You, my sweet God-chosen friends, are Presence Carriers. Like the priest in the Old Testament, yet on a grander scale. The moment you give your heart to Jesus, His presence now lives within you. You don’t carry it like you would a special box or treasure in hand. The treasure lies within you.
The Bible talks about this clearly in the New Testament, I Corinthians 6:19. “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” (NKJV).
And then again saying, “We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves" (2 Corinthians 4:7, NLT). You are a Presence Carrier.
The Levites' obedience to carry the presence of God into the Jordan River in Joshua 3 made way for a nation to receive God’s promise. Now, God had promised them the exact same thing, but He asked them to carry His presence so others could receive first.
It’s one thing for us to believe that God has great things in store for us. That is absolutely true, but if we want to go to the next level in God, we have to realize that what we carry has the potential to lead nations into God’s promises for them.
It’s one thing to say, “God, I know you’ve got great things for me,” but we need to reach the point beyond that. The point where something rises up into our hearts and spirits with a determination that says:
“God, I believe every promise You said is true for me, but God, I want You to know that I will stand in this river and CARRY Your presence and Your promise for myself AND for others, so that a nation can enter into Your promised land.”
Do you have courage to carry for yourself and for others? Are you confident enough in God to stand and carry, while others pass you by into their promised land?
You see the Levites were the first to enter into the river but the last to step into their promised land.
Hold on there. Don’t pass over that.
It’s a principle that can change our lives from God’s word if we let it.
I can imagine the Levites’ internal dialogue as they watched hundreds of thousands cross over. They looked around in awe while at the same time a depth of understanding was born.
“I’m carrying Your presence and the representation of Your promise, and God, I feel the weight of that. But with my eyes I see women, men, and children who desperately need to enter the promise of God for their lives and I want You to know I’m willing to stand here as long as it takes for them. As long as you ask me to carry, I’ll carry. My time will come to cross over, Your word will not fail for me, but in this moment I am here to carry for them.”
Their love for God and love for others compelled them to stand there and carry His promise, His presence as a means for others to cross into all that He had for them.
Your obedience to carry makes way for others to enter into God’s promise.
The priests not only carried God’s presence for their nation, but for the generations to come. The Bible says in Joshua 4: “God spoke to Joshua: ‘Select twelve men from the people, a man from each tribe, and tell them, ‘From right here, the middle of the Jordan where the feet of the priests are standing firm, take twelve tones. Carry them across with you and set them down in the place where you camp tonight ... When your children ask you, ‘What are these stones to you?’ you’ll say, ‘The flow of the Jordan was stopped in front of the Chest of the Covenant of God as it crossed the Jordan—stopped in its tracks. These stones are a permanent memorial for the People of Israel" (Joshua 4:1-7, MSG).
The priests stood there while a nation crossed over, while Joshua selected twelve men and while those same men came and carried away huge stones, one for each tribe, from the exact place the priests were standing. Those stones were then used to build a memorial for generations to come, to remind them of all the miracles God had done.
Your courage to carry does not go unnoticed in the eyes of God. After all these things took place, the Bible says, “When the crossing of all the people was complete, they watched as the Chest of the Covenant and the priests crossed over" (Joshua 4:11). Everyone watched as
the priests stepped into their promise.
Allowing others to enter their promised land doesn’t negate the promise of God for your life.
Don’t look around and become discontent when God has called you to stand and you see everyone else moving. Don’t become discontent with simply carrying. Carry well this year and watch God do a miracle for you and for others that surround you. Let God reaffirm the "why" behind what you are putting your hand to this season.
"Your time will come as you carry well. You're carrying will impact generations to come."
Photo Credit: Pixabay from pexels.com
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