Clean, clear and capture!
Numbers 33:50”Then the LORD spoke to Moses ….51 "Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, 'When you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan,
52 then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their figured stones, and destroy all their molten images and demolish all their high places;
53 and you shall take possession of the land and live in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it.”
Today, people want cushy, stress-free, hassle-free and serene life and they plan out elaborately for that. Well, you book the best seats in the flight, now what happens if an infant and the family take a seat next to you? Your flight journey would turn out to be hell despite all your planning; likewise, we need to be ready for sudden calamities in our life. People try to duck problems and struggles in their life; however, trials and tribulations are part and parcel of our life. Get that straight!
While I was meditating this sermon, the carom board game came to my memory, especially the way they arrange all the coins together in the middle, with the red in the middle. The player now focusses on giving a fierce blow and scatter the coins , at the same time, he aims to sink his coin and score points. Yes, even in our daily life, we got to strike, scatter the enemies fiercely and win. Don’t settle for divorce, escape or closure, stand up to have a head-on collision with the devil and win. You are too wonderful to settle for failure, are you there? Don’t you know you are the child of the Lion of Judah?
So, I thought, if I get the School ‘permission’ with that I can be cool, if I get the best teachers I can relax, not at all, everyday some new ‘challenges’ crop up and I have to be equipped to face them. The Lord very clearly spoke to Moses to tell the people,” drive out the inhabitants of the land before you, destroy all their molten images, demolish all their high places and then take possession. Phew! This is real tough! Yes, God didn’t mince words, he made it very clear what they got to do – do hard work and possess. So what makes you think, life is going to be hunky- dory? If you want to do things God’s way, then roll up your sleeves to do some hard work, the secular people would give bribe and get a driving license or permit but you as a child of God, got to go for driving classes, stand in the queue fill out forms, do the normal testing and get the driving license; when you do so, your blessings would be everlasting. No short-cuts, anybody listening?
Marriage is going to be tough during the initial days, new place, new people, new culture…it’s going to take a lot of patience and endurance to cross the hurdles. Posting pictures of marriage is what you see on the top layer level but what the person is facing none will know, but gear up to face the challenges and never give up. When you join a new job, new country….it is going to be the same, prepare your mind for it. Same way, 365 days are not going to be cool, some day you may not have time to even breathe, projects, dead lines, work pressure are going to drive you up the wall, that’s when you have to show your ‘stamina’! Cheer up friend, face the challenge, the God you serve expects great things from you!
Well, Coming back to the scripture that we are meditating today, let me again repeat the key points that God expects from His people:
• Drive out inhabitants
• Destroy idol
• Demolish
• Bring down high places
a) DRIVE OUT THE INHABITANTS: Listen to me, it’s not going to be easy to chase away somebody who has already got his address and his name plate fixed. You cannot possess something without a fight! The present building where we run our Abide School was earlier occupied by another school, the owner of that school did not pay the rent for one year, so the building owner decided to chase him and give the building to us. Well, it was not easy, he resisted for nearly three months, we waited patiently with prayers. Since he was unable to pay the rent for one whole year, he left all the furniture behind as payment and moved away, eventually the place fully furnished with tables and chairs was handed over to us, we paid rent for the building but enjoyed the other facilities too. This is good news but there were statues in the backyard which we came in the night and threw it away.
Sometimes people expect to have perfect partners for marriage, with hard prayer and fasting make your marriage work.
b) DEMOLISH ALL THEIR HIGH PLACES: God did not say it is going to be small and easy, He said demolish the HIGH places. Apostle Paul said:
2 Corinthians 10:”For though we live in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh. 4 The weapons of our warfare are not the weapons of the world. Instead, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We tear down arguments and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God; and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.…
God told Jeremiah:
Jeremiah 1:10
See, I have appointed you today over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and plant."
Now read the following verses carefully:
Judges 6:
25 Now on the same night the LORD said to him, "Take your father's bull and a second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal which belongs to your father, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it;
26 and build an altar to the LORD your God on the top of this stronghold in an orderly manner, and take a second bull and offer a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah which you shall cut down."
27 Then Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the LORD had spoken to him; and because he was too afraid of his father's household and the men of the city to do it by day, he did it by night.
Just before the Lord could speak to Gideon ‘that’ night, he had a breath-taking vision of the angel of the Lord, so he built an altar and called it “ The LORD is Peace.” However, God had in mind for Gideon to build another altar for him, so he came with instructions to Gideon to take his father's bull and a second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal which belongs to his father, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it.” Further God said, build an altar on top of this stronghold, in a proper way and use the wood of Asherah for the burnt offering. In doing that, God wanted Gideon to reveal how despicable the idols were and also glorify God in doing so, Gideon obeyed. Friend, before making war with the enemies, we need to make peace with God like Gideon.
‘C) “I HAVE GIVEN THE LAND TO YOU TO POSSESS IT.”
God did not say I will give you but He said “ I have given the land”, people with slave mentality cannot become owners. Strive hard, work, toil and obey God to live a life of abundance. When Bro. Augustine Jebakumar, wanted to conduct a prayer meeting, a school close by came forward to give the premises but it was very dirty and not maintained well. He and his team did a great job of cleaning the premises and conducting the meetings in very orderly manner and it was also handed over to the owner very properly. Impressed by his work, the owner came forward to donate that place for his ministry, but Bro Augustine Jebakumar said,” my vision is for a bigger place.” That should be the confidence with which you should conduct your life, you need to know the capability , ability and might of the Lord you serve, He is ALMIGHTY!
Be Conquerors!
