Cory Lebovitz

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 edge of a 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 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 the walls come down the people of Israel prepared for a move of God. Specifically in Joshua 4 & 5 we find 3 ways the people of Israel prepared for what God would do next:

Remember (Joshua 4) – 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 future generations 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.

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. It was a practical way they moved from delayed obedience to obedient. 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.

Perhaps this week the best way for us to prepare for what God will do is take time to remember what he has done, re-up our commitment to obey Him and realign our perspective as a chief follower of God.