Stay Faithful To God When You Walk Into Your 'Promised Land'

“When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land He has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe His commands, His laws and His decrees that I am giving you this day."

- Deuteronomy 8.10-11 // NIV

When God [YHWH] brings you into your 'promised land', do not forget His ways, His commands... do not forget Him.

Picture this: you've won your sweet ride of victory in the Promised Land, and are living in God's promises and blessings. You remain faithful for a time. Stay true to Him. It's so easy to follow Him right now because you're living in the high of breakthrough. Then the temptation comes, the subtle compromises; your promotion at work requires you to compromise and disobey God, and you give in. You tell that little lie, your heart entertains feelings for your colleague and it shows as you flirt with him. Church becomes a place you go to occasionally. Your Bible collects dust. And God has not seen you in a long time in the same place you once spent with Him daily. Slowly, you drift away. Holy devotion turns into willful disobedience. Your blessing becomes your god, and you have forgotten your First Love. You are in a place where you have forgotten the One who brought you into this place and blessed you with breakthrough.

"It is [only] eleven days’ journey from Horeb (Mount Sinai) by way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea [on Canaan’s border; yet Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty years before crossing the border and entering Canaan, the promised land]." - Deuteronomy 1.2

. patterns of disobedience, self-sabotage, and unfaithfulness to God do you see? If God were to give you all that you've ever asked for today, would you be faithful to Him still?

The wilderness is a place for the Egypt inside of us to die so our characters can handle the place God is taking us.

It's often said that God doesn't take back His blessing or gift. In some cases, yes. In most cases, that's not true. That's a lie that has led many to disobedience and has cost them dearly. Look at King Saul as an example.

It can be hard to notice the subtle (and even not so subtle) ways that we can forget God or forfeit our entry into the place God has for us. Here are a few ways (to name and list only a few):

1. Being ungrateful and complaining. You do NOT want this to be you - ask the Israelites.

2. Disobedience to God's commandments in the bible - the 10 commandments and the teachings of Jesus (God, the Son) who taught us that if we love Him, we will obey Him (John 14.15).).

3. Disobedience towards God and not doing what He has placed in our hearts to do. This could be a business idea, using your gifts (unique talents and skills), helping someone, etcetera.

4. A poor attitude (I could write pages on this).

5. Purposely sinning after knowing that what you are doing is wrong - this is blatant disregard for God's commandments and for God Himself. It is a sign of hard-heartedness and pride. It's a gigantic symptom of someone who does not have reverence towards God.

6. Not changing patterns of habitual self-sabotage and not letting go of bad habits - e.g. procrastination, fear, laziness, avoidance, etcetera.

7. Forgetting the places God brought us out of and what He did for us. It's not good to dwell on who we used to be or on the past, but it is good to remember what we once were from the lens of what God did for us so we remain forever grateful (and avoid repeating the mistakes that brought us there).

   
   

There's great news for the person that has given their life to Jesus - you don't have to do this life alone. From the moment you choose to accept Jesus's gift of salvation and follow Him, God gives you His Holy Spirit to help you on your walk with God (John 14.16).

God loves us too much to give us something that He knows will crush and destroy us in the end. The wilderness can be painful, but a life filled with 'everything' but God is like a flesh-eating disease that you don't notice until your heart stops beating... but, by then, it's too late.

"Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is One [the Only God]! - Deuteronomy 6.4a

So, what is it that God requires of us before the He takes us into our 'promised land'? Let's learn from Deuteronomy.

1. Commit to being fully devoted to Him. (Deuteronomy 6.4b)

   When a woman and man get married, they are committing to putting their 100% into the relationship - no 'halvsies'. God requires the same - for us to love Him. He won't force us, but if we commit to loving Him, it means that we do so with all our hearts, minds, hearts... God loves us. It's about time that we love Him back.
   

2. DON'T CHEAT ON HIM! (Deuteronomy 6.14)

   The moment you enter into a romantic relationship with someone, you stay true to them. You commit to being in an exclusive relationship. If the woman were to start running off with other men, or vice versa, that would be cheating... right? Then why do we accept that standard for God? Each time we put an idol before God, it's equivalent to cheating on Him.
   

3. Be holy (set apart). (Deuteronomy 7.6)

   God is jealous for you. He has chosen you as His own - His very special treasure. It's important not to take this for granted and live just anyhow. The God who created all you see now and all you can't see with the naked eye chose you. How you live, dress, talk, walk, behave, think, act, eat must change and be aligned with God's holiness.
   

4. When things are going well for you, don't forget Who gave it to you. (Deuteronomy 6.10-12)

   'Don't bite the hand that feeds you' is such a common saying. Likewise, don't forsake the God that's about to bless you (the One true God). Keep Him as your prize - your pride and joy. The things God gives you are not your inheritance. He is.
   

5. Do not test Him. (Deuteronomy 6.16)

   After being brought out of Egypt, at a place called Massah, despite witnessing many miracles and God's physical presence, the Israelites grumbled against God, complained and questioned His presence. Think about it for a second...:

   1. they SAW God as a literal pillar (whirlwind that touched the skies) or fire and cloud

   2. they SAW all He did to the Egyptians

   3. they walked on DRY ground when God used Moses to part the ocean...

   ...and yet, this was their response. Your jaw must be on the ground as you wonder, "How on earth could they do that?" Mine's on the ground, too. It's easy to be shocked by their behaviour, but the truth is that any one of us can fall into this trap when we miss the next point below.
   

6. Fear Him (Deuteronomy 8.6)

   Since Adam, we've been missing this mark - i.e. we have not been fearing God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, it is our protection, and it is something that Jesus (God's Son) delighted in. To fear God isn't to be afraid of Him. It is to worship and obey Him with awe-filled reverence and to have a profound respect for Him. When we lose the awe of God, we lose sight of who He is; we lose sight of Him, and we become like the Israelites that left Egypt, saw God, and chose to entertain the Egypt inside of them.

   
   

I encourage you to read Deuteronomy chapters 6 to 12 (or start from Genesis) for the full picture. This is just to wet your appetite for the Word of God!

God promises long life and that you will prosper in the 'promised land' that He has waiting for you at the other side of this transition period (if you obey and fear Him). However, He promises destruction if you don't. God is love, but in His love He is also the Righteous Judge. He warns us of the destruction that a life outside of Him will cause, and the consequences of using His gift and breakthrough to serve ourselves. God sees all and loves us enough to warn us ahead of time. On the flip side, all things belong to God. That means that as the Righteous Judge and owner of all things, it is His right to take it away what He gives when it is misused.

Oftentimes, God will not give us what we pray for because we are not ready for it. Sometimes, He will give us a taste of what we want, knowing fully that we will misuse it; He does this to reveal what we need to work on so that we can be ready for the real thing. But sometimes, He gives it to us because we have rejected Him consistently and He decides to give us over to the idol we are pursuing instead of Him (Exodus 33.3). Do you really want that, though?

Be holy (set apart) as your Father is holy.

The bible teaches us to love one another as Jesus (God's Son + also God) has loved us. I can't profess to love God and love you if I do not speak these words to you in love. A win for one in the body of Christ is a win for all - whether I know you personally or not - because it is a win for Him (God - Father, Son, Holy Spirit). I want to see you succeed. I want to see you win. I want to see you stay and thrive in your 'promised land'... more than anything, so does God.

The foundation has to be right in order for this to be so.

If this post is for you (you'll know). God has taken you out of some dark circumstances, experiences, and lifestyles. You've been in a wilderness, and if you've stayed true to God's process, He's about to reward that by bringing you into the place He has been preparing you for. Now that you're here, about to walk into everything that you have been praying, crying, working, and planning for you, I give the same warning and blessing to you as the Israelites received before they walked into the land God promised:

“When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day."

 - Deuteronomy 8.10-11 // NIV

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Jesus loves you [.... so do I].

- Pamela.

Jeremiah 29.11