In the Bible in the book of Joshua we discover that Moses did not bring the people into the Promised Land. He prepared the way, opened the people’s awareness to the possibilities. But he commissioned Joshua to bring about the accomplishment of their goal.

In the Bible, Joshua Chapter 1 verse 1&2 reads “Now after the death of Moses, the Lord spoke unto Joshua saying, Moses my servant is dead, now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I give to them”.

Those who are familiar with the story remember that Joshua had approximately 800,000 to 1,000,000 Jewish people, who for generations before them had been slaves to the Egyptians. Moses had tried so hard to change their beliefs from that of being slaves, to accepting freedom as their divine heritage. It took approximately 2 generations before the people could begin to grasp that they had to change their beliefs and state of consciousness to accept freedom instead of slavery.

Most of us today must also have a change in consciousness. We must go from one of lack, limitations, insecurity etc., to one of wealth, unlimited potential, and the full realization that we are fully capable of accepting abundance in all areas of our lives.

Now how do we apply today the same mindset that Joshua utilized nearly 4000 years ago? As you recall lying between Joshua and the Promised Land was a river Jordan which was swift and deep, and just beyond that was the city of Jericho with walls all around it, and just beyond that there were the Canaanites who had Giants for soldiers.

How does this apply today?

Can you begin to see how this applies to us today? What is our promised land? Is it whatever we choose for creating our ideal lives? Could it be a new home, your dream car, financial independence, optimal health etc.? What was the River Jordan, the city of Jericho, and Canaanites soldiers for Joshua might be our fears and doubts and so-called insurmountable obstacles standing in the way of our goals?

When we study Joshua we discover he too utilize these seven steps to bring the people into the Promised Land. The seven steps are (1) clarity (2) visualization (3) acceptance (4) focus (5) intuition (6) action (7) manifestation.

As we read in the Bible we know that Joshua recognized that he had to clarify the goal in the minds of the people, which in their case was the Promised Land. He realized that before he could move one step forward, step number 1 (clarity) had to be firmly established in their minds. As an example, today, if we go to an airlines ticket counter and ask for a ticket to someplace nice we are not going to get a ticket until we can tell them exactly where we want to go. It is the same for creating whatever we are choosing.  We must get clear in what is important to us and what we want to create.

How did Joshua do this? Did he not encompass the community with the Ark of the Covenant? The spiritual meaning of this is that he mentally encompassed the people in the realization that everything is perfect.  This was revealed to Moses earlier and contained in the 10 Commandments (See 10 Commandment e book).  The people recognized the Promised Land was their divine heritage, just as whatever we desire is our divine heritage.

To also help the people visualize what the promised land looked like, Joshua hand-picked several individuals he thought most fully understood the principles and had the best understanding of the process, to personally spy out the promised land, and report back what it was really like.

When they came back they all agreed that it was truly a land of milk and honey – just what they were visualizing.  However, some said it truly is the Promised Land but they did not know how they were ever going to be able to realize it.  They said to Joshua – right in front of us is the River Jordan and it is swift and deep this time of year, there is no way we can get beyond that river.  However, if by some miracle we do get beyond the river there is this city of Jericho with walls all around it, again there is no way we will be able to get beyond that.  Then if we do by some miracle there is a nation that surrounds the Canaanites that have giants for soldiers.  Again, there is no way we are ever going to get beyond them.  I can just imagine that Joshua shook his head and said to himself, how long is it going to take for these people to understand the process.

Others came back and said; “Joshua it truly is a land of milk and honey and we just know it’s right for us.”  Not one word from this group was expressed about how difficult it might be. I’m sure they looked Joshua in the eyes and said — it’s rightfully ours lets receive it. Joshua said to them, good you’ve got it you understand the process and he made them his priests.

Visualization is part of the process.

Number (2) of the creative process is visualization. Now Joshua’s select group — the priests — clearly knew what their goal was (the Promised Land), and could visualize it in detail. Consequently, they were well on their way to experience step number (3) acceptance in the creative process.

In this acceptance step the individuals must be so strong that they can accept change, because change is a built-in factor in the manifestation of our choices and goals. A huge factor that must be overcome in this step is fear. People through eons of time have feared change. In fact, the two words that are used the most in the King James Version of the Bible is “fear not”. I’m sure that’s why we read in Joshua Chapter 1 Verse 9, “Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of good courage! Be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed.”

In this third step change is inevitable. We cannot hang on to the old. Every demonstration only occurs when we are strong enough to let go of the old, overcome fear, and move forward in knowing that we are totally open to receiving no matter how it comes into our experience.

Step number (4) focus — no matter what we go through in this process of change we never lose sight of our vision, never, ever. Let’s see how Joshua used these principles so far. When he felt he had enough people who had the clarity and strength of the vision, who could clearly visualize it in their minds eye, and had the strength and courage to move forward having overcome the fear of change, he intuitively knew it was time to move forward.

So as we read he lined his priests up in front and said now it is time to move forward in accepting our promised land. Note the River Jordan was swift and deep this time of year but not one of his (priests) said this is impossible we are going to drown they just knew as Joshua did that if you move forward without fear, holding to the vision, staying focused all things work together for good. The important factor here is to realize that they did not stand by the side of the river praying for some miracle to happen. We do not read anywhere in the Bible where Joshua said dear God when you part the River Jordan we will proceed. Instead he knew there were principles and laws of nature that cause circumstances and events to happen on our behalf when we act from that inner knowingness.

So, I feel that as Joshua stayed focused, acting from his intuitive guidance, he was utilizing step number (5) of the seven steps of the creative process “Intuition”. And as we read in chapter 1 verse 8 “Thou shalt meditate therein day and night”, thereby, giving him the ability to make the right decision to move forward.

Chapter 3 verse 15 “– and the feet of the priests were dipped in the brine of the water, (for Jordan overfloweth all its banks all the time of harvest,” verse 16 “That the waters parted and the people passed over right against Jericho”.

The same principle applies. Once we get (1) CLEAR about what we are creating for ourselves, (2) VISUALIZE it as already a part of our life, (3) ACCEPTANCE by changing beliefs and allowing change to be a part of the process, staying (4) FOCUS regardless of what’s happening, acting from a level of meditative (5) INTUITIVE guidance. Then we too must implement step number six of the seven steps of the creative process which is: (6) ACTION. This completes the process which is the seventh step (7) MANIFESTATION.

We too must literally get our feet in the water. We all function under basic principles and laws of nature, but we do not just wait for something to happen. We must act. I am sure that Joshua had no idea how the river would part, he just knew he had to keep moving forward. This is the same for us. We act as we are led to act without having always to figure out intellectually how it’s going to happen.

In biblical metaphor, there are certain numbers that are understood to be used as recognition of wholeness or complete. The basic numbers are 7, 10, and 12. Joshua understood this and used it repeatedly in bringing the people into the Promised Land. In chapter 4 verse 2&3 “Take you 12 men out of the people, out of every tribe a man, — and command ye them, saying, take you hence out of the place where the priests feet stood firm, 12 stones, and ye shall carry them over with you.”  In recent archaeology findings Kathleen Kenyon unearthed at Tell as Sultan, near the modern town of Jericho, that the foundations of ancient Jericho, at the shores of the river Jordan, were put in place 10,000 years ago. And the walls of Jericho had been destroyed thousands of years before Joshua’s time. Today’s discoveries of ancient writings and archaeology are conclusive that the story of Israelites bringing down the walls of Jericho with a great shout when they heard their priests blowing trumpets was a myth, inspired by ancient ruins associated in folklore. The findings show that there was a severe earthquake at the time of Joshua crossing the river Jordan which weakened the remaining walls of Jericho and temporarily dammed up the river Jordan allowing the Israelites to cross over on dry ground.

Does this in any way discredit the principles contained within the Bible?  No. It enhances the story of Joshua as it demonstrates that there are some basic laws of nature or principles that when applied today have the same powerful effect. However, many of the stories such as Joshua cannot be taken totally literally, but must be understood for the metaphysical principles they represent.

I feel that Joshua intuitively understood these seven steps of the creative process that we have today in Dr. Bobbie Stevens’ book Unlimited Futures: How to Understand the Life You Have and Create the Life You Want.

When Joshua had his 12 man carry the 12 rock’s he, in his mind, just knew that everything was perfect and as he moved forward nothing could prevent the vision from becoming a reality.

However, in all our journeys — as we are creating ideal lives for ourselves — obstacles are a built-in part of the process. After the River Jordan parted Joshua then encountered the city of Jericho.

In the story of Joshua, we read in Chapter 6 verse 4 “and seven (7) priests shall bear — seven trumpets — and the seventh day you shall encompass the city seven times, and the priest shall blow the trumpets”. Remember the number seven in Joshua’s time and according to numerology, means complete, whole, accepting the vision as reality regardless of what the senses are telling us. Joshua knew that he and his 7 priests had to prayerfully, mentally encompass the community with the strength to be able to see through the problem (error) to the (truth) hold to the vision (the promised land) as reality and not the negative experience called the walls of Jericho. And as we read, when they had the strength and clarity of the vision and principles involved, the walls of Jericho came tumbling down.

Metaphysically what happened?

Joshua and his key men had to see beyond any obstacles and hold steadfast to the vision — the Promised Land. Just as we should do in our journey. Always know that we must keep visualizing and stay focused on the vision while moving forward no matter what the circumstances are around us.

You and I can utilize the 7 steps, that we find in Dr. Stevens’ book to manifest our dreams and visions.

Again, and again we find Joshua using the same principles as he moves through one nation after another. The Bible relates over and over, “Fear not, the Lord (law or principle) thy God is with thee.”

Here we find a very interesting explanation of this basic law. As more manuscripts are being discovered and archaeology findings are being uncovered we find that we now have most of the entire Bible from the original Aramaic. And when translated directly from Aramaic into English without the other many translations we get a whole new insight into how these principles and basic laws of nature can work for us today.

Let’s briefly examine some of the original meanings. The original meaning of the word Lord from Aramaic directly into English means law or principle. The word God originally was Good and interpreted as LOVE — God is Love so when we read in Joshua and all through the Bible, Fear not the Lord thy God will be with Thee, it literally means the principle of LOVE will heal and or fulfill our vision.

Archaeology and recent manuscript discoveries are now proving that Joshua could communicate with these so-called enemies through love and one by one they joined him in helping bring his people into the Promised Land. Yes, there were battles, however late archaeology findings show us that Joshua did not actually engage in the battle, but the daily circumstances and events of these battles brought him and his people into the promised land.

What a wonderful example for us to be able to utilize the same principles and truths today. Specifically, we utilize the 7 steps of the creative process to manifest our dreams.

So, let’s go forth, enjoying the journey, moving forward counting our blessings as we enhance the lives of others as well as our own life.

By Dean Portinga D.D., Th.D., Ph.D.