As we completed our 100 Days of Consecration on September 8th, and slipped away for a few days to process what the past 100 days had been for us, I felt impressed to go back to Joshua, where we had gotten our primary Scripture for the 100 days, Joshua 3:5 (ESV) — Then Joshua said to the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”
So, we are here, and our 100 days are over, and the anticipation is mounting as we feel that God is still continuing to do a deeper work within us. Personal and Corporate Prayer have gone to another level, and Scripture seems to continue to unveil long-held hidden secrets. We watched as God purged our lives of people and activities that could hinder His assignment for us. And we continue watching and anticipating!
As we spent a few days away and I began to dig into the book of Joshua, I felt a deep sense that we are in a “Crossing Over” period, as the nation of Israel was with Joshua at the time of Joshua 3. They had come out of 40 years of wandering, and now the promise was before them. The one who led them out of bondage was now gone, and Joshua was the one appointed to lead them into the promise held before them for 40 years. As I began to ponder what they were coming out of and what they were entering into, it felt eerily familiar to me today. Jesus is our Joshua. Holy Spirit is our victory, and we are being led into that place of promise given to us in His Word.
The nation of Israel was anticipating the promise, but that promise was embedded within a war that would take place. Joshua 1:10 Here is how you shall know that the living God is among you and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites. Seven nations that were stronger than they that God would drive out from among them. Those were the same nations that Moses was told occupied the promised land. The promise would be found in the place of warfare and God had promised to drive out the enemy, if the nation of Israel would obey and serve Him and not bow down and worship the gods of these nations. (Exodus 23:23)
The same gods of the nations mentioned in Joshua 1:10 operate in the world today, and only as we obey and serve God will He cause them to fall before us. In researching these ancient nations, we find they served gods of violence, bloodshed, perversion, immorality, pride, war, witchcraft, and occultic practices. These are the same spirits operating in the world today. They are the spirits of Baal, Molech, Asherah, and many others. We disguise them with different names to make them acceptable and they lead many into deception. Someone recently told me they saw nothing wrong with letting their daughters play with voodoo dolls because they were cute. How deceived this person is and how dangerous it is to lead her daughters into the realm of the demonic. How can so many children’s programs be laced with the occult, perversion, and mockery of all that is Godly? We allow our children to listen to the music of rock stars who serve Satan and brag about it from their stages. We pay for programs that fill our children’s minds and our own minds with twisted and perverted thinking.
Deception is rampant in the church world today. Three major ministries have fallen in the past few months because of the deception of sexual sin. God is calling His church to come out of the world’s system and into His Kingdom of righteousness and holiness. This is the only way that we can defeat the same enemies that the nation of Israel subsequently fell to. They were walking in the place of the promise, but they could not attain it because their hearts began to follow the same gods that these nations served. Cycles of defeat followed Israel as they began to follow the idolatries of the nations they were to displace. Why do we think it will be any different for us? Are we somehow exempt from following the commands of Scripture?
We have an election coming soon, and some who profess Jesus as Lord are supporting the agenda of these evil spirits in the earth. Careful study will reveal that these evil spirits majored on sexual perversion and the marring of God’s image in the earth, in mankind and even in creation itself. These gods demanded that babies be buried beneath the foundations of temples to gain the favor of these gods. Some required babies to be burned alive in the hot arms of Molech. These evil spirits enticed prostitution and homosexuality, even genital mutilation. They filled the earth with bloodshed. Are these not the same agendas of the abortion activists and the same-sex and transgender advocates? Can one profess Jesus as Lord yet follow the ways of the evil spirits present on earth today? Can one say they love God while they spit in His face with their perversive and murderous spirit?
A primary thing the 100 Days of Consecration has done is to make the present evil in our nation become more apparent and darker, and the light of God shine more brightly. The contrast is unmistakable, and the urgency is real to pray for those caught in the trap of darkness blanketing our nation. We must allow the glory of God to shine through us. It is time to get off our ego trains and allow God to reveal Himself. We are salt and light, or are we? We are imagers of God, or are we? We must discern the voices of truth and stop following those who seek a platform and name for themselves. There is no time for foolishness.
The Lord told Joshua that his obedience would lead others to receive the inheritance God promised to their fathers. Joshua 1:6 Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. I believe the 100 days was a time to prepare us to be strong and courageous so that we can be used to bring others into the inheritance God promised to their mothers and fathers and grandmothers and grandfathers. How many went to their grave praying for their lost children and grandchildren? Are we willing to be the “perfect laborer” for others as we pray for God to send those laborers to our own prodigals? Are we even prepared to be that perfect laborer?
We are in a serious time, and every day, someone slips into eternity without Jesus. The church must become focused on the lost and not allow the distractions of fame, fortune, and entertainment to capture their mind, time, and resources. We must be available to God, and “as we go” through life, we must make disciples for Christ (Mt. 28:19).
People need an encounter with God, not another lecture or watered down sermon. We are supposed to be carriers of His glory. When God is present, people are never the same again. We must raise the bar and strive to be like Jesus who had one goal: to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8).
Be Strong and Courageous!
To me, your last paragraph sums up this very needed article when you referenced 1John 3:8. Love these posts! In much gratitude for speaking “life” from God’s Holy Word.