“No manna appeared on the day they first ate from the crops of the land, and it was never seen again. So from that time on the Israelites ate from the crops of Canaan.” (Joshua 5:12)

Imagine a day in the life of the people of Israel while they were wandering in the wilderness for 40 years.

All they had to do was wake up and there it was—their daily ration of food from heaven, a.k.a. manna. The first major decision they had to make was how to cook it that particular day. Would it be manna porridge, manna pancakes with quail sausage, manna paratha, manna crepes, manna muffins, manna cake, quail fried manna…you get the idea!

And then it would rain quails. Once again, how to prepare them was the next tough decision they needed to make. Would it be quail roast, quail stir fry, Kentucky Fried Quail, quail a la king, quail quiche, quail cacciatore, quail curry…ah, decisions, decisions!

Water would show up from some place, even rocks! No need to dig wells.

There was no work to be done, as in Egypt. Their sandals never wore out. They only had to fight one battle along the way. No health problems. All their needs were met. Life was not great, but God was good!

But it all changed once they left the wilderness behind and crossed over the Jordan River into Canaan, the Promised Land, the land of milk and honey.

As we read in Joshua 5:12, once they started eating from the crops of the land, the manna stopped. They had to find alternative sources of protein, because the quail were not dropping from heaven anymore, either.

God was still meeting their needs, but not in the same way as He used to in the wilderness. Milk was not delivered to their doorstep. They had to go find the cows and milk them! Honey did not come in bottles. They had to start with the bees and get stung a few times before they could enjoy the sweet taste of honey!

The locals did not exactly roll over and die when the people of Israel got there, either. Yes, God had given them the land, but they still had to take it! Taking possession is not an easy task…especially when someone else was already holding possession to it!

There were more battles to be fought and won before they could fully realize the fulfilment of God’s word and completely take over the Promised Land.

Because, you see, you cannot live in the Promised Land with a wilderness mentality. You cannot expect God to provide for you in the same way He did before. There is no limit to His creativity. He will always keep His promise to you, but not always in predictable ways.

He promised you the land.  He never promised a smooth landing.

Sadly, many followers of Jesus expect Him to act in the same old way that He did in times past…and are disappointed when they keep on waiting for a repeat performance that never comes. Quite often this leads them to lower their expectations of what God can do and how He can act. Sometimes they give up on expecting anything great from God altogether.

That’s what The Wilderness Mentality can do to you, if you’re not careful.

Dear DWOD friend, today is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. I believe that this is the beginning of something new and exciting for all of us. God is accelerating the fulfilment of His promises to you.

But you need to break off any vestiges of the wilderness that still remain. Over the next 10 Days of Awe, leading to the Day of Atonement, would you ask Holy Spirit to show you how you might have allowed the Wilderness Mentality to invade you?

Get rid of it right now. And move on toward your prophetic destiny that awaits you in the Promised Land.

Need help with the process? Please contact us and we’ll do our very best.