What To Do When You Enter Your Promise Land

I recently moved about two months ago which is why my blog has been fairly silent. I moved out of a city I had lived in since graduating college and a place that has pretty much shaped and defined my 20s. 

The life the Lord had lead to me live in LA was hard in many aspects but for so long, it was the only life I knew.  I shared a small space with my best friend, worked two jobs, served in my church at a high level and for the past 2 and half years had to navigate living in the big city in the middle of the pandemic. In the middle of all of that, I have been dealing with all the ongoing inner healing and heart issues Gods been addressing in me. In short, I was living in my wilderness. 

So moving was a breakthrough. I bought my first home (at a miracle price and accelerated timing), moved to my dream city and dream church and got to do it alongside my best friend. By all matter of things, it has by far been the greatest moment of my life of increase and miracles and when I think about Gods faithfulness, it brings me to my knees. 

So now I’ve been in a place of transitioning from the wilderness to the promise land. And I wonder if others reading this can sense the same transition now or the same transition coming. So when we face that moment like the Israelites of coming out of the wilderness and into the promise land, what do we do next? 

Adjust Expectations 

“The very next day they began to eat unloved bread and roasted grain harvested from the land. No manna appeared on the day they first ate from the crops of the land and it was never seen again. From that time on the Israelites ate from the crops of Canaan.” Joshua 5:11

How God moved in the wilderness is different than how He moves in the promise land. As soon as the Israelites began to eat of the fruit of the promise land, the manna that had sustained them in the wilderness disappeared. Imagine if the Israelites still expected manna instead of cultivating and harvesting thier own food? They would have been stuck in old expectations of God and would have been disappointed. In a new season and a new environment, it is important that we not remain expectant on how things used to be but to reframe how things now operate in the promise land.

Steward the Increase 

“Everything made from sliver, gold, bronze or iron is sacred to the LORD and must be brought into his treasury.”
Joshua 6:19

The promise land is filled with blessings and increase. But the most important thing is to know what we are to do with that increase. There were spoils of battle that the Israelites were told they can keep but some where they were not and meant to offer to the Lord. The entire treasure from Jericho was meant for the LORD and someone even disobeyed by keeping some and died. I would say to be careful not to keep for yourself what God intended for you to offer up or it may cause a spiritual death, which means a distance from his heart. The increase in the promise land I believe is for us to share and to continue to give out because that is the kingdom. Always know what is bread to eat and seed to sow and don’t be surprised if there are seasons where it is more seed to sow than bread to eat, especially when living in the increase of the promise land. It is because we are trying to cultivate a hundredfold harvest, not a one time fruit. 

Be Prepared to Fight 

“I promise you what I promised Moses: ‘Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you.”
Joshua 1:3

There are giants in your promise land and you are intended to fight. The promise land was not handed to the Israelites, they had to fight and partner with God for the victories. 

But what I believe this is intended because God wants you to realize that you’ve become the giant. God could have easily defeated all the giants in the land himself but there was a reason He designed it this way. Originally, the Israelites felt small compared to the giants (Numbers 13:33) and God had to take them back through the wilderness, I believe, to show them that they are not small but big in Him! Entering into your promise land and encountering giants isn’t God’s punishment to you or even a test to see if you can withstand the battles – I believe it’s his intention to teach us who we are to be in our promise land, conquerors! 

Go and Build!

Entering into your promise land is a significant shift from purging into reigning. You go from tests of the heart in the desert to becoming who you are and establishing the position you are meant to occupy and build what God has intended you to build. I believe this is a season for all of God’s body to begin entering in their promise land after a long season of wilderness. The key is to recognize it and to step into it with purpose, intention and most of all joy!