ON THE VANGUARD

CROSS OVER
"That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok."
Genesis 32:22

Over the past few days I have been thinking about a few important people in my life. Recently I felt encouraged to write them a letter. As I began writing, I began to see you, the reader, in my mind. I began to wonder how many of us may be going through the same frustrations and issues as those dear to me. With that in mind, I felt I was to share the body of my letter with you, in hopes that you would also be encouraged.

"I wanted to take a moment and give you a little encouragement. I am by no means trying to sound 'preaching', but I have noticed that you are struggling with where God is in your current situation. So I prayed and felt God was laying a few topics and verses on my heart as a reminder to you.
"First, do not let the fire die. We both at one time had a deep passion for God. We knew He was real and we knew we wanted to be used by Him. What I have learned over the past two years today as an officially divorced guy, is that all the desires and dreams God gave me back as a child I still have today. If I let my passion for God die, then I let my passion for who God has created me to be also die. Sure, life is hard. I will never know the exact problems and issues that you are currently facing. But I do know mine. I do know that when life seemed bleak and I wanted to die, God gave me the strength to keep going on. I also know that as I rested in His strength, He began to make me again.
"That feeds into the second point I have been hearing God say. He is making things new. You have the hope and promise of a new place, just as Israel had the hope and promise of the Promised Land. It is real, and it will really happen. This place will define you and who God is calling you to be. Please do not get discouraged that it has not happened yet, for God makes all things good in His time. But again, rest in Him. God will use the weeks that follow to prepare you for what He has for you once there. Allow Him to work on you. Do not doubt Him or what He is doing behind the scenes. We are not God; we see through a dirty lens. It looks terrible now, but God is making something new. The bitter tears and clouds of sorrow now, will become the steps God uses.
"I also feel that God is not done with you. You have lost some of who you are, but God has not lost or forgotten you. Again, He is working behind the scenes. But I also feel to mention that all the qualities you may look at as the negatives right now, such as age, location, present situations, they are not obstacles to God. I have been there myself. I contemplate at times, who will want a guy with a rap sheet like mine, years of bondage, fear of rejection, old-er, divorced, kids. Do girls even take a second look knowing all that I have/had. But God is showing me that He is not done. I am reminded of Moses. He left the 'fun' (Heb 11:25) and look what God did with him. We are not to sell ourselves short, for in so doing we are belittling our God. On the heels of this thought I feel encouraged to share with you Jude 3, contend for the faith, and verse 20, build yourselves up in the faith. Yes, we are getting smacked around, but it is no time to sit and take it. It is time to remember who we are in Christ and live it.
"The last point I feel to share with you comes from Genesis 32:22. 'That night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two maidservants and his eleven sons and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.' The river Jabbok is only mentioned 7 times in the Bible. Why is this one so important for me to bring it up? Because all the other 6 times it is mentioned it states that the person only came up to it. Here, the person crossed it. It is time for us to cross over into what God is doing. We have come close many times, but have turned back in fear, pressure, or other obstacles. But this time let us not shrink back but cross over. The land we leave behind is only holding us down. The land the lies ahead is the Promised Land that God has for us. Do not lose the passion, do not listen to the enemy about how worthless he thinks you are, and do not consider yourself done. It is time to cross over."

Now I ask you. Are you swallowed up in your problems and think that surrendering to them is the answer? Then I say to you just as to my friends, God is not done. He is still making you, and shaping you. No, pain is not fun. But after the pain is gone, our eyes are opened to the benefit from the pain. I encourage you to stop coming up to the Jabbok and turn in fear. Stop thinking yourself worthless, that you have nothing to offer, that the world would benefit from your absence. It is high time we cross the Jabbok and live. Cross the Jabbok, and join me ON THE VANGUARD!