“Now Joshua was old, advanced in years. And the LORD said to him: ‘You are old, advanced in years, and there remains very much land yet to be possessed” (Joshua 13:1).
God said to the children of Israel at Horeb, “You have dwelt long enough at this mountain” (Deuteronomy 1:6). Like Israel, many of us have dwelt long on where we are now. It is high time we moved on to the next level.
You don’t move to the next level of life until you have possessed the territory where you are now for God. The power to dominate one level or another comes from God. From Genesis 1:26-28, we realise that God has given us power and dominion. When we understand our kingdom mandate or authority, then we can move by faith to possess where we are and then proceed to the next level. Our prayer must be for renewed power and strength to possess where we are now, before we can move to the next level.
WHAT IS THE NEXT LEVEL?
Where is the next level? What does the next level represent? The next level may mean a higher level of calling God has for you. The next level is a higher responsibility from God. For Joshua, the next level represented the unconquered territories meant for the remaining nine and half of the tribes of Israel. (Joshua 13:1,2). Two and half tribes had got their land East of the Jordan, but the rest tribes were yet to get their own land West of the Jordan. The remaining land were to be possessed by conquest. To move to the next level, we must be ready to fight for our allotments and inheritance.
THE KEY TO THE NEXT LEVEL IS FAITH
You can only get to the next level by faith. Caleb moved to the next level of his life by faith. In Joshua 14:6-11, it does appear that Caleb was at one level for 45 years. But in verse 12, he was now ready to move to the next level. Then, he said to Joshua, “give me this mountain…” He proceeded to conquer and possess Hebron. The next level is already beckoning at us. All we need to do is move by faith to possess the next level God has for us. You already have the power for the next level in you. The Angel of God said to Gideon, “go in this might of yours.”
THE REMAINING SEVEN TRIBES
When we get to Joshua 18, seven tribes are still to be assigned with territories. In this chapter, Joshua reprimands the remaining tribes for not taking steps to possess their allotments. He then gives them with clear instructions on steps they should take to move to the next level.
In addition to faith, to move to the next level also requires strategy. Moses gave the children of Israel a strategy with which to possess the unconquered land. “Pick out from among you three men for each tribe, and I will send them; they shall rise and go through the land, survey it according to their inheritance, and come back to me…You shall therefore survey the land in seven parts and bring the survey here to me, that I may cast lots for you here before the LORD our God” (Joshua 18:4-6).
THE NEXT LEVEL FOR THE CHURCH
For the Church, the next level represents the unconquered areas of the Seven Mountains of our society. Each one of us may be in one of these mountains. The mountains or spheres are:
Education, Politics and Governance, Economy, Business and Commerce
Media, Arts, Entertainment, Religion, Family.
We can start by possessing and influencing our own spheres of influence for God. From there we can proceed to the next level.
