Shifting Gears, part two

Shifting Gears--part two

Shift from SEEN Reality to UNSEEN Reality

We live in two worlds. The natural realm and the spiritual realm exist side by side.  Our tendency is to be much more aware of the natural because it is what we see.

In 2 Corinthians 4:18, Paul tells us, "For we fix our eyes not on what is seen,  but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal."

If Joshua and the nation of Israel were going to cross the Jordan River and claim their Promised Land, they were going to have to shift from focusing on the natural realm to truly trusting the Lord, even though they could not see the spiritual realm.

There are three unseen realities that the Lord assured Joshua with, and we need to grasp each of these if we are going to continually move forward and claim new ground in our walk with Christ.

The Promises of God: The Lord gave Joshua some powerful promises in Joshua 1:1-9.  He promised Joshua, "I will give you every place where you set your foot"... "No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life"... "As I was with Moses, so I will be with you"... "I will never leave you or forsake you."  In order for these promises to be activated in Joshua's life, he was going to have to believe them and live in accordance with them.  How would he know that every place his foot tread would become property of Israel until he started walking?  How would he know that no foe would be able to stand against him until he engaged in battle?

If we are going to live victorious lives, we are going to have to live with our thinking, attitudes, and actions firmly rooted in the promises God has given us as His people... in spite of the circumstances.  The truth is, we would all live differently if we REALLY BELIEVED God's promises to us.

The Presence of God: Several times in this passage, the Lord assures Joshua that He was going to be with him.  We are given this same assurance.  The problem for us is that we can't see God.  No one has seen God.  How can we know He's really there?  A shift must take place, where we have more assurance in the unseen reality of God's presence than we do in what we see happening around us.

It's alarming to me how many people worry and complain.  For some, facebook should really be called gripebook.  It's sad how many people, who claim to know Jesus, live their lives so overwhelmed by their circumstances.  Like the disciples in the boat with Jesus during the storm, they are more sure of the waves ability to destroy them than the Lord's desire and authority to deliver them.  Here's a question we all must ask ourselves: Do I really believe God is with me?  And if so, am I living like it?

The Principles of God: In verses 7-8, God told Joshua to be careful to obey everything that had been written down in God's Law.  Joshua was told to meditate on God's principles day and not.  He was also told that this was the pathway to success in everything.

Have you ever noticed that there is a lot of stuff in the Bible that doesn't make sense?  Have you ever noticed that many of God's principles are counter-intuitive?  They seem to be the exact opposite of what our response to seen reality should be.  For instance, we are told in the Word to turn the other cheek, bless those who curse us, and freely give our hard-earned money away without expecting anything in return.  That makes no sense.  However, if we are going to live in victory, we must determine up-front that God knows what He's talking about and that we are going to trust Him and walk in obedience.

There will always be a battle between seen and unseen reality.  Every day seems to throw something at us that tempts us to react in a natural way, because deep down we're not sure God will handle it for us.  The victorious believer is one who learns to look up instead of looking down or around.  

Shifting Gears--part one

Shifting Gears

On Saturday, June 1, my family loaded up the Explorer and headed out for a week of vacation fun with all of my wife's relatives.  Yes, I was going to spend a week surrounded by my in-laws!  Our trip to Gulf Shores, Alabama was going to take about seven and a half hours, according to the GPS on my iPhone.  We left Anderson, and were making great time, until we got inside the I-285 perimeter around Atlanta.  About a mile inside the perimeter, traffic came to a sudden stop.  It was about 11:30.  Our plan was to get through Atlanta before stopping for lunch.  Suddenly, though, the four of us were stuck in the middle of five lanes of southbound traffic log-jam. As if it were going to help, I began changing lanes, hoping that this would some how spring us loose and get us moving again.  Nothing helped, though.  Evidently road workers had decided to use our vacation travel day to shut off three lanes of traffic in order to dig a two-foot wide trench on I-85, as two hours of snail-paced crawling finally came to an end.

We've all been stuck in traffic.  Also, we've all found ourselves stuck in life.  The truth is, life has a tendency to do that.  When Joshua became the leader of the People of Israel, they had been stuck for forty years.  However, God had a plan to get His people moving again.  In Joshua 1:1-9, we find three "shifts" that we need to make in order to get our lives out of the spiritual log-jam we may be in and to get moving again.

1. Shift from Looking Backward to Looking Forward.

After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, "Moses my servant is dead.  Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give them--to the Israelites.  Joshua 1:1-2

For forty years, Moses had led the Israelites.  He was the only leader they had ever known and yet he wasn't able to move them from the Wilderness to the Promised Land.  Joshua had to have thought to himself, "If Moses couldn't accomplish this, how in the world can I?"  

In order to move the people across the Jordan River, Joshua was going to have to make a shift from looking backward, and dwelling on the past, to looking forward and seizing God's plan for their future.  This was no small shift, as the past has a strong pull.

Each of us is influenced by our past.  Many are controlled by their past.  Whether it is their high expectations that were never realized, great accomplishments that they still glory in, or dismal failures that still haunt them, many people are so caught up in their yesterdays that they have no motivation to deal with today.

Every person has a past... and that past will paralyze them if they let.  At the same time, every person has a future... a future that will free them if they will focus their attention on it and begin moving in that direction.

Here's the good news for today.  God has a plan for the rest of your life, and His plan is a good plan.  It is a powerful plan that is not chained to all the mistakes you've made in your past.  Because of Jesus, our past does not have to dictate our future.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11