The Conclusion Of The Matter

“⁴³ So the Lord gave to Israel all the land he had sworn to give their ancestors, and they took possession of it and settled there. ⁴⁴ And the Lord gave them rest on every side, just as he had solemnly promised their ancestors. None of their enemies could stand against them, for the Lord helped them conquer all their enemies. ⁴⁵Not a single one of all the good promises the Lord had given to the family of Israel was left unfulfilled; everything he had spoken came true.”

– Joshua 21 : 43 - 45

As I read this paragraph in my bible this morning, each sentence seemed to just hit me, and thoughts started to flood my mind. Feeling like I just had to share what I was experiencing, I sent it to a few friends. Even as I did so, I knew I could not replicate the revelations I’d caught in my spirit in theirs, and I’d have to trust God for tailor-made revelations for each person, but something in those verses kept resonating with me, causing me to attempt to write this piece – and yet knowing that it’s almost impossible for me to put in words what I’m trying to get across.

Everyone around me at the moment seems to be going through some sort of transition and for a lot of us, this has involved a stepping into unfamiliar territories, finding ourselves in peculiar circumstances and having to do some things that we’ve never done before. While the process has been lengthier for some than it’s been for others, the general sense is that everyone has been going through somewhat of a process of their own for a while... much like the Israelites.

A summary of the Israelites’ story (as most will be familiar with) is that for some unknown reason, one day, God chose a man named Abram (whose name was eventually changed to Abraham), and made him a promise; one which included a gift of a vast piece of land (which incidentally belonged to some other clans at the time), to him and his offspring. Two generations later, Jacob (whose name was changed to Israel) was born and became the seed from whom the entire nation of Israel came forth.

Much time went by and at some point, the Israelites found themselves as slaves in Egypt. The promise of a land of their own must have felt like a remote dream to them at the time, but as God is faithful, He never forgot His promise and when He decided it was the right time, He brought them out of slavery with a strong hand and mighty displays of power.

Get Your Mind Right for 2011 / A Potent Approach to Trials

Happy New Year, everyone!


It feels like it's been 'centuries' since my last post and I hope it won't be 'decades' before the next one, but in the mean time, I'd like to share a recent piece with you. It's a little something I wrote for the new year edition of a magazine; Hope it blesses you.


Here goes...


------------------------------------------------//

It’s that time of year again when hope is rife and many start to make plans for the days ahead. Regardless of how the last twelve months have been, the chance to see another year is proof that God has been faithful, and as the New Year rolls around, it tends to bring with it an aura of being at the starting point of a race; one that has God’s promises as the prizes at stake.

It’s not unusual to hear specific prophecies on what God is saying at the start of the year, but even if we don’t hear any new ones, there are apparently 8810 promises of God tucked away in the Bible. What’s interesting about God’s promises though, is that He puts them within our reach, not in our hands. His design is such that we are expected to co-labour with Him to bring them to pass in our lives, and by stretching to receive His promises, our faith muscles are developed and we mature as believers. The need to co-labour is demonstrated in the story of the Israelites, who were promised a land flowing with milk and honey when they came out of slavery in Egypt. God had promised them the land, but they still had to contend for it. They couldn’t take possession without going to battle and driving out the inhabitants of the land first. This is where many of us miss the mark; we don’t understand human involvement in the plans of God and the contention we might face along the way.

I used to think that everything God said would come to pass regardless of what I did, and that with God it would always be smooth-sailing. The reality is that He never promised that we wouldn’t face adversity, so I’m not sure why I ever thought otherwise. I think the dilemma for us as human beings is in trying to comprehend how someone who is all-powerful can say that He loves you, but yet allow you to go through some very difficult situations. We generally don’t associate love with any sort of pain.