FROM MANNA TO FRUIT OF THE LAND

Joshua chapter 1




Today we are walking in: From Manna To Fruit Of The Land




Exodus 3:18


And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beseech thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, H4057 that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.




Today we look to the word-WILDERNESS- H4057 midbar --wilderness, pasture, uninhabited land




The Torah testifies.......................................




Genesis 16:7


And the angel of the LORD found her by a fountain of water in the wilderness, H4057 by the fountain in the way to Shur.




Exodus 4:27


And the LORD said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness H4057 to meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him.



Numbers 14:33


And your children shall wander in the wilderness H4057 forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. H4057




Deuteronomy 1:31


And in the wilderness, H4057 where thou hast seen how that the LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place.





The prophets proclaim..................






Isaiah 42:11


Let the wilderness H4057 and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit: let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains.



Isaiah 43:19


Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, H4057 and rivers in the desert.



Jeremiah 9:12


Who is the wise man, that may understand this? and who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD hath spoken, that he may declare it, for what the land perisheth and is burned up like a wilderness, H4057 that none passeth through?



Ezekiel 20:13


But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: H4057 they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, H4057 to consume them.






The Writings bear witness.............








Joshua 1:4


From the wilderness H4057 and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.




2Chronicles 1:3


So Solomon, and all the congregation with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon; for there was the tabernacle of the congregation of God, which Moses the servant of the LORD had made in the wilderness. H4057




Nehemiah 9:19


Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: H4057 the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should go.



Psalm 65:12


They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness: H4057 and the little hills rejoice on every side.



Psalm 78:15


He clave the rocks in the wilderness, H4057 and gave them drink as out of the great depths.





From Manna to Fruit


Joshua 1:3 Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses. (NKJV) It is not news that The Most High has called His Citizens of His Kingdom to a walk of prosperity. It was not news that The Most High had promised Israel a Promised Land. They knew that for hundreds of years, but yet somehow, we find ourselves in the wilderness eating manna.Perhaps that is you right now. The Most High has given you a promise. You can see the possibility of your Promised Land. We have had many prosperity teachers come along and teach, “Yes, you are to be blessed. Yes, The Most High has promised you healing. Yes, The Most High has promised you that spouse. The Most High has given you all these promises...” But yet, you tithe, you pray, you fast, and The Most High is not unfaithful. You have indeed eaten of your manna. Just enough before you lost hope, you got your little manna wafer, your little bit of honey on your tongue to remind you of His grace, to remind you of His goodness. But, Citizens of His Kingdom of The Most High, I am here to tell you that the time of manna is coming to an end and the time of eating from the land has come. Here is the problem though. We are so used to giving our little tithe and doing our little prayer, but tell me something - how much of that has brought the promise to pass? We have this strange thinking that if The Most High has given you a promise, you will wake up one day and “boom” that promise will just be upon you. Well, the Israelites had their promise for hundreds of years. So, tell me, why didn’t they wake up in Egypt one day with the Egyptians handing them the key to the city? Come with me, because I am taking you through a transition today. I am leading you into your year of promise. The time of manna has come to an end. Are you tired of your little wafers morning, noon, and night? Are you tired of the crumbs from off of the table that remind you that there is a greater blessing? There is a whole big roast lamb on that table, but all I am getting is a little wafer when The Most High has promised me the buffet. Yet, I find myself eating from the crumbs. It’s not like we are ungrateful. Let me tell you, it’s not like this is all The Most High has for you. The Most High has more for you than some crumbs. The Most High always has had more for the children of Israel than a few wafers. That just sustained them for the bigger picture. It had its purpose. Let’s not “dis” the manna. It had its purpose. The manna was for a season. A season of what? To build up their strength, to position them, and to prepare them to enter into the Promised Land.
MAKING THE TRANSITION
After The Most High said to Joshua, “I have given you this land,” He didn’t leave it there. In verse 7 it says, Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.
8 This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Most High your The Most High is with you wherever you go. (NKJV)
It doesn’t say, “And the Most High your The Most High is with Himself wherever He goes...” Wherever you go, The Most High goes with you. Where are you going today? You see, it’s time to make that transition. I am here to tell you that with the transition, the rules are going to change. As such even now, we will begin to see the teachers and rise up at a new level as never before. Why? Because it’s time our mindsets change, Citizens of the Kingdom of The Most High. It’s time that we realize that if we are going to enter the Promised Land, and put away our season of manna, the rules must change. They had strict rules in the wilderness. You collected for six days, double on the sixth, eat on the seventh - very strict rules. Things changed up when they entered the Promised Land. They could pick their fruit any day they wanted to. They weren’t limited to two little grapes. Two little grapes, that’s enough for you? No, He said, “I have given you cities that you didn’t build. You are going to eat off of vines and figs and fruit trees that you never planted.” An abundance, a land flowing with milk and honey. Not a sip or a sliver of a taste. Not one wafer, but an abundance.
FIRST THING YOU WILL NEED - YOUR SPIRIT IN LINE
With that abundance comes a change of rules. The rules are laid out in Joshua 1:7-9. You are going to need to do a little more than pray and tithe if you want your Promised Land.
1. OBEDIENCE
The first thing you are going to need is obedience. What did the The Most High just say there? He said, “Observe the law!” With every promise comes an instruction, through the Word, through your life. You look at the promise and say, “I am so excited, we are going to take the Promised Land. We are going to take over! I am going to have a new house. I am going to have a new car...” Then you forget to read the small print... there is always small print. Even for Joshua, there was small print. But, how full of hope was the Most High? “Don’t be afraid Joshua. Be strong and of courage. Obey to the letter of the law and I will be with you wherever you go, as you walk out obedience. I indeed will be with you every step you go!” First, we need the teachers to teach us these new principles so that we know how to take this land. Then, secondly, we need to come and be reminded of the power, the anointing, and the miraculous hand of The Most High that will move the mountains. We tend to overswing. We tend to try and take the mountain all by ourselves and then we give up and go back to the wilderness, and then complain because, “Well, The Most High didn’t give me my Promised Land!” Did you take it His way, with His power?
2. FAITH
You are going to need faith. “Be strong and courageous, trusting in The Most High completely!”
3. HOPE
Then, you are going to need hope. You are going to have to focus! I love what it says here. It says, “Meditate on the promises day and night.” Focus. What do you meditate on day and night, child of The Most High? Are you meditating on the promises or are you meditating on the impossibility of your circumstance, or are you meditating on your little wafer of manna? What are you meditating on? Whatever you are meditating on, you are going to see it come to pass in your life. So, right now I want to challenge you: what have you been meditating on? What has consumed your mind, your emotions, your will? Has it been conflict? Has it been fear? Has it been guilt? Has it been anger? What has it been that you have been meditating on? Has it been peace, blessing, and the promise The Most High gave you? Because when you meditate on the promise of The Most High day and night, it focuses your spirit, your soul, your body. As you walk out in obedience, and in faith, you are going to see that land open up before you. 4. LOVE
Most importantly, you need a reality of His love. He said, “I will be with you wherever you go! You are not on your own.” You know, things really were shaken up between the manna season and the Promised Land season. In the manna season, the people cried out, “Most High, we are hungry,” and The Most High gave them manna. But, when they entered the Promised Land, that very day, the manna stopped. The day that they ate from the fruit of the land, the manna stopped and the rules changed. Instead, The Most High put a sword in their hand. They didn’t need to fight for their manna. They just had to seek the The Most High and trust Him. They had to go out and do a little bit of work to gather their manna every day. You know, He gave them their daily bread. You get up at 5 am to go to work. You make your daily bread. The Most High blesses you in your workplace, He blesses your children, you have a nice life, but yet, somehow you are saying, “Where is my Promised Land?” When they stepped into the Promised Land, the Gentiles in the region didn’t lay the keys of the city down at the feet of the Israelites and say, “Please help yourselves to our fig trees, and our vines, and our cities that we built.” This is your season of promise. Let me ask you this - are you willing to fight for it? Because the second thing you are going to need in order to take your promised land is weapons training.