“Achan replied, ‘It is true! I have sinned against the Lord, the God of
Israel. This is what I have done: When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe
from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold weighing fifty
shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my
tent, with the silver underneath.’” Joshua 6:20-21 (NIV)
Joshua 1:
1-6 says, “After the death of Moses the
servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: ‘Moses my
servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the
Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. I will
give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your
territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the
Euphrates—all the Hittite country—to the Mediterranean Sea in the west. No one
will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with
Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. Be strong
and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore
to their ancestors to give them.’”
God was
taking the Israelites into the Promise Land; however, they could not go in with
sin in the camp. They were commanded to
go against Jericho, kill all the people, and destroy everything. They were to burn the city completely. They were not allowed to take any
plunder. (Joshua 5:13-6:27) After the victory over Jericho, Joshua sent
out spies to check out the land of Ai. When
the spies returned they told Joshua that the entire army did not need to go up
against them, only to send two to three-thousand. Joshua took their advice and when the army
went up against Ai, Ai routed them and thirty-six men of Israel were
killed. Joshua was devastated. He tore his clothes and fell on his face
before the ark. God spoke to him and told
him that there was sin in the camp. The men had been routed and killed because of one man’s sin. Joshua,
following God’s instructions, figured out that it was Achan who sinned. After confronting him and hearing his
confession, Achan, his family, and his livestock were taken outside the camp and
stoned to death. Then his personal
possessions were all burned. As long as
there was sin in the camp, God could not bless Israel. (Joshua 7)
God has a
Promise Land for each of us. It may be a
calling yet unfulfilled, a desire He has placed in us, or maybe even a
territory to take for the Kingdom. Regardless
of what/where our Promise Land is, if we are not careful, we, like Achan, can
fall into the trap of believing the lies of the enemy. When we do, things get buried under our “tent.” When there are things buried under our tent,
God cannot take us into our Promise Land.
Achan’s sin
started when he believed the lie that his own desires took priority over the
command of God. He placed his desires
ahead of what was best for the entire nation, thus costing many lives and loss.
“The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill
and destroy.” John 10:10a Satan would love nothing better than to see our
lives destroyed and our Promise Land unreached.
He will do everything in his power to do just that. We must daily evaluate our lives to ensure
that we don’t have anything hidden under our tent to hinder the move of God and
His blessing in our lives. There are
many things that could be under our tent:
1. Hidden Sin
2. Lies of the
enemy that we have believed
3. Unfulfilled
dreams that we have allowed to come between us and Christ
4. Selfish
desires
5. Un-yielded areas
of our life
6. Past hurts
7. Past regrets
8. Unreasonable
expectations of ourselves and others
Following
are two examples of things that were “hidden under tents” in the Bible. Please
note that when the individual repented, God forgave and right relationship with
the Father was restored, however, when no repentance was demonstrated the consequences
were drastic.
Hidden Sin:
“Late one afternoon, after his midday
rest, David got out of bed and was walking on the roof of the palace. As he
looked out over the city, he noticed a woman of unusual beauty taking a bath. He
sent someone to find out who she was, and he was told, ‘She is Bathsheba, the
daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite’ David sent messengers to
get her; and when she came to the palace, he slept with her. She had just
completed the purification rites after having her menstrual period. Then she
returned home. Later, when Bathsheba discovered that she was pregnant, she sent
David a message, saying, ‘I’m pregnant.’” 2 Samuel 11:2-5 (NLT).
David slept with another man’s
wife. If that wasn’t enough 2 Samuel
goes on to tell us that after he got Bathsheba pregnant, he had her husband
killed and took her as his wife to cover it up.
When David was confronted by the prophet Nathan, he repented. There were consequences he had to face (the child
of his union with Bathsheba died), but his relationship with the Father was
restored.
Selfish
Desires/Believing the Lies of the enemy:
“But there was a certain man
named Ananias who, with his wife, Sapphira, sold some property. He brought part of the money to the apostles,
claiming it was the full amount. With his wife’s consent, he kept the rest.
Then Peter
said, ‘Ananias, why have you let Satan fill your heart? You lied to the Holy
Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. The property was yours to
sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was also yours
to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren’t lying to us but
to God!’ As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the floor and died.
Everyone who heard about it was terrified.
Then some young men got up, wrapped him in a sheet, and took him out and
buried him. About three
hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked her, ‘Was
this the price you and your husband received for your land?’ ‘Yes’” she
replied, ‘that was the price.’ And Peter said, ‘How could the two of you even
think of conspiring to test the Spirit of the Lord like this? The young men who
buried your husband are just outside the door, and they will carry you out,
too.’ Instantly, she fell to the
floor and died.”
Ananias and Sapphira
desired to “look good” in church by donating money for the care of the body. However, they also wanted to keep something
for themselves. They didn’t want it to
be known that they did not donate all they had received. They believed the lie that it was ok for them
to lie about the price of the land they sold in order to keep up the appearance
of complete generosity. It is safe to
assume that their hearts were not repentant because God struck and killed them
in church. If their hearts had been
repentant, God would have forgiven them.
The Word tells us, “But if we
confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all wickedness.” 1 John 1:9 (NLT)
God’s desire
for our lives is holiness. “For the Scriptures say, ‘You must be holy because I
am holy.’” 1 Peter 1:16 (NLT) Part of being holy is removing those things
hidden under our tents. As we confess
and repent, Jesus will give us the strength to walk away from them. He will provide the freedom we need to turn
our back on them and live holy lives. He
does the work of freeing us, but we must walk in that freedom, meaning we must
keep free.
In
ministering to young people, my husband and I have watched many young people
receive healing and freedom, only to go back into that sinful lifestyle or
habit again. They failed to daily
crucify their flesh and once again latched onto the lies of the enemy. We have also seen young people who received healing
and freedom and embraced that freedom by daily crucifying their flesh and who
are today walking as free men and women.
Many of them have reached their Promise Land and are doing amazing
things for the Kingdom.
The choice
is ours. We can ask the Holy Spirit to
shine His light “under our tent” and reveal any area that needs submitted to
Christ or we can ignore the call and live with the consequences.
Your
Promise Land
By Melissa Larabee
All your cares, your hopes, and dreams,
your ups, your downs, the in-betweens, place them all into my hands, I’ll lead you to Your Promise Land.
Don’t lose heart, don’t fear or dread.
Simply cling to what I've said.
My grace is yours each day and night. Remember I have won the fight.
Grasp your sword, dig in and see that in
me you have victory.
I've never failed you in the past. Do you doubt my grace will last?
Those doubts are planted in your
heart. The enemy is such a fart.
He lies and tries to get his way. His
reward he’ll get some day.
Until I choose to take you home, remember
you are not alone.
I have Your Promise Land in sight. Just don’t grow weary in the fight.
The battle rages on and on. It’s always darkest before the dawn.
My strength is yours when you ask. I know you are up to the task.
I've gifted you with peace and grace. Look to me and seek my face.
I am all you need to win, in this battle
against sin.
As we look beneath your tent, it was for
this my life was spent.
My cruel death upon the tree was to
ensure your victory.
So dig things out without delay. Over
each item kneel and pray.
I
want you free from lies and sin; I long
to give you peace within.
As we work on the things we find, you’ll
receive more peace of mind.
I know it hurts as we push through, but I
am right here beside you.
Your Promise Land is up ahead. Just remember
what I said.
My grace and strength, peace and mercy
too, are always there to see you through.
Cling
to me and don’t turn back. For in me
child you’ll have not lack.
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