Jesus is the Promised Land

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I’m feeling very blessed these last few weeks. Our lovely friend Liz came to stay after her surgery and after a few days at home with us we retired to the seaside to recuperate together some more.

I cann’t decide if the highlight has been watching Liz walk further and more freely each day ; or her grateful heart at being able to cook us pancakes; it might be  how we’ve sat together in an evening acknowledging the day’s progress; watching sunrises over the sea is definitely a contender;

 or our youngest daughter swimming and playing. Maybe it’s been the leisurely afternoons in castles grounds and the provision of a wheelchair so everyone could be involved. Eating fresh fish has been a joy. God’s grace in healing and strengthen is evident.  His Presence bringing peace and refreshment as we’ve fellowshiped together.

 We had a BBQ on the beach one day and treated ourselves to some prawns. Have you every seen such a big prawn? It was a giant!

Then I had some oysters and they were giant too.

We visited an historic cinque port and strolled by the river. The gaint supplies were present there too. This time in lights.

 Seeing oversized items reminded me of the men spying out the promised land for Moses. Their report after 40 days was that everything in Canaan was oversized and big.

• one bunch of grapes had to be carried between a pole carried by two men. They must have been the size of apples!
• the people were ‘all tall’
• the walls to the city were all ‘large and strong’
• the descendants of Anak ( giants) lived there

The men’s reports were large too. 10 gave a report on how large the challenges were- so gigantic it was not possible to possess the land.  Joshua and Caleb gave a bigger report on their confidence in God  – that He would do what He had promised.  They had a large understanding of who God was. They had a huge confidence  that God was good.

Many of us have promises from God and I’m holding some from years and years ago. What I’m beginning to understand in a deeper way is that the promised land and fulfilment is found in Jesus not in the answer or what I think it looks like. 

Everything in the promised land is meant to be large and oversized but it starts when we rest securely in a magnified awareness of who Jesus is.  When He is the main focus taking up the way we view things our gratitude is larger; our love flows greater; our relationships are more meaningful and our blessings manifest because His kingdom is appearing. 

The promised land is the presence of Jesus living like the truth was true. Seeing all the oversized items made me realise how I’m in the promised land with other areas of my life. We’re seeing Jesus reveal who He is to us more and more.

I’m really stuck by Job’s words in Chapter 42 when he says, ‘I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear but now my eyes see you’.  God’s plan for this world has always been that what He spoke actually happened. Think of creation when He spoke and light happened, land and sea were formed, animals and people. Then The Word, Logos, became flesh and dwelt amongst us. That very Life giving Presence became Jesus. 

 I believe we are entering a time when all the study and theological information we have on who God is from a ‘church’ setting, is suddenly going to burst out of the limits we have created or  perceived as Kingdom is exposed. The Spirit is yearning , along with all of creation for us not to just hear about God but actually experience and see Him. We are meant to receive a fullness of God not only a part of it. Hearing about God, of course increases our faith and hunger but as we press on to know Him He reveals more of who He is to us in our own lives and the circumstance we find ourselves in. There are no giants of lack or circumstance that limit us, no  illness that binds us when our eyes are open to see the huge gift that is Jesus.  I’m not denying the existence of those things but I recognise that Jesus reveals another facet of the diamond He is as He turns towards us. The Light of His Life anchors us. Peace floods us as Jesus overshadows the constant view.  The promise is already given – Jesus gives us Himself – and I am watching Him grow larger in my understanding and heart as fullness blossoms more and more. We not only hear but see God tangibly.

So I want to encourage you to join me in asking God for a revelation of more of who He is to us, so that the eyes of our hearts are enlightened to grasp how wide, deep, strong and long His love for us is. That our spirits would fathom the gigantic gift of Jesus. He, Himself, simply is enough. I think we’ll be surprised and flooded with joy as we notice all around us that we have already entered the promised land because Jesus is Present.