Calvary Gift Ministries 2

Occupy Until He Comes: Don't Rest On Your Oars!

"Now Joshua was old and advanced in years; and the LORD said to him, “You are old and advanced in years, and there still remains very much land to be possessed. ”
Joshua 13:1

The Lord commands us to occupy till He comes. Lk. 19:12, 13. We should not rest on our oars when we have not seen Him. Yes, He is coming and will come, but He wants to meet us taking Kingdoms, nations, territories etc for Him. We should keep on having visions, dreams, desires for the promotion and prosperity of God's kingdom.

The day we stop dreaming, envisioning and working, maybe we think we have arrived that's the day we start dying spiritually and back sliding.

God told Joshua, "You are old and advanced in age but there are still territories to take." I our own case we are not old but agile in age and strength and think we have arrived. Paul the Apostles said he didn't see himself to have arrived but he was pressing on. Phil. 3:12 - 14.

As regards the believer’s inheritance in Christ, no matter how much he has claimed for himself there is still a very great deal to be claimed and enjoyed. We should never think we have attained everything attainable

Why God Harden Pharaoh
In the book of Exodus, the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart is mentioned. Sometimes Pharaoh hardened his own heart, at other times God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. God is the sovereign ruler of the universe and can do all things according to His own will (Rom 9:17-18; Eph 1:11). But God always has good reasons for doing what He does. He is not an arbitrary, capricious deity who merely wants to show His sovereignty. Several reasons may be suggested as to why He hardened Pharaoh’s heart.
First, Pharaoh was a godless, arrogant man who kept God’s people in bo***ge and treated them cruelly. When faced with God’s demands he hardened his own heart (Ex 8:15, 32; 9:17, 34). Hardening him further was God’s way of judging and punishing him (compare Ps 18:25-27). Pharaoh was not a good man whom God made bad by hardening. He was a bad man whose badness was further revealed by hardening. It is not written anywhere in the Bible that God ever hardened a humble man, or a man who wanted to know God and serve Him.
A second reason why God hardened Pharaoh was that God sought an occasion to work His wonders in Egypt so that His people would believe and know Him (Ex 4:5, 9; 6:7). It is very unlikely that they would have tried to leave Egypt if God had not revealed His power and love to them in a very striking way.
A third reason why God hardened Pharaoh was that He wanted His name (that is, His nature) to be known throughout the whole earth (Ex 9:16). This was not for His own good but for the good of humanity. The knowledge of God is the supreme knowledge men can gain. Indeed, eternal life consists in it (John 17:3). At different occasions God revealed different ones of His attributes – sometimes love, sometimes holiness, sometimes wisdom, etc. Here in Egypt He revealed His power, His severity toward the ungodly, and His mercy toward His people.
A fourth reason why God hardened Pharaoh was that He had decided to execute judgment on the gods of Egypt (Ex 12:12). He showe