Day 20.

27 Dec

Explore God’s Promises

Exploring Canaan
The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders.”
3 So at the Lord’s command Moses sent them out from the Desert of Paran. All of them were leaders of the Israelites. 4 These are their names:
from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zakkur;
5 from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori;
6 from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh;
7 from the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph;
8 from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun;
9 from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu;
10 from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi;
11 from the tribe of Manasseh (a tribe of Joseph), Gaddi son of Susi;
12 from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli;
13 from the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael;
14 from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vophsi;
15 from the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Maki.
16 These are the names of the men Moses sent to explore the land. (Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the name Joshua.)
17 When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he said, “Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country. 18 See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. 19 What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? 20 How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees in it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.” (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)
21 So they went up and explored the land from the Desert of Zin as far as Rehob, toward Lebo Hamath. 22 They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, lived. (Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) 23 When they reached the Valley of Eshkol, they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs. 24 That place was called the Valley of Eshkol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut off there. 25 At the end of forty days they returned from exploring the land.
For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.
Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

Moses sends spies into the land of Canaan to explore the promised land.

This land has been promised as inheritance to Israel, but they have no idea on the size, beauty or effort required to take hold of it as their own.

I heard a story about a father who saved every penny after the first world war to get his family to the “land of opportunity” in America. The boat trip took six weeks, and the family survived on rations they brought with them. When they departed the ship the captain stopped them at the exit and said “I don’t remember seeing you at the dining hall.” The father replied, “Sir, we spent all our money on the ticket. We couldn’t afford to eat at the dining hall.” To which the captain replied, “the meals were included in the tickets!”

Many Christians do not understand the breadth and depth of the promises of God. These promises are “Yes and Amen” in Christ. We must explore the scriptures to see what truly becomes ours when we receive Christ!

A second tragedy also exists in this world - Christians who know the promises, but do not lay hold of them! The promises of God are much like the land the spies explored. They contain strongholds that must be broken and enemies to evict. The bounty is locked up waiting for you to plunder with God’s help.

Your salvation came by walking out of Egypt, but your promises will require you to fight for them one after the other and “little by little”!

Yes, when Jesus returns you will see all of those promises realised. But you actually have the choice to start fighting the spiritual “fight of faith“ in order to realise these promises on earth now.

Are those promises worth fighting for? If not, you need to go explore them again!