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In Judges 18:9-10 we read, "Let's go for it! Let's attack. We've seen the land and it is excellent. Are you going to just sit on your hands? Don't dawdle! Invade and conquer! God is handing it over to you, everything you could ever ask for."

Nothing is ours unless we take it! Joshua 16:4 tells us "the children of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, took their inheritance." In Obadiah 17 we read that "the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions." Proverbs 28:10 says "the upright shall have good things in possession."

We need to have appropriating faith in regard to God's promises. We must make God's Word our own personal possession!

A child was asked once what appropriating faith was. And the answer was "It is taking a pencil and underscoring all the me's and mine's and my's in the Bible." Take any word you please that He has spoken and say "That word is my word!" Put your finger on this promise and say, "It is mine!"

How much of God's Word have you endorsed and receipted and said, "It is done." How many promises can you look at and say, "Fulfilled to me." The father said to his once-prodigal son, "Son, thou art ever with Me, and all that I have is thine."

Don't let your inheritance go by default. Someone once said, "When faith goes to market, it always takes a basket." It's time to start standing on His promises, and not just sitting on the premises!

Here is your copy of firstIMPRESSIONS, Volume 10.17. Live for God, on purpose, launching out by faith, and taking hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of you!

Get Ready to Cross the Jordan

What are you doing? Anyone ever ask you "what are you doing?" I want to ask you what you are doing – but not just what are you doing this minute – but more than that, what are you doing with your life?

Many people today have no real ambition. No goals. They aren't really living for anything, other than simply enjoying their life the most they can. But, they will find out sooner or later that living to simply enjoy life will bring ever-diminishing results and rewards.

Too many believers have felt God's touch, and sensed His direction in their life, but through the years have been disappointed too many times, become discouraged at how their life has been going, and end up simply settling for less than the Lord had intended for them in their life.

It's time to stop "settling!" God has something special for you and your life! Perhaps you feel as though you have been wandering in the desert of your life for a long time. But, the Lord wants you to know that its time to cross the Jordan River into the land the Lord has promised you!

In Joshua 1:2-3, God says "get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land... I will give you every place where you set your foot." God had already promised them the land. They could see the land on the other side of the river. It was time for them to cross the Jordan and take possession of what was theirs!

Today, God wants His people to take possession of what is theirs – what He has promised them. Yet, so very few believers ever step out in faith and cross that river. There are some critical instructions the Lord gives to Joshua to prepare them to cross the Jordan. If we as believers ever want to see our God-given dreams, goals and desires come to pass, we need to hear these same instructions, and walk in them!

You won't want to miss this Sunday's message here at WFA, as we "Get Ready to Cross the Jordan!" It will change your life!

The Pilot and the Rat

The modern jet on the runway was a beauty. It was equipped with the latest technology and weaponry. The jet could fly at supersonic speeds, and quickly race to great heights. If an enemy plane were in the vicinity, the jet's pilot could destroy that plane miles away, before the plane's pilot could even see him.

An Air Force pilot climbed into the jet and off he flew, leaving the earth far behind as he soared above the clouds. Although no one was looking, the pilot straightened himself in his seat. He was naturally proud of his jet, and of himself for qualifying to fly such a sophisticated mode of transportation.

After he reached cruising altitude, the pilot heard a strange noise. It sounded like something gnawing on rubber or plastic. Peering down below the instrument panel, to his horror the pilot saw a rat, out of his reach and gnawing on the main electrical wire between the jet's controls and its engine. If the rat were to cut through that line, the jet would careen out of control, and crash immediately.

The pilot's first instinct was to descend – an emergency landing. But he had flown so far that there was not enough time to land. So he decided to ascend – maybe the rat couldn't survive at a higher altitude. The pilot put on his oxygen mask, boosted power to the jet's engine, and quickly climbed as high as he could go. Soon the gnawing sound ended. When the pilot landed safely, he found the rat – dead.

How does this apply to our lives?

The pilot was highly trained, at the top of his profession. His equipment was the best that technology could provide. But his safety was threatened by the appetite of one of the most primitive of animals – a rat.

Like the jet pilot, we live in a world of high technology. Robots make our clothes, microwave ovens cook our food, cordless telephones carry our voices, and computers analyze our cars. And yet our lives are also affected by many things people faced centuries ago. Hate, jealousy, and dishonesty continue to exist. We are still plagued by temptations to strike out in anger, cut corners to get ahead, and toy with the truth.

And something else has not changed: most people say they want to be delivered from temptations, but really would like to keep in touch with them. You see, we know certain things are wrong, yet we still flirt with them. As our power of resistance weakens, we think that one small compromise of our principles won't matter. But it does. Lying down with dogs has unhealthy results, and so does compromising with wrong.

Take care to avoid being lured into moral and ethical trouble. Build a wall of protection around your life by shunning anything that promotes or gives credibility to unwholesome attitudes. Read Scripture, meditate upon its truths, and do your best to live by them. Those steps will lead you to new spiritual altitudes. Just as the hungry rat could not survive at high altitudes, sinful appetites cannot survive at such spiritual heights.

"The righteous will hold to their ways, and those with clean hands will grow stronger."
— Job 17:9

How to Get Over Your Past

All of us have chapters we wish we could rewrite. Lee Shipp says, "In the natural, unresolved emotional pain wreaks havoc on your immune system, cardiac function, hormone levels, and other physical functions. But in the spirit it is simply a test revealing how much of your old man is still alive."

To get over your past you must first start looking at it differently. Reframe it. Ask, "How did it make me stronger? What do I know now that I didn't know then?" Don't focus on what you lost, but on what you gained.

Second, understand the difference between guilt and shame. Guilt is feeling bad about what you've done – it's healthy; shame is feeling bad about whom you are – it's toxic and debilitating. All of us have things we'd like to change about ourselves, but when God created us He said, "...it was very good..." (Genesis 1:31 NKJV), so start seeing yourself as He sees you.

Third, stop punishing yourself with the "if only's." After stumbling badly and having God pick him up, David wrote, "Happy is the person whose sins are forgiven... whom the Lord does not consider guilty..." (Psalm 32:1-2 NCV) Forgive yourself; God has. Because He sees you through the Cross, you are "accepted" (Ephesians 1:6 NKJV).

Finally, move from pain to gain. Healing takes time, so expect some anger, fear and sadness. Don't disown them; they're part of the process. But don't adopt them either; know when it's time to move on. You can't walk backwards into the future, and the future God has in mind contains more happiness than any past you can remember.

Sitting on the Fence

There was an incredibly large group of people assembled. On one side of the group stood a man, Jesus. On the other side of the group stood another man, Satan. Separating them, running through the group was a fence.

The scene set, both Jesus and Satan began calling to the people in the group and, one by one, each having made up his or her mind, each went to either Jesus or Satan.

This kept going, and eventually Jesus had gathered around him a group of people from the larger crowds, as did Satan. But one man joined neither group. He climbed the fence that was there and just sat down on it. Then Jesus and his people left and disappeared. So too did Satan and his people.

And the man on the fence sat alone.

As this man sat there, Satan came back, and appeared to be looking for something that he'd lost. The man said, "Have you lost something?" Satan looked straight at him and replied, "No, there you are. Come with me."

"But," said the man, "I sat on the fence. I chose neither you nor Him.

"That's okay," said Satan. "I own the fence."

Dwelling Too Long on Our Sin

James Garfield was a lay preacher and principal of his denominational college. It was said of him, because he was ambidextrous, he could simultaneously write Greek with one hand and Latin with the other. In 1880, he was elected President of the United States, but after only six months in office, he was shot in the back with a revolver. He never lost consciousness. At the hospital, the doctor probed the wound with his little finger to seek the bullet. He could not find it. So he tried a silver-tipped probe. Still he could not find the bullet.

They took Garfield back to Washington, D.C. Despite the summer heat, they tried to keep him comfortable. He was growing very weak. Teams of doctors tried to locate the bullet, probing the wound over and over. In desperate they asked Alexander Graham Bell, who was working on a little device called the telephone, to see if he could locate the metal inside the President's body. He came, he sought, and he too failed.

The President hung on through July, through August, but in September he finally died—not from the wound, but from the infection. The repeated probing, which the physicians thought would help the man, eventually killed him.

So it is with people who dwell too long on their sin and refuse to release it to God. The soul that sins shall surely die because sin is the deadliest disease of all. Its effect lasts for all eternity unless it is rendered powerless by the blood of Jesus Christ. Paul said it well in Romans 8:1,2 (NIV): "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death."

Those of us who have discovered the cure of sin have Good News to tell those still living under the curse of sin. May we do it today before anyone else perishes from the infection that only the Great Physician can cure.

Never Give Up

One day a young lady was driving along with her father. They came upon a storm, and the young lady asked her father, "What should I do?" He said, "Keep driving."

Cars began to pull over to the side, the storm was getting worse. "What should I do?" the young lady asked. "Keep driving," her father replied.

On up a few feet, she noticed that eighteen-wheelers were also pulling over. She told her dad, "I must pull over, I can barely see ahead. It is terrible, and everyone is pulling over!" Her father told her, "Don't give up, just keep driving!"

Now the storm was terrible, but she never stopped driving, and soon she could see a little more clearly. After a couple of miles she was again on dry land, and the sun came out. Her father said, "Now you can pull over and get out."

She said "But why now?"

He said, "When you get out, look back at all the people that gave up and are still in the storm. Because you never gave up your storm is now over.

This is a testimony for anyone who is going through "hard times." Just because everyone else, even the strongest, give up, you don't have to. If you keep going, soon your storm will be over and the sun will shine upon your face again.

The Last Impression

A new missionary recruit went to Venezuela for the first time. He was struggling with the language and didn't understand a whole lot of what was going on. Intending to visit one of the local churches, he got lost, but he eventually got back on track and found the place. Having arrived late, the church was already packed. The only pew left was the one on the front row.

So as not to make a fool of himself, he decided to pick someone out of the crowd to imitate. He chose to follow the man sitting next to him on the front pew. As they sang, the man clapped his hands, so the missionary recruit clapped too. When the man stood up to pray, the missionary recruit stood up too. When the man sat down, he sat down.

When the man held the cup and bread for the Lord's Supper, he held the cup and bread. During the preaching, the recruit didn't understand a thing. He just sat there and tried to look just like that man in the front pew. Then he perceived that the preacher was giving announcements. People clapped, so he looked to see if the man was clapping. He was, and so the recruit clapped too.

Then the preacher said some words that he didn't understand and he saw the man next to him stand up. So he stood up too. Suddenly a hush fell over the entire congregation. A few people gasped. He looked around and saw that nobody else was standing. So he sat down.

After the service ended, the preacher stood at the door shaking the hands of those who were leaving. When the missionary recruit stretched out his hand to greet the preacher, the preacher said, in English, "I take it you don't speak Spanish."

The missionary recruit replied, "No, I don't. It's that obvious?"

"Well, yes," said the preacher. "I announced that the Acosta family had a newborn baby boy, and would the proud father please stand up."

I am excited about what the Lord has in store for us this Sunday here at WFA. God is going to do something special in our midst, and I can't wait to experience what He has for us. Are you looking for God to touch you in a special way? Then, come expecting the Lord's Spirit to speak to you, and to change you, and I guarantee you won't be disappointed!