The Spiritual Journey 2024 - Day 20: The only way to correct course may be to go back to the point of departure.

”This is what the Lord says: “Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls. But you reply, ‘No, that’s not the road we want!’ I posted watchmen over you who said, ‘Listen for the sound of the alarm.’ But you replied, ‘No! We won’t pay attention!’ Therefore, this is what the Lord says: “I will put obstacles in my people’s path. Fathers and sons will both fall over them. Neighbors and friends will die together.”“

‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭6‬:‭16‬-‭17‬, ‭21‬ ‭NLT‬‬

If you’ve ever used a directions app, you know that if you miss a turn you were supposed to take, it will re-calculate the route in order to still get you to your desired destination. But, what if your destination was a castle for which there was only one way in—a drawbridge—and you stopped short of it? What if, at the entrance to the drawbridge, you turned and went to the right or to the left? There would be no other route for you to make it to the castle. You’d have to go back to the point of departure, back to the drawbridge, and go across it to reach the castle, rather than taking the path to the right or left.

In the story of Jacob, we see that his first real encounter with the Lord was at Bethel as he was on the run from his brother, Esau. You may remember that it was at that point in time he had seen the ladder from heaven to earth, with angels, ascending and descending on it, and the Lord standing at the top of the ladder, speaking to him. There the Lord reiterated the covenant He had made to Jacob’s father and grandfather. In response to this experience, Jacob made a vow to the Lord.

”Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it. And he called the name of that place Bethel; but the name of that city had been Luz previously. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God. And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God’s house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.”“

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭28‬:‭18‬-‭22‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

After having this experience at Bethel, Jacob married, had children, and became very wealthy. But with all that, he also had become compromised by being associated with idols, the worship of idols. Sadly, that idolatry had actually begun in his own home with his wife, Rachel.

[Laban, said to Jacob:]

”I can understand your feeling that you must go, and your intense longing for your father’s home. But why have you stolen my gods?” “I rushed away because I was afraid,” Jacob answered. “I thought you would take your daughters from me by force. But as for your gods, see if you can find them, and let the person who has taken them die! And if you find anything else that belongs to you, identify it before all these relatives of ours, and I will give it back!” But Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen the household idols.“

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭31‬:‭30‬-‭32‬ ‭NLT‬‬

But, there came a time when the Lord spoke to Jacob that he must go back to where his journey with the Lord had all begun, back to Bethel.

”Then God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel and dwell there; and make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from the face of Esau your brother.” And Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, and change your garments. Then let us arise and go up to Bethel; and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me in the way which I have gone.” So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hands, and the earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree which was by Shechem. So Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him. And he built an altar there and called the place El Bethel, because there God appeared to him when he fled from the face of his brother.“

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭35‬:‭1‬-‭4‬, ‭6‬-‭7‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

As we see in the above scripture, the first thing Jacob did was to have all the people rid themselves of all semblances of foreign gods. As well, they put on new garments.

Yes, when Jacob returned to Bethel, the Lord renewed His covenant with him and reiterated Jacob’s name change to Israel.

Jacob’s only way back on course was to return to where it all began, return to the point before the foreign gods were introduced.

Now, back to our castle and drawbridge example: The same principle would apply if there was something blocking access to the drawbridge. There would be no alternate route; the only hope of getting to the castle would be for the obstacle to be removed.

There came a time when the child of promise, Isaac, had apparently become an obstacle to Abraham walking fully into the blessings of the covenant. That obstacle was removed when the Lord saw that Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac. Past that point, there would never again be any question as to Abraham’s unwavering devotion to the Lord.

”At that moment the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Yes,” Abraham replied. “Here I am!” “Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.”“

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭22‬:‭11‬-‭12‬ ‭NLT‬‬

As you will recall, on Day 18 of our consideration of my spiritual journey, I shared that I had renounced—in no uncertain terms—any connection I had to the heretical “Kingdom Now” message espoused by a close family member. And, as I have shared with you more than once, I had no idea I had any attachment to that message.

And, I had no idea that that connection was an obstacle, or somehow had caused a point of departure. I had no idea that I could not go further in the call of God on my life until it was removed, or my course corrected, by my being totally divorced from association with that doctrine, as well as the constellation of evil behavior entered into by the individuals purveying it.

I also told you that there was one more scene to the spiritual journey. I will share that with you now.

After this very dramatic and powerful renunciation, someone else appeared in the scene who I knew to have borne false witness against me. At the point that I was in the process of gathering a group of witnesses in front of whom I was going to confront this individual, I was stopped by seeing a scene taking place over to the side. I saw my father looking as he did when I was a little girl. He was standing in front of an old-school telephone to answer it. Someone in the vision spoke to me, saying that Demos (our cousin who founded the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International) was calling my father, and I stopped what I was doing to see what would come out of the call. Oddly enough, that’s where the spiritual journey, and all the visions associated with it, ended.

The Lord later spoke to me that this was illustrating a point of reset for my calling. I do know why the Lord used that scene to illustrate the point of reset, and that will suffice. But what you must know concerning yourself, is that in your walk with the Lord, if anything has gotten you off track, or anything is blocking your further progress, it will have to be dealt with, and dealt with mercilessly. We must have no affection for anything that stands between us and the Lord, stands between us and our calling.

In our opening scripture we see the Lord’s last ditch attempt to get His people to go back to their point of departure. Tragically, we know that they would not return at this point in time, and destruction awaited them.

We must not hesitate when the Lord deals with us that there has been a departure from what He wanted or that a blockage has come in our walk. We must get it right by allowing the Lord to help us return to the point of departure and/or decisively remove what stands between us and Him. Everything depends of doing this!

Tomorrow I will begin sharing with you some additional insights concerning the spiritual journey.

Peace to you.

Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!

#thespiritualjourney2024