14 November 2023 - Preparing to enter the promise

Joshua 3:1(NLV) Joshua got up early in the morning. He and all the people of Israel left Shittim and came to the Jordan. And they stayed there before they crossed.

The Jordan river is a place of transition. A place of turning the dead to life, old seasons to new, and giving fresh purpose!

Crossing the Jordan is a turning point on the way to freedom. The waters of the Jordan represent freedom from oppression, breakthrough, and deliverance.

Deuteronomy 30:19-20(NLT) Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the LORD your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the LORD, you will live long in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

The Jordan river represents an opportunity we all have before us.

If you want to go places you’ve never been before – you have to think in ways you’ve never thought before.

“Most people spend more time planning their summer vacation than planning their lives” – Unknown

Joshua 5:9(EXB) Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have ·removed the shame of ·your slavery in Egypt.” So that place was named Gilgal , which it is still named today.

Joshua 21:43-45(EXB) So the LORD gave ·the people all the land he had promised their ancestors. The people took the land and lived there. The LORD gave them ·peace on all sides, as he had ·promised their ancestors. None of their enemies ·defeated them; the LORD handed all their enemies ·over to them (into their hands]. He kept every promise he had made to the Israelites; each one came true.

As the Lord wanted all His Old Testament people to cross the Jordan and possess the land He had promised them, so He wants His present-day people to ‘cross the Jordan’ - to possess the land of blessing He has given us. He doesn’t want us just barely out of Egypt, or wandering in the wilderness, or living on the fringes of the land, the promise.

So this is what God is really saying to us: ‘You cross over into who you really are. The other side of the river is what I want you to do, who I want you to be, what I have called you to be. You have come from a very bad place, where your identity was really messed up. You have been told you are slaves. I want you to cross into a new land a new identity. Everything that I have prepared for you, everything that I have made you to be, if you cross over, it will all be yours.’