Territory and Boundaries

December 30, 2022

Territory and Boundaries

Read and reflect on Joshua chapters 18+19.

Joshua 18:8 “Go and make a survey of the land and write a description of it.” Joshua gave this command to groups of 3 appointed men from each tribe. The men were to finish surveying the land so this completed report would be taken by Joshua and placed before God. Joshua would then receive instructions from God about tribal divisions, boundaries, and inheritances that needed to go to the remaining tribes who hadn’t settled or received their land. Each remaining tribe would then be expected to go out and claim, conquer and settle their land. This made me think about doing a survey and description of my own life and territories where God has me right now. Would I be willing to take that report to God and truly let him direct my next move?

I am willing and I do this every year during the Christmas holiday break. I go over my past year and prayerfully ask God for a theme and a couple of verses or scripture passages to focus on for the next year coming up. As a writer,  I journal my theme and verses and can easily pick out of my writing, when I do my review, how God was working through that theme for my year.

In 2022 my them was the title of my book that is about to release, The Time is Near, and my focus verse was Revelation 1:3, “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.” It was an amazing year as God walked me through preparing a devotional through the book of Revelation for publication. His strength and guidance have made the book possible.

Now, for 2023, my clear theme from the Lord will be, “Proclaim” and I have chosen Psalm 68 and Exodus 33:19 as focus passages. I will focus on studying the theme all year as I read the Bible daily and I am sure that many other verses and passages will give me encouragement and direction throughout the coming year. It is an appropriate theme as my book will release and I will be proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ through what I have written in its pages.

Think about writing up your own survey and assessment of your life from 2022 and praying over the report with God for some direction. See if He has a theme for you and some focus passages that will guide and encourage you in 2023.

Blessings,

Ellen