Saturday, March 2, 2013

The Walk of Faith (Josh. 3:14-17)



8/18/2009 8:57 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                        Focus:  The walk of faith

Bible Reading & Meditation                        Reference:  Joshua 3:14-17

            Message of the verses:  “14 ¶  So when the people set out from their tents to cross the Jordan with the priests carrying the ark of the covenant before the people, 15  and when those who carried the ark came into the Jordan, and the feet of the priests carrying the ark were dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks all the days of harvest), 16  the waters which were flowing down from above stood and rose up in one heap, a great distance away at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those which were flowing down toward the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. So the people crossed opposite Jericho. 17  And the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan while all Israel crossed on dry ground, until all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan.”
            This morning in my NT reading I was reading Matthew chapters 13 & 14, and in chapter fourteen I read about Jesus walking on water and this story talks about Peter asking Jesus to allow him to come to Jesus by walking on the water.  Peter was the only one of Jesus’ disciples who had the faith to get his feet wet by walking on the water and he did walk on the water until he looked at the size of the waves and the storm that was surrounding him as he took his eyes off of Jesus and began to sink.  Peter began to pray to Jesus and he saved him from going under and was later chastised by the Lord for his lack of faith.
            In today’s Scripture reading for my SD the priests who were carrying the Ark of the Covenant had to get their feet wet also by stepping into raging waters of the Jordan Rive at flood stage.  The Jordan River usually runs about 100 feet across, however at flood stage it can be a mile wide and that is what it was at when the priests had to jump into it carrying the Ark.  This also took faith to do, faith in the Lord who had told Joshua what He wanted the priest to do, and they stepped in by faith, faith in the Word of God, and in the God of the Word.
            Warren Wiersbe writes, “The crossing of the Red Sea pictures the believer being delivered from the bondage of sin, and the crossing of the Jordan River pictures the believer claiming the inheritance in Jesus Christ.  Joshua is a type of Jesus Christ our Conqueror who leads us from day to day into the inheritance He has planned for us (1 Cor. 2:9-10).”  “9 However, as it is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"— 10 but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.”  (NIV) 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I think of the spiritual inheritance that I have in Jesus Christ I think of Ephesians and the first three chapters of this wonder letter that Paul penned.  In order to claim this inheritance I first of all have to know what the inheritance is and then I have to accept it by faith and act upon it just as the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant into the flood ravaged Jordan River did in order to claim their inheritance.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

  1. Give myself to the Lord for worship and service today.
  2. Continue to learn contentment.
  3. Trust the Lord to guide my path today.
  4. Trust the Holy Spirit to search my heart of unconfessed sin in order for me to confess them to the Lord.
  5. Put on the spiritual armor in order to walk in victory today:  The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and take up the sword of the Spirit.

8/18/2009 9:46 AM
           

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