December 29, 2022
My dearly beloved in Christ, I greet and bless you all in the Name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The auspicious word of God that comes to you for today is taken from the book of Joshua 3:5, “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”
From the above verse we understand that if God must do wonders in your life then you need to be sanctified by God. You need to be washed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the Bible, we can see that the people of Israel too were ready to enter into the land of Canaan. Canaan is right in front of them but they could not inherit the land as they had to cross, the river Jordan which was right in front of them. So only if they cross the river, they can inherit the Promised Land. Now there are only few more days left for you to enter into the land of Canaan, that is the new year 2023’. New Canaan, new life, the New Year 2023 that has been blessed according to His promise is just before you to inherit. The Promised land is very near to you. All you got to do is to inherit it.
But before you inherit the land, in the New Year, you need to get prepared. There may be many challenges in your life during the current year 2022, and you have your own fear as to how the New Year is going to be. The people of Israel too had such fear. They too had many challenges and they had to overcome all those challenges. Before they enter into the land of Canaan. They too had fear as to how the new land which they were going to possess would be. God through Joshua gave them a good guidance, Joshua gathered the people and instructed them, and they asked for forgiveness of their sins and sanctified themselves, with much fear and trembling before God Almighty.
Immediately the next day, the high priests carried the ark of God and stepped into the waters of River Jordan. Only then the waters of river Jordan separated and gave way for them to walk through the waters of river Jordan. The waters went behind. What did the high priest carry along with them? They carried the ark of God. The ark of God represents the presence of God Himself. They carried His word, the Ten Commandments, in the ark. The word that the Lord had given them was carried by the high priests. So, they carried the Lord, which was the word of God and stepped into the water. Jordan was separated into two. The day before the people of Israel sanctified themselves, as a result the next day when the high priests stepped into the water the Lord who breaks all the barriers went before them and separated the water. The Holy God descended upon them and stayed with them and they carried the ark which represented God and since they stepped into the waters the water immediately separated.
Today through this message, God is counselling you. What must you do before entering the New Year is that you need to sanctify yourself. You need to become holy and perfect in your life as much as you can. Just as the high priests carried the ark of God on their shoulders, we also need to carry the Lord Jesus Christ through the reading of God’s word and through prayer and praising God and thanking Him for what He has been to us, during the past year 2022. Then God will be pleased with us, and He will perform a miracle for us. God will open a way for us to enter into the New Year.
Prayer: Dear Lord, we thank you for encouraging us through this verse. Lord, give your children an opportunity, to sanctify themselves. Forgive them of all their sins and wrong behaviours. Lord, you forgive them. If you remain in them they will not commit sin. They will live a clean and blameless life. Let your children carry You within their hearts and enter into the new year. Help them to enjoy their life in the land, flowing with milk and honey. In Jesus Name We Pray.
Amen.
