Our Very Own Promised Land

Finally, a book that says what I’ve been trying to put into words!  I am currently in the middle of reading Beth Moore’s book “Believing G” and I must say that the introduction/first few chapters hit home for me.  I have always struggled with the idea that everlasting life starts once we get to heaven.  That everything we do now is only to reap rewards at the very end.  But when you voice the idea that heaven can start now for those who believe in JC you get a lot of “silly naive girl” smiles.  I’m not saying that after we accept C into our hearts we are then spared of all suffering.  It’s more of the idea that as followers of C we are able to see His power on earth as it is in heaven.

I can’t help but think we continue to sell G short.  For me, I get so nervous about being disappointed I don’t want to take the chance of believing that He can truly change things.  There is all this debate about what the Father did in the New Testament versus what He does now and to be honest I think it is all a bunch of wavering faiths.  If G could do it before I have to believe that He can do it now.  Plus, we have something that the others didn’t have until the very last half of the Book…the HS!  I think I completely underestimate His power and His willingness to use that power through me.

Anyways, why am I trying to explain it in my own words….

Beth Moore wrote…

“Your personalized Promised Land is the abiding place where you get to see God keep the promise of a great harvest through your life”.

 She pulls from John 15:8 “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

 She also develops the picture of how we, like the Israelites, get miraculously delivered from bondage (Egyptians/sin) and then can get stuck in the desert without actually going into the Promised Land.  I can totally see this in the C-tian culture.  We are moved and touched by the Father who delivers us from sin and death.  We continue to grow in our knowledge of Him but put limits on where He is allowed to move.  And this is why I think there is a lot less joy than there should be.

On our way out here, we met a lot of new people.  The Father was so gracious as to send us like-minded people who were excited to see the work of the Father be done and encourage us on our venture.  My heart was so touched by their joy.  Many had stories of hardship, they were not spared the wounds of war, but their stories also had victories and they were continuous victories.  You could just see the joy in their hearts in knowing they were doing what they were supposed to be doing.  Even though I don’t know them intimately I felt encouraged to know that they had reached their promised land.  They were living life in His power here on earth and it overflowed their hearts.

That is how I want to live my life here.  There are so many obstacles and hardships but I just know that we are supposed to be here to show His love to these people somehow.

One aspect that I truly appreciated Beth Moore adding to the description of the Promised Land was pulled from Gen. 15:18-21. “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates – the land of the Kenites, Kenizzites, Kadmonites, Hittites, Perizzites, Rephaites, Amorites, Canaanites, Girgashites and Jebusites.”  She comments that “From the moment G first issued the promise of land to Abram, He described its occupants as quickly as its perimeters….Our Promised Lands are characterized by the presence of victory, not the absence of opposition.”  And that is what gives me so much encouragement.

Before moving back here we knew it was going to be rough.  There is a lot of opposition in a ton of different ways but with each opposition there is an opportunity to see the Father create a victory.  Even our journey over was flooded with victories.  If we are going with the Promised Land theme, it could be described as similar to Joshua leading the Israelites through the Jordan where G pulled back the overflowing waters that they may cross.  Josh and I saw the Father move financially, logistically, emotionally, and spiritually.  He took a normally 2 year process and turned it into 6 months.  And now that we are here I can’t help but see the giants.  Our cousins are so blinded by tradition and logistically nothing can be set long term (visas, apartment).  We don’t even have a clear vision yet!

But with these giants I am excited to see His victories.  How desperately I want my faith to be strong enough to see and ask for those victories.  Having just finished a book on pr@yer (by Richard Foster) I know the Father is teaching me to claim these victories.  I know that He is trying to show me that He is bigger than I think He is and that His love is even bigger than what I could hope for.  But I keep hearing the desert wanderer telling me “this ain’t heaven yet”.  My prayer for both myself and you is that we not listen to our fears and doubts.  That we ask the Father to move powerfully through us that we may not just produce fruit but that we produce much fruit.  We aren’t supposed to be scraggly, beat-up trees.  We are supposed to be lush trees that are so healthy and full of fruit that others see that we are His disciples.  This isn’t fake smile C-anity, this is deep roots of joy that draws others to His side because we KNOW He loves us and is working in and through us.

May we all be willing to cross our rivers of unbelief and step into our promised land.