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Dear brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus, part of the growing repentance remnant, members of His flock, of which Jesus is the Shepherd (John 10:16), Jesus being the first to preach His gift of repentance (Matthew 4:17), now calling on each of us also to preach repentance (Luke 24:47).
As we come into the Feast of Tabernacles joy is commanded: Leviticus 23:40: "And you shall take of yourselves on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, and willows of the brook; and you shall REJOICE before the Lord your God for seven days."
The joy is appropriate because of our earlier repentance, turning back to God.
The more you repent, the closer you walk with Him. Wholly following the Lord is the path for each of us; it follows Caleb's walk with Him. God gave to Caleb and his children the promised land on which he had earlier walked because he wholly followed the Lord. (Deuteronomy 1:36; Joshua 14:6-14).
Then the children of Judah came to Joshua in Gilgal. And Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him: “You know the word which the Lord said to Moses the man of God concerning you and me in Kadesh Barnea. I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the Lord sent me from Kadesh Barnea to spy out the land, and I brought back word to him as it was in my heart. Nevertheless my brethren who went up with me made the heart of the people melt, but I wholly followed the Lord my God. So Moses swore on that day, saying, ‘Surely the land where your foot has trodden shall be your inheritance and your children’s forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord my God.’ And now, behold, the Lord has kept me alive, as He said, these forty-five years, ever since the Lord spoke this word to Moses while Israel wandered in the wilderness; and now, here I am this day, eighty-five years old. As yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in. Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said.”
And Joshua blessed him, and gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh as an inheritance. Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel. (Joshua 14:6-14).
Please join me in this prayer: " Heavenly Father, in Jesus' Holy Name, please help me wholly follow You. Help me take higher ground, advancing Your Kingdom, driving out the enemy with Your Love and Your Gospel and Your Wisdom. I repent for any way in which I was ever lukewarm; please give me the spiritual strength of a Caleb for today and the times ahead. Thank You for Your faithfulness, Lord. Help me take higher ground, all for Your Glory. In Jesus' Holy Name, Amen and Amen."
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