Smorgasbord Tuesday: Beef Jerky

Joshua 3:6-13

Joshua said to the priests, "Take the Ark of the Agreement

and go ahead of the people." So the priests lifted the Ark

and carried it ahead of the people.
7 Then the Lord said to Joshua, "Today I will begin to make you great

in the opinion of all the Israelites so the people will

know I am with you just as I was with Moses.

8 Tell the priests who carry the Ark of the Agreement

to go to the edge of the Jordan River and stand in the water."
9 Then Joshua said to the Israelites, "Come here and listen

to the words of the Lord your God.10 Here is proof that

the living God is with you and that he will force out the

Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites,

Amorites, and Jebusites.11 The Ark of the Agreement with

the Lord of the whole world will go ahead of you

into the Jordan River.12 Now choose twelve

men from among you, one from each of

the twelve tribes of Israel.13 The priests will ,

the Ark of the Lord, the Master of the whole world

into the Jordan ahead of you. When they step into

the water, it will stop. The river will stop flowing

and will stand up in a heap."

This particular passage has opened up my eyes to give me some new understanding on prayer. In this passage God asked the priests to go ahead of the people into a river of water. What did it take for the priests to do this? It took faith and action. Did they go alone though? No, they went with the Ark of Agreement in their hands. What did the Ark of Agreement contain? It contained the Master of the whole world in it.

One thing that I enjoy doing is interceeding on behalf of others. This story opened my eyes of what we sometimes do as intercessors. Sometimes there is a river preventing the people of God from moving through into the "promised land." We as intercessors can gather together and step into that river in faith. We don't step in alone, though, but we step in carrying the promises of God, the agreements He has made with His children. When we step in we are preparing the way for the people of God to move through on dry land to the other side.

The priests stayed in the river until everyone was across. Sometimes as intercessors, we get tired, but remember who and what you are carrying and wait in the river till everyone makes it across!

So these are just my thoughts... Something for you to chew on (beef jerky is chewy and takes awhile to swallow. This my cause some of you to pause and think, and that is a good thing).

Enjoy, Jaime