Tag: promises

WELCOME TO FERUARY 2017

While the world complains about recession and depression, the Almighty will fulfil His counsel in your life. As you yield yourself to His word/promises/plan, He will make you like a tree planted by the waters; everything shall happen to you in its season.

Look away from the troubles; make the Almighty God your focus and His word, your guide – as lamp to your feet and light to your path in life.

Instead of wantonly pursuing His blessings and works, yield yourself to Him as servant of His purpose; seek only for His glory and praise in your life; and it shall be to you according to His word.

Settle into this new month with the knowing that “… no word from God will ever fail.” Luk 1:38

Happy new month to you and all yours. Peace be to you all round.

Yours in His service,

Isaac Boluwatise

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HOW TO CROSS SIGNIFICANT HURDLES INTO YOUR PROMISE 4

Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm … in the midst of the Jordan; …, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan. Josh. 3:17

 

So Jesus stood still …. Luke 18:40

Our emphasis has been on how you can cross over the hurdles before you.  The spiritually sensitive will admit that there is an ongoing significant work that God wants to accomplish on everyone, with none left behind. There is a Jericho ahead of you. He wants to get everyone there for His next operation. The world knows about you, but you haven’t seen anything yet. Where God is taking you is a place where through you He will create more awareness of Himself. A place where He will publish the victory of Christ vividly by what He is set to do in your life. He would not want to see anyone left behind in this corporate plan.

It has been pointed out that the key to crossing over life’s hurdles is in seeing the move of Christ or the direction of God’s word and presence. So, drawing from the typology of the Ark of covenant which prefigured Christ, it is important to be mindful of what ministers carry. The priest bearing the Ark provided the direction for the people to follow. In the text, it is clear that the priests bearing the ark set out before Joshua and his people, while the they crossed over opposite Jericho. In the New Testament, the Ark of the Covenant himself moves and around because of the people; whenever they see him, they have their needs met to move on to their next phase in life.

Significant for this administration of the word is that the priests who bore the ark stood firm until all the people had crossed completely just as the Reality Himself stood still to ensure that the disadvantaged was not left behind. CHRIST IS SET OUT CLEARLY BEFORE THE PEOPLE. He is the word and the presence of God. Every time we preach Him, what we are doing is bring Him, the creative, living, and the manifest word into people’s lives.

It is dangerous and wasteful to practise form or religion. 2 Tim. 3:1-5 portrayed what will characterise the last days. It shall be perilous times when there will be people having a form of godliness while denying the power thereof. The ministry of the word is not a form or ritual; neither the hearing of the word. Every attentive and careful hearing of the word should lead to seeing the operations of God and moving in response to the revelation and the prophetic instruction of the word (Phil. 4:9) so as to cross over to the next camp; victory; and possessions ahead.

HE ENSURES THAT EVERYONE CROSSES OVER INTO THE NEXT PHASE. As it was with them at Jordan, so it must be with us today. To cross cannot be by might nor by power, it must be by the operation of the Lord. The next phase is not necessarily according to human preference. For the Israelites, it was to cross over Jordan; For the multitude around Jesus, it was for their needs to be met in diverse ways. They could see him; they all followed him. They did because they knew that in following him they will have their needs met. For Bartimeus, it was to receive his sight.

EVERYONE MAY NOT BE SET TO CROSS OVER. The challenge is not the lack of desire to cross over, it is the inability to see. 2 Cor. 4:4; Matt. 13:14-15; the operation of satan – 2 Cor. 4:4; also known as ignorance – Luk. 18:35ff. Bartimeus represented others who are not set to cross, but will be glad to cross. FOR SUCH PEOPLE, THE ARK STANDS STILL. The Ark stands firm for everybody to cross over opposite Jericho. For them in Joshua days, the Ark of the Covenant stood firm, Josh. 3:17; For them during the life of Jesus on earth, He stood still – Luk. 18:40; for no one should be left behind. Is there anyone who suspects that there is a move going on but could not plug into it? Is there anyone who is not sure of what the spirit of the Lord is doing? The Lord is set to push you to the place of fragrance. 2 Cor. 2:14-17. He stands still for your sake, for He seeks to lead you in the triumph of Christ and to diffuse through you the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.

I CHALLENGE YOU TO ENSURE YOU DO NOT LET HIM PASS YOU BY: by clarifying what you are hearing; asking for the Lord’s help; resisting every force or element that seeks to quieten you; intensifying your desire to see as you cannot afford to be left behind as everyone crosses over to Jericho. God has sent this word to ensure that you will cross over to the other side.

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HOW TO CROSS SIGNIFICANT HURDLES INTO YOUR PROMISE 2

And Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.” Then Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, “Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over before the people.” So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people. Josh 3:5-6

To cross every significant hurdles into the promise like the crossing of Jordan will require the process of change: an admission of the current state; a foresight of what should be; and the embrace of the promise. Crossing the Jordan requires preparation and obedience to instruction

Crossing the hurdles requires personal consecration (separation from – habits, attitudes, cultures, and dedication to) for tomorrow, the wonders that God will do. A great social and spiritual misnomer today is the bid to transit into the future you are not holistically changed for. Change is spiritual, mental and material. Your life today will not adjust into the reality of the promise until you have the word of God for it. Remember always to identify where you are and juxtapose it with where you should be; Die to the reality of what is while longing for what should be; Awake within you to what should be and experience God raising you up to the new day of what should be, becoming what now is.

They crossed by following the lead of God’s word and presence and not miracles. The desire for miracles is good, but the understanding of God’s way is much better. God’s way is revealed by God’s word and when God speaks, it points you to the future. Faith however brings the promise into now. Until faith comes, it remains a hope which is always in the future. Their faith related with the significance of the ark of testimony and followed it.

Simple obedience births outstanding miracles. Jn 2:4. Note that there was no agitation in the new generation as it was with the old. They were only following instructions. They crossed Jordan in principle. They did not only have the direction; they were positioned to know what steps to take. Their act of faith required that there be space between you and the ark. It is mindful, not just of the destination, but of every steps.

Walking with God helps one to know His ways and this is superior to His works. God has given the word; we are to act on the word. The Joshua generation is an obedient generation who give attention to the word. Miracles will not accomplish what obedience should. God wants us to birth miracles by cooperation with Him. When we walk in His ways we shall see His works. In obedience, we shall see that the living God is among us. As we do what He has told us to do, we shall see a result that signifies the cutting off of the past and a leeway into the future. A proof that things greater than these shall be.

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HOW TO CROSS SIGNIFICANT HURDLES INTO YOUR PROMISE

And Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.” Then Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, “Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over before the people.” So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people. Josh 3:5-6

We all have promises that we go after, and we do if we press on to know the Lord. Hos 6:2; 1 Cor. 8.2. the more we press, the more we discover the promises/plans He has for us. Pursuit of God can be seen as the pursuit of His promises for His word is the same as He. The more the pursuit, the more the materialisation of the blessings in spiritual places in your material realm. God wants this to be. The more you have his seed for the earth, the more you will enjoy the rain of His grace.

The way this ongoing experience happens is in your response to the promises discovered. The response is usually a change of mind-set and an improvement in your walk. Rom 12:2.

The climate changes in from time to time and so we must recognise the demand on us per time. We are not the coming out generation, but the going in generation. The generation that takes over the land, promises that have been pending for long. To enter into these promises, there is the necessity of crossing the hurdles that those before were unable to cross. The typology of the experience of Israel according to 1 Cor. 10:1ff and Rom 15:4 is a great lesson for us.

Jordan was a significant hurdle in the way of these people. You will agree that this is not in any way an enemy coming against them. This was just naturally there from the past (in the order of natural order from your history into the future or matters general to everyone) and they must be crossed if they will ever get deeply into the promise. Everyone would in one way or the other have such hurdles. The good news is that the grace of God however is so abundant that there will be a way through them. Robert Frost made an interesting statement. He said, the best way out is always through. God amazingly took them through this predicament as He would do with everyone, no matter the predicament. 1 Cor. 10:13 affirms that with (in association with) the situation, God makes a way of escape.

Before considering the practicality of the crossing of the hurdle, it is good to remember that there was a crossing of another before now – the red sea. Looking at the differences and the distinctive of the two crossings respectively will also help us.

When they were to cross the red sea, they were full of murmurings and complaints. They were in a situation that overwhelmed or had power over them. It was necessary for Moses to calm them down and give them special encouragement (Ex 14:13-14) not to fear; but to stand still; so as to see what the Lord will do. The interest of God for them was that they will see the Egyptians no more forever. Their agitation was rooted in not being assured of that. Obviously, there was no response from them to the plan of God to take them all the way. Moses only calmed them down as faith is not built in a crisis situation.

The crossing of the red sea was all between Moses and God. God had settled the matter and Moses could believe that. God told him to instruct them to go forward while he (Moses) would carry out the work of faith by stretching the rod over the sea. This looks stupid just like “fill the water pots with water”; “go your way, your son is healed”; “go to the pool of Siloam and wash” etc. Miracles happens consequent to the obedience/agreement of faith.

They crossed the sea because the miracle had taken place, and that because Moses responded in faith to God. To cross the Jordan will be totally different from this. The Joshua generation were a people of the word. They relate with promises and instructions to see the will of God done in their lives.

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