Steadfast

Steadfast!

I was going to say, “today we have stepped back from the brink”, but I was interrupted with the word “No, step forward!”

There can be no retreat, there will be no surrender, for we have come too far, to retreat from our destiny, from our purpose!

We came to Melbourne from Sydney 16 years ago in response to the word “choices”. A sermon that confirmed our course, a direct word from the Lord that spelt out in simple words, all that we had asked, all that we had heard, and clearly directed our path! The sermon was from a preacher we had never heard before, in a church, in a denomination that we had never been part of, but it was like the Lord himself speaking to us!

The thrust of the sermon was about choices, centered around Abraham and Lot, with Abraham choosing the wide open space over the comfortable secure Sodom. What comes back to me was the thought “When you walk in the purposes of God, your way is secure and steadfast”.

The Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt to the point of no return, to a place they could not turn back from, as they were pushed forward by their captor, their enemy.

Exodus 13:17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God led them not by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was nearer; for God said, Lest the people change their purpose when they see war and return to Egypt.

We remain steadfast to His purpose, unwavering to his course.

Acts 11:23 When he arrived and saw what grace (favor) God was bestowing upon them, he was full of joy; and he continuously exhorted (warned, urged, and encouraged) them all to cleave unto and remain faithful to and devoted to the Lord with [resolute and steady] purpose of heart.

We don’t step back from the brink, we step into the brink, expecting God to part the way, show us the path, that we may cross over and possess the promise.

Joshua 3:15-17 And when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were in the brink of the water—for the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest— Then the waters which came down from above stood and rose up in a heap far off, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those flowing down toward the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt [Dead] Sea, were wholly cut off. And the people passed over opposite Jericho. And while all Israel passed over on dry ground, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan.

He stands in the midst whilst we cross over to possess the promise.