Many of us remember the story of the Moses and the Exodus as well as God's promises of the Promised Land. We grew up hearing this story, singing songs and even occasionally acting it out. We learned that because of their unbelief and disobedience, Moses and his generation were not allowed to enter the Promised Land. They wandered the desert for 40 years until this older generation died. But God was still faithful & allowed the next generation entrance. Under the leadership of Joshua, Moses's successor, the Israelites finally came upon Jericho and because of their obedience, even when it didn't make sense and they were frightened, they conquered the city and gained entrance to the Promised Land.
As I was studying this story in scripture (the inductive way), here is what I found (http://bit.ly/1s8tNJj):
As I was studying this story in scripture (the inductive way), here is what I found (http://bit.ly/1s8tNJj):
| Under Joshua, the Israelites conquered the entire country (Joshua 21). The only defeat was at Ai, where an Israelite named Achan disobeyed God's orders. In 7 years they defeated 31 kings in the land. Joshua divided the land among the 12 tribes of Israel as God directed. Joshua was a great leader but he made 2 fatal mistakes. First, he failed to completely defeat the Canaanites (especially the Philistines, Amalekites, and Midianites), and second, he failed to wipe out completely the filthy and idolatrous fertility cults of the land. Joshua's failure to cut this cancer completely out of society resulted in disastrous times for about the next 400 years of Hebrew history. |
Because the Israelites allowed the things of the past (inhabitants) and the didn't take care of the temptations around them, these decisions followed them and affected their lives for the next 400 years. Have you read the Old Testament? The Israelites were stuck in a never-ending cycle where they would serve the Lord. They would be happy & content for a while but they would get complacent and in that lax in diligence they would fall prey to the temptations and sin. They would then become addicted to those things and realize their mistakes and cry out to God to save them. And He would!
Over
and
Over
and
Over
Again and again and again ... You get the idea! Even after God gave them the Judges to help point them in the right direction, keep them on track they still followed that cycle. They looked around at the other nations and envied them begging God for what they had, so He indulged and gave them Kings. But in an effort to keep them in line with His Words, He also gave them the Prophets! Sadly, the Israelites didn't always listen and this became their ultimate downfall.
Over
and
Over
and
Over
Again and again and again ... You get the idea! Even after God gave them the Judges to help point them in the right direction, keep them on track they still followed that cycle. They looked around at the other nations and envied them begging God for what they had, so He indulged and gave them Kings. But in an effort to keep them in line with His Words, He also gave them the Prophets! Sadly, the Israelites didn't always listen and this became their ultimate downfall.
This morning as we were praying over our campus I had a revelation. We were interceding for all the people that will come through, whether they be full-time missionaries, students, guests, visitors, Christians and non-Christians. We were praying that God would be REAL to them and they would feel His Presence all throughout. One of our missionaries, Paula, shared that as she was praying this week she felt like God said that we were REALLY good at cleaning and keeping things tidy and presentable but that we needed to work on our Spiritual Cleanliness. Janet, our campus director and co-founder of YWAM San Diego/Baja, shared this story in Joshua and how the Israelites never took full possession of all that God had for them because of their lack of total obedience.
It hit me, we (myself definitely included) are JUST LIKE THE ISRAELITES!!
TO BE CONTINUED ...
*Satan really didn't want me to write this blog as I kept "accidentally" (through error of technology) deleting portions as they were written. I will be finishing this tomorrow or later this week but didn't want satan to win by not getting something out. I know God has big plans or the enemy wouldn't fight so hard!
It hit me, we (myself definitely included) are JUST LIKE THE ISRAELITES!!
TO BE CONTINUED ...
*Satan really didn't want me to write this blog as I kept "accidentally" (through error of technology) deleting portions as they were written. I will be finishing this tomorrow or later this week but didn't want satan to win by not getting something out. I know God has big plans or the enemy wouldn't fight so hard!
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog and hear about my life as a full-time missionary. It's not an easy life but it is very rewarding. If you liked this blog post, perhaps you would like to read more like them. Below are a few I think you might like:
Make sure you also check out all of the other stories through our YWAM Ministries.
Want to join us for the next quarter? Check out all of our awesome upcoming schools that you can be a part of! Head on over to our newly designed website to find out more. If you have questions, let me know!
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Make sure you also check out all of the other stories through our YWAM Ministries.
Want to join us for the next quarter? Check out all of our awesome upcoming schools that you can be a part of! Head on over to our newly designed website to find out more. If you have questions, let me know!
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