JOSHUA 5

13 And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?

14 And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the Lord am, I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant?

15 And the captain of the Lord’s host said unto Joshua, loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon, thou stand is holy. And Joshua did so.

WORSHIPPING BEFOR WARFARE

The Vision of the Lord: It happened to Moses and now it was happening to Joshua.

In Chapter 3 of Exodus, Moses had an encounter with God before he went back to Egypt.  In the Old Testament God “appeared” to those who He called.  He did not use email or social media.  He showed up in a physical manifestation.  These appearances of God served two purposes:

First, it proved to the one being called that God was real; second, it gave the one being called the authority to act on behalf of God.  This happened to Gideon, and Isaiah.

The apostle Paul in Acts 9 met the risen Lord Jesus before he was commissioned to preach the gospel to the Gentiles.

In this passage, Joshua has an encounter with the commander of the Lord’s army.  Some say that this was an encounter with Jesus.  There are two reason to believe this: First, when Joshua bows down to worship, the Lord of Host does not prevent him from doing so; second, the Lord of host tells Joshua to take off his shoes, because he is standing on holy ground.  This same command was given by God when He appeared to Moses at Mount Horeb.  

Every servant of the Lord has to have an encounter with the Lord before they enter into ministry.  We all need to meet God personally, we need to stand on holy ground and then and only then can we go out and fight battles for the Lord.  Our holy ground is the Bible.  Every time we open the Word of God, God appears to us, and we are standing on holy ground.  

Don’t go out and fight without first meeting with God in prayer.  He is your strength.

When Joshua realized that he was in the presence of the Lord, he bowed down and worship.  To bow down to God in worship is to acknowledge that He is worthy of worship, that He is holy, and that we submit ourselves to His will.

Remember Samson shook himself, he thought he could get away with not meeting and spending time with God…the result?  He lost his two eyes!  And like Samson, when we try to do God’s work without God, we lose sight of his work, as we try to do it, our way, instead of his way. 

Before God used Joshua to conquer the nations, He appeared to him to encourage and strengthen him.  And God wants to do the same for us.  Don’t make a move until God moves in your life.  Be blessed.

God bless you

KK