Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I welcome you to another week of this year and pray that it will be a week of rest and peace for you in all ways, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Now, as we begin this new week, I want to admonish you with Joshua’s words to the Israelites, which say, “How long will you wait before you begin to take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you?” (Josh 18:3NIV) Evidently, at the time Joshua said these words to the children of Israel, some part of the Promised land had been taken over by the people. In fact, records show that he had already led them to conquer thirty-one kings and their lands (Josh 12:7-24). Yet there were still very large areas of land for them to take over (Josh 13:1-5).
Unfortunately, it seemed at that time that the people were already comfortable with what they had. So, they were not making any move to take over the remaining lands and begin to enjoy them, as God expected. And this was displeasing to Joshua, who had patiently laboured for years to see that they fully came into what God had promised them. Therefore, he charged them with these words: “How long will you wait before you begin to take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you?” In other words, he was saying to them, “God has already given you this land to possess and enjoy. What, then, are you waiting for? Why are you not yet taking it over to possess and enjoy? Or are you expecting God to force you to do so?”
In like manner, there are things that God has already made available for every one of His children to possess and enjoy in Christ Jesus. And it is on each of them to find out what these things are and to embrace them for their enjoyment. God is not going to force us to take hold of His provisions for us. We are the ones that must want what He has provided enough to go for them. For instance, we know that He has already made provisions for us in Christ Jesus to walk in victory over sin, sicknesses, diseases, failure, poverty and every work of darkness. And it is now on us to go for a life of victory over these things. But if we ourselves don’t seriously want to experience them in our lives, it may take us forever before we begin to take steps of faith towards enjoying them.
Also, there are works God wants every one of His children to be doing for the advancement of His purpose here on earth. And He has already provided all that we are going to need to do these works. But if we are distracted, lazy or afraid, it may take us ages before we start doing them, that is, if we ever make any move to do them at all. This explains why there are many highly gifted children of God that are redundant in the kingdom.
In any case, the Lord is asking us right now, “How long will you wait before you start taking hold of all my blessings for you to be the persons you are supposed to be? And how long will you wait before you begin to do those good works I have appointed and gifted you to do?” Now nobody can answer these questions for any of us. Each of us must answer them for himself. But we must remember that we don’t have forever to enjoy those blessings of God that are meant for us to enjoy here on earth. What I mean is that there is not going to be a carry over of the things that are meant for us here on earth to heaven. If we fail to use what is provided for us here, when we have the opportunity to do so, then, that is our own loss. We won’t be needing any of those things in the kingdom we are being led into.
In addition, we don’t have forever to do those works God wants us to do here on earth. A time is coming when all such works must cease (John 9:4). And whatever we fail to do right here and right now is lost; it cannot be credited to our account. This is why we must wake up and begin to take advantage of God’s grace for us to do the things He wants to do and to live fully the life He has designed for us to live. And my prayer is that our hearts will be strengthened and encouraged not to waste God’s provisions for us to live excellent and meaningful lives right here on earth. Amen.
Do have a splendid week.
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