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Originally: How To Add a Pinterest (Pin it) Button to your Blog/Website http://cs-doon.blogspot.com/#ixzz1ryXJUBEC
God's commandment was clear. Moses would not be leading the
Israelites into their Promised Land. He would not be allowed to take
them over the Jordan into the land God had promised long ago to Abraham
and his sons. Courageously he spoke these words to the enormous family
whom God had placed in his care,
"The LORD your God Himself will go over before you. He will
destroy these nations before you, so that you shall dispossess them . . .
And the LORD will give them over to you, and you shall do to them
according to the whole commandment that I have commanded you. Be strong
and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD
your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you. " (Deuteronomy 31: 3, 5, 6)
Though these men would go into the land with the purpose of removing all the nations that lived there, it would not be by their own strength that it would accomplished.
It would be by the very hand of the Lord that these god-worshiping
people would be run out or destroyed. This would happen so that His
people could possess the land. The men of Israel were the agents who
would present to these ungodly nations their eviction notice, but it
would be by God's almighty strength that Israel would take possession of
the land. Both God and the Israelites had their part to do.
While this may seem like an unimportant Old Testament story that is
completely irrelevant to the Church Age believer, I challenge you to
take a closer look at these verses, and few more, with me. All of God's
word is relevant to us, and this passage is no exception.
We, as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, have ungodly "nations"
that need to be evicted, even removed with force, from our hearts. We,
too, have a journey to make across the Jordan into the abundant life
(our promised land). It is only then that we will experience the life
that awaits us. It is the life that lies just on the other side of
cleaning out those places in our hearts that are not in line with the
"whole commandment" of God.
Whatever your sins are that remain in your heart, sins that are
active in your life today, it will be the Spirit within who will drive
them out, but you must be willing to serve them their eviction notice.
Without your compliance to serve notice to your sins, the Spirit is
hand-cuffed in removing them from your life. If Israel had not crossed
the Jordan, had they stayed on the other side, God's mighty arm would
have no reason to go in and annihilate the idol-worshiping Canaanites of
the land. But Israel did cross over, and through
them, God gained the victory. To the degree that Israel pressed in to
remove all evil from the land, to that same degree, the land was
purified. Are you beginning to make the connection?
God will give us victory over our "enemies" (our sins) when we
surrender ourselves to His commandments that tell us of the necessity of
removing them from our lives. If we align ourselves with His purposes,
and take a step forward by telling our sins and idols that it is "time
for them to go," and truly desire it and mean it, then the Lord Himself
by the Spirit within us, will accomplish this. This is how He purifies
our hearts.
Consider these two verses as you contemplate your own need to
dispossess and destroy the evil "nations" in your own heart. They
reiterate both your need to "cross the Jordan" to a purified heart, as
well as how God has designed it to happen within you.
"Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded." (James 4:8, written to believers, not the unsaved)
"As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of
your former ignorance, but as He who call you is holy, you also be holy
in all your conduct. since it is written 'You shall be holy, for I am
holy' . . . having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth . .
." (I Peter 1: 14-16, 22b)
"Not by (your) might, nor by (your) power, but by MY SPIRIT, says the LORD of hosts." (Zechariah 4:10)
Are you ready to tell your heart-inhabiting sins that it is time to
go? Remember, to the same degree that you press in to God to evict your
sins from your life, to that same degree you will be purified. No
eviction notices served . . . no purification in your heart. Serve your
sins notice that it is time for them to go from your heart and life,
and obeying God and His Word . . . Victory over your sin!
