Beware, you may not like what the Word has to say today...
A tough message for the Church:
"but the hill country shall be yours. For though it is a forest, you shall clear it, and to its farthest borders it shall be yours; for you shall drive out the Canaanites, even though they have chariots of iron and though they are strong." (Joshua 17:18 NASB)
Why is that so interesting? A forest is a thicket, a intertwined mix of branches that form a place of safety or refuge from the world around. It is a place that lacks cultivation. A place to run to to escape the distress of the world. Could it be that we have allowed the Church to become a forest? Jesus said we are the branches and He is the vine (John 15:5). Have we become so afraid of the world that as branches we have decided to interweave ourselves with other branches and have unwittingly created a forest that others cannot run into and we cannot get out of? Is God asking us to clear away the forest so that it can be cultivated land? What are chariots of iron? This is personal for my family, clearly for us they are cars. When we think of the car industry where do we think? Detroit.
Jesus, help us through Your Holy Spirit to clear away the forest so the land can be cultivated. May we not be afraid of those strongly entrenched forested areas but rather see them as land ready to be cultivated so that new seed may be sown to produce a harvest.
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