In 1865, The US Civil War ended, and the slaves were freed. Many of those that were freed were stuck in a “slavery mindset.” They didn’t know what to do after their emancipation. They missed the opportunity that their newfound freedom afforded them.
There was one man, though, that was determined t do
something with his freedom. He made a
decision to move forward. He was going
to break away from that mindset of slavery, he decided to, “buy property and a
gun.” He did just that! He was able to
buy and keep enough property to set up his children and grandchildren in their
own homes before he passed away. He made
the best of what he’d been given – His Freedom!
Many of those set free did not possess their freedom and
remained as employees on the land where they’d been enslaved.[i]
Today, I want to post about making the most of our
deliverance and salvation.
Joshua 3:14-17 (NKJV)
3:14 So it was, when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, 15 and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks during the whole time of harvest), 16 that the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a heap very far away at Adam, the city that is beside Zaretan. So the waters that went down into the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, failed, and were cut off; and the people crossed over opposite Jericho. 17 Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan.
The Slave Mindset
In our text
we see Israel
crossing into the Promised Land. This is
a very happy time in Israel’s history.
They’re about to receive all that God has promised them, but remember
this has taken place forty years after Israel’s first arrival there. It has taken place after the loss of an
entire generation in the wilderness.
Israel had
been slaves in Egypt. They were suddenly
emancipated; suddenly set free. God had
delivered them through the Red Sea, and destroyed the pursuing Egyptians. Israel was free!
That
deliverance was an event…it happened and it was over. Once they passed through the Red Sea, they
were free, but they hadn’t received their destiny. There was still a walk in their newfound
freedom and a fight possess the Promised Land.
Their destiny was still at a distance.
Their old
slave mentality had to be transformed.
Their institutionalized thinking had to be overcome. They were much like those slaves of 1865;
they didn’t yet know how to process that freedom into destiny. It has often been said, “It was easier to get
the Children of Israel out of Egypt, than to get Egypt out of Them.”[ii]
Even though
they were free, they lived with the cultural norms and slave mindsets of the
past. Every obstacle they faced was met
with murmuring and complaining against Moses and God. How many times did they ask, “Why did you
bring us out here to die” (Exodus 14:11)?
They demanded water and provision.
“What shall we drink (Exodus 15:23)?
We had it made in Egypt and you brought us out here to kill us with
hunger (Exodus 16:3)! They wanted
everything provided for them just like they had in Egypt in slaves.
It carried
over into their arrival at the Promised Land when the spies looked over the
land and saw obstacles. God had promised
them the land. God had done powerful
miracles to release them from bondage, but they couldn’t see the possibility of
doing anything to gain their destiny.
They had been delivered, but they didn’t have dominion.
There’s a
transition that’s necessary to go from slavery to destiny. You cannot continue in the same patterns of
thought and behaviors of the past and expect a different outcome.
There is the story of Mickey Mantle – He played for New York
Yankees. He was a great player! But he had one problem – he was a very heavy
drinker! He developed cirrhosis of the
liver. His liver was destroyed, he was
going to die! Then he received a liver
transplant! He had a new lease on life;
a second chance. He’d been delivered,
but he continued to drink, eventually he died of liver cancer. In the 1990s he stopped drinking finally, but
it was too late. He was a slave to alcohol
and when he was delivered (through the liver transplant) he didn’t transition from
the old patterns of life until it was too late.
He stayed on the same plantation where he was enslaved. That deliverance was wasted.
God had a destiny for Israel. He had done His part. He had brought them out of slavery and
bondage, but those that had been delivered couldn’t change their old patterns
of thought and that entire generation died in the desert, never seeing their
destiny come to pass. It was those that
were born in the wilderness; those that had no slavery experience that made
it! Only Joshua and Caleb, two out of
hundreds of thousands could change their mindsets and see the Promise.
Numbers 14:30 (NKJV)
14:30 Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in.
Only those two saw the possibility of a future destiny. Only those two transformed their thinking
into possibility.
We Were Slaves
Think about this carefully, we have all been delivered. There is a transformation that has taken
place in us. We’ve been delivered from
our own sinful lifestyle:
John 8:34 (NKJV)
8:34 Jesus answered them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.
We were slaves to sin, but I have to ask, “What is your
thinking like, now?” Hundreds of
thousands of people were delivered by a move of God, but they died in the
wilderness. They were set free but hey
died in the wilderness because they still thought like slaves.
Have you ever known backsliders? They always go back to the sin they were
involved in before they got saved, because that’s what they know. The slaves in 1865 stayed at their old
plantations because that’s what they knew.
That’s where their comfort zone was.
If you want a different destiny, you need a different pattern.
I was talking to someone recently about destiny! There are multiple destinies for each of
us. Think about this. If you had remained in sin, you would be on a
path to one destiny, but salvation opened a different path – It took you in a
different direction. There is a
different destiny awaiting you! (See Directional Decisions[iii])
It’s a different path.
There are different obstacles.
There are different pitfalls and dangers. You have to think and react differently on
this path than on the other. If there’s
no adjustment to your thinking and behaviors, then it’s very likely that you
will never get where you’re going. You’ll
turn back to the “safer” path; the more “comfortable” path.
God delivers us and lays before us a potential destiny. There’s a promised land that is for us, and
there’s a path that we have to walk in order to get there. There are battles we will have to fight and
obstacles to overcome as we walk that path. They are there to help you to
change your thinking from “slave” thinking to dominion thinking. Deliverance is the event that frees you, but
it is dominion that brings you to the promise.
Think again about Israel.
They saw what God did to deliver them.
They saw the miracles and they thought God must be with us, but they
broke down at every obstacle.
At every obstacle they tested to see if God was still
there. They constantly put Him to the
test. That’s why they said, “What are we
going to drink?” “Where will we get
food?” The complaining and murmuring
were tests to see if God was going to deliver them again.
When they hit the Promised Land, they couldn’t see any
possibility to defeat the inhabitants. They wanted to know if God would deliver
them again. “Are you still with us
God? They were still caught up in the
deliverance mindset, but what they needed was a dominion mindset. Where does that come from? It comes from faith. Dominion flows from faith.
Dominion Thinking
We can find “dominion thinking” in our Bibles in Hebrews
Chapter 11.
Hebrews 11:4 (NKJV)
11:4 By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.
Abel was called righteous by his faith. Cain who had none became a fugitive and
vagabond. A vagabond is a wanderer. He never found the promise, while Abel entered
into his promise.
Hebrews 11:5-6 (NKJV)
11:5 By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, "and was not found, because God had taken him"; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. 6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Enoch was taken and did not taste death. His testimony was that he pleased God. “Without faith it is impossible to please Him.” Enoch entered into His promise.
Hebrews 11:11 (NKJV)
11:11 By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.
Sarah received strength to conceive at ninety years of age,
after years of barrenness. By faith she
became the mother of the nation of Israel.
She entered into her promise.
Hebrews 11:24-29 (NKJV)
11:24 By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, 25 choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, 26 esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward. 27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible. 28 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he who destroyed the firstborn should touch them. 29 By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land, whereas the Egyptians, attempting to do so, were drowned.
All of these are examples of “dominion thinking.” All of these entered into the destiny that
God had placed before them. What do they
all have in common? Faith. Dominion flows from faith.
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