Author Archives: God's Favourite House
Remember
Joshua 14:6 “A delegation from the tribe of Judah, led by Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, came to Joshua at Gilgal. Caleb said to Joshua, “Remember what the Lord said to Moses, the man of God, about you and me when we were at Kadesh-barnea.” (emphasis added)
What has God promised you? What has the man of God said God has said? One of the beautiful things about God’s Favourite House and something I am extremely grateful to God for is that we are very responsive to the prophetic. Read the rest of this entry
Delayed, Not Denied
Joshua 14:9 “So that day Moses solemnly promised me, ‘The land of Canaan on which you were just walking will be your grant of land and that of your descendants forever, because you wholeheartedly followed the Lord my God.’”
Our first lesson from Caleb is that A Promise Delayed Is Not A Promise Denied. Yesterday, we saw some of the things that cause delays, and we will pick it up from there today. Another thing that can cause a delay is disobedience.
Not Without Pain
Acts 7:56-58 “And he told them, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honour at God’s right hand!” Then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him…”
Today’s anchor scripture is about Stephen (please read Acts 6-7). Do you know that fourteen million people a year die simply because they are Christians? And your pain is that your car broke down on the road and you are so upset that you have decided to stop going to church. You say, ‘Pastor, if I am serving a God of Miracles, how come I do not have a brand-new car?’ The things we have turned this thing into. It is a big problem! If you understand what it is to follow God, you will realize that the things we complain about are non-issues. Imagine, when we get to heaven, someone like Stephen stands up to talk about what he endured for Jesus. Others talk about how they were flogged, how their lives were torn apart because of their faith in Christ.
Then someone like Paul talks about the shipwrecks he endured. When he was stoned, beaten, and left for dead. And then a Christian from our time gets up and says, ‘The other day, as I was driving, my car broke down, and I said, where is my God?’ Can you even imagine that? The things we worry about are complete non-essentials. Or someone says, ‘I waited and waited for my promotion and finally, I got the victory! My faith was strong!’ Really? But if you understand that faith does not spare you or exempt you from pain, your Christianity will be sound, solid, and grounded. Your faith in God will be rooted. It will not be about expecting ‘12345’ because you have done ‘ABCD’. Yes, you should get ‘12345’ promises of God. However, your faith should be in the Person of God NOT in the promises of God. Your faith should be in Christ, not in what Christ has said you will gain on earth.
This leads us to the second thing, Some Of God’s Promises Will Be Fulfilled In Eternity! Please read Hebrews 11:35–Hebrews 12:4 again. God said these people were too good for this earth. Yet, some of God’s promises for them were not fulfilled on earth. Our own judgment of failure or success is very different from God’s. God promised it, they believed, yet God decided they will not get it until eternity. He is God! How do we even put this in the box of religion today which says, ‘If God has said it and you claim it, you will have it’. Yes, you will definitely have it because God is not a liar. However, for some, they will have it in eternity, and we see that in scripture. When we disabuse our minds of material things and understand that our faith is in the incorruptible Word of God, we start to have peace with the outcomes of many things.
Prayer: Father, forgive me for every time I have magnified discomfort above Your faithfulness in my life. I am grateful for Your faithfulness, in Jesus Name. Amen!
The Promise
Joshua 14:10 “Now, as you can see, the Lord has kept me alive and well as he promised for all these forty-five years since Moses made this promise—even while Israel wandered in the wilderness. Today I am eighty-five years old.”
For some of us, like Caleb, we can be in the Promised Land but not be on our Promised Land. Like Caleb, perhaps as an intercessor, we have helped all the other tribes take their lands. Read the rest of this entry
This Mountain
Joshua 14:12 “So give me the hill country that the Lord promised me. You will remember that as scouts we found the descendants of Anak living there in great, walled towns. But if the Lord is with me, I will drive them out of the land, just as the Lord said.” (emphasis added)
Moses and the people of God got to the place God had promised their forefathers. And they pitched their tents at the oasis of Kadesh-barnea. So, based on God’s leading, Moses needed to send some spies to check out the land.
The Key
Psalm 84:7 “They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.” (KJV)
As you appear before God, you will grow from strength to strength constantly. And those who are waiting to see you ‘finished’ (done for, put out), will wait in vain because you are coming into another level of brilliance.
Zion
Psalm 48:1 “How great is the Lord! How much we should praise him. He lives upon Mount Zion in Jerusalem.” (LB)
Zion was a citadel that was in the centre of Jerusalem. In the Winning book, we talked about the citadel principle in detail. Zion actually means the highest point, the place of refuge. There is a compartment in Zion specifically called the Name of the Lord. Read the rest of this entry
Higher Still
Psalm 84:7 ”They go from strength to strength [increasing in victorious power]; and each of them will appear before God in Jerusalem, before God in Zion.” (AMPC & NLT)
What could be harder than taking a fortified city? It is taking a fortified city inhabited by giants and that is what it is to take Hebron, that is what it is to take the mountain of relationships. But guess what?
Take Hebron!
Joshua 14:12-13 “So give me the hill country that the Lord promised me… as scouts we found the descendants of Anak living there in great, walled towns. But if the Lord is with me, I will drive them out… So Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave Hebron to him as his portion…”
The significance of Hebron to us is friendship, community, and society. To fulfil your destiny, you need to take the mountain of relationships. However, people are complex and some even say it is easier to be friends with a computer than with human beings. Read the rest of this entry
Hebron
1 Kings 3:9 “Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong. For who by himself is able to govern this great people of yours?”
The story in Ruth 1 starts by telling us that there was a severe famine on the Mount of Provision. What a contradiction! Sometimes, you look at your life and it appears to be a contradiction.
