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No Expiration Date!
Jon BurgessI am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. 12Now give me this hill country that the Lord promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the Lord helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.” Joshua 14:11-12
A promise 45 years in the making was about to come to pass. To Caleb, the promise from God that He would give him the hill country and defeat the giants of Anak was as fresh at 85 as it was 40! As far as Caleb was concerned the shelf life on a God promise was only limited by the faith life of the God follower. Any one of the orginal people of Israel could have taken God at His Word and taken the Promised Land 45 years ealier. Only Joshua and Caleb were willing to do so. God's promise hadn't changed even the though the hearts of His people had. God's plan hadn't changed it had simply been delayed due to disbelief.If God does not have an expiration date then neither do His promises! He's just waiting for someone to claim what already belongs to them! Want to stay in the fight? Keep God's Promise fresh by keeping it in front of you! Don't let the doubt, disillusionment, division, or desperation around you distract you from the Promise of God yet ahead of you!
It's fresh food that spoils the fastest. Vegetables, fruits, organic meat, fresh baked bread all go bad really fast. It's also much more expensive to buy fresh food. It's a lot cheaper and easier to buy the pre-packaged and processed. You can stick a twinkie on the shelf and never worry for a second that it will go bad! You also wont have to worry about keeping God's promises for long because you wont live long if you're living off of twinkies. God isn't giving us twinkie promises He's giving us eternal promises! They don't expire in heaven but we must keep them fresh through prayer every day. God's promises are eternal but they aren't instant. We must fight in faith agreement with the Father to see them come to pass. Jesus described it this way when facing the temptation to give up on the Father's Promise in the wilderness temptation: "It is written, Man shall not live and be sustained by bread alone but by every word and expression of God (Luke 4:4 AMP)." When Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 8:3 to the Devil he is doing what Caleb did in the wilderness. Refusing fear and attaching his faith to the permanency of God's promises. What is in front of me that is causing me fear? What is in front of me that is urging me to retreat, to take a short cut, to give in? When Cyndi talks to our boys about life she uses the phrase, "If it's cheap and easy it's not good for you." That's true in dating, food, and the spiritual promises by which we live. Don't except anything less then God's best for you. Keep His promises in front of you through daily prayer, devotions and worship. Keep His Promises fresh before you and you will never lose the fight inside of you to take the land ahead of you!
I thank You that Your promises have no expiration date. You are not limited by time. I don't want to delay your plan because of my doubt! I am fighting for healing for my Pop, for breakthrough for our church's buidling initiative, and for hundreds of souls to come to know You this Easter. I refuse to take a pass until Your promises come to pass in each of these areas. I will be confident in Christ as Caleb was "that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." (Phil 1:6)
