I don't know about any other men out there, but I have to first say something about my wife.
Julie has been an inspiration and real help-meet to me since we were married. She IS bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. She compliments me in ways that I couldn't even begin to imagine before I got married.
Natural and spiritual compatibility; I truly feel blessed. She is my sounding board and is a great writer herself. We work together in the scriptures, something rare and beautiful.
Before you go on, please read:
"A Warning - Straight From My Heart" if you haven't already.
The following is something Julie wrote with a few tweaks from me:
A few days ago, I was skimming through Joshua – not reading – just skimming, looking for a specific fact on Jericho, when my eyes froze on one verse. That verse has been burned in my brain and won’t go away, so I thought I’d write down what I’m getting from it.
Joshua 5:11-12
11And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day.
12And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.
The manna ceased! Why? What does that mean to us? What was manna?
Manna was what God gave a starving, malnourished people who had just come out of 200 years bondage. It fed the entire group. It looked the same, smelled the same, tasted the same, and came from the same source… but was different for each person in that it became exactly what that person needed nutritionally. There was only one requirement on manna – you had to gather it EVERY day. It didn’t keep past its appointed time. It got wormy, and it was never intended to be a permanent food for God’s people.
So what does this all mean to us as the people of God coming out of spiritual Egypt? God has given each group a source for manna or spiritual food (a pastor). The pastor gave one teaching every service. It looked the same and sounded the same, yet was able to meet each individual’s different nutritional need. There was one requirement – you had to be there EVERY service or you went hungry. The people needed the manna to live in the wilderness, and to eventually give them time to learn how to produce for themselves. It was a good thing. It met every need.
But there came a time when the manna ceased.
The Bible doesn’t say that God told them it would stop. It just stopped at a certain point. God did not give any instructions for how to survive when it ceased. It simply ceased.
God had already provided Israel a land flowing with milk and honey. He expected them to figure it out by themselves. He wanted them to use their own eyes to see and realize what was already there. Hunger would drive them to get off their duff.
The manna stopped after they crossed over Jordan, after they were re-circumcised, and after they kept the Passover; but before they took Jericho.
The people got up one morning and went to gather manna – and it wasn’t there. What did they do? They ate of the old corn of the land and of the fruit of the land of Canaan, not old manna they had saved!
We are seeing that:
Old corn was the durable food, stuff that had been threshed or put into seed form a long time ago. Our 4 Major Doctrines may be an example of this. The information was new and fresh a long time ago, it was durable and lasted. It will keep people alive while we learn to eat of the land, but it is dry with little water. It was an emergency ration that would keep them alive, but never intended to keep them from eating the new stuff, the fruit of the land with new life.
What does this mean to us? In religious systems and churches, I hear people crying “give us teaching!” Each time this has happened, God has pulled David and me back and not allowed us to partake of these teachings or Bible studies, if you will. I could not understand why. From what we are seeing, God seems to have stopped the manna. He does not want us to scrounge around for leftover manna and pick out the worms. He wants us to start sharing from the fruit He’s produced in our land. Old parched corn doesn’t taste as good when you are eating fresh food. Maybe we are just picky eaters. :o)
Does that mean we should destroy everything we’ve learned before? NO! The old corn was good and necessary to keep us alive, but it is an emergency ration. It’s a transitory product. We have not been in the land long enough to produce a full harvest, so we do still need some old corn. But corn is not like manna. It will keep you alive and won’t get wormy. If that is all you have, you will probably become malnourished.
So what is the fruit of the Promised Land? It is the fruit that is being produced in each of us – in our own personal lives. It does not all come from one field, and no one farmer produces every kind of fruit. To have a balanced diet now, each person needs to share of their harvest as it ripens.
But I NEED new manna! No, what you need is to pay attention to what each person is giving out, gather what you need, and go home, put together what you’ve gathered, add what you’ve grown, sit down to a fantastic meal and chew the cud. It takes a little longer than making manna cakes, but it tastes so much better!
Do you remember when the children of Israel started complaining because they were bored with the manna and wanted meat? There is not one recorded complaint in the Bible because people were bored with what the land produced and wanted manna.
We won’t need emergency rations much longer. God is giving us everything we could possibly need as we enter into the Promised Land and share God's bounty with each other. We just need to learn to cook using the mind God gave us to come up with a delicious meal rather than, like a slave, expecting our food to be given to us. We are no longer being fed as a group, but as individual families. The food of a slave is minimal and bland. The fruit of free men is abundant and as varied as we allow it to be when we share with each other.
We still need each other. The children of Israel didn’t scatter immediately… they had Ites to conquer. However, now that God had made them strong as a people, He was beginning to make them strong as individuals. “Work out your own salvation.” You are what you eat, so eat the fresh food that God has planted in us.
Freely partake of the fruit of the Spirit of God in others.
This is just the beginning.
Julie has been an inspiration and real help-meet to me since we were married. She IS bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. She compliments me in ways that I couldn't even begin to imagine before I got married.
Natural and spiritual compatibility; I truly feel blessed. She is my sounding board and is a great writer herself. We work together in the scriptures, something rare and beautiful.
Before you go on, please read:
"A Warning - Straight From My Heart" if you haven't already.
The following is something Julie wrote with a few tweaks from me:
A few days ago, I was skimming through Joshua – not reading – just skimming, looking for a specific fact on Jericho, when my eyes froze on one verse. That verse has been burned in my brain and won’t go away, so I thought I’d write down what I’m getting from it.
Joshua 5:11-12
11And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day.
12And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.
The manna ceased! Why? What does that mean to us? What was manna?
Manna was what God gave a starving, malnourished people who had just come out of 200 years bondage. It fed the entire group. It looked the same, smelled the same, tasted the same, and came from the same source… but was different for each person in that it became exactly what that person needed nutritionally. There was only one requirement on manna – you had to gather it EVERY day. It didn’t keep past its appointed time. It got wormy, and it was never intended to be a permanent food for God’s people.
So what does this all mean to us as the people of God coming out of spiritual Egypt? God has given each group a source for manna or spiritual food (a pastor). The pastor gave one teaching every service. It looked the same and sounded the same, yet was able to meet each individual’s different nutritional need. There was one requirement – you had to be there EVERY service or you went hungry. The people needed the manna to live in the wilderness, and to eventually give them time to learn how to produce for themselves. It was a good thing. It met every need.
But there came a time when the manna ceased.
The Bible doesn’t say that God told them it would stop. It just stopped at a certain point. God did not give any instructions for how to survive when it ceased. It simply ceased.
God had already provided Israel a land flowing with milk and honey. He expected them to figure it out by themselves. He wanted them to use their own eyes to see and realize what was already there. Hunger would drive them to get off their duff.
The manna stopped after they crossed over Jordan, after they were re-circumcised, and after they kept the Passover; but before they took Jericho.
The people got up one morning and went to gather manna – and it wasn’t there. What did they do? They ate of the old corn of the land and of the fruit of the land of Canaan, not old manna they had saved!
We are seeing that:
- Manna = new teachings that keep us alive in the wilderness
- Parched corn of the old land = topics that were threshed out in Bro. Sowders’ day
- Fruit of the land = things taught individuals by God in their day-to-day overcoming in their own land
Old corn was the durable food, stuff that had been threshed or put into seed form a long time ago. Our 4 Major Doctrines may be an example of this. The information was new and fresh a long time ago, it was durable and lasted. It will keep people alive while we learn to eat of the land, but it is dry with little water. It was an emergency ration that would keep them alive, but never intended to keep them from eating the new stuff, the fruit of the land with new life.
What does this mean to us? In religious systems and churches, I hear people crying “give us teaching!” Each time this has happened, God has pulled David and me back and not allowed us to partake of these teachings or Bible studies, if you will. I could not understand why. From what we are seeing, God seems to have stopped the manna. He does not want us to scrounge around for leftover manna and pick out the worms. He wants us to start sharing from the fruit He’s produced in our land. Old parched corn doesn’t taste as good when you are eating fresh food. Maybe we are just picky eaters. :o)
Does that mean we should destroy everything we’ve learned before? NO! The old corn was good and necessary to keep us alive, but it is an emergency ration. It’s a transitory product. We have not been in the land long enough to produce a full harvest, so we do still need some old corn. But corn is not like manna. It will keep you alive and won’t get wormy. If that is all you have, you will probably become malnourished.
So what is the fruit of the Promised Land? It is the fruit that is being produced in each of us – in our own personal lives. It does not all come from one field, and no one farmer produces every kind of fruit. To have a balanced diet now, each person needs to share of their harvest as it ripens.
But I NEED new manna! No, what you need is to pay attention to what each person is giving out, gather what you need, and go home, put together what you’ve gathered, add what you’ve grown, sit down to a fantastic meal and chew the cud. It takes a little longer than making manna cakes, but it tastes so much better!
Do you remember when the children of Israel started complaining because they were bored with the manna and wanted meat? There is not one recorded complaint in the Bible because people were bored with what the land produced and wanted manna.
We won’t need emergency rations much longer. God is giving us everything we could possibly need as we enter into the Promised Land and share God's bounty with each other. We just need to learn to cook using the mind God gave us to come up with a delicious meal rather than, like a slave, expecting our food to be given to us. We are no longer being fed as a group, but as individual families. The food of a slave is minimal and bland. The fruit of free men is abundant and as varied as we allow it to be when we share with each other.
We still need each other. The children of Israel didn’t scatter immediately… they had Ites to conquer. However, now that God had made them strong as a people, He was beginning to make them strong as individuals. “Work out your own salvation.” You are what you eat, so eat the fresh food that God has planted in us.
Freely partake of the fruit of the Spirit of God in others.
This is just the beginning.
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