growing up monday

today, i am joining joanne @ blessed... with a "growing up monday" post. she has a great idea of bringing the message that God is speaking to all of us together, uniting our hearts, and growing up together. Please be sure to stop by and read her post and link up with the others who are joining in to unite us all while we grow up together.

she writes, "wouldn't it be fun to be able to check in with other sisters around the world and see what we are learning in each of our churches on sunday mornings or in our weekly Bible studies? we are the body of Christ. we gather on Sundays in our church homes to learn and grow from His word. each week there is something our pastor shares or teaches from the Bible that speaks (sometimes shouts) right to my heart."

i think this is a great idea. we can reflect on what God is revealing to us, write it up in a post and share it with each other. maybe it will help us get the bigger picture of what God is desiring to say to His body. we can grow up together as one body. we are to grow up in the knowledge and understanding of Christ. we can do that together.

we are going through the book of joshua on sunday mornings. we have been looking for the types and shadows of Jesus and the new covenant within it. joshua, himself, is a type of jesus. he takes God's chosen people into the land of promise. he was the man that God chose to lead them into all the fullness of His promised blessings. he represents Jesus because it is Jesus who has lead us into God's promised blessings of salvation.

when the isralites were in slavery, they continued their covenant with God through circumcision and observed the passover. but, after they left Egypt and crossed over the red sea into the wilderness, they ceased to observe the covenant rituals of circumcision or the passover. they were told by God to begin to live by the law of moses instead. they wandered in the wilderness for forty years trying to obey the law and failing. God provided for His people miraculously over and over again. He gave them manna from heaven to eat and drinking water poured forth from impossible places. but, when it came time to enter into the promised land they found it impossible to believe that God would really do what He promised and deliver the land over to them. why? because the law does not produce faith.

the people in moses' generation were unable to enter into the land that God had promised because they could not believe God. moses, representing the law, took the israelites up to the jordan river that separated them from the promised land. but, joshua, representing faith, lead them into the promised land. God opened the waters of the jordan river and they crossed over on dry ground. joshua 4:19-5:12 continues the story as they camped on the shores on the other side of the jordan river. they were now in the promised land.

to celebrate the great power and faithfulness of their God, the children of Israel followed joshua when he instructed them to return back into a covenant relationship with God by circumcising all of the men. while the israelites were in the wilderness, they ceased to depend upon the covenant relationship with God indicated by circumcision, and lived by the law. so, none of the men that were alive at this point, had ever been circumcised. God instructed Joshua to stand up and be His covenant people again and cut covenant with Him by circumcision. after every man was circumcised, they remained camped at the shores of jordan until they were all healed.

then, the Lord told joshua to name the place that they were camped at, gilgal, which means "to roll away the shame or the reproach." God had brought His people forth and delivered them into the land that He had promised them in miraculous fashion. people everywhere had heard of what God had done for His people and they were very afraid of the israelites. God had rolled away the shame and the reproach of slavery from them and set them up to be the rulers of this great promised land. that night they celebrated the passover. the next day they began to partake of the fruit of the land that God had delivered into their hands. there was no more miraculous provision for food or water. manna ceased to fall from heaven because provision was provided from within the land of promise.

i asked God for the significance in this portion of the story of the Israelites. i knew there was some truth within this part of the story that meant something to us today. what was the nugget of revelation that would help me to see more clearly what Jesus has done for me in the new covenant. i felt the Lord speak clearly in my spirit that the place of gilgal is where Jesus has brought us to. He has taken away our shame and guilt before God when we, by faith, walked across the pathway that God provided for us in Jesus. He took us out of the bondage of sin and helplessness and into righteousness, the place of promise. and, from that time forward, we are not to look for manna from heaven any longer, we are to begin to live off the produce of the promised land. we are not supposed to be looking for an outward manifestation of His provision, but know that the provision that He has promised us will come only from the land of promise. that land is my spirit united with the Holy Spirit. the promised land is in me! the provision for my life, in every way, is found within the promised land and it will come forth as i dwell there and share communion with the faithful, covenant God of promise. God's promise of provision and blessings will not come down from heaven but will now come forth from within me.

What about you?

What is it you are studying? What lessons did God want you to learn this week, and what did you take away from your pastor's lesson or church family today that you can apply to your lives now?

Let's share with one another what we are learning and how we are growing up in Christ. Be your hometown church representative and fill us all in!