Oh please do you need a miracle

Recommended reading: Joshua 3


Joshua 3:3-5

3 giving orders to the people: "When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the priests, who are Levites, carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. 4 Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about a thousand yards between you and the ark; do not go near it."
5 Joshua told the people, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you."

I know some of you who are well versed may pass these verses by but don't. Please stand near the Jordan with me for a minute and watch God do something miraculous. He is never short of anything miraculous...our God of wonders.

I have been praying for strength and energy lately and I have been waking up at like 3:30 or 4 in the morning and spending time in the word. This morning I got up did my bible study and went back to sleep or I would have been a zombie. So, I go on a followup doctors appointment and decided that I was going to have to take a shorter route to the hospital that I needed to get to. I did my mapquest and all and at the last step I made a wrong turn (in the pouring rain) and prayed that God would help me find my way...and He did. I am such a creature of habit that I would have taken the LONG route just because I was familiar with it and I knew it wouldn't fail in getting me where I needed to go even if it took me an hour to get there instead of 20 minutes. That is so like me to stick to what is familiar instead of trying something new. I do that especially with food. The Israelites were to cross the Jordan river which was at flood level because it was harvest time. They were headed somewhere new, a way they had not been before. Maybe that is where God is calling you, to set foot in your own Jordan and trust Him to fulfill your God given destiny. It is going to take some faith.
The priests and Levites were to head out with the Ark of the Covenant and all of the people were to get behind them and follow the arc, which was God's presence. So in other words they were to follow God. How do we do that today? Through seeking and abiding with Him through His word and prayer. We are to listen for His voice and hold fast to Him. We are to obey Him if we love Him. And He leads us. No, not everything is black or white but the Holy Spirit leads us.
They had never been this way before so it says: 4 Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about a thousand yards between you and the ark; do not go near it."
God is so holy that they were not to go near it. Thank you for the cross and that we can come before the throne of grace with boldness and find help in time of need. So by following the Lord they would know which way to go.
They were also told to consecrate themselves which is a word that means to be set apart, holy, chaste, pure. I am sure it even may have included that they not have sexual relations with one another...but that they focus on God.

Same for us, we have got to live consecrated before the Lord. I can't tell you how it grieves me when I have chosen my path instead of following His and what repercussions I faced as a result...yet what mercy I have seen that has covered me. If we want to see the Lord we have got to come apart from things that are unclean to us. We have to be set apart for Him. I know personally during times of sin where I sort of derailed and it was because I was not fully committed to the Lord and chose to fulfill the desires of my flesh instead of what is beneficial and holy. When we choose to make some convictions about things: places we won't go, vile things that we won't set before our eyes, and a commitment to not be living in mediocrity, but a determination to pursue the Lord and be set apart for Him...we will see His work all around. It will be worth it and not just a bunch of legalism.
Hebrews 12:14
14Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.
Please go read the passage for yourself but the priests were to carry the ark of the covenant to the edge of the waters and then stand in the river (REMEMBER the river was overflowing at this point). Can't you just see them trying to carry the ark with their robes on and everything standing in the overflow of the Jordan with their clothes getting wet. Did they wonder what in the world they were doing? Was God really going to dry this up so they could walk across the River? Did they remember the Red Sea?
Do we even understand what it would take humanly speaking for a river like that to dry up so God's people could cross. Let's not diminish what happened down to some fairy tale.
I love this verse:
13 And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the LORD -the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap."

Now here is the miraculous (Please don't miss this...it is not humanly possible):
14 So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. 15 Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water's edge, 16 the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea ) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. 17 The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.

Follow God even when you feel like the waters are going to overtake you spiritually speaking. He is Great and LORD of all the earth. He can still part the waters of turmoil and storm and allow you to crossover to a new place on dry ground. No sinking in the muck and mire.

PS rod is on me about going to bed so I better submit. ;)
I am headed out of town to help my sister with her three kids while she packs up her house and moves to Kentucky. Say a prayer there will be four kids including mine all under the age of three! Help me Lord!