We can step into our truest identity by seeing with new spiritual lenses. Have you ever had the experience of someone’s words continuing to, “ring in your ears” long after they were spoken? That was certainly my experience following the day our Aglow group spent with Asher Intrater and his Revive Israel team on the final day of our trip to Israel this past April.
Increased Understanding
I would say the understanding of our commitment to Israel continues to unfold and become more focused as we unite with Messianic Jews in the land. They are the tender shoot of believers in Yeshua that is growing in accord with scripture related to the return of Jesus in Matthew 23:39.
This year, the reality of Romans 11:17 was expanded as we realized that as Christians, we aren’t only there in a supportive way “for” the Jewish people. As grafted-in-ones, we are there “as” them. We are not replacing them as a nation, but are certainly coming alongside them in a way that is deeper than just being there “for” them.
I think of it like a couple giving birth to new life. The husband doesn’t call from across the room saying, “I’m here for you.” No, he is by her side, identifying with her in her pain. He is engaged in the process as their future unfolds at this time of birth.
We can step into our truest identity by seeing with new spiritual lenses.Have you ever had the experience of someone’s words continuing to, “ring in your ears” long after they were spoken? That was certainly my experience following the day our Aglow group spent with Asher Intrater and his Revive Israel team on the final day of our trip to Israel this past April.
Increased Understanding
I would say the understanding of our commitment to Israel continues to unfold and become more focused as we unite with Messianic Jews in the land. They are the tender shoot of believers in Yeshua that is growing in accord with scripture related to the return of Jesus in Matthew 23:39.
This year, the reality of Romans 11:17 was expanded as we realized that as Christians, we aren’t only there in a supportive way “for” the Jewish people. As grafted-in-ones, we are there “as” them. We are not replacing them as a nation, but are certainly coming alongside them ina way that is deeper than just being there “for” them.
I think of it like a couple giving birth to new life. The husband doesn’t call from across the room saying, “I’m here for you.” No, he is by her side, identifying with her in her pain. He is engaged in the process as their future unfolds at this time of birth.
No Longer a Gentile
Asher commented on the fact that we had been grafted in saying, “Remember, you are no longer a Gentile and now all of the promises given to the Jews are yours.”
I thought of the scripture in Romans 11:17 which states, “You were grafted in among them and with them became partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree.”
I thought further about all that God had promised Abraham centuries before.
God would make of him a great nation. He would bless him and make his name great, and he would be a blessing.
He also made a covenant with Abraham regarding land:
To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates.” Gen 15:18-19
Then, as Israel was about to cross over the Jordan and enter into the land, Moses spoke strong words of direction and encouragement to the people.
I have set the land before you. Go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to your fathers – to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Deut 1:8
Do not be terrified or afraid of them. The Lord your God, who goes before you, He will fight for you, according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes. Deut 1:29-30
What God promised centuries before was about to come true. Israel had incredible prophetic purposes hovering over them, just waiting for the time of fulfillment. They had just come out of a place of imprisonment and a time of wandering in the wilderness because of unbelief and fear.
Now as they prepared to enter the Promised Land, they faced a turning point in their history. They faced new foes, new battles, and new upgrades.
Go In and Possess
35 times Moses exhorts the people to, "go in and possess" the land. He reminds them again and again that this is the land that The Lord is giving them. “Do not be afraid of them for the Lord your God is with you!”
The unifying theme throughout the Bible is the redemptive activity of God. Deuteronomy reminds the people that the Spirit of God had been with them from the time of their deliverance from Egypt. The key was total belief and trust in God.
Your Land of Promise
God told the Jewish people that the land He was giving them was a land of milk and honey, filled with fruit. It was obviously a place of provision.
The giants in the land were not to be feared. God would help them overcome all of their enemies until they fully possessed the land He had spoken to them of.
Truth for Today
How true this is for the present day believer. You have a promised land that is to be possessed, a place of fruitfulness, provision and a place of overcoming. When we talk about the Promised Land we are talking about walking in the fullness and abundance of all that God has for us.
For New Testament believers, it is receiving all that God has done for us in Jesus. Then it is the ongoing process of allowing the Holy Spirit to re-program our inner disposition towards negative thinking, anxiety, discouragement, despair, a sense of inferiority or a victim mentality; transforming us into the fabulous new identity we have been given in the person of Jesus Christ, who now lives within us to make us in His image. That is our truest identity. We no longer need to live our life subject to those negative thoughts and behavior patterns. We have been freed from it all to rise to a higher life.
Because we have grown up in the world’s system with the world’s way of thinking we find, like the Israelites who were slaves for 400 years, we have a certain mindset that is very limited and restrictive. It is always fighting against the new identity that Jesus paid for. But rather than wandering in a wilderness place as they did, we can step into our truest identity by seeing with new spiritual lenses, and by reframing our thinking and our language in line with His thoughts about us.
Do you realize that when God said to the Israelites that they should not fear or be dismayed, He was really saying that they should not live with a negative mindset any longer? Rather, they should HAVE ANOTHER THOUGHT!
The mind of the flesh is hostile towards God. It fights against the mindset of God.
This is what the language of Heaven is saying...
To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Ro 8:6
The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. Ro 8:2
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. Ro 8:14
Let’s use the same language about ourselves that He uses...in prayer, in worship, in declaration and proclamation...so that our personal territory is continually expanding.
Today is the day to have a total change of heart and mind. It is time to renew and to reframe our mindsets and our language to speak the language of Heaven.
We have moved into our land of promise. Let’s use the language of our new location. Let’s slay every opposing giant that comes to lie against our true identity.
A Royal Priesthood
But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. 1 Pe 2:9
That portion of scripture is rooted in God’s call to ancient Israel in Exodus 19:5-7. The truth of it comes to its prophetic fulfillment in the New Testament believer. There are Messianic, Israeli Jews who are also walking in the grand fulfillment of this Heavenly purpose of God, spoken from the beginning.
Full Circle
The promises of God are coming full circle. Listen to His word.
Have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not!
But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy,
Salvation has come to the Gentiles.
Now if their fall is riches for the world,
and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness! Ro 11:11-12
What God promised centuries ago is beginning to come to pass.
He said He would have a people in the earth who would express His image.
Claim your personal promised land and walk in the fullness of who He is.
Believe for a great outpouring of revelation to turn the Jewish people to see Yeshua for who He really is; their Messiah, their Deliverer, and their Redeemer.
We will walk as one in the Promised Land.
God is looking for testimony in the earth now, even in the midst of our current darkness.Who of us can even fathom the brutality of all that is taking place in Iraq?
