In the future, your children will ask you. "What do these stones mean?" Then you can tell them, "They remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of the Lord's Covenant went across. These stones will serve as a memorial among the people of Israel forever.
Joshua 4: 6,7, NLT
During a special message to commemorate my church's move into our new sanctuary, my Pastor gave each of his members a stone. He asked us to write a special message on our stone so it could be placed in the corridor between the old sanctuary and our new one. In the future, when new members joined and asked what the stones meant, we would tell them of the time in our church's history when God helped us cross over from our old sanctuary to our new one.
Like the crossing of my church from its old sanctuary to the new, the Israelites finally crossed over the Jordan River into their long-awaited Promised Land. After they crossed, Joshua, their new leader, assigned twelve men from each of the Israelite tribes to pick up twelve stones from the Jordan River. Twelve stones to build a memorial to remind the Israelites of future generations of what God had done for their people.
With the help of the Lord, have you crossed a "Jordan River" in your life today that at first seemed uncrossable to get the promised land God has for you? Then before you begin the next step of conquering your promised land, take a moment to pause, rest, and reflect on the great achievement that has recently occurred in your life. And to gather twelve smooth stones to build your memorial.
Sharing the Word,
Jeaninne
Today's prayer: Father, thank you for helping me cross over my Jordan River. May my life always serve as a memorial to you of how grateful I am for helping me get to the promised land you had waiting for me. Amen.
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