ARE YOU LIVING IN THE PROMISED LAND?
ARE YOU LIVING IN THE PROMISED LAND?
I will take you back to The Old Testament where we can read about the Promised Land. We can go back to Abram, later to be called Abraham. He was originally living in Ur of the Chaldeans. They left that country and headed for the land of Canaan, but stopped in Haran and settled there. The father of Abram died in Haran. The Lord had spoken to Abram and this is what He said: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1-4) Abram went and stopped in Shechem. The Lord appeared to Abram there and said that He would give this land to his descendants and Abram built an altar to the Lord there. Then Abram moved to the mountain east of Bethel. He again built an altar for the Lord. A famine started in the land and Abram took his family to Egypt. After some time he took his family out of Egypt and to a place between Bethel and Ai. Both he and his brother Lot grew in wealth and they were forced to move. Abram told Lot to choose his place first. Lot chose for himself all the plain of Jordan and journeyed east. Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan. The Lord said to Abram more than once that He had given the land to him and his descendants. He also made a covenant with Abram and changed his name to Abraham. We continue to the story of Joseph. He was sold as a slave to Egypt, but after being in prison, he was chosen to be the closest man to Pharaoh. Joseph saved his entire family when there was famine in Canaan. His entire family moved to Goshen. They multiplied and multiplied and became many. The children of Israel were finally taken as slaves under Pharaoh. Moses was saved from being killed as a baby and grew up in Egypt. He killed a man and had to flee out to the desert where he spent 40 years of his life. The Lord spoke to him one day and said that he should lead his people out of Egypt and in to the Promised Land, the land with milk and honey. After Pharaoh and his country had suffered terribly, Pharaoh allowed them to go. The Lord led His children through the Red Sea in a miraculous way. It took 40 more years for the Israelites to go through the desert and then they finally reached the Promised Land. This is a very short version of the first books of the Bible.
What God promises will always happen, even if it takes a very long time.
The Bible is full of promises concerning all of us, but most of us Christians have also gotten personal promises. If they are contradictory to the Word of God, they do not come from God. The Bible doesn’t have promises and directives for every step of our life and we might need special revelations or prophetic words. I want to remind you of some of God’s promises.
One promise that God repeated again and again in The Old Testament was that He would be with His children. Sometimes He gave certain commandments for their behavior and told them what to do in order for them to be blessed. Jesus also said to His disciples in The New Testament that He would be with them till the end of the age. (Matt.28:20) Some people think that they can do anything since God is with them. That is not so. In the case written in Matthew, He had said that they should go out to all the nations, making them disciples and baptizing in them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost.
One promise that we all have is that He will answer us when we pray. I can show you psalm 3:4, 34:6, 86:7, 118:21, Is.41:17, 65:24. I call Jeremiah 33:3 for the telephone number to the Lord. It says: Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”
Many are asking me for advice in different situations, but I always ask if they have asked the Lord first. Some have and do not feel they get a proper answer. Others are seeking advice from human beings first, people they believe can hear from the Lord. When Jesus left this world, He didn’t leave us fatherless, but gave us a Helper, The Holy Spirit. He is the third part of the Trinity. Jesus said in John 14:15-18: “If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray to the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever- the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.” I am so happy that I can ask the Holy Spirit for help anytime. I am actually dependent on Him, even when I am writing. I will sum up the promises I have written about. 1) The Lord is with us. 2) He is answering us when we cry out unto Him and we will receive when we pray according to His will. I recite John 15:7: “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” Some people think that we can manipulate God to answer our egoistic and sometimes revengeful prayers, but that is not the case. The Lord is saying in Rom.12:19 “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay. says the Lord.”
We human beings are very good in worrying. Just think of all the unnecessary time we use wondering. How will this and that work out? We wonder about clothing, money, children, work and the future. We might read Matthew 6:25-34. It says that we shouldn’t worry about these things. I recite verse 33 and 34: Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” The Lord has promised to take care of us as a Daddy. We would live so well if we lived in that promise. I have earlier written that the Bible is 365 times saying that we shouldn’t fear. That is also a promise, one for every day. I wrote from psalm 91 and 23 last time. They are full of promises
What about your personal promises and prophesies? We have different reactions when the Lord speaks to us directly or through other people. We are not supposed to swallow everything. It should be tested, but if it is according to the Word and the Spirit, we should receive it. I usually write them down or I get them with sound on the internet. I do not delete them, but go back to them and pray for a fulfillment. Thank God that quite a few can be crossed over. What was prophesied, had happened. I have met people who do not know five minutes later what God tried to convey to them.
I believe that we should live in the promises, both the biblical and the personal ones. We should thank the Lord for them, pray over them and draw them down from Heaven.
As long as we are here on earth, we can only live in the shadow of what is to come. Those of us who have received Jesus have been promised a land that is much better than the one here on earth. We are supposed to celebrate a wedding together with Jesus, the Bridegroom. He has already prepared a place for you and me, a place without any tears, pain, sickness and evil. The streets are made of gold and it is full of peace and harmony. We will experience a glory that we hardly can imagine here on earth. This is the final Promised Land.
THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS IN US. LET US LIVE IN THE PROMISES AND BE BUSY SPREADING THE KINGDOM OF GOD AROUND US UNTIL WE ARE HOME IN THE PROMISED LAND!
Mother Else