I am captured by the idea that God CAN do more, is ABLE to do more and DESIRES to do more than I could ever imagine. I am convinced that you and I sit on the precipice of the next mighty move of God.
- Do I know what it will look like? No.
- Do I know when it will happen? No.
- Can I prepare for it before it happens? Yes.
I know that God wants to move in a mighty way among us, but I have no clue when it will happen or what it will look like. The same thing was likely true for Joshua and the people of Israel. They sat on the other side of the Jordan River; full of eager expectation for what would come next. They had a number of reasons to believe God was about to move in a big way.
I find it interesting to look back and see what happened right before the move of God. Before walls come tumbling down and the power of God is put on full display we find the people of Israel preparing for a move of God. Specifically in Joshua 4 & 5 we find 3 things happening – 3 ways that the people are prepared for what God will do next.
Here are 3 practices that best prepare us for a move of God:
Remember (Joshua 4) – I love this story because it is where my church gets its name. The first way the people prepared for a move of God was to practice remembrance. They gathered stones from the river and stacked them up as a monument to what God had done. They created a way to remind themselves and those who would follow of all the ways that God had already moved on their behalf. They knew that stories of God’s past faithfulness give us courage for our future trust. (Click to tweet)
Re-up (Joshua 5:2-10) – Before the Israelites would experience a move of God they had to do a little re-up…they had to recommit themselves to obeying God. For them a very simple and practical reflection of their “re-up” was to ensure all the men in the army were circumcised. (Super glad to live in the post Old Testament era.) It was a practical way they moved to delayed to current in their obedience. Preparing for a move of God requires us to tend to any potential areas of disobedience.
Realign (Joshua 5:13-15) – It is easy for us to slide into thinking that we are in charge. After all God entrusts us with gifts, talents and abilities that combined together can make us think we are pretty hot stuff. Joshua believed himself to be in charge and everyone else to be a part of his team or the enemy. Then came the realignment:
Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?” The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.
Suddenly Joshua experienced a shift in his perspective. He realized he was not in charge. Joshua discovered being a leader under God means you are actually just the chief follower. (Click to tweet)
Cory Lebovitz 
Love the blog. Very well said. Keep it up .
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I just love this, thank you.
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Your blog message is very timely. A true inspiration in a time of need. May God continue to bless you and keep you
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Yes good item.In Bristol UNITED Kingdom we have been doing the Turning.A Thousand People were witnessed to and Prayed the Salvation Prayer.It is going to continue..There have been some amazing stories.London is having J John in the Emerats stadium in the Summer. for outreach.So there is a lot happening,let’s Pray for revival to come Amen
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Cory,
I am at the end of one v e r y l o n g walk on water with Jesus. It was a miracle from beginning to end. So many times God walked me through circumstances that should have stopped the project to which He assigned me. The top three are all the same thing but at different times.
1. Beginning – total stranger takes me under her wing to get project off the ground at no cost.
2. Near end – project moves forward on a “don’t worry about the cost now. I want you to finish this” basis.
3. End – after paying one-third the actual cost, project moves forward on a “be as generous to others as I have been to you. Consider your account paid in full” basis.
Three different people told me that my inability to pay them for their professional services didn’t matter. The last one swore me to never mention what was done for free or mention name of person or company.
When God first tugged at my heart about this project I very reluctantly said yes. All the while thinking about how impossible it was. After a few experiences with “that’s impossible, but it just happened” I was convinced the project would get completed. What I didn’t know is that it would take years because we were crossing an ocean.
God kept the project moving forward, no me. I just kept saying yes to the next impossible step. When the impossible happened I celebrated, praised God, and shared the miracle with others.
The project sounded simple at first.
Share how God took me from despair that nearly caused me to end my life, to a joyful, abundant life despite little change in the circumstances that once led me to despair.
I didn’t know “share” was “write a book about”. I wanted to “share” my story with an established writer, not spend years writing it myself alongside a family and full-time job.
Sometime this month, maybe even this week, the project goes public. I can’t wait to see what God does with it. The journey of writing it has brought about many positive changes in me. My prayer is that the result of my reluctant yes does the same for countless others.
What’s the specific project? Thought I would leave you hanging, didn’t you?
The following title is coming soon Amazon.com, available in print and ebook formats.
Insane Success: From Losing the American Dream, to Finding God’s Abundant Life.
All the glory to God for what He has done and is yet to do with this project.
Sorry for writing a book about the book project, Cory.
May God bless the work of your hands.
Steven
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