I have been constantly seeking of the Lord for direction to stay on course with His great plan for this season. Recently He spoke to me: "I will not leave you without instructions." I was impressed to go to Joshua and the Lord began to show me that 2007 was the year for many in the Kingdom of God to cross over to a promised place in Him of living fully alive in the Holy Spirit. I spoke some of it in our ministry only later to find the Lord is speaking it to many others as well. I believe each one receives it a little different so I will share what the Lord has given to me.
First of all the picture given us in Joshua of God's people crossing over the river Jordan to the promised land foreshadows where God is with the church right now. Jesus Christ is our Joshua, our commander in chief, our Lord of Hosts and He is calling us to a Holy Place in Him, where we must take our shoes off to stand there. According to Hebrew custom that is to relinquish all our own self-rights to everything. We must follow His voice, the instructions of the Spirit without question, or doubt, or hesitation as they did even though it had never been done this way before. Every thing was going to change. The manna raining down from heaven would cease. They would not be fed in quite the same manner. Now they would eat the fruit of the land. There would be great reform that would take a battle but would end in great rest and peace.
The church has been in the wilderness living far below the victorious life of richness in the Holy Spirit. We have been continuing our traditions while living in Babylon held captive by the idolatrous system of materialism, humanism and immorality. God wants to set His church free to live much higher in holiness, righteousness, mercy and justice. God is ready to complete His latter house of greater glory out of those who have surrendered to becoming living stones He can smooth, shape and cement together in love with other stones. God is creating a house made without hands that will come forth to do great works on the earth not by might or power, but by the Spirit of the Lord. This Promised Land is a life lived in rest as we live and move and have our very being in Christ. It is a life of victory over the soul led life. It is learning to live only on fresh bread from heaven and drink new wine from the Spirit. It is partaking of the rich milk and honey that comes from a Holy Spirit led life. God is saying to the church today that it is time to cross over the waters of Jordan. It is a baptism of death to the soulish realm, as you leave the place of living for God out of the power of your mind, your own will, and your sensual emotions. It is crossing over to the empowerment of a fresh new life in the spirit fully surrendered to the power and love of God by the Holy Spirit.
God is grieved today as He looks at the rejection of the Holy Spirit today. He is the last person of the Godhead to come to earth for the redemption of mankind. We as a people quickly turn to follow social comforts in religious circles, we follow soul ties, and we easily turn to eloquence, entertaining or a safe gospel environment. We have a form of godliness but continue to deny our greatest need, the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives and the love He pours into our heart for the Lord Jesus. We resist Him, we grieve Him, we quench Him, and we do not welcome His transforming power in our lives and think nothing of it. In our fear of not being respectable, acceptable, proper and religiously correct we have become dry, complacent, indifferent and think we have need of nothing. Religious man-made traditions and counterfeit substitutions of the move of God are killing us. God help us!
Crossing over was a process of a total of 10 days for the children of Israel. It was a testing period for them. The number 10 means a testing time. During this time of testing they would find the strength and courage needed as they focused in absolute faith on the commands of the Lord, with their mouth and mind, mediating day and night in it. On the third day the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant stepped into the river Jordan and God showed up with a mighty miracle to part the waters all the way back to the city of Adam. The third day is significant and speaks of God revealing Himself on earth with resurrection and miraculous power. It was harvest time as it is now in the spiritual realm and the Jordan was out of its banks which spoke of a great risk to step in and cross over. Today we see the waters of judgment rising in the earth. You might say it is out of its banks. But we follow His instructions at all cost. To live by faith is always a risk, but God always shows up to do the miraculous when He sees faith. We must pass the test of faith. The waters parting clear back to Adam was significant as it points to our inborn fallen nature. The Lord says when we step in to cross over he will part the water of all our past sins, wounds, and bad experiences clear back to our beginning so nothing will hinder us from a total victory. Wow! Jesus Christ the last Adam, the Lord from heaven, made it all possible. It took them seven days to cross over. The Lord says it is 2007 the year for His people to cross over to this land of rest. The number seven symbolizes rest as God rested on the 7th day and his work was complete. God longs to see His people come into the fullness of the Holy Spirit where they will find rest and their inheritance. This inheritance is the work that will complete the destiny of your life and it will flow into the next generation.
God gave instructions that the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant were to go ahead of the rest and step in first. The Ark of the Covenant was the glory of God; the very presence of God with them. They had never been this way before. They were used to following the cloud by day and the fire by night. They were to follow 2000 cubits behind it as to see where to go. It was a new way, a new anointing; they had not seen it done this way before. The manifested presence of God among us is to be carried and followed with carefulness, reverence, and full surrender as we cross over in this baptism on dry ground to the other side.
God's instructions were to proceed for victory with the armed men at the front, then the priests blowing the trumpets and carrying the Ark of the Covenant and behind were the rear-guard. The process of possessing had an order to follow. As we go forward the battle ready intercessors must be in the front winning the battle in the heavenlies first. Then the prophets must blow the trumpets in Zion. This is the voice of God, which decrees and sets in motion the will of God. Next the glory of God must be living in the midst of us and free to move within the midst of us, and then the rear-guard must be in place keeping the back protected from the roar of the enemy. With this in place, all the people can now move forward to possess their inheritance. Each on of us is promised a Kingdom destiny in this time on the earth but it is only found in this place of utter dependence on Holy Spirit living.
They crossed over and set up stones of memorial for what God had done for them. The memorials are for training the next generation. The greatness of God and His works must always be passed on to the next generation by the memorials of testimony so they can go upward to even higher ground with God.
The next instructions were to camp at Gilgal, which was a place of deep consecration and circumcision of the soul. They celebrated the Passover here as well. They returned here to camp many times in the process of possessing the land. We must camp often at the place of deep calling unto deep with God, where He reveals what needs cut away out of us and then we commune with Him in a fresh new way, partaking of all He did for us in his body and all He bought for us with His blood. We move from this place refreshed, reformed, and ready to conquer new territory for the Kingdom of God.
To be continued…
Scriptures for further study:
Joshua 1-5
I Peter 2:4-5
Daniel 2:44
Romans 2:28-29
Joel 2:1
I Peter 1: 7
Hebrews 10:38
Romans 12:1-3