Good morning, brothers and sisters. Let us commit this time to the Lord.
Lord, indeed, as we hear this hymn, it reminds us that You are coming soon. Lord, we do pray that even at this time our focus would be on that. Lord, may our hearts be yearning for Your coming. Lord, make us ready. Prepare us for Your soon return.
We commit this time unto You, Lord. Indeed, Lord, for men it is not possible, but as we were reminded this morning, with God everything is possible. Lord, You are the God who works out the impossibilities in our hearts. So we commit this time unto You. We pray for the Holy Spirit to touch our hearts. Lord, we indeed yearn for Your presence. We thank You, Lord. In Jesus’ name we pray.
This hymn, Hymn 172, “There’s a Whisper from the Glory,” I want to share a story about it in two ways. In one way, it makes me more at ease to be up here. In another way, it helps us to focus, at this time, on what we are looking for.
Our minds could be in many places, but I think the Lord wants us to come to know that He is coming soon.
There are many pieces that did not quite gel together until last week. Someone sent us a video with this hymn playing in the background. A little girl was going around, just like these girls, singing along with the hymn. Then she said, “Grandpa, Grandma”—well, you know who she is.
There was also a voice asking, “Do you guys hear that?” Sometimes we encounter things unexpectedly. I wonder whether the Lord is speaking to us. The Holy Spirit speaks to us in a small, still voice, reminding us what is important and what is essential.
This hymn really touched my heart. The first time I heard it was a couple of years ago at the conference, on Thursday night. I remember the children singing this hymn. It was the first time I had heard it sung by our sister’s grandchildren. We know her heart. Her heart is always longing for the Lord’s return. That is what this is about.
After I heard the hymn, I went to the website for the 2018 Christian Family Conference and read its burden:
As we prepare together at the 2018 Christian Family Conference, we sense the Lord’s return is imminent. In accordance with God’s eternal purpose, it is time to sum up all things in Christ.
Ephesians 1:10Last summer, the Lord’s words on the need for endurance and the question, “Are you ready?” were a constant theme. God has asked this question to awaken us to the hour in which we live and our need to be ready. How we need to respond: be prepared.
Be prepared. Last time I was here, I shared on Caleb. After that sharing, I felt in my heart that perhaps there was something more to share in a detailed way that might encourage us.
I did not tell anyone about it, but during one Wednesday prayer meeting Jerry asked, “Do you have something to share in the next couple of weeks?” I thought, perhaps that is confirmation. Perhaps the Lord wants us to dwell on this matter of Caleb and Joshua.
As we prayed for the conference, for the speakers, and for the brothers and sisters, these words from 1 Timothy 6:12 came to mind:
Fight the good fight of the faith, lay hold on the life eternal, whereunto thou wast called, and didst confess the good confession in the sight of many witnesses.
1 Timothy 6:12
As we prepare for the Lord’s soon return, one thing that touches my heart is this matter of battle. Why fight the fight of faith?
When we are born again, we are born into a cosmic battle. It is a battle in the universe—a spiritual battle, as Ephesians 6 teaches. It seems that, as the Lord’s return draws nearer, the battle becomes more severe.
For us, it may not be something outwardly dramatic, but surely the battle is within. The adversary tries to get us off course. It can be in the spiritual realm—in our spirit, in our soul, and in our body. We need encouragement to face this battle in the right way.
Last time we shared on Caleb. We can recall that Israel was ready to cross the Jordan—well, not quite prepared, but they were there. Moses sent out spies, including Joshua and Caleb, to spy out the land. They returned saying that it was indeed a good land. There was no question about it.
But there was an issue: there were giants in the land. To occupy the possession, there would be battles. Yet the Lord’s promise was, “I will go ahead, and I will defeat the giants for you.” That was His promise. As long as they put themselves in there, as long as they put their feet there, there would be victory.
When the spies returned, only Joshua and Caleb said that they wanted to enter in and stand for the purpose of God. They said that if the Lord delighted in them, they could go in.
But the multitude looked at the situation and saw giants. Their hearts melted, and they said, “No, we do not want to go in. Let us return to Egypt.”
When we believe, we are all born into this battle. When we face a battle, there are only two choices. One is to step in for God’s purpose and truly enter in. The other is to run away—to be absent without leave, as the military term would say.
In that case, only Joshua and Caleb were willing to enter in, while the rest wanted to go back. It is a sad story. But thank God, He is the God who makes all things possible. The story does not end there.
Forty years later, the Lord brought them again to the Jordan, and they were ready to enter in.
Today I want to share two things. First, in Numbers 14:24, God said concerning Caleb:
But My servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed Me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.
Numbers 14:24
This matter of a different spirit touched us when we considered Caleb. In terms of Caleb and Joshua, I believe they both had the same different spirit. We will touch a little more on that.
As I meditated on these matters, this matter of sonship in the New Testament came to my heart. They were sons. Even though “sonship” is not an English word we use often, they were sons. We will spend some time considering what is meant by being sons, as distinct from being little children or infants.
The second matter is this: after forty years, they arrived at the Jordan. The Lord did not simply say, “Now go to battle.” Before the first battle—the battle of Jericho in Joshua 6—there were the preparations recorded in Joshua 1 through 5.
I feel we can learn something from that experience: what the Lord taught them, and how He prepared them before they entered battle. That is important for us at this time, because we are in this cosmic battle.
In Numbers 14:8, Joshua said:
If the Lord delight in us, then He will bring us into this land, and give it unto us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.
Numbers 14:8
The key phrase is, “If the Lord delight in us.” Have you considered the question: why would the Lord delight in us? On the other hand, how can the Lord delight in us? Those are very important questions.
For Joshua and Caleb, one outstanding thing was that God delighted in them because they desired to please God. That is the key. When we relate this to sons in a family, it works the same way. This is the matter of sonship.
In the Old Testament, the land was promised to Israel. It was promised to Abraham that God would give them the land. Of course, it was a physical land, but there is more meaning than simply possessing land.
Acts 7:5 says concerning Abraham:
And He gave him none inheritance in it, no, not so much as to set his foot on: and He promised to give it to him in possession, and to his seed after him, when as yet he had no child.
Acts 7:5
The land was given to Abraham and his descendants. Then Acts 13:19 says:
And when He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He gave them their land for an inheritance, for about four hundred and fifty years.
Acts 13:19
Now we have something related to the land: inheritance. There is a deeper meaning—not merely having the land, but having the land as an inheritance.
What does it mean to receive an inheritance? It means that they belonged to the family. Only family members receive an inheritance. They were heirs. This is why it is important that the Bible later refers to Christ Himself as the Heir of God, and to us as co-heirs with Christ.
In the Old Testament, with respect to Israel, the land itself was the inheritance. But God had something much greater in mind. It was not merely possessing land. The New Testament gives us a larger picture of what inheritance is.
Ephesians 1:11 says:
In whom also we were made a heritage, having been foreordained according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His will.
Ephesians 1:11
Colossians 3:24 says:
Knowing that from the Lord ye shall receive the recompense of the inheritance: ye serve the Lord Christ.
Colossians 3:24
Inheritance ultimately points us to our Lord Jesus Christ.
In the first-century Greek and Near Eastern cultures, there was a difference between a child and a son. Paul speaks of this in Galatians 4:1:
But I say that so long as the heir is a child, he differeth nothing from a bondservant, though he is lord of all.
Galatians 4:1
You could be an heir, but if you are a child, you are no different from a slave in the practical sense. Even though you have ownership, you are not yet able to appropriate or use it properly.
Later in the same chapter, Paul says:
That He might redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
Galatians 4:5
This word adoption is different from the way we commonly use it today. Today, adoption means bringing someone into a family. But in the Greek usage behind Galatians, it can mean being placed as a son—the time when a little child arrives at maturity and is able to be involved in the father’s business.
I think this reveals the Lord’s heart to us. Yes, He wants children, but we can only remain children for a season. He wants to bring us to the position of sons—what we call sonship.
A son should be involved in the family business. When believers are placed as sons, there is something that comes with it. Revelation 5:10 says:
And madest them to be unto our God a kingdom and priests; and they reign upon the earth.
Revelation 5:10
It is not merely a matter of owning something or belonging to the family. There is also ruling and reigning with Christ. We can rule and reign with Christ when we are sons—not little children, but those who have grown up.
What is the Lord after in the end? Sons. We all have children, and we want them to grow up as sons and not remain forever in infancy.
There is one example in the Bible concerning sons that is very clear to us: the Lord Himself.
We remember the time when the Lord Jesus came of age. The whole family went to Jerusalem, and His parents began their journey home without realizing that Jesus had remained behind. When they returned, they found Him in the temple.
What did Jesus say? He said:
How is it that ye sought Me? Knew ye not that I must be in My Father’s house?
Luke 2:49
Some translations render it, “Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” The Lord Himself entered into that traditional time of coming of age. Then came the hidden years, when He was under training until the beginning of His public ministry at about thirty years of age.
All four Gospels show us one outstanding thing: He was always doing the Father’s will. He always sought to satisfy the Father’s heart. Even in laying down His life on the cross, He satisfied the Father’s heart.
We have a pattern of sonship. Jesus Himself is God’s Son—the unique Son, or we may say, the elder Son.
God’s desire is not merely to have one Son. We have been studying Hebrews, and Hebrews 2:10 says:
For it became Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Author of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
Hebrews 2:10
How impossible that is for us! But with God all things are possible: to bring many sons into glory. That is what is in God’s heart.
Is that in our hearts too? How do we answer that? Sometimes I feel there is something in us, built into our DNA, so to speak, that wants to remain little children. We do not want to grow up. But God wants sons.
God often gives us pairs in the Old Testament. In Malachi, the pair is Esau and Jacob. Malachi 1:2 says:
I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet ye say, Wherein hast Thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the Lord: yet I loved Jacob.
Malachi 1:2
The Lord says later that He hated Esau. Here we see a contrast. The Lord loved Jacob—not necessarily Jacob’s way of doing things, but his heart.
What was wrong with Esau? Hebrews 12:16 says:
Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one mess of meat sold his own birthright.
Hebrews 12:16
Do we sell our birthright for a single meal? That is very challenging to us.
Jacob did not go about things in the right way; we can say that. But we can also see what was in his heart. He was after the birthright. He was after the inheritance. He wanted to be a son. God had to deal with him throughout his life.
But when we look at Esau, even though he may have been a nice person in many ways, he had no heart for the birthright. He had no heart for the Father’s business. God was not pleased with Esau.
Whenever we consider that example, we must ask: do I want to be like Esau? Am I satisfied with little things that will burn away when the Lord comes? Or am I truly interested in the Father’s business?
That is a challenging question. Sometimes I find it difficult to answer, but I know what the right answer is. We need to pray that the Lord Himself will touch our hearts, so that our hearts may be in tune with His heart—to be sons and to be in the Father’s business.
To be sons is not merely something objective. God has to do something, but it cannot remain merely objective. Hebrews 12 speaks about the discipline and training of sons. The only way for God to have His sons is through the training of childhood.
Hebrews 12:5 says:
My son, regard not lightly the chastening of the Lord,
Nor faint when thou art reproved of Him.
Hebrews 12:5
There is training and dealing involved. We are dealt with by God in order to become sons.
Verse 7 says:
It is for chastening that ye endure; God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father chasteneth not?
Hebrews 12:7
God will discipline us. This training is a great preparation. He prepares us to be sons.
This placing of sons is vital in God’s eternal purpose. From beginning to end, God is after sons. Until He has His sons prepared, it is not yet time for His return.
But it will not happen in a merely objective way. We must come through experience. We can only come into that experience if we allow Him the freedom to work in us.
It is two-sided. God wants us to be His sons, but we must let Him do the work in us. He is not going to force us to do what we will not allow Him to do.
This matter of sonship is a difficult subject sometimes, because I often feel that we like to remain little children. We do not like responsibility. We do not like to take up the Father’s business. Yet before His return, He must have His sons.
Now let us turn our attention to God’s preparation of the Israelites. How different things were after forty years.
The first time they arrived at Paran, the spies were sent out and the multitude responded, “No, we do not want to go in. There are giants. We will be killed. We want to go back to Egypt.”
But forty years passed. God took them through the wilderness for forty years, and the first generation passed away. That was the difference between their first arrival at Paran and their second arrival at the River Jordan.
In New Testament terms, the old man had been dealt with. When they arrived at the River Jordan, we do not hear them saying that they did not want to go in, even though the giants were still there. There was no change in the physical conditions, but there was a change in the makeup of the people because the old man had been dealt with.
Before they conquered Jericho—the first battle, a battle of faith—God still had to train and prepare them. Victory could only come by faith.
In Joshua 1, Moses had passed away. Before that point, God always spoke to Moses. Now God spoke to Joshua.
Joshua 1:1 says:
Now it came to pass after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying.
Joshua 1:1
As far as Joshua was concerned, while he was Moses’ servant, he heard the Lord secondhand. Everything came through Moses. But Moses had passed away, and now God spoke to Joshua directly.
How are we prepared by God? God has to speak to us directly. It can never be merely secondhand. Secondhand words may stir us up, but they will not remain. It has to be firsthand.
Thank God that He did not say, “I already spoke to Moses. Now I do not need to speak to Joshua.” He spent much time speaking to Joshua.
In Joshua 1:2-5, the Lord said:
Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.
Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, to you have I given it, as I spake unto Moses.
From the wilderness, and this Lebanon, even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your border.
There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee; I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.
Joshua 1:2-5
What an encouragement! As I mentioned at the beginning, we are in this cosmic battle. When God speaks to us in this way and says, “This land I am giving to you”—Christ I am giving to you—then all we need to do is put our feet down. Trust Him. Trust the Lord.
God Himself repeated to Joshua what He had promised Moses. God has to speak to us directly and press it upon our hearts: this is not merely a promise to Moses; it is a promise to you too. Go in and take possession. “I am with you.”
In Joshua 1:6-9, the Lord said:
Be strong and of good courage: for thou shalt cause this people to inherit the land which I sware unto their fathers to give them.
Only be strong and very courageous, to observe to do according to all the law, which Moses My servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest have good success whithersoever thou goest.
This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage; be not affrighted, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
Joshua 1:6-9
The phrase that stands out is, “Be strong and courageous.” We are in a battle, and the Lord repeats this three times.
But it is not a general exhortation to be strong and courageous. It is encouragement to set our hearts on the goal of possessing the land. Be strong and courageous in taking possession.
It is also to be strong and courageous in following God’s commandments and listening to God’s words. And we are to be strong and courageous because God is with us.
These are the bases for strength and courage—not our mind or our will, but God’s Word and what He is after.
When I read Joshua 1, I come away with the impression that God is One who likes to speak. Do we hear? Do we hear?
In Revelation 2 and 3, the seven letters all contain the same phrase: “He that hath an ear, let him hear.” The speaking is God’s part. Hearing is our part. Do we hear and accept what God says, or do we have doubts? We need to hear.
Joshua 2 concerns the spies in Jericho, which I will skip for now. In Joshua 3 we come to the matter of crossing the River Jordan.
If we look at the map and geography of the land, there may have been different ways of entering the promised land. But there was only one way that God ordained: He wanted them to pass through the Jordan.
We need to see what the Jordan means. It is not merely passing through a river. These things are types, and the New Testament explains their spiritual meaning.
The Jordan River is over one hundred miles long. It flows from the Sea of Galilee to the Dead Sea, from north to south. It descends more than two thousand feet in elevation. The name Jordan means “descender,” or “going down.”
There is also the brook Jabbok flowing into the Jordan. It was there that God wrestled with Jacob. Jacob knew that his brother was coming, so he sent his family over the brook. That night the Lord came to meet Jacob.
Jacob wrestled with God, and the socket of his thigh was touched. He became lame for the rest of his life. His natural strength was taken away.
When we think of the Jordan, I believe it refers to the work of the cross. We know there are two aspects. First, Christ died for us. He is our Passover. Christ died for our sins.
But the other aspect is that Christ died as us. He died as our representative. He took our old man to the cross to be crucified and buried. Then, on our side, there is resurrection life.
There are several features in crossing the Jordan that differ from Israel’s crossing of the Red Sea. At the Red Sea, the land was dried up and the Israelites simply walked through on dry ground. But in crossing the Jordan, three things happened.
First, the ark of the covenant went ahead. Second, in the middle of the river, where the priests carrying the ark stood, Joshua set up twelve stones. Those stones were buried in the riverbed. Third, God told Joshua to appoint one man from each tribe—twelve altogether—to take twelve stones and carry them to the other side.
These are important facts, but we need to understand how they apply to us in New Testament terms.
The crossing took place during harvest, when the Jordan overflowed its banks. Water can speak of judgment. The Jordan speaks of judgment against the natural life and the old man. The old man cannot cross the Jordan; it has to be buried.
The twelve stones that were placed in the riverbed were covered when the waters began to flow again after the priests came up from the Jordan. This foreshadows the truth expressed in Galatians 2:20:
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me.
Galatians 2:20
As those who belong to the Lord, we trust in His life. Our old man has been dealt with, and we come up on the other side to live in newness of life—in resurrection life.
The twelve stones also represent the twelve tribes. Even though not every tribe desired to settle on the western side of the Jordan, all twelve tribes were represented. God would have His nation: a nation with a land and a people.
This foreshadows that God is after a household, the Body of Christ, brought to full growth—to be sons.
After they passed through the Jordan, they arrived at a place called Gilgal. Joshua 4:20 says:
And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, did Joshua set up in Gilgal.
Joshua 4:20
Joshua 5:7 says:
And their children, whom He raised up in their stead, them Joshua circumcised: for they were uncircumcised, because they had not circumcised them by the way.
Joshua 5:7
Gilgal was on the eastern side of Jericho, on the western side of the Jordan. Jericho was not far from the Jordan—about five miles—and Gilgal was less than five miles from the river.
They were close enough to remember the river. The twelve stones in the riverbed reminded them that the old man had been crucified. The twelve stones erected at Gilgal stood as a memorial that they were now living by a new life, the life of resurrection.
At Gilgal, there was not only circumcision and the memorial stones. They also observed the Passover feast. That is key as well.
The Passover feast was established before they left Egypt, on the night of their departure. In the Passover Lamb, God is fully satisfied.
They also began to eat the produce of the land, and the manna stopped. If we understand the land to represent Christ, then Christ became their supply. Christ is our bread from heaven.
What is the lesson for us? How does this prepare us for battle? The rest of Joshua is a book of battles. Gilgal was the place from which they set out for battle. In military terms, it was their base camp.
God constantly reminded them: you are on the other side. You are in resurrection life and newness of life. Your old man has been dealt with. Christ Himself is the only One who satisfies the Father, and Christ is your supply.
We have to be prepared in that way as we engage in the battles before us.
Before they went into battle, Joshua met Someone. This is in Joshua 5:13-15:
And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?
And he said, Nay; but as prince of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto His servant?
And the prince of the Lord’s host said unto Joshua, Put off thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.
Joshua 5:13-15
Before the battle, Joshua had to meet Someone. God showed him how he could fight. It was not by his own strength. He met the Captain of the Lord’s host.
In New Testament terms, we meet the Holy Spirit. I am often reminded of the words:
Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.
Zechariah 4:6
Only the Holy Spirit is invested with God’s power, and He is the One who fights. He is the One doing the fighting. We have to respect that.
Joshua was told to take off his sandals. There can be nothing earthly—nothing of the natural man. It is not by our might; it is by the Holy Spirit.
Sometimes we may feel that the Holy Spirit works for us, but that is not the case. He is the Captain of the Lord’s host. He is not for us in the sense of serving our own interests; He is for the Lord. He pursues and executes all His power for the Lord Himself, not for our own interests. We have to respect that.
I come to the end of my sharing. The lesson of the forty years between the first arrival at Paran and their later readiness to enter in is a lesson for us. The old man must be dealt with.
I keep coming back to this point: the natural life has to be dealt with. Otherwise, we are not prepared. Otherwise, we are not ready to go over, and God cannot have us prepared.
There are two ways in which the enemy can gain a victory. First, he is very deceptive and says, “You are not in a battle.” We may lower our guard because we feel good and do not know we are in a battle. If we believe that, we have already lost.
God must reveal to our hearts that we are indeed in this cosmic battle. It is constant. It is against God, and we are not alone. We are involved in this battle.
Second, we can be defeated easily when we rely on ourselves too much. Just like Esau, who gave away his birthright for one meal, we may lose when we are not interested in being sons.
God has to work this into our hearts. I believe we are all born with a desire to be sons, but we can get sidetracked. Our attention can turn to something else rather than this matter of sonship.
As we learn from God’s preparation of the Israelites, Gilgal is very important. They seemed always to begin from Gilgal, except on one occasion: the battle of Ai. We know what happened there. They lost the battle.
What does that teach us? We have to be up to date with the work of the cross. We cannot say that the Lord worked thirty years ago or twenty years ago, and that we are finished with it. We are not finished with it.
Gilgal is the place where we begin. In battle, it must always remind us that we live on the ground of the finished work of the cross. Christ not only died for us; He died as us. He took us with Him to the cross.
Finally, as I began with the words from 1 Timothy 6:12: “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life … and confess the good confession in the sight of many witnesses.”
This is part of the preparation. The good fight is a good fight of faith. That is what God prepared Israel to do as He brought them through the Jordan. We see in their first battle, the battle of Jericho, that victory came by faith.
Paul encouraged Timothy: fight the good fight of faith. It is a battle. Lay hold of eternal life—the resurrection life, the newness of life that comes after crossing the Jordan. This must be continually before us as we are prepared.
And then make the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. What is the confession? Christ is Lord. What is the new-life confession, the witness, or testimony? It is Christ in the land.
They took the land not because of themselves. They took the land to declare that Christ is all.
These words from Paul to Timothy are not only for young people. Timothy was young compared to Paul, but I feel God also used these words to encourage Paul himself. Even though Paul had come so far, the basic things remained: fight the good fight of faith, lay hold of eternal life, and make the good confession.
Whether we are mature or young in the Lord, we have to fight the good fight, lay hold of eternal life, and make the good confession.
I pray that these words may become a burden in our hearts, so that we may pray for one another. We are in a battle; there is no doubt about it.
May we have the desire to be sons and not merely babies. May the Holy Spirit prepare us through the lessons of Joshua 1, 3, 4, and 5, so that we are truly prepared to enter into battle.
The title of today’s sharing is “Preparation for the Possession of Christ.” We have to be prepared in a special way so that the Lord can bring us in to take possession of Christ, to be mature in Christ, and then the Lord will come.
Lord, indeed, we want to give this to You. We thank You for this example in the Old Testament—the example of Caleb and Joshua—how they stand out as examples of sons, as those who were after Your heart, who wanted to satisfy You, and who stood for Your interests.
Lord, we also thank You for the illustration of Your training and preparation of the Israelites to enter into the land, to occupy and take possession of the land.
Oh, Lord, we do pray that by the Holy Spirit You may make these words active in our hearts. Lord, we trust in You, for Your Word is indeed living and active.
Lord, help us to give You the freedom to work in our hearts. Everything needs to be up to date.
Lord, we pray that we may have not only objective knowledge, but the subjective experience of how You bring us into the good land and how we can truly take possession of Christ.
Lord, bring us to be mature sons. We thank You for Your desire to bring many sons into glory. Enable us to answer Your heart. May we have that desire to be sons.
Lord, we thank You. In Jesus’ name we pray.