Lessons From Crossing the Jordan
I Believe 2017 is a year of inheriting the promises that God has given. A year of entering the promised land. In the journey we may have to encounter a lot of hurdles that stop us from receiving all that God has for us.
The Bible teaches us a few valuable lessons from the journey of the Israelites on how to deal with these obstacles on the way to the promised land. I pray that as you read this article the Holy Spirit will give you more insight into how you can overcome every obstacle and inherit your God given blessing.
There are things that we want for ourselves and then there are other things that God wants to give us. When we want things that are not in the will of God it will be a constant struggle because we are on our own. And there are other things that God wants to give us in His sovereign will but even for achieving this we find that there are many hurdles. The main difference is when we go through these hurdles He will be with us and the Victory is for sure.
One thing we see in the journey of the Israelites is that they faced one problem after another while setting out to inherit God’s promise. It was first Pharoh, then the Red Sea, then the Jordan, then Jericho, then 31 kings. So we see that they were facing one difficulty after the other. But one thing was sure they won the victory in every situation.
God says in Isaiah 43:1-2,“Now this is what the LORD says. He created you, people of Jacob; he formed you, people of Israel. He says, “Don’t be afraid, because I have saved you. I have called you by name, and you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you. When you cross rivers, you will not drown. When you walk through fire, you will not be burned, nor will the flames hurt you.” The same God of Israel is still with us and His word is still true in our life.
In Joshua 3:1-17, we read the portion where they are on the verge of crossing river Jordan. Here are some lessons I learnt from the journey of the Israelites.
1. THE NEED FOR SPIRITUAL AUTHORITY
In Joshua 3: 3,13 we read that Joshua ” gave orders to the people: “When you see the priests and Levites carrying the Ark of the Agreement with the LORD your God, leave where you are and follow it.The priests will carry the Ark of the LORD, the Master of the whole world, into the Jordan ahead of you. When they step into the water, it will stop. The river will stop flowing and will stand up in a heap.””
Here we learn that we need Spiritual Authority to always go before us. Whenever the Israelites had a problem. God always asked the Levites to go in front, carrying the ark of the Lord. Our Spiritual Authority needs to go before the Lord for us regarding the issue to give us Godly counsel. We are not supposed to use them as fortune tellers who we use at our beck and call, as substitutes instead of us seeking the Lord. But instead as our partners in prayer.
The Spiritual Authority over us has more insight and more experience and a special calling that God has given them. We must be careful to honour them at the same time we should be careful not to let them take the place of God himself in our lives.
In Verse 9 we see that they stood in the water until all the people crossed over. They are the ones who have to stand in prayer with us until we cross over the problem.
The Bible says in Proverbs 24:6 ,”So you need advice when you go to war. If you have lots of good advice, you will win.”
When we face difficulties and spiritual warfare we need a lot of good advice.Nowadays we see a lot of people talking against the men of God, criticising them and quoting some out of context. It is dangerous to do so because God says in His word in Romans 14:4 “You cannot judge another person’s servant. The master decides if the servant is doing well or not. And the Lord’s servant will do well because the Lord helps him do well.”
We should never destroy them with our tongues. When your Spiritual Authority steps into the water in prayer ahead of you. The problem will stop.
Of course you have to find a true Spiritual Authority who is a person of prayer, filled with the Spirit, who knows to bring God’s word in all fullness and who is exhibiting the right fruits of the Spirit to be able to guide you in the right path.
2. THE NEED FOR HOLINESS
Joshua 3:5 “Then Joshua told the people, “Make yourselves holy, because tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you.”
We need to decide If we need God to help us receive God’s promise or we can handle the problem on our own strength using money or influence .If we need God, we need to be free from anything that does not please Him. Sin is something that does not allow God to be with us. Whenever God wanted to do something powerful in the midst of His people. He always wanted to make them Holy. ( Exodus 19:10, Josh 7:13)
God clearly states in Joshua 7:13 that, “some of you are keeping things he commanded you to destroy. You will never defeat your enemies until you throw away those things.”
God demands complete obedience. God wants it all or nothing at all. I repeat God wants it all or nothing at all. He wants all of your heart, all of your mind and all of your soul.
Everyday we need to be cleaned of our sins. If one time cleansing is enough for a life time then why does God have to repeat it several times to the people of Israel. He says Today make yourself Holy. In the journey of life we face different kinds of temptations. Each time it is different. Sometimes we don’t even realise that we are falling into a particular sin. But when we go to the presence of God. The Holy Spirit will convict us and by God’s grace we can be cleansed through the precious blood of Jesus.
When Achan sinned. God knew exactly who sinned and what the sin was. But it took a whole day for Joshua to figure out what was wrong and also he had to bring tribe by tribe, family by family in God’s presence to zero in on the sin. The same way we must also bring before God every area of your life to set it right In God’s presence. Then like they completely destroyed the family of Achan we must also choose to deliberately destroy the cause of our sin, no matter how precious it is, so that God can be with us and ensure that we win every battle we face.
3. THE NEED FOR REMINDERS
After all the people had crossed the Jordan God made the people to do something significant that we many a times fail to do. “and said to them, “Go out into the river where the Ark of the LORD your God is. Each of you bring back one rock, one for each tribe of Israel, and carry it on your shoulder. They will be a sign among you. In the future your children will ask you, ‘What do these rocks mean?’ Tell them the water stopped flowing in the Jordan when the Ark of the Agreement with the LORD crossed the river. These rocks will always remind the Israelites of this.”” (Joshua 4:5-7 NCV)
We should never forget to remember what God has done for us. Many a times we loose faith when we face tough situations. At that time we need reminders of what God has done in our lives in the past. We should be secure with the fact that God has done it once and He will do it again. God has done it for others and He will do it for us. The greatest book of reminders is the Bible itself. So when we have difficult situations we should read more of the word of God and also journal our testimonies. The Bible is the book of Hope so in the hard times when we are crossing through the tough times. We should read more of God’s word. The Bible says that Faith comes through hearing and hearing the word of God ( Romans 10:17).
When we do these things no matter how many hurdles come our way. We can surely cross over to receive the promise that God has in store for us.
The Dead Sea is gone
Jordan is here
And Jericho is coming
But what ever be the problem
As a child of God Be Sure
Of this one thing
That He who called you is faithful and
He will never leave you until He had fulfilled what He has promised.
The greatest of His promise is not crossing to the Jordan but it is just a shadow of us crossing over to Eternal Life, to the promised land of heaven.
Stay Blessed !
Happy Crossing
Merilyn Jemimah Amirtharaj
