JANUARY 19 – The Land Before us

JANUARY 19 – The Land Before us

Deuteronomy 1:8 – “Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land… “

What a statement that is made here. God said here is the land, all you have to do is go in and possess it. What is there in our life that we have not gone in to possess. I do believe there are items that have been set before us that we have not possessed.

One of these is listed in Galatians 5:22 – “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, (23) Meekness, temperance:.” How many of these fruits do we possess? These are things that are healthy emotion/attitude adjustments given by the Spirit unto those that are children of God. So why do we hate instead of love, be sad instead of reveling in joy, always in turmoil instead of experiencing peace, short tempered instead of longsuffering, harsh instead of gentle, badly behave instead of good, faithless instead of faith, abrasive instead of meek, running to excess instead of temperance. Why have we not taken each of these gifts one by one and by the power of the Holy Spirit added each of the these free gifts to our life and be conformed to Christ. It has been set before us, why do we not possess these.

These personal life changes would make a difference in another area. Our witness. We interact with lost people every day and blithely go on our way without one concern about their soul and relationship with God. This is a land set before us to possess. While reading years ago, I read about a man that made a promise to God that he would witness to 10 people a day. At the end of a day, he climbed the stairs to his apartment to go to bed. He realized he had only witnessed to 9 people. Desperate to meet what he had committed himself to, he tried to think of where to go to find someone to witness to. No stores were open no cafes were open and then he thought, the train station. There will be somebody there. He hurried to the train station and people were just beginning to unload. He finally had the tenth person to witness the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. This man that heard the gospel that night was saved. A man went in to possess a soul by sharing the gospel. If he had said it is too late, he would have missed this man.

There is so much that God wants for us that we simply turn our back on. What a day to be blessed in the gifts of the Holy Spirit and to be bold in possessing the land of witnessing to others.