Navigating God’s Promises and How to Get to the Promise Land

The Lord has promised you a destination, your Promise Land, which may seem unattainable and distant, but it is there and assigned to you. The journey to reach it may take light years, but it is there.

What we can learn from the Israelites

• The Israelites failed to be faithful and obedient to God’s commands and as a result prolonged their journey to the promised land of milk and honey. Their disobedience led to a painful journey, causing God to burn with anger.

• Moses, a prodigal child, pleading for their lives changed God's mind. This story serves as a reminder for believers to pray for unbelievers and backsliders. God hears prayers and answers them in His own timing.

Exodus 32:7-14, NKJV | 7 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!’ ” 9 And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and indeed it is a [a]stiff-necked people! 10 Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may [b]consume them. And I will make of you a great nation.” 11 Then Moses pleaded with [c]the Lord his God, and said: “Lord, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, ‘He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ” 14 So the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.

The Israelites' Disobedience

• The Israelites were punished for their lack of faith and worship of other gods, causing God to anger. This led to idolatry and soul ties.

• Today, we often rely on money or work to solve life's problems, seeking advice from friends before seeking God's guidance. This disobedience results in discipline and grumbling, as God is the same today and tomorrow.

• The decision to be disobedient to God directly influences the time it takes for us to receive His promise. This is a reminder that God is always there for us, and our actions can impact our future.

Your Promised Land

• Believers have a divine purpose and must listen to God's call.

• God's call is found in His Word, urgings on the heart, and prayers.

• Promises can sometimes be received in the form of prophetic messages.

• The path to achieving promises is the same, requiring a relationship that goes beyond lip-service.

• God desires a straight path leading to Him, with no diversions or shortcuts.

• We commit to an all-consuming love that relies on God's word and our relationship with His Son.

Deuteronomy 11: 18-22, NKJV | 18 “Therefore you shall [a]lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 19 You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 20 And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21 that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, like the days of the heavens above the earth. 22 “For if you carefully keep all these commandments which I command you to do—to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, and to hold fast to Him—

• God led His people to their Promised Land, but they didn't enter due to fear of the giants.

• The Bible teaches that God told Moses to send men to spy out the land, knowing they would see the fruitfulness of the land and the giants. God's hope was that they would believe what He had said more than what they saw. One reason for sending men to spy out the land is the promise He made to Moses, as found in Joshua 1:3.

• God knew that their feet needed to stand on what He had promised them, not to be intimidated by the giants but to possess what was already given to them.

• If we see giants, we are seeing promise. We have come to the borders of our Promised Land, and our actions are up to us.

• We must decide whether to remain as the children of Israel and continue to face the giants or to return to their original purpose.

Numbers 14:6-9, NKJV | 6 But Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who wereamong those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes; 7 and they spoke to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying: “The land we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land. 8 If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, ‘a land which flows with milk and honey.’ 9 Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they[a] are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.”

• We must strive to possess the promise of land that God has promised us, and make a firm decision to walk fully in His promises. If we see giants in the land, we are standing within the promise.

• Focus on Jesus and His promise, as He is capable of causing us to possess the land, as He has already given us the land.

1 Cor 16:9 | For a great door, and effectual, has opened unto me, and there are many adversaries.

Rev 3:8 | 8 I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door, which no one can shut. For you have only a little strength, yet you have kept My word and have not denied My name.

• It is our responsibility to properly manage the fulfilment of promises in order to continue passing the tests in the promised land. Some people witness giants. Some people see promise. May we be among those who recognise and seize the promise.

• Why do some of God's promises take a long time to happen? According to the Bible, all of God's promises are ours through Jesus, and He has already given us everything we need for life and godliness.

• So why does it sometimes take so long to receive these promises? One reason is that God's timing is based on His big purposes.

• Just as God made promises to Abraham about his descendants possessing the land of Israel, it took over 400 years for those promises to be fulfilled.

• This is because God was working out His plans not just for Abraham's family, but also for nations and people groups.

• Another reason is spiritual resistance. In the book of Daniel, we see that Daniel's prayer was heard the first day he prayed, but it took 21 days for the angel Gabriel to break through the spiritual resistance and deliver God's message. This reminds us that there is real warfare going on in the spiritual realm, and our ongoing prayer and faith are needed for some promises to break through.

• Our personal growth is also a factor. In 1 Corinthians, Paul tells the Corinthians that he couldn't teach them certain spiritual truths because they were not yet mature enough to receive them.

• Similarly, some of God's promises will only benefit us when we are spiritually mature enough to receive them.

• We need to be faithful with what God has already given us before He can give us more.

• Our reluctance or disobedience can also delay the fulfillment of God's promises.

• In Hebrews, we learn that many of the Israelites did not enter the Promised Land because they did not believe God's Word and promises.

• Their unbelief and disobedience kept them from receiving what God wanted them to have.

• It is important for us to mix what we hear from God with faith and believe that He can do what He has promised.

• Finally, we can't give up. Galatians reminds us to not grow weary in doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up.

• Enduring faith is necessary to receive what God has promised, and it is one of His primary goals for our lives.

• Like Abraham, Moses, and Hannah, we may have to wait for years before we see the fulfillment of God's promises in our lives.

• In conclusion, God's promises may take time to happen because of His timing, spiritual resistance, our personal growth, reluctance or disobedience, and the need for enduring faith.

• It is important for us to trust in God's timing and continue to believe in His promises, even when it seems like they are taking a long time to be fulfilled.

Prayer

Jesus, I ask You to give me a new name–the name You have designed and planned for me before the foundation of the world. Repair my perception of myself, and help me not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of my mind–that I may prove and manifest Your good, acceptable, and perfect will for me. Help me to think of myself, and of my future, the way that You do–and to renew my mind daily in the washing water of Your Word. As I advance into Your Promised Land, I pray you would rise up and defeat my enemies before my face. Let God arise, and His enemies be scattered. Abba Father, I pray that if my enemies come out against me one way, they would flee before me seven ways. I pray that those who hate You would flee before You. I pray that all the nations would see that I am called by Your name, and that they would be afraid of me (Deuteronomy 28). In Jesus name, Amen.