You Don't Get There Until You Leave Here

Devotional

Day 1: Wilderness Seasons Have Expiration Dates

The wilderness was never meant to be eternal. For forty years, the Israelites wandered, surviving on manna and temporary shelters, until their doubt died with the old generation. God uses wilderness seasons to strip away fear, build resilience, and prepare hearts to receive promises too weighty for unprepared hands. But stagnation becomes rebellion when the lesson is learned yet movement is refused. The Jordan waits for those ready to trade survival for conquest. [39:18]

“The Lord our God said to us at Horeb, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Break camp and advance.’” (Deuteronomy 1:6-8, NIV)

Reflection: What wilderness mindset have you outgrown? Where is God nudging you to stop collecting manna and start claiming land?

Day 2: The Jordan Is a Threshold, Not a Barrier

The Israelites camped at the Jordan’s edge—a river separating their “what was” from their “what could be.” Like the Red Sea, this obstacle wasn’t a blockade but an invitation for God to confirm His faithfulness. Stepping into swirling waters required trusting that obedience unlocks miracles. The river didn’t part until their feet touched the current. Promises remain dormant until we move toward them. [46:14]

“As soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing.” (Joshua 3:15-17, NIV)

Reflection: What “Jordan” have you been staring at instead of stepping into? What first step can you take this week to activate faith?

Day 3: Giants Are Proof the Promise Is Near

The same land that terrified the Israelites’ parents energized their children. Giants weren’t setbacks but signposts: the bigger the enemy, the greater the victory God planned. Wilderness-tested faith sees obstacles as evidence that the promise is within reach. What once made you retreat can now make you roar. [44:40]

“We saw the Nephilim there… We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” (Numbers 13:33, NIV)

Reflection: What “giants” have you avoided that might actually mark the doorstep of your promise? How has your wilderness journey equipped you to face them?

Day 4: Miracles Confirm, Not Create, Your Calling

God didn’t part the Jordan to convince the Israelites to cross—He parted it because they’d already decided to move. Miracles often follow boldness, not precede it. The church’s last-minute venue miracle wasn’t a lucky break but confirmation of obedience. When you act on what God has whispered, He thunders through the details. [49:32]

“Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.” (Joshua 3:5, NIV)

Reflection: What step of obedience have you delayed, waiting for a sign? How might taking action unlock God’s confirming miracle?

Day 5: Your Next Chapter Waits on Your Surrender

Joshua didn’t negotiate with the people—he declared, “In three days, we cross.” New chapters demand releasing old rhythms. The Israelites left manna-collecting routines to embrace harvests they didn’t plant. God can’t fill hands clinging to yesterday’s portion. Letting go isn’t loss—it’s making room for abundance. [35:11]

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, NIV)

Reflection: What comfort of the wilderness have you held onto that’s now blocking your promised land? What will you lay down to pick up what’s next?

Sermon Summary

Joshua 3 finds Israel at the end of forty years in the wilderness, and the question rises plain: how long are they going to stay there? Israel’s first generation had left Egypt but kept looking backward whenever life got tight. Their doubt turned a forty day scouting trip into forty years of wandering, because they could not trust God with a land He had already promised.

The wilderness, however, was never meant to be their permanent address. The wilderness had an assignment: to develop them, mature them, and get them ready for what God had next. God did not withhold the promised land because He had forgotten His word. God withheld it because a people still thinking like grasshoppers could not handle giants, inheritance, or responsibility. A new generation comes of age with a new mindset. The giants are still there, but now Israel is ready to fight.

Joshua arrives with a clear assignment: get the people into the promised land. Joshua does not spend years trying to convince everybody to move. Joshua tells them that in three days they are going in, and the people get ready. Faith cannot remain a sideline belief. It is one thing to believe God will make a way, but it is another thing to walk up to the door, put a hand on the handle, and act like the way has already been made.

The Jordan becomes the boundary between an old chapter and a new one. Israel cannot see the next miracle while remaining stored in the place whose work has already been completed. God brings them to the river because every new chapter needs a miracle that seals the deal. The parted Jordan gives Israel something to remember when future battles get hard: God did this before. God showed up in the last transition, and God can show up again.

The call is not to pretend that the journey will be easy. The call is to trust that God has prepared His people to do difficult things. Seasons of waiting have an end date, because God prepares people not merely so they can say they are prepared, but so they can become something. The next chapter opens when faith takes the first step. God’s provision through every prior wilderness day becomes evidence that the next storm will not have the final word. It is time to go forward, sow the seed, serve, get connected, make the decision, and believe that God has His people every step of the way.

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Key Takeaways

1. The wilderness has an assignment [39:18] The wilderness is not proof that God has abandoned His promise. The wilderness can expose fear, break old thinking, and build strength for what comes next. God may delay possession because the heart needs preparation, not because the promise has expired. The right question becomes, “What is this season working in me?” [39:18]
2. Faith must act like it believes [33:47] Faith is more than agreeing that God can do something. Faith walks toward the door, reaches for the handle, and trusts God with the outcome. Doubt often disguises itself as endless waiting for confirmation. God’s word sometimes requires movement before every detail is visible. [33:47]
3. Preparation must become forward movement [41:37] Waiting on God is holy, but eternal waiting is not the goal. God prepares people so they can become what He called them to be and do what He assigned them to do. A season can be complete even when the next step still looks hard. The transition from waiting to action requires discernment, courage, and obedience. [41:37]
4. Remember the Jordans God parted [49:32] God gives His people moments that become anchors for future faith. The miracle at the Jordan was not only for that day’s crossing but for every later battle that would tempt Israel to fear. Past provision becomes evidence that God remains present in present need. A remembered testimony can keep faith from collapsing under a new challenge. [49:32]
5. New chapters require new decisions [54:51] God’s next chapter does not open while people remain paralyzed by old mindsets and postponed obedience. The decision to move forward may involve connection, service, generosity, healing, or a long-delayed calling. God has carried His people through too much for fear to write the final chapter. The first step does not deny the difficulty, but it declares that God is greater than it.

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Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[28:16] - It’s Time
[28:37] - Forty Years in the Wilderness
[30:29] - The Cost of Not Trusting God
[32:31] - Faith Gets Off the Sidelines
[35:11] - Joshua’s Assignment to Lead
[37:35] - Stop Singing Shoulda, Coulda, Woulda
[39:18] - The Wilderness Did Its Job
[41:37] - Learning When to Wait and Go
[43:39] - Ready to Face the Giants
[46:14] - Walking Into the Next Chapter
[49:13] - The Miracle That Seals the Deal
[54:51] - It’s Time to Go Forward
[57:10] - Time to Get Connected and Serve
[66:14] - Consecrate Yourselves for What’s Next

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Joshua 3

Early in the morning Joshua and all the Israelites set out from Shittim and went to the Jordan, where they camped before crossing over. After three days the officers went throughout the camp, giving orders to the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, and the Levitical priests carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it. Then you will know which way to go, since you have never been this way before. But keep a distance of about two thousand cubits between you and the ark; do not go near it.”

Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you.”

Joshua said to the priests, “Take up the ark of the covenant and pass on ahead of the people.” So they took it up and went ahead of them.

And the LORD said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses. Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: ‘When you reach the edge of the Jordan’s waters, go and stand in the river.’”

Joshua said to the Israelites, “Come here and listen to the words of the LORD your God. This is how you will know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites. See, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan ahead of you. Now then, choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. And as soon as the priests who carry the ark of the LORD—the Lord of all the earth—set foot in the Jordan, its waters flowing downstream will be cut off and stand up in a heap.”

So when the people broke camp to cross the Jordan, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant went ahead of them. Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground. [26:29]

Observation questions

What instructions did Israel receive before crossing the Jordan, and what was the purpose of following the ark?
What did Joshua tell the people to do before God performed amazing things among them? [01:06:25]
What had changed between the generation that feared the giants and the generation standing at the Jordan? [39:18]
What happened first at the Jordan: did the water part before the priests moved, or when their feet touched the water? [49:25]

Interpretation questions

Israel was told to follow the ark because they had “never been this way before.” What does this show about the need to follow God’s presence and direction when entering an unfamiliar season?
The Jordan was at flood stage, yet God told the priests to step into it. Why might God call His people to obey before they can see how the obstacle will be removed? [33:47]
The wilderness was not Israel’s final destination, but it did prepare a new generation for the promised land. What kind of growth might God be developing in a believer during a difficult or delayed season? [40:15]
The crossing of the Jordan gave Israel a fresh memory of God’s power before the battles ahead. How can remembering God’s past provision strengthen a believer facing a present challenge? [49:32]

Application questions

Is there an area of life where fear, disappointment, or old thinking has kept you standing still? What would it look like to take one wise, faith-filled step forward this week? [54:03]
A wilderness season can expose what needs to change in a person’s heart. What lesson has a recent hard season been working in you—patience, courage, trust, discipline, forgiveness, or something else? [43:22]
Faith is more than believing God can open a door; it is also walking toward the door and putting a hand on the handle. What “door” have you been praying about but avoiding in practical action? [33:56]
What is one “giant” in front of you right now—a difficult conversation, financial decision, calling, habit, health concern, or relationship—and how might God have been preparing you to face it? [43:39]
Think about a Jordan God has already helped you cross. What specific story of provision, healing, protection, or guidance do you need to remember when fear starts speaking again? [52:44]
Is there a next step toward connection or service that you have delayed? What would make it possible to move from “I have been meaning to” to a clear action this week? [57:10]
Joshua called the people to consecrate themselves before what God would do next. Is there an old mindset, limiting belief, unhealthy pattern, or unresolved issue that needs to be laid down as you prepare for a new chapter? [01:06:31]

Sermon Clips

52s

#BelieveAndAct

“Because the question I wanna pose for us is, what if God's not waiting to do it? What if he's waiting on us to believe it's possible? What if God is saying, I told you it would be yours? I'm just waiting for you to actually believe it. Hear this. And act like it. That's gonna step on somebody's toes today. Because it's one thing to believe it. It's another thing to act like it. It's one thing to believe that God will make a way. It's another thing to act like the way he's already made. It's one thing to believe that God's gonna open the door. But it's another thing to walk to the door, put your hand on the handle, and know that it's gonna be open when you turn it.”

59s

#StrengthThroughTrials

“Sometimes we think the journey's supposed to be easy When really God's saying the journey won't be easy, you'll just be prepared to handle it. The task won't be won't be easy that you're gonna go through, but you will have the strength to do difficult things. Oh, is there anybody who knows there've been some seasons in your life where it seemed like all hell was breaking loose, that there were attacks coming from everywhere, but then you had to pause and realize I'm still standing. That I'm going through hell, but the keyword is I'm going through it. That everything that's trying to destroy me is failing. I may have some scars, but at the end of the battle, my hand is raised, and I'm going to the next chapter. And all this time in the wilderness, they learned something critical. There may be giants there, so we're gonna learn how to fight.”

51s

#NewGenerationReady

“The wilderness was never supposed to be their eternal resting place. And after the spies came back and they doubted, god said, no. I gotta get you all ready. Because if I give you the promised land right now, you won't be able to receive it. If I do it for you too quick, you won't be able to fully enjoy it. So I'm gonna use the wilderness to get them ready. But now a new generation has come of aid. All the doubters are gone, and this is the key. And the people have a new mindset. They no longer think the old way. They no longer see things the old way. But now they are, here this, and this is the key word, ready for what God has for them.”

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Rev. Joshua A Thomas This sermon · AI assistant

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