Crossing Over the Jordan...

Deuteronomy 9:1-6 NIV


Not Because of Israel’s Righteousness

"1 Hear, Israel: You are now about to cross the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities that have walls up to the sky. 2 The people are strong and tall—Anakites! You know about them and have heard it said: “Who can stand up against the Anakites?” 3 But be assured today that the LORD your God is the one who goes across ahead of you like a devouring fire. He will destroy them; he will subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them quickly, as the LORD has promised you.

4 After the LORD your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, “The LORD has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.” No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is going to drive them out before you. 5 It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the LORD your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 6 Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people."

Praise God in all of His holiness. Greetings to each of you in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The season we are in now is one filled with much expectation. If you have been in the midst of what God is doing at New Beginnings Ministries, then you can feel the push forward in the atmosphere as God's presence does what only He can.

The push forward is the crossing of the Jordan to the other side. The other side filled with the manifestation of the vision given to NBM's established Pastor's when He chose them for this mission and they answered the call.

Now that it is time to cross the Jordan, great warnings of opposition and even faced opposition has come. Just as Nehemiah faced opposition with Sanballat in building the wall, we to have had to press forward with the building while fighting against the enemy and the opposition. Each trial and challenge we have overcome has led us to this right of passage. A right not created by our own righteousness, good deeds, integrity or power but simply because, God ordained it. We must remain humbled that God strategically chose us to carry out a mission that He already had planned. Like good soldiers, we follow orders from leadership and carry them out for the purpose of victory and not selfish gain. Our God is faithful and just to carry out each and every one of His promises and that includes the passage to the promised land that flows with milk and honey; so we must be faithful and carry out our orders.

But before the milk and honey can overflow, the work must first be done. There are souls to be saved by going forward and doing just what God spoke for us to do and that is to, "...dispossess nations greater and stronger than you,..." What "nation" do we face that is greater and stronger than us? In the natural it would appear that the land God called us to is filled with prostitutes, homeless, drug addicts, drunkards and crazies. We see many different people walk up and down the streets of the area God has sent us. We have to be reminded that He strategically placed us in a land that is filled with many great giants not because of what we have done but only because He desires to overthrow the wickedness and evil that has plagued the land before our time. His desire is to rid the wickedness by overcoming the unrigthousness with righteousness and make that which is unholy, holy.

The giant for a drug addict is the spirit of addiction. The giant for the prostitute is a spirit of lust, fornication, perversion and the like. The giant for the homeless is the spirit of oppression, worthlessness and etc. Every person that is battling something is facing a spiritual giant of some kind, but just as God said..."be assured today that the LORD your God is the one who goes across ahead of you like a devouring fire. He will destroy them; he will subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them quickly, as the LORD has promised you." We are assured that the giants that will be slayed will not be by our own power, but by the power of God.

We are reminded that God has gone before us and completed the work. Our only assignment is to cross over and take possession by driving them out. Driving them out is the work of our ministry. Driving them out is to command the giants to come under the subjection of the name of Jesus. Driving them out is to provide a loving place for the people that have been freed from the giants that kept them bound. A place of truth, love, hope, healing and a New Beginning in Jesus Christ. 

God has come to remind us that as we prepare to cross over and take possession of the promised land, that we 1. Did nothing for this promise. We are nothing more then servants, saved by grace and adopted into a promised inheritance. It was not by our own righteousness but only by the faithful word of our Father. 2. Remember that God's power went before us and completed the work but we still have much work to do. Land is pointless if it doesn't yield substance to sustain life. So we must be diligent in working the land. and 3. Don't forget number 1. 

If we can keep those 3 things at the forefront of our minds once we occupy the land, we will see just how much milk and honey God has in store to overflow. God bless.