ENJOY THE BLESSINGS

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“On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover. The day after the Passover, that every day, they ate some of the produce of the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate of the produce of Canaan.”

Joshua 5:10-11

They were only yards away from reaching the blessing God had promised them forty years before, yet the eyes of all the people were very attentive to the direction their leader would give them. Suddenly they heard a voice telling them, “Let’s go celebrate the Passover.” The last time they had celebrated this important feast had been forty years before. Why did they have to celebrate Passover? To remind all the people that in the midst of adversity and oppression, there is an all-powerful God that protects His children. Passover became one of the primary feasts for the people of Israel. It came to be the testimony that the most powerful nation, Egypt, together with its arrogant king and unconquerable army, was overthrown in an instant. This was possible through the faith of one man that taught them how to relate to God and how to remain under His covering. After this great celebration, before twenty-four hours could go by, the people were finally enjoying the benefits of the Promised Land. Caleb possibly told his son-in-law, “Son, to think we could have conquered this forty years ago; we only had to walk eleven days to possess all of these blessings. Do you know what the most difficult thing was during all of those years?” And his son-in-law possibly said, “What was it?” “The constant complaining of the people. That was something that not even God Himself could stand, and that is why they lost the great privilege of entering and enjoying this beautiful land,” was his wise reply.

Joshua needed to be very sure that they were doing everything properly; he was the one responsible for encouraging the armies and taking all the people to a better way of life. For this reason, Joshua knew that the Passover celebration was the seal of God’s presence that would be with them in this new stage.

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
“And we thought the Christian life was going to give us prosperity!” These were the words of Humberto while he shared part of his testimony with me. “Our faith had to be tested. In a single moment of time, we were left without everything we had worked so hard for, especially our house and our car. We were not able to pay off the all the debt we had run up with a dozen different banks and loan companies who had been constantly harassing us. Although we had to start all over again from nothing, what was astonishing was that it was a time in which our trust in the Lord was strengthened; we grew spiritually and in the ministry like never before. Instead of turning our backs on what we had believed in, our commitment with the Lord was even greater. The secret was in understanding that although what we were facing was not easy, it could never compare to the suffering Jesus had gone through on the Cross of Calvary for loving us. This experience helped us ‘cross the Jordan’ and ‘take possession of the Promised Land’. God gave us the victory and opened doors we couldn’t have imagined. We understood that when His blessing comes, it is full and complete. Not only did He give us the victory in our finances, God also gave us the greatest of privileges – to serve Him in His work.” (Humberto Cancio)

TODAY’S DECLARATION
“Because of my obedience to the Lord, I will see His blessing reach me–and soon!”

Today’s post is an excerpt from Pastor Cesar Castellanos’ book, Declarations of Power for 365 Days of the Year: Volume Three.

TODAY’S BIBLE READING

    • Old Testament: Nehemiah 1-2; Proverbs 9
    • New Testament: Luke 16:1-9; 1 Timothy 6:1-10

ENJOY THE BLESSINGS