8th February, 2007

NICK HODGSON

Late one night recently, The Lord rebuked me for a case of spiritual pride.

God does miraculous things in our lives - rescues us from bondage. But that is not all that he wants to do in us and through us: He then wishes for us to walk into freedom; to claim our spiritual and even worldly promised land(s).

REACHING THE FINISH LINE: How close are you to entering your 'promised land'? PICTURE: Lemon_Drop (www.sxc.com)   What needs to die in you so that you can enter your 'promised land'? And so maybe we can even finally see the 'promised land' on a corporate and global scale?"

We often speak of how the Jewish nation was miraculously rescued out of bondage to the Egyptians, and then we can read the frustrating history of how they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years; before finally entering their Promised Land.

And I must confess that there have been times when I have scoffed and even joked about the length of time that it took the “chosen ones” to get to the point of spiritual maturity and righteousness, to be permitted to walk in and claim their destiny.

Despite the wonderful promises that had been made to the Jewish nation as they fled Egypt, there were many points in time when the Israelites moaned and groaned about the journey they were being offered, and even wished that they could return to their previous state of abuse and captivity.

Then the Lord reminded me that I was now 43 years old, and yet I am a member of a nation that has not yet claimed their promised land. And I am the member of a congregation that has the benefits of a multigenerational culture - old and young - and yet how close are we to entering into our promised land? It seems that we will be wandering in the wilderness for an even longer period than the Jews – we’re not breaking any world records in our race towards the “Prize”.

I’m not talking about the hope that when we die we will go to heaven to sit at the feet of Jesus here: I’m talking about the Great Commission. That we are to reach all the nations and then he will come! Who will come? Jesus has promised that He will return to once and for all claim this entire planet as His domain, and His alone.

Why didn’t the Jews get to their destination sooner - because somewhere along their travels they missed the lesson, and failed to make the shift in their thinking, faith and belief? God was angry, and because they had failed to reach the point of a spiritual death and rebirth, they were sentenced to an earthly death. Only two of the original escapees would see the Promised Land - it seems the only two who had been able to make the quantum shift in their faith walk.

I pray that we are not a similar generation, and that more generations have to pass and die until one future generation finally gets it! Maybe if we can get our heart’s focus right then it is only the things IN US that need die for us to claim our inheritance; instead of US needing to die to make way for new opportunities.

What needs to die in you so that you can enter your "promised land"? And so maybe we can even finally see the "promised land" on a corporate and global scale?

The morning after my rebuke experience, I went for a jog. This is not that unusual. What was unusual was that this was the third straight morning that I had jogged - thank God for long weekends. But the third morning was not as easy as I had hoped. My legs felt heavy and tight from some stored lactic acid from the previous two mornings. Hey, I am 43 and us old guys don’t recover how we did once upon a time (“The Older I Get The Better I Was”). Usually when I feel like this when running, I take the path of last resistance...and walk.

But the Lord spoke to me again, and said “are you willing to die to your fears to finish this run?” (the fear of pain, the fear of hurt), so I kept running and it kept feeling uncomfortable and I wanted to stop. And He said “are you willing to die to your discomfort to finish this run?” So I kept running. And my legs started to feel a bit weak: Then He said “are you willing to die to your weaknesses to finish this run?” And I kept going. And I made it to the end of my run. In spite of the internal voices saying that walking was good for me, and that I shouldn’t push myself too hard, and that maybe it was Satan telling me to keep running for a joke and to hurt me, and the memories that started to flood my mind of all the other times I have stumbled in my attempts to persist and resist temptation in so many areas of my life.

I expected that I was going to experience this great spiritual rush, a sense of satisfaction, but then God had one more thing to say as I walked back up my driveway: “Are you willing to die to your strengths?”

There are times I wish I didn’t have a strong will, and a healthy self-esteem, because there are a lot of things that I can do in this world - without God - seemingly. And I see that tendency so much in our culture - “We’ve got things together, why do we need a God?” Just like the Jews wandering around a desert thinking they were in control. But the real breakthrough awaits those who recognise that this is a deceptive state of thinking - we can’t regain control when we are out of control, and we are not in control when we think we are in control.

But if we can see the things that God has promised, and we can see that they are good (even if they are scary, unknown, big and daunting), and we can remember that God is in control, then and only then can we truly enjoy all His benefits. And if we can maintain this state of consciousness while we walk out the steps lain out before us, maybe then He will open the gates for our great victory celebration.

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