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Crossing the Jordan by Faith

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The priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel passed by until the whole nation had completed the crossing on dry ground. (Joshua 3:17)

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God took away Moses, who was a great leader of Israel.
Following Moses, God raised Joshua to lead Israel.

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The Israelites followed Joshua and reached the river Jordan.
So they camped in that place for 3 three days.

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On the third day, the leaders of Israel went through the camp and said, "You will see the priests and Levites carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God. When you see that, you should follow them. But don't come near to the ark."

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Joshua said to the Israelites, "Tomorrow, God will do amazing things among you.
So today, make yourselves clean and holy."
Therefore, the Israelites followed all of Joshua's orders.

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Joshua followed God's words. God appeared to Joshua. "Today, I will make you great. All the people will know that I am with you as I was with Moses. Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant to go and stand in the river when they reach the edge of the Jordan's waters."

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The next day, the Israelites went to cross the Jordan.
The priests carried the ark of the covenant of LORD and stood at the front.
And the Israelites followed while keeping a distance away from the ark.

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The priests carrying the ark of the covenant reached the edge of the Jordan's waters. The water of the Jordan river was overflowing. The time that the Israelites crossed the river was the time where the water gets the highest in a year.
Since the water was too high, they were not able to go forward anymore.

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Joshua told the words of God to the Israelites. "The priests who carry the ark of the LORD, the LORD of all the earth, will set foot in the Jordan first. When their feet touch the water, God will do an amazing thing."

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After hearing the words of Joshua, the priests carrying the ark of the covenant stepped into the water with faith. When their feet touched the water of the Jordan river, an amazing thing really did happen.

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The water flowing downstream stopped and moved backward.
The water went far away and got piled up and stopped flowing.
The under part where the water did not flow became a dry ground.

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The priest carrying the ark of covenant stood in the middle of the river.
The Israelites started to cross the river where there was no water.
All the people crossed the Jordan river safely. God did an amazing thing!

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After all of the people crossed the Jordan river, Joshua said, "From each tribe, choose one person. Tell them to take up twelve big stones from the middle of the Jordan and put them at the place you will stay tonight. These stones will become the proof that you have indeed crossed the Jordan river as a dry ground."

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They followed Joshua and each of them took up a big stone from the middle of the river. Then they took the stones and placed them in front of their camp. The stones were placed to prove that God let the Israelites cross the Jordan river as a dry ground. Then in the place where the priests stayed, they placed these 12 stones as a memorial for the future generations to come.

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The priests carrying the ark of covenant believed the word of God that was told by Joshua. So when they stepped into the river, an amazing miracle of the Jordan getting cut off happened. That day, the Israelites realized that they can experience miracles if they follow God's words.

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Everything is possible with God. God created all the space and God still runs it.
Even when there are big problems in front of us, if we follow God's words and step forward, God will solve all the problems like how God cut off the Jordan river.