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.

my pastor has been teaching a series on Joshua. his whole concept is to show that Jesus is revealed in every aspect of the Word of God with his slogan being, "show me Jesus in ....." so, he is teaching "where is Jesus in Joshua." he just started this series a few weeks ago and it has been great.

yesterday, he was teaching from joshua chapter 3. he taught about the children of israel crossing the jordan river. in the last couple of weeks, he taught us about types and shadows and how joshua was a type of Jesus. the law is represented by moses and faith is represented by joshua. even though God provided for the israelites in the wilderness at every turn, they could not believe that He could take them into the land of promise. what they saw in the natural was too impossible for them to see God accomplish for them. for that reason, moses nor anyone in his generation was allowed to enter into the promised land. but, joshua believed that God could and would do what He had promised and therefore he led the next generation into the promised land.

the biggest revelation that i received was that the law was able to take the children of israel up to the promised land but it took faith to actually step into it. the law can make us see what righteousness is supposed to look like and all of the blessings that follow it, but it can not cause us to partake of it. we must receive the promise by faith. like joshua did!

one of the things that looked impossible to the israelites was the jordan river. even though God had made it possible for them to cross the red sea forty years ago. they could not believe that he would do the same thing for them with the jordan river. but He did. the ark of the covenant, containing the presence of God, led the way. and, as soon as the presence of God touched the waters, the waters opened up and stood still until all the people had crossed on dry ground. the men carrying the presence of God were the last to come up from the river bed. and, when they did, the waters rushed again.

what i think was so amazing about this part of the story is that what seemed like an obstacle to the promised land actually became a pathway to it. that is so like God! many things that look like obstacles in our way of God's promises will actually become pathways to attaining them! He relishes in turning the obstacles in the way of His promise into pathways! if we know that is what God is all about, we will not get discouraged at obstacles, but excited instead. really, every time that we see obstacles in our way, we should rejoice, because we know that God is going to do a miracle to provide our promise for us. what a concept! rejoicing for the obstacles!

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!