Conquering Your Canaan
Numbers 33:52
"Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their pictures, and destroy all their molten images, and quite pluck down all their high places:"
Canaan is a picture of God's perfect will for the Christian. God's desire for every Christian is to live in the perfect will of God. What most people don't understand is that living in God's perfect will does not mean that you won't have battles to fight and sin to overcome. God told the children of Israel that once they got into the land of Canaan they would have to drive out the inhabitants and get rid of their sins. This is a picture of how the Christian must overcome their sin so that they can enjoy living in God's perfect will for their life.
If you are going to conquer your Canaan and enjoy God's perfect will for your life, then you must confess your sin to God. Passing over the Jordan river is a picture of a Christian leaving their sin to do right. You will never conquer the old habits of sin without first confessing your sin to God. God wants to help you overcome your sin, but you must confess them to Him. Recognizing that you have a Jordan River to cross is not good enough, there must be a time when you go to God and confess them to Him so that you can move on to conquering your Canaan.
Once you confess your sin to God, then you must be sure those sins don't come back into your life. For this to happen you must have a determination not to let your sin conquer you again. God told the children of Israel to "drive out all the inhabitants." This is pure determination. If you are not determined to conquer your sinful habits, then you won't overcome them.
Once you determine that you are going to conquer your sinful habits, to help your determination you must get rid of any reminders of those sins. Notice that God told them "to destroy all their pictures" and "molten images." Pictures and images are reminders of the past. A picture is always something that happened in the past. If you want to overcome your sinful habits, then you MUST get rid of any reminders of those sins. You can't keep reminders around without those reminders tempting you. Face it, you are not strong enough to keep your reminders of the past around without eventually partaking of them again. Getting rid of sin is wonderful, but you must also get rid of any reminder of that sin so that it can't tempt you again.
Moreover, you must avoid the places of sin. God told them to get rid of the "high places." Any place where you used to go must be avoided. For instance, an alcoholic won't overcome alcohol by going back to the bar to visit with his old friends. Though he may think he can go to the same places, the problem with those places is that sin is still prevalent there. If you truly want to overcome your sin, then you are going to have to change your habits and the places you go. Avoid them so you can overcome them.
Furthermore, if you are going to conquer your Canaan, you must change your associations. God told Israel to "dispossess the inhabitants of the land." You can't run with the old crowd and live a new life. I know it may sound rude to stop running with your old friends, but you can't run with them for they will continue to do what they have always done. What they do is what you are trying to overcome. Changing your associations is imperative to conquering your Canaan.
Finally, let me remind you that it is important to replace what you drive out with good. Getting rid of sin, its reminders and your bad associations is wonderful, but you must replace each of these areas with good. Any time you remove bad you must replace it with good. Replace your bad associations with good ones. If you want to live the victorious Christian life, then you must follow these steps of removing your sin.