Living In The Promises Of Jesus

We are a blessed people who have received many promises from Jesus. It is exciting to be a Christian, a follower of Jesus, seeing his plans unfold around us, to see evidence of his love every day. One can't help but be excited as we live these promises and experience his presence through them. But's the point, isn't it? We can't just know the promises or just receive them; we have to live them.

Sometimes we are like a child who has received a nicely decorated birthday present but who refuses to open it. The child may have the gift, it is in his possession, he has received it, but it is useless if he doesn't unwrap it, discover its wonder, experience it, and use it. So many Christians know the promises of Jesus but never operate within those promises. They worship Jesus for them, are thankful for them but never live them.

In Joshua 1:3 Yahweh was explaining the Promised Land to his people who were about to possess it:

"Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses." 

That's a wonderful promise but it meant that the Israelite's had to do something. It meant they actually had to walk. It meant they had to cross the Jordan river and possess the promise. It meant they had to fight battles, face enemies and put a little work into it, but still, every place that the sole of their foot would  tread would be theirs.

Today it seems we want it on a silver platter. We not only want the promise but we want the Lord to do the "walking" for us. We want to possess the "land" but we don't want to walk, let alone fight the battles. He has already won the victory for us, we just have to go through the motions as if it depended on us. Many times Yahweh has reminded us through the Word that the battle is his not ours, but he still requires us to suit up and face the enemy. He still wants us to participate.

The reason it is not handed to us on a silver platter is because Yahweh is not raising spoiled children. He is a good father who is helping his children develop spiritual muscle and good character. By making us participate in the promises, to actually live them, he is preparing us for eternity, which is his priority in us. He hands us a promise and then tells us "go up and possess it". Get active. Be spiritually fit.

Yahweh has promised to give us work for our hands and he has also promised to bless that work but it means that we have to work. There is no place for a lazy Christian in the Kingdom. There is plenty of work to be done and it is filled with the blessings and promises of Yahweh. It's time to get off that spiritual sofa you have been lying around on because there is no waiter with a silver platter coming to wait on you. Jesus has filled the fridge with all the good stuff you need but you have to get up and go get it. "Go up and possess it", "every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you".