Taking the Land

I’m taking a pause in Philippians this week to share a personal testimony of God’s work in my life.

As I’ve written before, my sister and I share the responsibility of helping and caring for our dad who not long ago celebrated 92 years. We have been encouraging him for the last two years to move into an apartment in a senior community, but every time a unit has come available, he has refused.

The more time passed, the more Jenni and I thought perhaps we had missed our window. We didn’t know what to do, but we knew we couldn’t continue maintaining everything in his home long term. We have persevered and prayed much as we’ve sought to honor our dad.

To make a long story short, at the end of July, God parted the sea so to speak for us. An apartment came available, and my dad agreed to try it; all of us aligned to embark on a new season, entering a new land- where help, provision, and safety would abound.

Jenni and I celebrated over God’s miraculous work and provision for us all. We accepted the apartment and began making arrangements for the move. God continued to affirm his direction and provision as all the details for the move fell into place.

All the details except one that is- our dad changed his mind, even as we knew we had to move forward.

I think we would both agree that this is one of the hardest things we’ve ever done. There is no natural point of reference for making a life decision like this on behalf of a parent, and it filled us with all manor of fear and anxiety, confusion and doubt.

In fact, I found myself relating to the Israelites, standing on the edge of the land of promise. God had miraculously parted the sea and made a way to enter a new land, but as I looked ahead to the journey of entering the land and all that it required, I felt sick with worry and fear. I even had moments when I too was tempted to think we may have been better off where we were.

But God propelled us forward, and I carried two PICs with me and kept them before me in prayer- Isaiah 46:4 and 2 Corinthians 9:8 .

And God has proved himself faithful and gracious- providing us with everything we have needed- one moment at a time- to get daddy moved and inhabiting this new land.

You probably agree with me that we all long to live abundantly in the land of promise- the place prepared for us and given to us by our God, but these last weeks, I’ve been reminded of some basic truths related to Taking the Land. I hope they’ll be helpful to you as you approach new lands and seasons of change.

1. Strength and courage are required to make the journey!

I tend to think obeying God should be easy when actually there is nothing easy about it. Obedience to God does not come naturally to us. Obedience is a supernatural work of the the Spirit of God while our natural default is the flesh. The two are constantly battling each other. (Romans 8:1-17, Galatians 5:16-25) To inhabit the land we must pray for strength and courage just as Joshua instructed the Israelites-

2.  Prayer will be essential and continual.

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul addresses the armor needed to wage war on the enemies and schemes we encounter as we make our way along the path of obedience. In 6:18 he says we will need to be, “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.” The note in my ESV study Bible identifies this kind of prayer as the Christian’s most powerful resource. One of the PICs I have carried and applied is Philippians 4:6-

3.  Thoughts must be taken captive and made obedient.

There will be moments along the way when we will be tempted to believe a lie. Perhaps it’s that we were better off where we were. Perhaps it’s that we can’t see how it will all work out in our own way of thinking. Perhaps it’s any number of incorrect thoughts that bombard us day in and day out. It’s in these places that we have to practice 2 Corinthians 10:5-

We must choose to fill our minds with what we know to be true about God.

He is faithful . . . there is not a moment that He fails his children . . . He keeps his covenant- perfectly and eternally.

He does not abandon or forsake . . . He is working all things for the good.

He has given us everything by His Spirt and in His Word to escape the corruption of this world and sin to live fully the life He promised us and to which He called us (2 Peter 1: 3-4).

I’ll be jumping back into Philippians 3 next week. As I’m looking ahead, I’m realizing that even now, what has seemed to be a detour- getting my dad moved, has really been a marker that will find it’s place in my current study. Paul’s going to speak to us about pressing on. About forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead.

I can see it- it’s the land of promise. It’s pressing onward toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Father God, I thank you for the incredible journey! Keep me ever moving forward!