Can you imagine? Working in 100 degree weather, bed bugs, infestations of lice, diarrhea 3-5 times a week so bad you have to be within feet of a bathroom at all times. These are a few of the things that we faced in Cambodia last month. Our living conditions were not the nicest, or the cleanest. The first week we couldn’t get rid of the ants, and the oscillating fan BARELY kept the room cooled. On top of everything our schedule was so busy there was no room for quiet/personal time with the Lord. None of these things are eternal. It’s not the end of the world, and it’s more than expected on the World Race. But I was not having it. Stephanie decided to throw herself a pity party and dwell in her circumstances. The previous months were golden. Sure there were hard times, and challenging circumstances, but last month it seemed like if it wasn’t one thing it was another.I couldn’t catch a break. The heat was constant and unchanging, nothing much we could do there. We ended up switching hotels to eliminate the bed bugs and ants. The living conditions got slightly better. Not unbearable but still quite uncomfortable. For the first 2 weeks I was up to my neck drowning in the victims circle. Whoa is me. I felt like I was being punished. I had been doing so good in the previous months. I was reading regularly, meditating on the word, praying more often. I was being more generous, and kind to people. But I couldn’t understand why the weight of the world seemed to be on MY shoulders. To some, these things could be seen as insignificant. But I was miserable. Cambodia was the turning point on my race. I just wanted to go home. I was spent, and I had no desire to continue.
I needed a serious attitude adjustment, and a hard internal reset on my heart. I was not in a good place.
Two weeks in God really got a hold of my heart. He put some things into perspective for me. I didn’t HAVE to be in Cambodia. I GOT to be in Cambodia. It was a blessing to be there and serve the people there. I met amazing people who I never knew existed, I learned through orphans what TRUE joy was. I learned from them how to be content in ALL things. I learned about obedience and what it means to TRULY live for the Lord and go WHEREVER he leads. I was reminded I get to choose out of the reality I was in, and I was leaving behind people who would stay. Instead of being ungrateful for an uncomfortable bed, I was praising God I had a bed to sleep in. Instead of being angry the fan wasn’t cold ENOUGH, I was simply grateful for a fan at all. Instead of complaining about food I didn’t want I was thankful I had food at all, especially 3 times a day. Instead of cursing God for the heat, I was thanking him for the breeze. Instead of being mad there was lice all around me, I was eternally grateful I myself didn’t have it. God reminded me through a series of events I was focusing on the wrong things. My circumstances. Not HIM.
I was reminded of the Isrealites. For 430 years the Israelites were in captivity. Through a series of signs and wonders and over time God delivered them. They were delivered but they weren’t FREE. The promise land was screaming freedom, and welcoming them in. But they walked in circles focusing on their circumstances. They died in the wilderness, and never possessed the land God promised them…In Joshua 6 the Lord commanded Joshua. He said “I have delivered Jericho into your hands.” But he faced an obstacle. The wall of Jericho, a 30 foot high fortified barrier stood in his way.
You can be FULLY delivered of your situation ( like the Isrealites) but FULL of your old ways of thinking and your old mindsets. You cant have the same mindset in the promise land as you once did in slavery. He needs to renew your mind so you can FULLY walk in freedom!
In Hebrews it says “let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”
You cant posses the promise land if you keep letting the weight and sin of your circumstances entangle you. If we let God transform our heart, our behavior will take care of it’self. The weights and sin of the past need to be dealt with BEFORE YOU enter the promise land, so you can have a new healthy mindset.
These things may be:
- The things you justify to make yourself feel better
- That addiction
- That bad habit
- That thought pattern
- That unforgiveness
- That doubt
- That bitterness
- That anger
- That greed
A wilderness Christian will never live like a Promise Land Christian.
So what do you do, when your’e doing it right? You live by the book? You say the right things? You go to church? Tithe? You get lost in the word? You pray faithfully? You’ve even let go of those weights and sins that once entangled you? Like the Israelites You’ve crossed through the red sea, you’ve even made it into the promise land. You’re delivered. You’re about to taste the milk and honey. But then you come face to face with a wall.
What do you do?
The last thing you expect after doing all the right things is to be hit with this… Your living conditions are a little uncomfortable…Or worse…Your child turns out to be addicted to drugs. Your marriage is failing right before your eyes. The doctor says it’s cancer. Your best friend just ran off with your boyfriend. You lost your job…
You never expect to hit a wall in the promise land.
The walls of Jericho were tightly shut. No one came out, no one came in. God told Joshua to take his eyes off the wall, and focus on the promise that lies on the other side. There was nothing Joshua could do to the wall. He just needed to trust God knew what he was doing. God gave Joshua one of the most bizarre battle plans in history. He told him march around the city once with all your armed men. Do this for 6 days. Have 7 priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout then the walls of the city will collapse and the army will go in and posses the land.
(At this point Joshua had to be wondering what was plan B)
Joshua honored God. He served God. He had been faithful. And still he stood at the foot of a towering wall.
God told Joshua. Take another lap.
I want to encourage you…Keep praying. Keep serving. Keep honoring. Keep going to church. Keep sewing. Keep having faith. When you’re face to face with a wall in you’re life and it leaves you questioning…
Take another lap.
You may be on day 3 lap 7. Keep going. You may even be on lap 6 day 7…Take ANOTHER LAP.
God is faithful. The wall will come down. I encourage you to believe in truth of the word, not the facts of your circumstances. Don’t make the wall bigger than God. Nothing circumstantially may change, but you can change your’re perspective. The facts can change, but the TRUTH has the power to change things. Keep releasing those weights and sins, keep saying what God says, and try to see what he sees.
My circumstances didn’t change very much last month, but my perspective changed. And down came the walls. What are the walls in your life? When you find yourself face to face with a wall, like Joshua…Take another lap.
