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During our dinner today, my oldest daughter started humming the tune of “In the Hall of the Mountain King” (i Dovregubbens hall). As my middle daughter joined in, I was very surprised to learn they both knew this tune of the Norwegian composer Edward Grieg. They even knew the name of the tune and some of the story of the play. I asked if they knew which country it was from, and they both answered “Norway.”

Although their heritage is from Norway and we go back to visit now and then, they really feel American and identify with the American culture. They hear stories and customs from Norway, and learn a few Norwegian folklores in school, but to them it is a land far away of which they don’t really have any concept of. Even though one of them is born in Norway and they have Norwegian parents, they don’t know what it means to be ‘Norwegian.’ Norwegians are born with skis on their feet, but they have hardly seen a ski in their entire lives. Why don’t they feel Norwegian when they are born Norwegian? Because they don’t live in it! They don’t see it, they don’t think about it, their friends do not act like it, therefore they don’t become it.

That seems to be the way our Christian walk is sometimes. We know there is a supernatural life we can live – a life where we walk and talk more like our Heavenly Father, where we obtain the promises of God and walk in victory. But sometimes that just seems like a land far away. We have heard about it, and we hear stories of other Christians who experience success, but it is not a reality for us. It becomes another folklore! Why? Because we don’t live in it! In order to live in it, we have to keep it in front of our eyes (read the Word), we have to think about it (meditate on the Word), and surround ourselves with others of like faith. In order for our supernatural life to become a reality, we have to live in it on a daily basis.

They say, and it really is true, that in order to learn a language fluently you have to live in the country where they speak it for a while. The longer you live there, the better you will master the language. Not only will you master the language, but you will also start to understand the culture. If you stay there long enough, you start adapting to the culture and begin to behave and think more like it too. It really is true! I have done it twice!! As Christians, we need to live our lives in the reality of what the Bible says. God’s promised land is not just a land far away, but a reality we need to possess every day in our supernatural walk with God. The more we become aware of His Word and His thoughts, we start speaking His language – the language of faith! This is the language that obtains the promises and wins the victory. Let it not just become a land far away but a reality every day!

“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” Heb 11:6

“This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou may observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” Joshua 1:8

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. “And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you–with great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant–and when you eat and are full,  then take care lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” Deuteronomy 6:6-12