There they stood, looking across a mighty, swollen, and flooded Jordan River. Beyond those swells lay the land of milk and honey, the inheritance they had been promised. It had been forty years since the twelve spies returned with an evil report and sent the Children of Israel into the wilderness of doubt and disbelief, but God had renewed His promise.
And that’s where they stood: with the promise of God on the one hand but the incredible task of claiming it on the other.
They knew God could divide the waters. He had divided them at the Red Sea just one generation prior, but would God do it today? For them? And if He did, what on earth would happen next?
As they looked at the outer bank, perhaps it crossed their minds: What about the giants? What about the stories we heard around the campfire growing up? Are we up to this?
Where was the game plan? The battle strategy? What were the next steps?
Have you ever had a promise from God? A rhema word? Or a calling in your spirit?
It’s exciting until you reach the field, and you’re left wondering, “Now what? I have a Word from the Lord, but where do I go from here?”
There is a process between the giving of the promise and possession of that promise which often involves uncharted waters. Just as God admonished Joshua and the Israelites, you “have not passed this way heretofore” (Joshua 3:4).
There is a process between the giving of the promise and possession of that promise which often involves uncharted waters.
Genessa Torsy
How I’m sure those people longed for a definitive Word from the Lord!
All they received, however, was a simple command: Cross Jordan, and “sanctify yourselves: for to morrow the Lord will do wonders among you” (Joshua 3:5).
Notice, that God has a way of giving us instruction, one step at a time. Cross Jordan.
When we come to the Lord, we are given simple instruction: Acts 2:38. “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
Cross Jordan; cross the rivers of baptism, in both water and Spirit.
Ministry is no different. God deals in simple instruction: Cross Jordan. Take a step of faith.
“But God, what do I do when I get there?”
Joshua 4:1 says, “And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over Jordan, that the Lord spake…”
Those words renewed their strength, gave them their next major step toward the promise, and instigated their battle campaign inland.
Notice, however, those further words were not given until they had “clean passed over.” Not one could be left behind. Not one could stand with his foot dangling on the old shore. There had to be a clean crossing over from one side to the other. Then, and only then, God spoke.
As we all know, when we first come to truth, we must clean pass over, leaving the old behind and embracing new life.
We are saved from sin—not in our sin. We must come out fully. We are rescued from the curse. We are freed from the shackles that have bound us. Mindsets, patterns, and habits that have warped and crippled our thinking must fall to the wayside.
It is only with complete transition that we can lay claim to the promise that God will do “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think” because it is done “according to the power that worketh in us” (Ephesians 3:20).
That old sin is tied to guilt, tied to shame, and tied to consequences that shape and mold our life; sin will thwart the very purpose of God for us if we let it. We’ve got to clean pass over into new life.
As Mark 2:22 says, “no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles.”
2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
You cannot hold onto the old and expect to fully live the new! You cannot be alive unto Christ but embrace a culture of death!
You cannot hold onto the old and expect to fully live the new!
Genessa Torsy
The callings and promises of God are no different. For many a seasoned saint, it’s time to cross clean over Jordan!
Some are called to reach their families; others to win cities. Still others yearn for foreign shores. But we all have a wilderness behind us, full of times of uncertainty and moments of failed effort.
But the promise still lies ahead!
To do the work of the Lord, we are not only called but we are called away. We are called away from our past deficiency—into His sufficiency. We are called away from rumination over past failures—into seeing with the eye of faith the mighty revival ahead. Mindsets, patterns, and habits that have stymied our ministries and locked down our faith must fall by the wayside.
In Isaiah 61:3, it is prophesied that Jesus comes “to give [us] beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.”
But we cannot have the beauty if we are holding onto the ashes.
We cannot embrace the joy if we persist in mourning what was on the other side of our Jordan.
There must be a time of crossing clean over:
- from the ashes of what we have lost, to the beauty of seeing God opening your next door ahead;
- from the mourning of past failures, to experiencing the joy of what God is doing in THIS season;
- from dwelling within the pits of the spirit of heaviness and depression, to putting on—intentionally, faithfully, daily—the garment of praise.
You cannot live in both. You cannot stand on two shores at once.
You cannot live in both. You cannot stand on two shores at once.
Genessa Torsy
As Paul said in Philippians 3:13-14, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.”
It’s time to clean cross over…and then wait. God is about to speak.
Be the first to comment