FLOWING WITH MILK AND HONEY!

Part 10

 

“If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land” (Isaiah 1:19).

 

Today we will discover the last five things that God wants us to do in our land.

 

2. YOU HAVE TO DWELL IN THE LAND

 

How do we dwell in our land? The word “dwell” means “to root, to sit.” God gives a picture in Psalm 128:3 of the wife and mother rooted in her home. God wants us to dwell in our own land, not in someone else’s land. Many women spend more hours in “other lands” than in their own land of motherhood. The 1599 Geneva Bible reveals the command to be “keepers at home” from Titus 2:5 as “no gadding up and down.”

 

Read the following Scriptures about dwelling in our land: Leviticus 25:18; 26:5; Numbers 33:53; Deuteronomy 11:31; 12:10; 30:20;Psalm 37:3, 29; 69:35-36; Isaiah 30:19; 32:18; Jeremiah 23:7-8; 25:5; Ezekiel 36:28 and 37:25.

 

3. YOU HAVE TO DEFEAT THE ENEMY IN THE LAND

 

We must not tolerate the enemy. He must be wiped out completely. The Bible does not mince words when it tells us how to deal with evil. Read these instructions: Drive out, destroy, pluck down, dispossess, smite, utterly destroy, make no covenant with them, show no mercy, make no marriages with them, destroy their altars, break down their images, cut down their groves, burn their graven images with fire, have no pity on them, destroy them quickly, overthrow their altars, break their pillars, burn their groves with fire, hew down the graven images of their gods, destroy the names of them out of the place, blot out their remembrance and make no mention of the name of their gods! You can read these in Numbers 33:50-55; Deuteronomy 7:2-5; 9:3; 12:2-3; 25:19 and Joshua 23:7.

 

This is certainly a little different to the spirit of tolerance in the church today!

 

Why is it so important to utterly destroy the enemy? Because, if we leave any vestige of the enemy’s ways, they will come back to plague us over and over again. God’s plan of annihilation is more pleasant in the long run. Numbers 33:55 says, “If ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell.” Read also Joshua 23:12-13.

 

4. YOU HAVE TO ENJOY THE LAND

 

In Joshua 1:15 it says, “Return unto the land of your possession, and ENJOY IT.” Maybe you have been complaining in your land? The devil would love you to be a “grumbling mother of children” but God intends you to be a “joyful mother of children” (Psalm 113:9). Perhaps you need to return and begin to enjoy it.

 

Isaiah 61:7 says, “In the land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them.” This joy is found “in the land,” not out of the land!

 

5. YOU HAVE TO LIVE GOD’S WAY, NOT YOUR WAY

 

It is the willing and obedient who enjoy the goodness of the land. Many would rather be a wife and a mother according to their own plans. But our selfish plans never succeed. It is only God’s ways that work. We are reaping a harvest of this in our society today with millions divorcing and the hurting children having to live between two worlds, the mother’s home and a different set of circumstances in the father’s home. This is not God’s plan for the land of motherhood.

 

Deuteronomy 5:33 says, “Ye shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess.”

 

And here’s another promise. When we do things God’s ways, we will be strong. Our marriage and family will be strong and the nation will become strong. When we turn from biblical ways, not only do we weaken the family, but we weaken the nation.

Deuteronomy 11:8 says, “Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land.”

 

The following are more Scriptures to read: Leviticus 25:18-19; Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 5-9, 14; 5:31-33; 6:1-3, 18; 12:1, 28, 32; 30:16; 32:46-47 and Joshua 23: 7-8.

 

6. YOU HAVE TO PASS THIS GOOD LAND ON TO YOUR CHILDREN

 

We cannot live isolated lives as parents. God is as concerned about the following generations as He is about the now. Deuteronomy 1:8 says, “Go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—to give to them and their descendants after them.”

 

Acts 2:38 reminds us that the promise is not just for you, but for “you and your children.”We must live in such a way that our lives will influence our children and grandchildren to live for God. We must teach our children so diligently that we can be sure that God’s ways will continue to be part of their lives in following generations.

 

Read also Deuteronomy 6:4-9; 11:18-23; 12:28; 31:12-13; 32:46-47 and

2 Chronicles 28:8.

 

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL
www.aboverubies.org

 

 

PRAYER:

 

“Dear Father, please help me to live in such a way that I will influence not only my children but future generations for your kingdom. Amen."

AFFIRMATION:

 

I love dwelling in my land of motherhood!