“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:9
Joshua stood on the edge of the Land of Promise facing the giants, fortified cities, and great armies that stood between him the promises of God. Here was a huge opportunity but great challenges. Really, an impossible situation, and I’m sure he had fear. If he didn’t have fear, then why did God show up and command him to “Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified.” The job God had given him was much too great for him and the people of Israel. Jesus constantly had to exhort his disciples not to be afraid. Why were they always fearful? Were they weak? I don’t think so. These were seasoned men in life who had faced lots of things. No, they faced fear because Jesus put them in impossible situations that were outside their control because He wanted to teach them to trust in him.
I spoke with a young man tonight at church who had always been able to have good jobs and make good money. Recently, he was out of work for about a year, and despite all his education, skills and effort, he could not find a job and lost his house and both his cars. The same God that showed up with Joshua, the same Jesus that spoke to the disciples in the tempest on Galilee, “Do not be afraid, I am with you.” This young man learned trust through the things that He suffered. God put him in an impossible situation to learn to trust Him.
In 1 Corinthians 16:8-9 Paul made a declaration, “But I will tarry in Ephesus until Pentecost. For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.” In the midst of some of God’s greatest opportunities there are the greatest challenges and sometime opposition. Paul faced great opposition in Ephesus where one of the greatest revivals in early church history took place, so that “all those in Asia, heard the word of the Lord” and “the word of God grew mightily and prevailed.” It prevailed over the worship of Diana, idolatry and witchcraft that bound a city and a people group.
We face grave and challenging times that are going to try many of us. We may face what seems like insurmountable situations. The giants of opposition may seem too great and the storms of life may be swirling around us. Just as with Joshua and the disciples, God wants to show up and say, “Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.” The place of greatest challenge is the place of greatest opportunity, where God can show His power and fulfill His promises.
May you see the greatness of God in your situation today and know that He is with you. He does not take you where He cannot deliver you, and may He use you for His glory.
Andy Clark
www.andyclarksdevotionals.blogspot.com, www.worldhorizonsusa.org
Monday, May 17, 2010
Monday, May 10, 2010
Provision for the Promise
After I had written my devotional on “Receiving the Promise” and before I sent it out I received a note sent out by Rachel Tainsh, WH International Prayer Coordinator, with some Scriptures God had given her to use in prayer for the Global Council. These Scriptures dovetailed with and confirmed what the Lord had given me.
The first one was Deuteronomy 11:10-14 “For the land which you go to possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot, as a vegetable garden; 11 but the land which you cross over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of heaven, a land for which the Lord your God cares; the eyes of the Lord your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the very end of the year. And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil.
I shared last week that the challenges of entering into the promises seem oftentimes overwhelming and impossible. God intentionally makes His promises too great for us because He wants to fulfill the promises as we trust and obey Him. To receive the promise we must maintain faith that He who is faithful will fulfill the promise. It is only out of that position of faith that we can be led by the Sprit to walk out in obedience today what God wants us to do in order to receive the promise. In the above portion from Deuteronomy God gives us a glimpse of His provision for the promise.
In verse ten, God said that the land of promise is not going to be like Egypt where “you sowed your seed and watered it by foot, as a vegetable garden.” In Egypt they were limited as to how much they could grow because it had to be watered by hand. It took a lot of work with minimal results. But God said that in the land of promise He will provide “water from the rain of heaven.” This takes the limitations off of us. We are no longer bound by our ability to water what we have planted. In fact, we can plant as much land as we can possess. God says in verse fourteen, “I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil.” The early rains were for planting, and the latter rain was for harvest. I believe we are entering the time of the latter rain of harvest. Our job is to plant as much seed as we can, for God has promised to provide the rain that will bring in the harvest.
I believe our response to this awesome promise of provision is in the second scripture Rachel gave, which is Philippians 3:13-14, “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” We cannot continue to do things as we have in the past. God by His Spirit wants to move us past the limitations of our past into His limitless provision. We must reach forward and press into the promises that God has given us in faith that God will provide. “He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.”
1 Thessalonians 5:24
Andy Clark
www.andyclarksdevotionals.blogspot.com
The first one was Deuteronomy 11:10-14 “For the land which you go to possess is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot, as a vegetable garden; 11 but the land which you cross over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of heaven, a land for which the Lord your God cares; the eyes of the Lord your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the very end of the year. And it shall be that if you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil.
I shared last week that the challenges of entering into the promises seem oftentimes overwhelming and impossible. God intentionally makes His promises too great for us because He wants to fulfill the promises as we trust and obey Him. To receive the promise we must maintain faith that He who is faithful will fulfill the promise. It is only out of that position of faith that we can be led by the Sprit to walk out in obedience today what God wants us to do in order to receive the promise. In the above portion from Deuteronomy God gives us a glimpse of His provision for the promise.
In verse ten, God said that the land of promise is not going to be like Egypt where “you sowed your seed and watered it by foot, as a vegetable garden.” In Egypt they were limited as to how much they could grow because it had to be watered by hand. It took a lot of work with minimal results. But God said that in the land of promise He will provide “water from the rain of heaven.” This takes the limitations off of us. We are no longer bound by our ability to water what we have planted. In fact, we can plant as much land as we can possess. God says in verse fourteen, “I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil.” The early rains were for planting, and the latter rain was for harvest. I believe we are entering the time of the latter rain of harvest. Our job is to plant as much seed as we can, for God has promised to provide the rain that will bring in the harvest.
I believe our response to this awesome promise of provision is in the second scripture Rachel gave, which is Philippians 3:13-14, “Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” We cannot continue to do things as we have in the past. God by His Spirit wants to move us past the limitations of our past into His limitless provision. We must reach forward and press into the promises that God has given us in faith that God will provide. “He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.”
1 Thessalonians 5:24
Andy Clark
www.andyclarksdevotionals.blogspot.com
Monday, May 3, 2010
Receiving the Promise
In Genesis 26:3-5 God reaffirms to Isaac his covenant with Abraham, “Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws."
Over six hundred years later Israel stands on the bank of the Jordan River preparing to receive the promise God had given Abraham. For forty years they had walked under God’s provision in the wilderness, but now was the time to move from provision into promise. They faced great challenges of fortified cities, giants and great armies with chariots. Forty years earlier their fathers had stood on the banks of this very Jordan. But because of a bad report of ten spies, they retreated from the promise back into the comfort of provision.
Oftentimes in our lives we fail to move from provision into God’s promises for us. As I mentioned last week, we often let the promises that God gave us die in us because of time and circumstances. The challenges of entering into the promises seem often times overwhelming and impossible. God intentionally makes His promises too great for us because He wants to fulfill the promises as we trust and obey him. Notice God’s word to Isaac, “I will be with you, I will give you all these lands, I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham, and I will make your descendants multiply.” To receive the promise, we must maintain faith that He who is faithful will fulfill the promise. Because it is only out of that position of faith that we can be led by the Spirit to walk out in obedience today what God wants us to do in order to receive the promise.
God told Isaac, “I will give your descendents all these lands --- because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge.” Abraham was not some great preacher or evangelist. He was a herdsman who most of his life led a nomadic life like many in his day. But when God asked him to do something, He immediately did it whether it was leaving his home and country, or being asked to sacrifice his son Isaac. In the midst of all Abraham’s wandering, he never forgot his charge, what God had charged him to do, his destiny. In all the places he traveled, all the challenges he faced and things he did, he never lost sight of the faithfulness of God and the promises God had given him.
As Joshua stood on the banks of the Jordan facing the giants of Israel’s past, the Lord appeared to him and said to Joshua, “Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. --- Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you. --- Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:3,6,9
“Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:” Heb. 10:35-36
“For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.” I Corinthians 1:20
Andy Clark
www.andysdevotionals.blogspot.com
Over six hundred years later Israel stands on the bank of the Jordan River preparing to receive the promise God had given Abraham. For forty years they had walked under God’s provision in the wilderness, but now was the time to move from provision into promise. They faced great challenges of fortified cities, giants and great armies with chariots. Forty years earlier their fathers had stood on the banks of this very Jordan. But because of a bad report of ten spies, they retreated from the promise back into the comfort of provision.
Oftentimes in our lives we fail to move from provision into God’s promises for us. As I mentioned last week, we often let the promises that God gave us die in us because of time and circumstances. The challenges of entering into the promises seem often times overwhelming and impossible. God intentionally makes His promises too great for us because He wants to fulfill the promises as we trust and obey him. Notice God’s word to Isaac, “I will be with you, I will give you all these lands, I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham, and I will make your descendants multiply.” To receive the promise, we must maintain faith that He who is faithful will fulfill the promise. Because it is only out of that position of faith that we can be led by the Spirit to walk out in obedience today what God wants us to do in order to receive the promise.
God told Isaac, “I will give your descendents all these lands --- because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge.” Abraham was not some great preacher or evangelist. He was a herdsman who most of his life led a nomadic life like many in his day. But when God asked him to do something, He immediately did it whether it was leaving his home and country, or being asked to sacrifice his son Isaac. In the midst of all Abraham’s wandering, he never forgot his charge, what God had charged him to do, his destiny. In all the places he traveled, all the challenges he faced and things he did, he never lost sight of the faithfulness of God and the promises God had given him.
As Joshua stood on the banks of the Jordan facing the giants of Israel’s past, the Lord appeared to him and said to Joshua, “Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. --- Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you. --- Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." Joshua 1:3,6,9
“Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:” Heb. 10:35-36
“For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.” I Corinthians 1:20
Andy Clark
www.andysdevotionals.blogspot.com
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