His Presence Crosses us Over

by Jose Oyola

It's day 3 of the fast…depending on your fast, this may be the hardest day to get through as you're starting to really feel some hunger pains. Be encouraged, your sacrifice certainly will pay off as you continue to seek him, prioritizing his presence.  Today’s devotional comes to us from this passage in Joshua 3:1-6.  Joshua, one of two spies that endured a 40 year wait is now the leader of the children of Israel. It's time to cross over into the land God has promised them but the Jordan river must be crossed.  Let’s read….

“Then Joshua rose early in the morning; and they set out from Acacia Grove and came to the Jordan river, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they crossed over. 2 So it was, after three days, that the officers went through the camp; 3 and they commanded the people, saying, “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the priests, the Levites, bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. 4 Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before.”

5 And Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.” 6 Then Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, “Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over before the people.”

So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people.”

Here are some key points for us to reflect on ...as we (the leadership team) have prayed about this fast, the theme of God’s presence has come a number of times. The passage above mentions that it was time to “cross over” to take the next step in the journey of entering into God’s will.  We believe God is calling our community to “cross over” into greater christlikeness and to experience more of his awesome power!  “After 3 days” is a reminder that there usually is a waiting period before we get instructions/commands and even a revelation of what must be prioritized. (btw a lot of great things have happened after 3 days! :) ) The 1st century believers made the resurrection of Jesus the primary focus of their preaching!
 
The passage says “when you see the ark of the covenant and the priests bearing it, then you shall set out from the place and go after it”  The people were commanded to prioritize and go after the Ark. The Ark was the physical representation of the presence of God.  It contained the 10 commandments. It also reminds us that the priests “bear it”...in those times, there was only one tribe (Levi) that could do this.  Jesus made it possible for all of us to be priests! (1 Pet 2) to carry his presence wherever we go.  We also see that they had to keep their distance…thank God the veil has been torn in two and we now have access…We can be as close to HIM as we want to be! We can also rejoice that God is going to lead us into something new.

Finally, there’s the call & promise that follows it  “Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”  All fasting is directly connected to setting ourselves apart for the Lord with an expectation that HE is going to something powerful.

I pray that each of us would have a deep desire to prioritize his presence, embrace our identity, sanctify ourselves to position ourselves to experience his power!