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Old 08-19-2010, 07:19 PM
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OneAccord OneAccord is offline
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Crossing over Jordan

Crossing over Jordan


Jam 4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

Back when I was in the ministry, I had many people come up for prayer asking me to pray for them to draw closer to God. I was always happy to pray for them and commend them for their earnest desire to grow closer to the Lord. but, at the same time, their request always perplexed me. I found myself thinking, “Why pray to draw closer… why not just BE closer to Him?” Maybe I was a little judgmental. I think we all could draw closer to the Lord, couldn’t we? I know I need to… so I guess I should just do it.

But, then again, maybe its not that easy. Maybe drawing closer to the Lord is a process… maybe a life long process. On the other hand, James makes it sound so easy… just “Draw nigh to God….”. The writer of Hebrews gives us a clue as to what it takes to draw “nigh unto the Lord”. Hbr 7:19 For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope [did]; by the which we draw nigh unto God. The Law never perfected anyone, but the “better hope” of having Christ in our lives draws us nigh unto Him.

But, still, drawing nigh unto God is a process. Speaking for myself, it seems as I move one step closer to Him, something happens, and I find myself taking 3 steps away from Him. Am I the only one who feels this way? Well, just pray for me, please, that I will draw closer to the Lord.


In the 2nd Chapter of 2nd Kings, we read the story of the aged prophet Elijah just about to be taken from this earth. His young protégé, Elisha, followed the man of God, knowing they would soon be separated. The two came to Gilgal when Elijah told Elisha: Tarry here, I pray thee; for the LORD hath sent me to Bethel. I looked up the word “Gilgal” and it means “ "a wheel, rolling". What an odd name for a town. In fact, Gilgal was so named in Jos 5:9: And the LORD said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach of Egypt from off you. Wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal unto this day. Gilgal was, in affect a place of repentance, when the reproach of sin is “rolled away” from our lives. Aren’t you glad you visited Gilgal and the Lord “rolled away” your sin by the power of the Blood of Jesus Christ? How great was the night He forgave and “rolled away” my sin.

So, from this reading of 2nd Kings 2, we find a repentant heart is necessary for us to draw closer to the Lord. However we should be warned: Don’t stay at Gilgal, follow the leading of the Holy Ghost. For, you see, many have remained at Gilgal thinking they must remain there to “earn” their salvation. These are they who “pray thru” at every revival meeting. These are they who think they aren’t doing enough to “earn” God’s love. They haven’t given up enough, or fasted enough, or lived holy enough to make it to heaven. They are insecure in their salvation and in their relationship with the Lord. They can’t trust the fact that salvation is by faith through the matchless grace of our Lord, who HAS bought and paid for our salvation. Leave the Gilgal of trying to “earn” your salvation and with a peace that passes all understanding, follow the Lord where He leads you.

Elijah moved unto to Bethel with the young Elisha right on His heels. Bethel means “the House of God”, surely the House of God is where the Lord wants us to be. And, yes, He certainly does want us to be involved in our local church. However, we should bear in mind that our service is to the Lord, and not to the church. I know people who go to church somewhere nearly every night, thinking this will somehow draw the closer to the Lord. How many evangelists have brought harm to his family relationship by being so involved with church that he neglected his family? How often do we have family prayer and Bible study at home with our families? No time to pray… no time to read the Bible. Got to get to church. Paint the church, mow the church yard, have a church dinner, church, church,, church, thinking this is the key to drawing closer to the Lord. It isn’t. Following the leadership of the Lord… being led by the Spirit of the Lord….that’s the key.

The next place to the two prophets came to was Jericho. You know, “Joshua fit the battle ‘round Jericho”… that Jericho. Jericho means “its moon“ or “the city of the moon”. Now we’re getting somewhere. The moon, that little ball of rock and dust, first visited by man on July 20th, 1969, revolves around the earth, held is its orbit by a mysterious force called gravity. It is, essentially, being pulled toward the earth by gravity. It is attracted to the earth. Do you see where I am going with this? We are making progress in “drawing nigh” to God when we are attracted to Him. When we follow the Spirit of God, we feel drawn to the things of God. We are drawn to the Lord just as surely as the moon is drawn to the earth. We want to pray and read our Bibles. We want to go to church and have fellowship with the family of God.

But, to really “draw nigh to God”, there is one other place we must go. And, this is the most difficult place for us to go. We must cross the Jordan River. Now would be a good time to mention the fact that following the Lord requires that we pass through the waters of baptism.. “Repent“, The Apostle Peter tells us, “and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remissions of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost”. But this isn’t about water baptism. Its about drawing nigh unto God. The word Jordan, means “descender”. It gets its name from the fact that the river “descends” from the mountains to the Dead Sea valley. The Jordan River descends into death. And, to draw nigh unto the Lord, that’s exactly what we do. Like John the Baptist, we must “decrease” so He can increase in our lives. Our desires, our wills must descend in order of importance so His will can be wrought in our lives. We must “descend” unto the death of our carnal natures so the Spirit of the Lord can reign in our hearts and lives. Our fleshly nature must descend unto death to allow His divine nature to overtake us.

Elisha followed the aged Elijah faithfully, and when God took the man of God away, Elisha came back across the river with an energized anointing. Our lives, our ministries, our churches would be energized with the power of the Holy Ghost if we would move past Gilgal, Bethel and Jericho, and go on across over Jordan as the Spirit leads.


RAC 8/19/10
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Old 08-19-2010, 08:38 PM
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Fiyahstarter Fiyahstarter is offline
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Re: Crossing over Jordan



Good stuff!
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