“My servant Moses is dead, and now, rise, pass over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel.” Joshua 1:2 (Literal Standard Version)
Throughout my years I have had the opportunity to go to the beach, a lot. Having lived in Southern California and in Australia most my life, I got in my beach time! Besides surfing and enjoying being out in the sun, we would often build sandcastles. We would construct walls to protect our precious handiwork from the incoming tide. We would spend hours fortifying, even creating a beautiful masterpiece which included shells, driftwood and anything else we could find on the shore. Then as the tide came in, we would frantically attempt to save our sandcastle. Crazy thing, there was nothing we could do to keep the tide from coming. Ultimately it would breach, then destroy the walls, before leveling the sand castle, which that let me remind you, we had spent hours building. Soon, every trace was gone, behold the new had come!
The new is coming! Moses is dead, and it is time to step up into the promised land, which is our destiny, our calling, it’s the why God put us right here, right now, in the first place! An Old Testament prophet told us to forget the former things, and embrace the new that God is ushering in (Isaiah 43:18-19a)! Don’t be a resistor of revival because it looks different. Believe me, it will be messy. Many will complain of their destroyed sandcastles, and even whine about the incoming tide! They will long for Egypt, even the manna of the old days. But the new requires eyes to behold it. It requires a faith to let go of old ways, old methods, old strategies, and old successes!
The nation is going to be swept clean by the incoming tide of His Spirit! Please don’t resist. And don’t give up praying. Instead choose now to embrace different. Choose to behold the new. Choose to praise instead of complaining.
Ask God what you need to lay down as you prepare for the new. It could be the ministry you have been in for years, or the methods you have operated in, or the strategies you have embraced. Surrender it to Him right now. Let the tide of His Spirit wash it away from you. Ask Him for eyes to behold the new thing He is doing. Pray for your pastor to be open and willing to lay aside the manna of yesterday, for the new that God is bringing now. Pray for your church to be ready and willing to go with the tide of the Spirit. Proclaim the new thing of God over our city!
