“…We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.” – Num. 13:31

There will always be enemies of God left lingering in the Land of Promise to test our faith that look far greater and stronger than we. Will we continue to believe God and see every enemy routed out before us or will we believe the report of the naysayers – those loud unbelievers hiding out in the camp of God’s people who proclaim that victory is not possible? Or, if it is they say, it surely won’t come about by ‘simply believing!’ To these, bondage is better than belief; backwards in cowardice to Egypt is easier than forwards in faith to Canaan.

If we will but we still, we’ll hear that resounding voice of truth crying out like Caleb’s, “We are well able to overcome it.” Don’t be discouraged if those around you concede to the lie that victory is not possible, the enemies too many, or sin too great; are faith and truth ever popular? But to every Caleb God will provide a Joshua, a stalwart of faith standing next to you with heart rent over the plight of God’s people.

When everyone around you decides to lock arms and head back to Egypt, don’t be fooled. Egypt was the physical representation of life without God; life in chains to sin – the world, the flesh, and the devil. You have an appointment in the Promised Land – a land where, spiritually speaking, you will be long satified with the ‘milk and honey’ of peace, rest, and a sound mind. The way there runs along the narrow path of “belief”; not works, good deeds, social followings, bestsellers, or new ideologies.

You’ll fight along the way, just as all those who have gone before you, but it’s a good fight. It’s the only fight the Lord requires of you – the ‘fight of faith’ – to believe and keep believing that Who Jesus is and What He has accomplished on Calvary’s Cross is enough to overcome every adversary in your way – be it addiction, sickness, depression, religion, pride . . . you name it, He has conquered it. The Holy Spirit has but one direction . . . always and only forwards, and if you’ll follow Him, He’ll lead the charge with Calvary’s blood stained victory banner conquering every foe left living in the good land prepared for you in Christ Jesus. 

In the dust of His feet,

Sunni Hoffman

“For by Thee I can run upon a troop; by my God I can leap over a wall.”

– 2 Samuel 22:30

For by Thee I can! What is this impassable circumstance before me? Who are these marauding bands of enemy raiders that have forged in-roads into my heart and mind? Why have I allowed the enemy of my soul to send me running in cowardice, waiting for the final waves of life’s destruction to compass me about? Child of God, GET UP! May the Lord Jesus Christ stir up the very Spirit of the Living God that lives inside of you and remind you of Who it is that you serve! Repentance and faith in Who He is and What He has done at Calvary’s Cross washes past failures, provides for present mercies, and makes way for future victories . . . get up! All of those walls – those boundary markers that Satan has set up as the perimeter of your ‘lot in life’ – they don’t exist in the mind of God. God’s plans are to give you a hope and a future, and by virtue of your faith being fixed in Christ and Him crucified, all of the resources of Heaven can be allocated on your behalf to take and appropriate to every enemy and obstacle as they come . . .  for by Thee I can! 

“Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us…” Hebrews 12:1

“…the sin which doth so easily beset us.” So easily! Think of it! You had hardly a moment to consider, only a narrow second to wrap your mind around the consequences sure to follow the sin that presented itself before you – and just like that . . . bondage. How deceitful sin is! It always over promises and under delivers. The cords of Satan are strong and your personal ‘will power’ is no match for the tailor-made temptation that he has prepared just for you . . . but the blood of Jesus that flowed from Calvary 2000+ years ago is still (!) as beneficent as ever and it is powerful to deliver from the cords of sin and bondage that would tie the believer down and keep him/her from running the race of faith. The Lord wants you free and that freedom comes only one way -renouncing faith in every other method and means (be it religion, will power, good works, relationships, self help, positive thinking, etc etc etc) and casting the anchor of your life/heart to the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work on Calvary. I’ve heard a wise preacher declare this truth, “The power of sin is broken where the penalty for sin was paid.” If sin – along with it’s dominion, power, and consequences – can be addressed by anyone else, anywhere else, then why did Jesus have to come and give His life? His one great errand in this world was to deal with sin in the life of every individual that would receive Him and fit them for renewed relationship and eternal life with God the Father in Heaven. Sin becomes bondage, and bondage becomes baggage, and you don’t have the time or the strength to carry all of that with you on this narrow way. You can take it to Jesus today. And while it may be easy to fall, He is powerful to deliver. Keep running. 

“Repent therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord…” – Acts 3:19

Repentance and faith in the shed blood of Jesus are the keys that unlock the funnels of grace from the portals of Heaven. It’s not, “Say you’re sorry and keep going…” — it’s “Repent…and return…”. Go back! Go back where? To Calvary’s Cross! Weep for your sin under the shade of grace where the just wrath of a Holy God was poured out for your sin on His very own Son, Jesus Christ. Hebrews tells us that we have ACCESS to the Throne of Grace whereby we might receive mercy and help in our time of need. On what basis does that access come? Our own personal godliness? Our ability to adhere to our church’s membership standards? 21 days of fasting? The duration of my daily prayer time? Success in my year long Bible-reading plan? No! The priests in the Old Testament had access to the Holy of Holies – where the very presence of God dwelled – through the blood of the sacrifice slain for the sins of Israel. And so it is with us. We have access through the blood of the Lamb slain before the foundation of the earth. There is no sin too great, no shortcoming so extensive that it can’t be wiped away by the precious blood of Jesus Christ… but there is no refreshing without repentance. The Holy Spirit cannot comfort where sin is not confessed. Its antithetical to His very nature – “holy.” Jesus came to tear down the barriers that sin had built between God and mankind – barriers that can again be erected in each of our individual lives if we insist on walking in defiance to His Word rather than dependence on His Work. Is your heart battered, your mind anxious, your soul sick? When you’re ready to cry out to Him with a heart of repentance, He stands ready to meet you with times of refreshment. 

And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac. Joshua 24:3

Is this not what the Lord does for us? He takes us from the backside of sin and bondage and leads us to the foot of Calvary where relationship between a holy God and sinful man can be restored. Is it not there, by way of the precious blood of Jesus, that all the grace and mercy of God can be ours in abundance? Has He not multiplied you, giving you tenfold joy far beyond the ravages that sin had brought upon you, giving you a hope and a future? The enemy of your soul would lie to you, making you believe that God is punishing you for your past. If you are a child of God through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, all the just punishment that your sin incurred was poured out on God’s Son on Calvary’s Cross. For the believer, He doesn’t work on the basis of punishment to bring pain, He chastises to bring correction. Are you being disciplined by the Lord? Be assured it’s because He loves you far beyond your ability to fathom, and He will not tolerate you going any other way than grace and faith in the finished work of Christ. Repent and look to Jesus, going His way, and watch Him take, lead, multiply, and give you what you could never work for, earn, or deserve. 

In the dust of His feet,

Sunni Hoffman

(3) So Peter and the other disciple went forth, and they were going to the tomb. (4) The two were running together; and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first; (5) and stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings lying there; but he did not go in. – John 20:3-5

Who are we running with and where are they running to? Peter and John (‘the other disciple whom Jesus loved’ – vs. 2) had walked in closeness of proximity, but now they ran in camaraderie of spirit. After the darkest, yet most victorious, day in all of history, they ran together to find Jesus. We may walk alongside many by virtue of similar interests, but run alongside far fewer by virtue of singularity of focus. I don’t have time to take detours with the double-minded; my youth is near spent and the harvest is now ripe. There were many who followed Jesus to the healing of Jairus’ daughter, but only three (Peter, James & John) were allowed in the room. Why? Scoffers on the outside, believers on the inside. Link arms with those who see the need and know the Answer – Christ and Him crucified – for every problem that ails mankind. Run with those who are going to join you at the finish line and who will help you pull in your ‘catch of fish’ along the way (Luke 5:7).

“Now Joshua was old and advanced in years when the Lord said to him, “You are old and advanced in years, and very much of the land remains to be possessed.” Joshua 13:1

How many territories of the heart remain yet unconquered, held captive by Satan who is frantically trying to ‘hold the fort,’ tying the ropes of bondage tighter and tighter lest you come into a full understanding of the great victory wrought for you at Calvary? God says it’s yours – all of it is yours. “…Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” (1 Cor. 2:9) Just believe! That is the fight of faith – the fight to believe that what Christ has accomplished is MORE THAN ENOUGH to banish the enemy of my mind that depresses, the enemy of my soul that oppresses, and the enemy of my spirit that regresses – because there is nothing for me behind me. All God’s richest and best lie before me in the uncharted territory of the Spirit.

Joshua, nearing the end of his life, had taken all of the land for which God had allotted him in his lifetime. But there was still yet more. May it never be said of me, at the end of my life, that I left plains of blessings untouched; gifts from a good Father unopened. May it be shouted from every mountaintop high and valley low in my soul, Jesus Christ is Lord here and this – all of this – it’s mine. 

In the dust of His feet,

Sunni Hoffman