The Daily Word of Righteousness

The Promise of His Rest, continued

Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast. (Joshua 1:3,4)

As we think about entering the rest of God we might turn to the first chapter of the Book of Joshua. There we will immediately discover four facts.

First, the leadership of Israel has changed from a shepherd to a battle commander.

Second, we are charged to enter the land of promise.

Third, we are told we have been given every place where we set our foot.

Fourth, we are informed of the boundaries of the promised land, our inheritance.

The third and fourth facts are of special importance to us. The third fact is that we have to walk, for it is the place where we walk that is our inheritance.

The fourth fact is that where we are to walk has specific limits.

Sometimes the Gospel is presented as though it were a blank check that the Lord has signed. Just fill it in and you can draw as much as you want from the Bank of Heaven.

How many know that salesmen, including God's evangelists, often oversell the product?

No, we have not been given a blank check. Where we are to walk has been specified for the Church as a whole and for you and me as an individual.

A specific destiny, a specific inheritance, a specific role in life, in the Kingdom Age, in the new heaven and earth rule of Christùall have been planned for the Church, and for you and me as individuals, from the beginning of time, just as a specific land of promise had been designated for the Israelites.

The Jews were not told they could go over to India, China, or Japan and possess land there. They were told precisely what and where their inheritance was to be.

You have to know where you are to go, and then you have to go there.

It is not enough just to walk and claim ground. It must be the ground God has assigned to you. Altogether too much ministry proceeds in the darkùthe servant of God guessing where he is supposed to go and what he is supposed to do when he gets there.

In addition, we must walk! No matter how great your projected inheritance may be, if you don't walk in Christ each day you will not be given any of it.

You have to present your body a living sacrifice so you can find out God's will for your life, and also so you can press forward each day until you claim your ground.

We were not created for the new world of righteousness, it was created for us. You remember that Christ informed the mother of James and John that to sit on His right hand and His left would be given to those for whom these places have been prepared, not to those who prepared themselves for these places but to those for whom the thrones have been prepared.

To be continued.