Promise Land

 

TobyMac and Sheryl Crow have a song called Promised Land. It is about struggles in this life and what we need to look to as we live life.

 

The chorus says, “And I’m wonderin’ where’s my promise land?” At the end of the song it says, “You’re my promise land.”

 

I have many people who say to me, “Pastor, I am struggling with (you fill in the blank)”. My response: Struggling is not a bad thing. Struggling with something means you have not given in, and you are seeking to do God’s will in the situation. Struggling is common to all people and especially to those who are following Jesus.

 

Jesus says in John 16:33, “I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

 

We live in a world that is fallen, and in a fallen world there are all sorts of tribulations with which we must deal. Jesus says that in Him we will have peace because all the struggles of a fallen world we face He has overcome and shares the victory with us.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing Jesus’ overcoming the tribulations of a fallen world and living in His victory.

 

In 2 Corinthians 7:5 Paul says, “For when we came into Macedonia, our body had no rest at all, but we were troubled in every way – struggles from the outside, fears from within.”

 

Paul faced struggles and fears that gave him no rest. Paul did not go through these struggles and fears because he was in opposition to God, but because he was obeying God.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is experiencing struggles because we are obeying God.

 

In 2 Corinthians 4:8-12 Paul says, “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.”

 

Paul faced:

Afflictions

Being Perplexed

Persecution

Being Stuck Down

Facing Death

 

The fact that Paul was following Jesus and doing His will meant that he was not:

Crushed

In Despair

Forsaken

Destroyed

 

Paul faced these struggles and overcame them through Jesus and that allowed the life of Jesus to be manifested in him through the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is going through difficult struggle but by the power of the Holy Spirit not being defeated and giving up.

 

The song Promised Land is asking where is my promised land? It is not found in this life because in this life circumstances and people will never be perfect and they will never be enough.

 

Our promised land is Jesus.

 

In it, in Jesus we have:

Peace

Hope

Joy

Forgiveness

Purpose

Eternal life

 

We are to look for a person, not an experience.

 

Hebrews 12:1-2

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

 

We are to let go and focus our lives on Jesus and let His victory through the cross and the resurrection be ours to overcome our struggles.

 

Struggling with Life But Still Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls,

                                              Joe