Preparing to deliver the message on New Year’s Eve night at our church, the Lord woke me up at our usual 5:00am meeting time, a few weeks earlier with one word… CROSSOVER!
Those who know me, know, that I love to locate myself in the Word and in this case, I had to LOCATE US as we as a church would be crossing over together!
As I searched my mind, the Lord directed my attention to the children of Israel who had to CROSSOVER… Not one but two enormous bodies of water, both impassable and impossible and it was straight to the book of Exodus 14, where Moses lead the children of Israel through the Red Sea and to the book of Joshua 3, where Joshua lead the children of Israel through the Jordan River.
Reading through both accounts, what stood out to me was both crossings were directed by God, however their situations were different and God used 2 unique methods to have the children of Israel CROSSOVER these bodies of water – both on dry ground.
At the time of the crossing of the Red Sea, the children of Israel were hemmed in. They had just been released from being enslaved by Pharaoh in Egypt, only to have Pharaoh later decide that he had made a mistake and is now along with his armies, pursuing them to take them back. Pharaoh in the rear, the Red Sea in front, there was no where to turn. Lead by Moses, God had him stretch out his hand and raise his staff and the waters parted, stacked up on both sides and the children of Israel CROSSED OVER on dry ground.
After 40 years of wondering in the wilderness, the generation that experienced crossing through the Red Sea, including Moses, had now died. Joshua and Caleb were the only two of that previous generation. Joshua is now the God appointed leader of a whole new generation, who had only heard stories of the parting of the Red Sea. They have the privilege of preparation. They are now about to enter the Promise Land, which God had promised their forefathers. God instructs Joshua, to have the priest go into the river before the people carrying the Ark of the Covenant (which housed the presence of God) into the water and the water began to recede. Again, cut off and stacked up, they CROSSED OVER on dry ground.
Symbolic, I felt, of us crossing over from 2025 into a New Year 2026. The Lord impressed upon my heart to prepare. We may have escaped in the past and Lord may have delivered us from our enemies but now is the time to PREPARE FOR THE PROMISE.
Now, I recognise that we are all in different stages of our walk with God. We may have just started our faith walk, where we’ve just experienced deliverance from some impossible situations but as we mature it is imperative that we learn to hear the voice of God and like both Moses and Joshua, we must be obedient and follow or carry out the instructions that we have been given… even if unpopular.
PREPARE FOR THE PROMISE
- For 2026, LET US MAKE UP OUR MINDS TO BE OBEDIENT TO GOD.
Let’s develop a “WHATEVER YOU SAY MY LORD!!” attitude and character that no longer bucks against the instructions of God and tries to go its own way. - For 2026, LET US PREPARE TO ENTER THE NEXT SEASON GOD HAS FOR US.
Crossing over this calendar year may find some of us mid-season in what God is doing in our lives. Galations 6:9 (KJV) says “9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” Joshua 3:5 (NIV) says “5 Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.” In other words, get ready.
- For 2026, LET’S MAKE A MOVE.
Let us choose faith over fear. When we’ve gotten that clarity and direction from God and the presence of God is with us… MAKE THE MOVE! We don’t know exactly how it’s going to happen but we can trust him. Exodus 14:15 (NIV) “15 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.” Joshua 3:3 (NIV) “3 giving orders to the people: “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, and the Levitical priests carrying it, you are to move out from your positions and follow it.” - For 2026, WE’RE CROSSING OVER ON DRY GROUND!
Exodus 14:21-22 (NIV) “21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, 22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.” Joshua 3:15-17 (NIV) “15 Now the Jordan is at flood stage all during harvest. Yet as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, 16 the water from upstream stopped flowing. It piled up in a heap a great distance away, at a town called Adam in the vicinity of Zarethan, while the water flowing down to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Dead Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho. 17 The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stopped in the middle of the Jordan and stood on dry ground, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground.”
Dry ground symbolizes, miraculous provision, stability, security, protection. Our God has got us!
- For 2026, the Lord specifically said… “WHEN YOU CROSSOVER, REMEMBER ME!”
In, Exodus 14:29 (NIV) “29 But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.” However, by Exodus Chapter 15 they grumbled. Chapter 16 they grumbled, Chapter 17 they grumbled by Chapter 32, we see them worshipping false idols and proclaiming that they were the ones who delivered them. Exodus 32:4 (NIV) “4Then they said, “These are your gods,[b] Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”
God instructed Joshua differently however. He was more specific as if hoping they had learned the lessons from the misfortunes of the past generation. Joshua 4:1-3 (NIV) “1 When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, 2 “Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe, 3 and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, from right where the priests are standing, and carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight.”
Joshua 4:21-24 (NIV) “21 He (Joshua) said to the Israelites, “In the future when your descendants ask their parents, ‘What do these stones mean?’ 22 tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’23 For the Lord your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The Lord your God did to the Jordan what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over. 24 He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the Lord is powerful and so that you might always fear the Lord your God.”
In closing, I want you to know that Moses, who died without entering the Promise Land, did have the opportunity to enter many years prior however the Lord refused to go with him. Moses in turn refused to go because the Lord was not going. Moses’ response in Exodus 33:15-17 (NIV) “15Then Moses said to Him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” 17 And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”
SOME POINTS TO PONDER
“I have many challenges for you this year!” says the Lord.
Important to note is that as I speak, I am also speaking to myself.
What stones will you set up in 2026?
Your stones are your markers, your praise reports, your points of “Hallelujah”, your testimonies of what God has done. Will you remember to set up your stones?
Will your children or friends ask you “What do these stones mean?”
Will you have an answer?
Will they even see that you have stones?
Will the Lord declare at the end of 2026, after you have CROSSED OVER… that He is pleased with you and that He knows you by name?
Kind regards,
Pastor Trudy Tucker
#IAmThePreachersWife