New Page 2

The Only Obstacle That Remains For The Harvest
Danny Steyne

"Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them--to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Joshua told the people, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you." Joshua said to the priests, "Take up the Ark of the Covenant and pass on ahead of the people." So they took it up and went ahead of them. And the LORD said to Joshua, "Today I will begin to exalt you in the eyes of all Israel, so they may know that I am with you as I was with Moses. Tell the priests who carry the Ark of the Covenant: 'When you reach the edge of the Jordan's waters, go and stand in the river.'" Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water's edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. The priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground. When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua, "Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan from right where the priests stood and to carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight." About forty thousand armed for battle crossed over before the LORD to the plains of Jericho for war. And the priests came up out of the river carrying the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD. No sooner had they set their feet on the dry ground than the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and ran at flood stage as before. (from Joshua)

The season of Moses is past; the old ways of doing things are over. The call is out to the church to respond to a new and fresh approach to apprehending the purposes and promises of God. ", from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force." (Matthew 11:12) It’s a new day, the forerunners have come, they have spoken, they have declared "Harvest is coming, Harvest is coming, Harvest is coming" just as Paul Revere thundered a call that brought freedom to a nation, so now, the riders, these prophetic voices have declared "It’s time to take your place! It’s time to step into the realm of the Harvest!"

God never picks convenience to display His Glory. He always picks the most difficult situations to bring about a display of His Awesome Power. He picks small places, donkeys, obscurity, obstructions, and devastation to display that "Power is perfected in weakness!" During the Harvest the Jordan is not a little brook, it’s not a small stream, it’s a flood, waters are rising, trees and bushes and boulders are moved through the waters at break neck speed, it’s not safe to play in the waters of the Jordan at flood time! Yet God picked the Jordan, and He picked Floods for the entrance into a land ripe at Harvest time! This is the season of the Harvest. We are to begin the walk into the Jordan and watch God display His miracles, but it requires that we walk!

As we look at the Jordan, it’s very easy to realize this really is "the END of the road", the place where there is nothing else, the place where the river blocks the road, at flood stage. But it is here that we have struggled for, it is here that we have looked to all our lives, because it is here that miracles occur, and not before! The powerful outpouring of Acts 2 required a desperate cry of Acts 1. The church is standing at the banks of what is to be the greatest victory ever achieved by the Lord of Glory, we are that "hanging moment" when the past doesn’t matter and doesn’t play into our resolute passion for the harvest beyond the floods and obstacles of this Jordan!

The Jordan, it means descend, to go down! It’s in the place of humility that we enter the seedbed of God’s miraculous power. At the Jordan prior victories are meaningless, old forms of battle are useless. Instead of just worrying about what we are to eat, we are entering a realm where we have to "take" the ground with energy and passion. Gone are the days of waking up to Manna, we are entering the land of Jericho and giants. There is no Moses to run to and blame; this is "our" inheritance!

It’s time to DESCEND into the places where the enemy seems to be winning, the places where he has had his haunts and his authority, where he prowls around, and conquer some giants!

As we step into that barrier we begin to see the display of God’s awesome power. "Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength. (1 Corinthians 1:22-25) But we must step into it, even though others will think it foolish, because when we step, by faith into the realm of the impossible. Everything changes!

Obstacles from our past, all the way to "Adam" are pushed up into a heap. Obstacles in our future all drain away to a barren place! And the seedbed becomes safe to walk on, safe to stand on, safe to move in and out of until God has completed all He wants to do in the place of Humility, the place of Descent! The miracle of the Jordan was not a few minutes long, it lasted for hours, many had to cross that river, and then Joshua actually sent twelve back into the river to get stones (Joshua 4:1-2). When we enter the realm of the miraculous, it’s not going to be as it has been. It won’t be occasions of healing and power and miracles and salvation, we will be living in it, walking in and out of it freely!

That is the destiny for the Church of the Living God. Experiencing miracles and healings and salvations once in a while is not the "ultimate" fulfillment of Jesus’ promise that we would do "greater works". The fulfillment is when we walk in that power day in and day out and experience the reality of how Jesus lived in the miraculous with a profound relationship with His Father, that’s the process of this Jordan,

As we have been witnessing a steady downpour of God’s Grace throughout the country, we yet long for even more. Yes, we've seen corners touched by God's power, bars open for worship and prayer, and salvation visiting our city, but we know there is more! There is an open door above us, night after night, but we know there is still more! The forerunners have spoken, the message is clear; "Harvest is Here! It is time to step into the obstruction that prevents us from living in Harvest and see the display of the Lord’s Power!"

Danny Steyne functions as a part of the emerging Mountain Of Worship. Check out the Danny's Itinerary at http://www.mountainofworship.com/itinerary.htm