Healing In The Soul

 Healing in the Soul

When they had finished circumcising all the nation, they remained in their places in the camp until they were healed. Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.”

JOSHUA 5.8-9

The whole time Israel wandered in the wilderness, her men had not kept the covenant sign of circumcision. Upon entering Canaan, they were circumcised in obedience to God. God had delivered them from their old life in Egypt. Their circumcision verified that, but they still needed to heal.

Your old life has been put to death. But don’t assume that everything connected with that lifestyle will instantly disappear. Although your spirit is now filled with the life of Jesus Christ, the soul must be gradually renewed, and that takes time. The soul is personality, consisting of your mind, will, and emotions. Part of the ongoing sanctification process that the Holy Spirit does in your life is to bring healing to your damaged emotions and to renew your mind to the truth of God’s Word. The grace walk is not a lifestyle of sinless perfection, but it is a place where God can gradually bring about the healing that we may need in our feelings and beliefs.

A New World

 A New World

You have not passed this way before.

JOSHUA 3.4

This may be one of the great understatements of the Bible. God’s people were about to enter a new world, one that was so unlike anything they had ever known that they couldn’t even imagine what it would be like. So it is with the person today who moves from the wilderness of religious legalism into the land of grace. To experience the reality of who we are in Christ is totally different from mere religious commitment. To compare living a religious lifestyle and experiencing a grace walk is to compare two different dimensions of living. They are more diametrically opposed than we can comprehend until we have crossed over from one to the other.

As you move further along in your own grace walk, remember that there is no place where legalistic religion and grace can intersect. Law and grace can never coexist together. You must move out of the wilderness of legalism into Canaan. To accept grace means to renounce legalism, a system of living in which you try to make spiritual progress or gain God’s blessings based on what you do. It is a major move but one that will transform your life.

Entering Canaan

 Entering Canaan

Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel.

JOSHUA 1.2

Moses wasn’t able to lead Israel into Canaan. It took Joshua to do that. This isn’t an incidental matter. Moses is remembered primarily as the one who brought God’s Law to the people. The name “Joshua” is the Hebrew equivalent of the name “Jesus.”

When God told Joshua that Moses was dead and that he was to lead the people across the Jordan into Canaan, His instructions convey an important message for us today. We will never experience the abundant life our Father wants us to know by following religious rules. Moses, who represents the rules-keeping system, is dead to us and us to him. Our leader is Joshua (Jesus). He alone is our guide into the awesome life God has given us.

Moses is dead. Don’t try to build your lifestyle around religious rules. The grace walk is a journey with Jesus. He will lead you from a lifestyle of struggling to get to where you want to be to the place of entering in by faith in Him alone.

An Eternal Home

 An Eternal Home

The eternal God is a dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms.

DEUTERONOMY 33.27

You were created to live as an eternal being with your Father in heaven. This world is a temporary place to live. It’s a neighbourhood you won’t be in forever. Your home is in God. He is your lasting dwelling place.

A man once told me about living in a dangerous, run-down neighbourhood on the mission field. It was a harsh environment, even dangerous at times. “My home is like an oasis there,” he said. “When I go inside to my loving wife and family, I feel loved and at rest.”

That’s a picture of what it means to know God as your dwelling place. The world outside may be hostile, even threatening at times. But as you recognise that your life is in Him, you can find peace, love, and security.

You stand in a secure place with your God as your dwelling place. His everlasting arms will hold you, protect you, and hug you in every situation. Face each day with the confidence that your God holds you in His arms. Live boldly with the knowledge that you cannot be conquered by the world around you, because you belong to Him.

Holy Pleasure

 Holy Pleasure

You shall eat in the presence of the LORD your God, at the place where He chooses to establish His name, the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock, so that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always…You may spend the money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen, or sheep, or wine, or strong drink, or whatever your heart desires; and there you shall eat in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household.

DEUTERONOMY 14.23,26

In this passage God instructed His people to enjoy life to the fullest so that they might learn to fear Him. What a wonderful way for Him to teach how much He loved them! It’s difficult to read this passage and not conclude that our God takes delight in our pleasure. He isn’t a cosmic killjoy, He is the source and origin of pleasure itself.

Never allow the idea to take root in your mind that your Father is opposed to playfulness and pleasure. Satan may have corrupted those domains, but those who know the Lord need to reclaim these as rightful privileges of the children of the King.

Honour your God today by celebrating with others. Laugh, love, and learn that deep reverence toward Him comes from realising that He delights to see us at play.

Fear not

 Fear Not

He said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid.”

GENESIS 3.10

One of the immediate results of sin’s entering the world was that man became filled with fear. Fear is the painful emotion we experience when we anticipate that something dangerous is about to happen to us. It can debilitate us.

Jesus continuously told his disciples to ‘fear not.’ Throughout history, the plague of fear that began in the Garden of Eden has continually threatened the possibility of a fulfilled life for people. Only eternity will reveal the potential that was squelched by fear in people’s lives.

You don’t have to live with fear. You can rise above it for one reason: the One who has conquered fear is the One who lives in you and equips you for everything you will face in life. Almighty God is the origin of your life. He is the One who sustains, guides, and protects you.

Whatever may be threatening you in your life right now, ‘Fear not.’ He is with you. You will move through this lifetime with God on your side.

Self-Consciousness 2

 Self-Consciousness

He said, “Who told you that you were naked?”

GENESIS 3.11

When Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree in the Garden of Eden, one of the first things that happened was that they became entrapped in a faulty concept of both themselves and their God. Adam and Eve saw their nakedness and hid themselves.

When God came for His daily walk, He called out to Adam and asked, ‘Where are you?’ Adam responded by admitting that he had sinned and was afraid because he was naked. His self-consciousness drove him into hiding. He now felt unacceptable to his Creator.

God’s question to Adam is one that may serve you well to answer. ‘Who told you that you were naked?’ or to put it another way, ‘Who told you that you now aren’t acceptable to me?’ God had seen Adam naked from the moment He had created him. Adam’s sin didn’t change God’s mind toward him at all, but it changed Adam’s mind toward God.

Your sin doesn’t change how your Father feels toward you. When you feel unacceptable, run to Him and not away from Him. He has seen you at your very worst and still loves you. Refuse to be self-conscious and know that He came to deliver you from sin and into authentic friendship with Him. His love is bigger than your shame.