Day 3 | 40-Day Lenten Fast & Devotional

Early in the morning Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over. 2 After three days the officers went throughout the camp, 3 giving orders to the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the Levitical priests carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. 4 Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about two thousand cubits[a] between you and the ark; do not go near it. Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.” Joshua 3:1-5

Good morning, saints of God. This is, in fact, day three of our Lenten day devotional experience. I'm excited, as we've been couched into the subject matter of consecration, and as we close out this week on this wonderful Friday, one, if you could turn your attention really quickly with me on the book of Joshua, the third chapter, Imma, read first couple of verses in that.

"Early in the morning, Joshua and all the Israelites set out through Tim and went to the Jordan where they camped, before crossing over. After three days, the officers went throughout the camp, giving orders to the people. When you see the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, your God and the Levitical priest carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. Then you will know which way to go, since you've never been this way before. But keep a distance. About 2000 keepers between you and the ark. Do not go near him. Joshua told the people consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow, the Lord will do amazing things among you."

Amen, I love this, this passage of Scripture. We know that the children of Israel at this point in biblical and take what they were on the precipice of crossing over the Jordan River. Now the Jordan River is a major line of demarcation, so much so that even in their history, what happens is God tells them to place down stones so they can build a monument and or a reminder, to remind them of what God had done during this season. Jordan River was definitely deep enough that at this place and point, it could become treacherous for a group of people, not just a small group, but a people, a nation, to cross through. But God made a way out of no way.

I like what it says in the text, which is really he says, Listen, what I need you to do. It's only then when you see the Ark of the Covenant, you'll know which way to go, because where I'm getting ready to take you you've never been before. That blessed me, that in this season of consecration, in this season that God is getting ready to do some amazing things, but fear not. These are places you never been before. It's exciting, it's it's scary, it's all of those things. And that's why consecration is necessary, that God calls us to be separated in order to bring us into New Seasons, in order to usher us into new places, in order to take us places we never thought, dreamed or imagined. And so even though we're looking at certain areas and places where we feel like God is removing stuff from us, we feel abandoned and even sometimes alone. God is saying this is a space in your life that I need you to travel connected solely to me. And so consecration gives you an opportunity to be in tune with the Father, so that you can gain two things, number one, clarity, and then number two, guidance as it relates to where you're going in a world, in a time and place where we're asking, what is God up to?

Isn't it awesome to know that God will give you time to be consecrated so that he can reveal portions of his plan to move you forward by faith and by grace. So don't be dismayed. Don't be discouraged, and on this Friday, be intentional about saying, God, I want to spend some time with you so that you can put me in to the know as it relates to your plan, God, I want to be more like you, and therefore imma draw closer to you in this season.

So folks, on this wonderful Friday, consecrate us now. Oh Lord for thy service. Y'all be great today. Couple of things we have coming up, of course, as you know, this complete this concludes the first portion of our week. We'll start back with our devotional fresh, bright and early on Monday morning. I look forward to seeing you and blessing with you in that moment. In addition to that, of course, you know, we have services. We can, can't wait to see everybody on Sunday morning. Uh, God bless you and make today incredible. You.