Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the Israelites to go forward. Exodus 14:15.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
I liken your life to a path that is like the dawn that gets brighter and brighter as you walk along. And that is how you reach your goal, not going backwards, not getting stuck in a rut, but always going forward to your high calling in Christ.
Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12-14.
When I redeemed the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt to give them the glorious freedom of My Covenant people, at the Red Sea they kept looking back and going into a panic. I simply told them to be still, calm down, to stop looking at what was behind them and go forward. Then I told Moses to raise his staff to part the sea. And that was all I needed to do a very great work of deliverance. You must go forward in faith.
And that was what finally stopped the redeemed Israelites from walking out their magnificent destiny, at the edge of the land I had promised to give them, they refused to go forward to their high calling. They wanted to go back to slavery or just wander in the desert rather than go forward in faith. I had assured them many times that I would send My angel ahead of them to open the way but they let doubt and unbelief ruin the beautiful plan I had for each of their lives. They simply refused to go forward. So they stayed in the place they were the rest of their lives, which was wandering in the wilderness with no particular goal or vision for their future. And without a vision the people are unrestrained and they perish. And all of those who refused to go forward perished in the wilderness having lived fruitless lives.
It grieved Me. They limited Me. I wanted to load them with benefits and lavish them with abundance, as I did for the first man and woman in Eden, but they would not. They deprived themselves of a life of wonders and miracles by complaining, blaming, doubting, fault-finding, and fearing. Be careful how you walk, death and life are in the power of your tongue.
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.” Matthew 23:37.
To go forward with steps of faith you must be willing to obey My Word. And that is walking by faith and not by physical sight. That is walking in the Spirit and not in the flesh. That is walking in the eternal and not only in the temporal. Do not let the circumstances control you, with Me you can control the circumstances. Just as Moses did at the edge of the Red Sea as the Egyptian army filled the canyon behind them.
For you who have faith in My Son, I have created you anew and in Him I have prepared a path of eternal life and it is filled with good deeds that I prepared for you in advance that you should walk in them.
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Ephesians 2:10.
Each day pray that My Kingdom come and My Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. And pray specifically that you walk out My Will for you for that day. Pray also that you not be put to the test, for the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.
This is the day which the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. O LORD, save us now! O LORD, send prosperity! Psalm 118:24-25.
Jesus went about doing good and healing all those oppressed by the devil for I was with Him. And He tells you why I was with Him, because He walked with Me. He listened to Me and only said the Words I said and only did the works I showed Him. He walked out what I worked in Him with reverence and awe. He knew My Words were words of eternal life so He stayed with those. You would be wise to do the same. Do not speak death and gloom and doom, as the Israelites did, speak My Words of life.
Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who works in you to will and to act on behalf of His good purpose. Philippians 2:12-13.
And how do you do that?
Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and perverse generation, in which you shine as lights in the world as you hold fast and hold forth the word of life. Philippians 2:14-16.
Each day walk with Me in steps of faith and keep going forward and you will complete your assignment on earth. Do not go back, even if you waste some years and take a wrong turn, I can get you back on the path right where you should be if you just keep going forward with Me. Return to My plan and proceed. My gifts and My calling for you are irrevocable and are not for another.
And that is the secret of redeeming the time that you lost, unfruitful days, idle days and years, when the devil stole your dreams through misrepresentation and deception, and you agreed and did not stand against him. Many of you blamed Me in those years when you put yourself in the darkness of the disobedient without even knowing you were.
The Israelites that lost the promised land never thought they were disobedient or rebellious to Me, though they were very much so, they blamed Moses and Aaron that they did not go into the promised land, and they grumbled against Me as well. They accused Me of not performing what I promised. But I had already performed it, they had only to take it by faith.
Anything done without faith is sin. And they spoke and acted totally without faith. They walked in the flesh by sight and not in the Spirit by faith. And I call that disobedience, sluggish, and idle. They cluttered up the ground and stopped others from their destiny or at least postponed it, as they did for Joshua and Caleb who were willing and obedient.
Now listen to what I say. If you are willing to obey and others stop you, as was the case with Joshua and Caleb, or even if you stopped yourself through the weakness of your flesh, if you will not give up the promise I have given you but keep walking steps of faith each day, keeping the vision in your heart, I will redeem that time for you by renewing your youth as I did for Joshua and Caleb.
Do you recall that as a sign to Hezekiah that I was redeeming time for him to add years to his life I made the sundial (time), shadow of the sun, go back ten steps? Isaiah 38:8. I am, I was, and I am to come. All are alive for Me. I added time where it had been. I am the LORD of time, space, and matter. I can interchange and rearrange but I work under the laws of the universe that I have put in place. Remember when I stopped the orbit around the sun for Joshua to extend the day so he had time in the light to conquer the enemy armies completely?
I can do the same for you by renewing your youth to go forward and complete your assignment despite the years lost. Think of Moses, he ran away from his destiny to deliver My people from slavery for forty years, but when he was willing to return and obey, I added another forty years to his life at age 80 and when he departed this life his vigor had not abated or his eyesight dimmed. In other words, he was in better shape at 120 years than he had ever been. He climbed a mountain and looked over the Promised Land with Me.
Thus the way I help you make up for lost years that were not fruitful in your life is by renewing your youth. And I put you on the fast track. You can soar with Me on eagle’s wings, run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint. I renew your youth like the eagle’s. Psalm 103:5.
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary; His understanding is beyond searching out. He gives power to the faint and increases the strength of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall. But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:28-31.
How did Joshua and Caleb keep their youthful vigor for 40 years in the wilderness while the others from their generation all died? How was it that their youth was renewed and, not just renewed but stronger than those of younger age? Caleb himself tells you the secret: He wholly followed Me. But how could that be when he did not go into the promised land at that time? He spoke My Word, that is My promises, and NEVER said anything different than agreeing with Me, and even though the doubters kept him from going in for over forty years, he never deviated from that word.
Then the sons of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the LORD said to Moses the man of God at Kadesh-barnea about you and me. I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought back to him an honest report. Although my brothers who went with me made the hearts of the people melt with fear, I remained loyal to the LORD my God. On that day Moses swore to me, saying, ‘Surely the land on which you have set foot will be an inheritance to you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the LORD my God.’ Now behold, as the LORD promised, He has kept me alive these forty-five years since He spoke this word to Moses, while Israel wandered in the wilderness. So here I am today, eighty-five years old, still as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me out. As my strength was then, so it is now for war, for going out, and for coming in. Now therefore give me this hill country that the LORD promised me on that day, for you yourself heard then that the Anakim were there, with great and fortified cities. Perhaps with the LORD’s help I will drive them out, as the LORD has spoken.” Then Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as his inheritance. Therefore Hebron belongs to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite as an inheritance to this day, because he wholly followed the LORD, the God of Israel. Joshua 14:6-14.
And the first day he spoke in agreement with Me over all the doubters tearing down My promises there at that at the edge of the promised land, though he was restrained from entering by his fellow Israelites, I called it totally following Me.
But because My servant Caleb has a different spirit and has followed Me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he has entered, and his descendants will inherit it. Numbers 14:24.
He had a different spirit, the spirit of faith. He believed in his heart and spoke with his mouth. And it saved him and renewed his youth.
And in keeping with what is written: “I believed, therefore I have spoken,” we who have the same spirit of faith also believe and therefore speak, knowing that the One who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in His presence. 2 Corinthians 4:13-14.
My Words are life to those who find them and health to all their bodies. You do not live on physical bread alone but on every Word that proceeds from My mouth. It is a good diet of My Words—hearing them, meditating on them, reading them, speaking them, and doing them makes all the difference in your prosperity, health, and youthful vigor.
My son, pay attention to My Words; incline your ear to My sayings. Do not lose sight of them; keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and health to the whole body. Proverbs 4:20-22.
The difference between Joshua and Caleb and the majority of about two million Israelites was merely in their words. Joshua and Caleb each fulfilled their unique destiny and got back all the years the devil stole. Every one of My good promises proved true for them, but not for the others. Do you see it clearly now? DEATH AND LIFE ARE IN THE POWER OF THE TONGUE. If you want to have the best life and walk out the good deeds I prepared for you in advance, then you must learn to guard your tongue and speak only My Words of life and never words of death.
By your words you are declared righteous and by your words you are condemned. You will be judged for every idle, useless word you speak. Just listen to the difference of how the people responded to the negative report brought back by ten of the twelve spies that went in to scout out the Promised Land compared to what Joshua and Caleb responded and you will begin to understand that your words do matter.
Then the whole congregation lifted up their voices and cried out, and that night the people wept. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness! Why is the LORD bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and children will become plunder. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” Numbers 14:1-3.
They are speaking death and accusing Me of planning evil against them. My plans for you are shalom and not evil, to give you a glorious future filled with hope. Now listen to Joshua and Caleb:
Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes and said to the whole congregation of Israel, “The land we passed through and explored is an exceedingly good land. If the LORD delights in us, He will bring us into this land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and He will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the LORD, and do not be afraid of the people of the land, for they will be like bread for us. Their protection has been removed, and the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them!” Numbers 14:6-9.
And did their encouraging words change the hearts of the congregation? No, it did not. Read on:
But the whole congregation threatened to stone Joshua and Caleb. Exodus 14:10.
Those who speak death with the world persecute and attempt to kill those who speak life with Me. Jesus summed it up in His prayer to Me the night He was betrayed:
But now I am coming to You; and I am saying these things while I am in the world, so that they may have My joy fulfilled within them. I have given them Your word and the world has hated them; for they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I am not asking that You take them out of the world, but that You keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I have also sent them into the world. 19For them I sanctify Myself, so that they too may be sanctified by the truth. John 17:13-18.
I love you. Keep going forward. If you have stumbled by your tongue it is not too late to take back control. Make a firm determination to speak only Words of life and trust Me to help you have it come to pass. Remember, the decision of Caleb and Joshua to speak My Words and follow Me was credited to them as totally doing My Will though they did not go into the Promised Land at that time. And it redeemed the time for them.
Pay careful attention, then, to how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to reckless indiscretion. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Speak to yourself and one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your hearts to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:15-20.