke promises to me and at least one of them I have already seen come to pass.
And the rest of them? Well, the Lord is not a man or even the son of a man that He should be dishonest… He has already made good on those promises just like the Israelites had been given that land from the moment the Lord spoke the word to Moses.
The question isn’t will God give us His precious promises; the question is will we possess them? Will we lay hold of them? Will we hold Him to His word? Or will He go ahead of us and make a way only to find us dilly dallying around, being “slack” in taking possession of what He has already given?
That’s the question the Lord asked me this morning. Kate, will you possess the promises I have given you?
Two Sundays ago, Pastor taught out of Matthew 15 “The Canaanite Woman”. I will get around to writing about some of the insights God gave him because it rubbed my heart raw…so good. One of the main points he made was about the persistence of the Canaanite woman. At the end of service, I bet half the congregation was at the alter seeking the Lord, coming boldly as the writer of Hebrews said to do.
Persistence...you know what Jesus said to that woman? “O woman, great is your faith. Be it done to you as you wish.”
Persistence…when the tribe of Joseph laid hold of the land God had given them (the were one of the 4 tribes who had already staked out their land, the 5th tribe was Levi who had no inheritance in the land because the Lord was their inheritance (these were the preists)) they found that their portion was too small for the number of people in their tribe. So they went to Joshua and told him about their dilemma.
Listen to Joshua’s reponse…
“If you are a great people, get up to the forest and clear ground for yourselves in the land of the Perizzites and Rephaim, since the Ephraim hill country is too narrow for you.”
They again object and point to the Canaanites and all of that they have (iron chariots, etc).
Joshua doesn’t change his tune,
“You are a great and numerous people and have great power; you shall not only have one lot. But the hill country shall be yours; though it is a forest, you shall clear and possess it to its farthest borders; for you will drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots and are strong.”
The Lord had given them what He promised and yet they didn’t just come into the promise and have no work to put their hand to. The land needed cleared. The had to work to possess the land to its farthest borders. They had to drive out the strong and well equipped enemy. (The tribe of Dan had a similar situation Joshua 19:47)
Possessing the promises of God isn’t a cake walk. The Lord has freely given…”I have given you a land for which you did not labor and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat from vineyards and olive yards you did not plant” (Joshua 24:13)… and yet laying hold of those precious promises will require more of us than just existing.
I asked the Lord about this.
“Lord, what does it take to possess the promises you have made?”
And this is what I heard from Him:
–Faith… faith is the ability to believe God to the point of obedience. That’s why His mantra to Joshua was “do not fear!” because fear and disbelief will get you to disobey God more quickly than anything else.
–Steady Gaze… don’t look to the right or to the left… if God has said it, He will accomplish it! You cannot look at circumstances… even if the land God has promised you is full of giants, don’t regard them…regard God.
–Be Persistent… read Matthew 15…that Canaanite woman had the right attitude
–Cultivate… the tribe of Joseph had to clear a forest to make room for themselves. The Lord gave them the land, but it needed worked. God may have said something to you that He has already accomplished, but it doesn’t mean you won’t need to roll up your sleeves and work the soil of His gift.
–Drive Out.. the Canaanites needed driven out…what mighty thing is trying to occupy the promise that God has given you? Is it fear? Is it disbelief? pride? Whatever the enemy is, you will need to drive it out. The Lord had wiped out the giants and lots of “ites” (Hittites, Jebusites, etc) but He left the Canaanites for Jospeph’s tribes to drive out.
The good news is this… “His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust” (2 Peter 1:3-4)
His divine power (think: the Spirit) has given us everything we need to lay hold of those magnificent promises and in so doing to literally participate in the divine nature of God and escape the corruption of the world.
So friends, lay hold of and possess the precious promises of God.
Thank you! Just what I needed to hear today.
I find it funny that my MOMS bible study today was about Deborah and her faith that the promises of God were given and He will make good on them… and now I read you blog about God’s promises to Joshua. I think God may be trying to say something to me about trusting Him more.
Thanks for starting to write again… I kinda missed your tidbits on life.
I didn’t know Sarah was having another baby! Yay! She is wonderful!
Kate,
What a good and inspiring word!
“The question isn’t will God give us His precious promises; the question is will we possess them? Will we lay hold of them? Will we hold Him to His word? Or will He go ahead of us and make a way only to find us dilly dallying around, being “slack” in taking possession of what He has already given?”
Honestly, I’ve never really thought about it like that before.
Thank you…thank you.
– Kat
This is so YUMMY! Thanks Kate.
Someday I am taking a Sunday off and coming to your church.
I’ve missed you and your wise words of truth! Thank you for sharing what God has been recently revealing to you. I loved the part about your praise songs on the way were your battle song. What a gracious act of love they offered by praying over you.
This is exactly what I needed to hear today. Thanks for posting it! Your blogs have been missed 🙂
I found your site through a friend that follows you and I’m so glad I did! Thank you for posting this, I really needed to read that. It was such an encouragement to remember how God brought everything to pass and He loves to bless those who love Him.
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