For the Lord your God dried up the water of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, just as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea. Joshua 4:23
God’s chosen people, long captive in Egypt escaped when God parted the waters of the Red Sea. After forty years in the wilderness, Moses saw the Promised Land, but died before he could cross over into it. Joshua took over, sent in the spies, prepared to enter the land and God took over.
The crossing over the Jordan is no less significant than the parting of the Red Sea. Robert J. Morgan’s latest book The Jordan River Rules, sets forth, backed by the Book of Joshua, the rules God used for the crossing, and they are the same rules we can and should use in our lives today
REALIZE GOD MEANS FOR YOU TO MOVE FORWARD: God leads us in stages and as we move through the stages of life, some involve mourning, but they all involve morning. Each day is a new day in our lives. You are not a has-been, rather you are a will-be. God is the one who knows the way through your wilderness and into your promised land. He leads us in steps and the only way to move forward is to put your foot down.
SAY NO TO DISCOURAGEMENT AND YES TO STRENGTH: Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for God is with you wherever you go. Nothing is more agonizing than anxiety. Don’t let your fears be stronger than your faith. Don’t overestimate your problems and underestimate your God. When you succumb to discouragement, you pull down those around you.
STEP UP TO THE MOMENT: Prepare spiritually and submit to the perfect will of God. All is available to the person who is available to all there is on God.
FIND SOMEONE TO HELP ALONG THE WAY: The gift of kindness may start as a small ripple that over time can turn into a tidal wave affecting the lives of many. Our deeds echo into the future, even beyond our own span of days.
EXPECT GOD TO GUIDE YOU WHERE YOU’VE NEVER BEEN BEFORE: The future is not uncertain to God. He knows tomorrow as well as He knows yesterday, and He delights in leading us. Make the most of tomorrows sunshine or shadows.
PREPARE TODAY FOR TOMORROW’S WONDERS: Make sure your habits match your calling.
TRUST GOD TO TURN PROBLEMS INTO PATHWAYS: God can turn barriers into breakthroughs, an opening through every obstacle, a pathway through every problem. He will do far more than we can ever imagine. Trust Him to part the waters as you press forward to the future.
BUILD A MONUMENT: I could have never charted my own life’s path or understood the end from the beginning, but those who follow after me should know what Christ has done in my life. Our greatest contribution to others may come after we are dead. Don’t underestimate how the next stage of your life will influence generations yet unborn. Find a way to preserve a testimony.
ENCIRCLE OBSTACLES WITH BIBLICAL FAITH AND SHOUT THE VICTORY: If you are bearing the strain of a load too heavy, a pain too hurtful, a project too big or an obstacle too rigid, remember that you are not in charge. God is! What keeps you awake at night? That’s your Jericho. Victory is not found in pushing through your own schemes, but in cooperating with what God intends to accomplish in His own way and in His own time. Encircle your obstacles with power, with prayer, with promises, with perseverance and with praise.
When you arrive, shout the victory and give God the credit.
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SOMETIMES TRUE STORIES
Several years ago Discipleship Journal conducted a survey of its readers asking them to share temptations that caused them the greatest spiritual concern.
Here are the top 9 ranked in order of their readers’ responses.
1. Materialism
2. Pride
3. Self-centeredness
4. Laziness
5. (Tie) Anger/Bitterness
6. (Tie) Sexual lust
7. Envy
8. Gluttony
9. Lying
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Around 385,000 babies are born each day worldwide. On November 14, Analia Acevedo Castañeda was one of them. She was, however, the only one I know of to be born on an airplane.
Her mother went into premature labor an hour into their flight heading home to North Carolina from Mexico. A nurse on board helped her for more than three hours until the plane landed at the Atlanta International Airport. First responders then found the mother lying on the floor in the back of the plane and decided to deliver the baby there. When she was born, one of the flight attendants took the microphone to announce, “We have a baby girl.”
If the mother had chosen abortion, her “baby girl” would have become a “fetus” and her life would have ended in a legally protected act. If, however, her mother had been murdered and the unborn child had died, that child would have been recognized as a legal victim as well.
Whether the “baby girl” was murdered with her mother, her mother aborted her, or her mother gave birth to her, nothing whatsoever about Analia herself would have changed.
Herein lies the tragic contradiction inherent in Roe v. Wade and the abortion license it grants.
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Son: Dad, can I use the lawn mower to make some money?
Dad: Of course!
Dad later: Well did you make any money?
Son: Yes, a lot.
Dad: How?
Son: I sold it.
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QUOTES YOU CAN USE
The Lord is near—and He is willing and able to take my burdens and carry them for me. Dan Shock
As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. John F. Kennedy
Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping-stones to success. DALE CARNEGIE
It is one thing to know of God, and quite another thing to know God. Florida Marketplace Ministries
Every family has secrets until a Sunday School teacher asks a group of kids if they have any prayer requests.
Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder.
“Scars….A sign that you had been hurt. A sign that you had healed,” observed American novelist and poet, Benjamin Alire Sáenz.
If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves. THOMAS EDISON
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