Daily Devotional

God never intended for us to dwell in the wilderness. Though we must pass through the wilderness, God’s wants to bring us into the Promised Land.
For the Christian the Promised Land is to dwell in His Kingdom—a Kingdom that is spiritual in nature, a Kingdom that is supported and built on sacrificial, unrestricted love, a Kingdom where Christ is Lord.
The Kingdom is a gift from God. God says to Joshua, “I’m giving you every square inch.” We do not attain God’s Promised Land, by our own strength, talents or abilities. We attain the Kingdom by submitting to His Lordship.
Even though the land would be given, it still had to be possessed. Joshua was told that the people still had to set their feet on the land that God had given. God was telling Joshua, in effect, “Even though the title deed has your name on it, you still must stake your claim to it. You still must defend it against those opponents that will try to take it from you.”
This is also true in our spiritual lives. If we have received Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we have the presence of the Holy Spirit living with us; we have a title deed to a life that overflows with His power and His presence. But we must possess it; we must defend it against those that will try to take it away from us—the demonic forces of Satan.
Wilderness dwelling leads to a wilderness mentality—mediocrity, a yielding to negativity, a surrender to inadequacy. Dwelling in the wilderness will create in us a growing resentment for and dissatisfaction with life because we can see the Promised Land, but we can’t seem to get there.
But we can possess the Promised Land. God has given it to us; He has urged us to possess it. “In the same way I was with Moses, I’ll be with you. I won’t give up on you; I won’t leave you (Joshua 1:5).” We can walk with confidence into the Kingdom that God has prepared for us because our promise is that He will always be with us.

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