Your Jordan
Bible Matters 524: Your
Jordan
There is one bible lesson that frames up your
life in the flesh and tells you what is available for you when you put your
trust in God. You’ve read the lessons;
God is Real, You Must First Believe, God’s Promise and I Am God. It is clear that you are standing on the
beach, looking at the promised land on the other side of the river Jordan. Until you cross over that river Jordan, you
are stuck in the flesh, wishing and hoping to live a life giving glory to
God. God’s promise of peace on earth and
everlasting life with him in heaven, await those willing to live a life unto
righteousness, serving God and neighbor, by living his Gospel of Love. The question awaits. Will you take that first step?
You are at the point on the river Jordan
where Moses was after he led the Israelites out of Egypt. God parted the Red Sea and drowned the
Egyptian solders that were seeking to recapture the Israelites. God burnt the
ten commandments on two stones and gave them to Moses. God sent manna to eat and split the rock for
water to drink. God sent them the Ark of
the Covenant as a reminder to use the power of God in their lives to conquer
their enemies. Moses and the Israelites
are up against the river Jordan, and yet they doubted God’s power to take them
to the promised land, for forty years!
God sent witnesses to Moses and the children
of Israel, but did they listen? No. Caleb told them to go at once. God will prevail.
Numbers 13:30-33 – And Caleb stilled the
people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are
well able to overcome it. But the men
that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for
they are stronger than we. And they
brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children
of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land
that eats up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are
men of a great stature. And there we saw
the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own
sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
Your “so called” friends are telling you that
you will not be able to go up against your sins and addictions, for they are
stronger than you. The sin and addiction will eat up the inhabitants thereof. The giants, the sons of Anak, will prevail
as you are but grasshoppers. Players in
this game of the devil.
Joshua and Caleb, stripped down to nothing
and tried to convince the children of Israel that with belief, God will
prevail. They too could experience the
land of milk and honey…..nothing.
Numbers 14:6-8 – And Joshua the son of Nun,
and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent
their clothes: And they spoke unto all the company of the children of Israel,
saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good
land. If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give
it us; a land which flows with milk and honey.
I am here to tell you that God is waiting for
you to take that first step. Like Caleb
and Joshua, God was waiting.
Numbers 14:30 – Doubtless ye shall not come
into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb
the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
Joshua and Caleb made it to the promised
land. They never gave up on God.
Numbers 26:64-65 – But among these there was
not a man of them whom Moses and Aaron the priest numbered, when they numbered
the children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai. For the Lord had said of
them, They shall surely die in the wilderness. And there was not left a man of
them, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
Who or what is holding you back from crossing
the river Jordan? As long as God was
sending plagues to weaken the Egyptians or drowned the solders in the Red Sea,
Moses led the children of Israel. Moses
was afraid to take that first step, in crossing the river Jordan. What is holding you back?
Following the death of Moses, Joshua lead the
people across the river Jordan. God’s
commandment was clear. Be strong and of
good courage.
Joshua 1:1-2,18 – Now after the death of
Moses the servant of the LORD it came to pass, that the LORD spake unto Joshua
the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying,
Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou,
and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the
children of Israel. Whosoever he be that
doth rebel against thy commandment, and will not hearken unto thy words in all
that thou commandest him, he shall be put to death: only be strong and of a
good courage.
Joshua was will to put his trust in the
witnesses. God took care of Rahab that
kept the two men from Shittim safe.
Joshua 2:1,23-24 – And Joshua the son of Nun
sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly, saying, Go view the land, even
Jericho. And they went, and came into an harlot’s house, named Rahab, and
lodged there. So the two men returned,
and descended from the mountain, and passed over, and came to Joshua the son of
Nun, and told him all things that befell them:
And they said unto Joshua, Truly the LORD hath delivered into our hands
all the land; for even all the inhabitants of the country do faint because of
us.
Joshua decided to lead the children of Israel
over the river Jordan. God held back the
waters and the Ark of the Covenant and the people crossed over on dry land!
Joshua 3:1,17 – And Joshua rose early in the
morning; and they removed from Shittim, and came to Jordan, he and all the
children of Israel, and lodged there before they passed over. And the priests
that bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the
midst of Jordan, and all the Israelites passed over on dry ground, until all
the people were passed clean over Jordan.
The Lord God took care of the children of
Israel because they believed. Forty
years they looked at that river Jordan.
Nothing and no belief. God used
Joshua to command the people to cross the river Jordan.
Joshua 4:1-3,23-24 – And it came to pass,
when all the people were clean passed over Jordan, that the LORD spake unto
Joshua, saying, Take you twelve men out
of the people, out of every tribe a man,
And command ye them, saying, Take you hence out of the midst of Jordan,
out of the place where the priests’ feet stood firm, twelve stones, and ye
shall carry them over with you, and leave them in the lodging place, where ye
shall lodge this night. For the LORD
your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed
over, as the LORD your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before
us, until we were gone over: That all
the people of the earth might know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty:
that ye might fear the LORD your God for ever.
Your enemies will melt at the power of God
being used in your life. Giv God the
glory in prayer!
Joshua 5:1-2,15 – And it came to pass, when
all the kings of the Amorites, which were on the side of Jordan westward, and
all the kings of the Canaanites, which were by the sea, heard that the LORD had
dried up the waters of Jordan from before the children of Israel, until we were
passed over, that their heart melted, neither was there spirit in them any
more, because of the children of Israel.
At that time the LORD said unto Joshua, Make thee sharp knives, and circumcise
again the children of Israel the second time.
And the captain of the LORD’S host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from
off thy foot; for the place whereon thou stand is holy. And Joshua did so.
With the power of God
by your side, the devil will cringe. Use
the power of God to cross over your river Jordan and never look back. And enjoy that power by serving God and neighbor. Go live God’s gospel of Love.
To God be the glory in all you do, Amen.