It is the same principle: Before you can become wealthy you must see yourself as wealthy. You must know that you know. You must have heard the Lord's voice giving you that Rhema word and saying,

"I have given you the promise."

Up until then you are like Abraham, taking a good look, walking through the land and seeing what this promise will look like. You are like Moses, having a look and drawing up plans to make it yours. But when you reach the Joshua stage there is no more planning needed. The land is yours.

There is only one thing that remains - the action that brings into reality what you potentially already have, in the Lord and in the spiritual realm. It is up to you now to convert that spiritual essence into its physical reality. Joshua had to see the job as completed in his mind. He had to see the job as finished.

Then he made the Promised Land a reality. How did he do this?

The first step was putting his foot on the land. After all this time you finally take the first step.

What has God promised you? If He promised to make you wealthy in business, then perhaps a good beginning would be to start a business.

If He promised to make you famous as a singer, what is your first step? I would think that singing is going to be your first action. Make a recording or do something in line with your Promised Land.

Are you ready yet, and have you come to the stage where God says,

"It is yours; I have given you the plans and directions. Everything is set in place. Now it is time for you to cross that Jordan and put your foot on the land. Now is the time for you to begin to put into motion all that I prepared you for over time."

The Manna Must Stop

Here is the first thing that Joshua did when he stepped into the land. He stopped the manna. Oh dear. I'm sure they would have like to have prayed,

"Lord can't we collect some provisions for the next year before we stop the manna?"

That is what we would prefer to do isn't it? We don't want to give up what we have relied on. We say,

"Once the new business is going, then I will give up my job."

Maybe you should just give up your job and start the new business. You had better have heard from God. You should have heard Him tell you that He has given it to you, and now is the time to take such a step. Do not presume and be arrogant, thinking that if you step out God will do what you want.

When the time is there, and your faith has reached that level and you know that 'this is it', it is time to step out boldly and put the past behind you. The manna can stop now.

You say, "But what if we don't get any food tomorrow?"

You will stay poor that way. You will stay without your Promised Land. There will be a step of faith, where you have to step into the land, put the past behind you once for all and say,

"All the things I have been good at; all the things I have relied on; all the things I am comfortable with, I will let go. I cannot rely on them. The income that has been guaranteed to me until now is going to stop."

You will have to take that step before you can take the land.

Living Off the New Land

Joshua got the people living off the new land. It was great to eat decent food, instead of that miserable manna that they had been eating for so long. I can just imagine what it must have been like when Mom shouted,

"It's dinner time kids."

"What's for dinner Mom?"

"Manna."

"What again?"

Were you ever in a home where they forced you to eat oats every morning for breakfast? You grew up hating oats and swore that you would never touch it again. When you finally left home and set up your own, the only thing you did not have in your pantry was oats.

I think the kids were very happy that the manna had stopped. They probably said,

"I don't care if we even just go and eat the grass. I am so sick of manna."

Perhaps you need to get sick of the things you have relied on for so long. Get sick of the kind of life you have been living; sick of the humdrum existence that you had for so long; sick of poverty and just having enough.

Give it up. Go and live on the new land - the Promised Land that God has given you.

Well it was not that simple. There were enemies that had to be driven out. There was a fight; a time of warfare. But that is the main thing you will do. If you are to take your Promised Land, you should have had some practice in spiritual warfare.

You Will Come Under Attack

You had better know how to handle demon forces and combat Satan. The moment you step into that land the armies will be coming at you. The hordes will come at you to stop you.

Satan resists most things that we do for the Lord. But if there is one thing that he seems to fight more than anything else in the Body of Christ, it is when someone decides to rise up and prosper financially.

Money is the main weapon and means of control that the enemy has over peoples' lives. With money he can destroy marriages. He can destroy lives and make people commit suicide.

You can buy people with money. You can persuade them to let go of all their principles and give up a life of righteousness for money.

When you come to a place where money is no longer a problem; when there is more than enough, then Satan has no control over your life any more. So do not expect things to go well the moment you step into this new land and say,

"I have all the plans, and God said He has given it to me. I've had a vision, my faith is riding high and I'm stepping into the land. Just look at that wonderful fruit. Let's go and get it guys."

You will likely hear a loud noise and think,

"What was that? Something just smacked me in the back of the head."

Consider yourself blessed if that is all you got. You will more likely have something hitting you in the middle of your chest and knocking you to the ground. You will face spiritual warfare like you have never known in your life when you decide to step into and walk in prosperity.

You will have more opposition to this than the day you decided to stop sinning. That is why so many people turn back, as the Israelites first did after they sent in the spies under Moses. They said,

"The land looks great. We would love to take it, but have you seen the enemy? We don't stand a chance."

That is why you don't just walk over the border into the land saying,

"Okay here I am. God has given it to me. Everyone get off my land."

You had better be prepared. You had better spend time in His presence and have your plan of action; because when the enemy attacks you should have already made a plan of what you will do to counteract that attack.

You should already have been trained in warfare and know how you will handle that onslaught. Otherwise your Promised Land will be gone and you will never enter it.

Plans Already Laid Out

So Joshua drove the enemies off the land. Did he use his brilliant skills? No, he used the plans that Moses had laid out; systematic, stage by stage and all in detail, laid out for him.

He already had a full battle plan. All he needed to do was follow it a step at a time. And every now and then he missed it.

He messed up badly and everything went wrong. You will do that too; don't fool yourself.

Have you ever watched a movie or read a story where everything goes well and everyone gets what he or she wants? No good movies follow that pattern. Usually there is a stage where all is lost, everything has gone wrong and the hero has given up hope.

Well the stories are based on real life. There is an enemy out there, and you are deluded if you think you can just step into this Promised Land and everything will go great. You may think,

"After all these years of having nothing, I'm finally going to be wealthy. I can retire and live like a king for the rest of my life, without having to work again,"

Even after Joshua had taken the land, there were still some enemies left. There will always be enemies there that you have to deal with. You have to keep on top of it.

Once Joshua had taken the land and driven all the enemies off, he divided the land up. He put it all into place with structure.

God works through structure. You don't just coast along until the money comes in and then you spend it. More comes in tomorrow and you spend it again. Wouldn't it be wonderful to live like that?

Actually it would be boring. There would be no goals or challenges in life. We need these challenges. Joshua set it all in order and each tribe was given a portion as it had all been laid out.

God has a Promised Land for you. Have a good look at it and see exactly what it looks like, so you know what to aim for. Get into the presence of the Lord and obtain a blueprint from Him. Find out exactly how you should go about taking that land and making it yours. Identify it and see it clearly. Plan exactly how you will take it.

Then when the time is right, and you know that you know the Lord has given you this promise, it is time to put your foot on the land. Then once you take that step to put your foot on the land, don't stop no matter what the cost or the pressures that come against you.

Once you have stepped over the Jordan into that land, it is time to go forward and take all the land. Drive the enemy off the land, until you reach the place where the land can be divided.

Once it is fully yours and set in place, then only can you finally sit back and say,

"Okay Lord, where do we go from here?"

Dare To Step Out Boldly

It could take you most of your life to get there. Perhaps you have faith, or you are still young and full of zeal and fire.

I believe that in these End Times, God wants to lift up those of His children who dare to find out what their Promised Land is. There will be those who dare to find out from the Lord, the right plan of action.

There will be those who dare to step out boldly in faith, to go put their foot on the land and make it theirs. Once you have done that you can teach others and show them how you did it.

In this way they can learn how to do it also. It will be wonderful, because in the end every one of God's people will have a piece of land.

Perhaps God has called you to be an Abraham; to build the dream into people and show them the land that is theirs. Maybe God has called you to be a Moses, to help plan it out. Maybe God has called you to be a Joshua, to go forward, to help take the land, and to divide it amongst others.

Not everyone can be a leader in this. Not everyone is called to such a big vision. You might be a part of someone else's vision. It could be that you will be part of the dividing of the land, where you will get your portion. But don't think that it will just fall on you.

Everyone who went in had to take part in the fight. There were those tribes who took the land on the other side of the Jordan.

What did Joshua tell them? He said they could have it, but they had to go in and fight. Once they had done their part they could return and take their land.

We do this together and we all have a part to play. So even if you are fitting into someone else's mandate, and you benefit from someone else's Promised Land, you will still have a part to play. You have a responsibility to carry out.

Take Your Promised Land

I believe that if you follow through this order, you will find your Promised Land. Reach out and take it. God wants all of us to walk in the same kind of blessing that He has always had for His people.

Your Promised Land can include things like healing and health, fame and fortune, and all of these together. It does not only have to be wealth. They all go together.

The Israelites became famous and all the nations were in awe of them. They were wealthy. The Lord told them they would not need to borrow, but would lend to many nations.

God's plan for His people in the New Testament is not a lesser land, but a greater one. Now He offers a spiritual dimension that the Israelites did not have.

We have what they had, plus a whole lot more. Don't limit or restrict yourself. Don't see yourself as too small to step into your Promised Land.

Find your Promised Land, then go and take it. I will show you in the next section how to go about it.

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