On The Verge Of Canaan

I know, now, why so few ever inherit the promises: inheriting the promise requires faith and patience. I am also getting a good idea of what faith and patience are.

Faith, I’m discovering, is a belief so strong that it controls my behavior. Patience is what brings faith to the fore at every obstacle. Without the two, I know I would never inherit the promise.

For years and years I struggled to believe that God had made me promises, and/or that He had any real intention of following through, particularly in the face of my complete inadequacy. This past winter, when I recognized that I had reached my promised land, I rather thought that the big fight was over, and that it would be easier from here on out.

I wasn’t entirely correct.

Mind you, when you have faith and patience, everything is easier. The fight of faith is much easier than the fight to have faith, because in one case you’re fighting with God on your side, and in the other you’re really fighting against God. No comparison there! What I didn’t understand, however, was that the fight was only beginning.

When you’re wandering around in the wilderness of doubt, you are truly your own worst enemy, and, for the most part, you don’t even have any other enemies. There aren’t many who will bother opposing someone who is wandering aimlessly around, fighting with himself! It is a completely different story, when it comes time for you to take possession of what God has promised to you. Resistance is inevitable.

I am having a real adventure, these days, because the Lord is challenging me to enter all of my inheritance, little by little, at the same time. This means I’ve hired help for my business while I’m recording my next CD while I’m planning an addition to my house and trusting the Lord to heal my gums. Among other things.

I have need of patience. Stuff doesn’t go as I’d planned. I am certainly not sorry I embarked on any of what I’m doing, but I frankly didn’t expect to have a recording session in which I sang for two hours and could not get so much as one good, usable track. I didn’t expect to have a gum infection that would last for weeks. I didn’t expect to have so many disruptions in the flow of my work days. I didn’t expect the drawing of building plans to be such an ordeal. I didn’t expect certain of my associates to so strongly oppose what I was doing. I didn’t expect all of that, but all of that has happened.

Two years ago, it would have been enough to make me throw up my hands and quit. And then be depressed for days or weeks. But now the Lord has brought me to the verge of my promise, and He has given me faith and patience.

If it takes the rest of my life, I will inherit the promises!

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