(Get your matches ready—this Word is going to explode! I know what is going to happen—we are going to have services in which God gives us exact revelation and direction. But He will not do that until we are ready. When the Word comes, it is like a train, with one thing hooked onto another. God just shoves at us what He wants us to feel; then we pick up on it, and as we open our hearts to Him, we begin to feel Him directing our hearts.)
Now it came about when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing opposite him with his sword drawn in his hand, and Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us or for our adversaries?” Joshua 5:13.
It appears that Joshua did not even recognize that it was the Lord. He thought that He was only a man with a sword. It is amazing how many times God comes to us in circumstances and problems and words and situations, and it seems to be all human, not God; we do not see Him in them. All we see is that there is a sword pointed at our hearts, and we ask, “Are You for us or for our adversaries?” This is where many have been. In our times of devastation we wonder, “Is this for my destruction and death? What is this?” You do not even know whether or not it is God. Honestly, you question it in your mind, “Is this really God?” And the answer comes back:
“… I indeed come now as captain of the host of the Lord.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and bowed down, and said to him, “What has my lord to say to his servant?” Joshua 5:14.
This is where we all are, and this is where we are going to be from now on. We are on our faces, asking, “What has my Lord to say to His servant?”
And the captain of the Lord’s host said to Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so. Verse 15.
When God points His sword at your heart, the last thing you would think is, “This is holy ground.” In the first place, you have difficulty recognizing that it is God who is meeting you; and next, it is difficult to believe that it is holy ground. In fact, it usually doesn’t even enter your mind!
I once said that our times of devastation are the greatest thing to come since the invention of the wheel, and that is true.
We do not understand how God meets us; we do not recognize it because He did not meet us that way before. He has a way of doing that. Our resurrected Lord did not come forth with a lot of glory and wonder when He walked with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13–35). They did not even know who He was, though their hearts burned within them as He spoke. They did not realize what was happening until He began to break bread with them. Then it dawned on them.
God grant that the realization of what He has been doing to us explodes within us.
The Lord proved one thing there on the plains of Jericho. He proved that we have to evaluate which is greater—the promises of God, or our preparation to walk in them. That is a hard appraisal. There are a lot of people who have faith in the promises; but invariably the question arises, “Then why aren’t they fulfilled?” or, “Why do they have such a limited fulfillment?” The answer is found in the story of the widow of a prophet who had died with a lot of debts (II Kings 4:1–7). She went to the prophet Elisha and he told her, “Go, gather up vessels; do not get just a few.” That was most important.
In her preparation she determined the extent to which those promises would be fulfilled in her life. That is exactly where God is putting us right now. He is confronting us over the way we prepare our heart. Present yourself. Bring vessels, not a few.
“Well, I don’t want to go too far. I don’t want to embarrass myself.”
What can you lose? You cannot lose anything you do not have yet, anyway. Do you want the Lord to bless you? Do you want things to break through? Do you want the fulfillment of the promises? It is a whole new level.
How do we get into that new level? We can learn from what happened to the Israelites. Imagine an interview with them before they entered Canaan. “Here we are, just recently out of the wilderness. We were among those who lived on manna, fresh every morning.”
“Do you know the scientific aspects of manna? Did you analyze it to see what minerals, vitamins, and enzymes were in it? What is it like to live on manna? Will you show us some?”
“I’m sorry; since we got across the Jordan it stopped.”
“What are you eating now?”
“Well, we raid the corn bins of the Philistines; we sneak a few grapes out.”
You have to face the fact that this is a whole new deal. It is a fresh deck of cards. This is for real. You are going to get into this thing that God is doing in your life and see it all fulfilled; but first you must decide, “Am I going to be content with promises and prophecies in my dresser drawer?” Some people boast, “Well, I have a whole file of prophecies from the Lord.”
The Lord’s prophecies and revelations to your heart are one thing, and your preparation and your opening your heart is quite another.
Let’s deal with this preparation of heart! Let’s face that drawn sword which is pointed right at our heart. Face God on the fact that He commissioned you to lead, but you find that you are not the captain; He is the captain. That is what He really meant in the first place. When you look at Him, He does not seem to have all of the medals and decorations that a general should have, and you think, “That’s the general?” You had better believe it!
He is directing; and He is saying, “Prepare your heart, for your preparation is greater than the promises.” Why? Because the promises have their fulfillment only in direct ratio to your preparation.
He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face, He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the booty with the strong; because He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors; yet He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors. Isaiah 53:2b–3, 12.
I have walked with the Lord a long time in this walk of personal directives and prophecies, and I have heard people talk about all the prophecies that the Lord fulfilled; but I knew that sometimes all they got was a token. Others have waited before the Lord and found great, abundant fulfillment. The prophecies and promises of God can yield a fruitfulness of thirty-, sixty-, or a hundredfold, and that on only one type of soil: good soil. Recently a psalm of praise to the Lord came forth which is entitled “Awesome.”* It is a Word which causes you to feel the awesomeness of the great things that God set before us and how little we have walked in.
Where do we stand? We face the issue: promises, or our preparation to walk in them?
The promises, God’s end of it, are pretty good. In fact, I have been wondering—What would this wonderful move of God’s Spirit in the earth be like if God had not given anything of personal, directive prophecy? What about all of these prophecies and promises in the Scriptures? We tend to ignore them and to focus more on our own personal prophecies, when any one of the promises that came in the Scriptures is far greater than the personal prophecies that have come.
Jesus said, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Matthew 17:20b, KJV.
All things are possible to him that believeth. Mark 9:23b, KJV.
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. John 15:7, KJV.
For with God nothing shall be impossible. Luke 1:37, KJV.
“Oh, but I had a prophecy over me that I was going to be a prophet of God.”
Any one of those promises in the Scriptures is bigger than that. Any one of them! We are Bible believers; all of the personal prophecies that have come are just to give us a token, a little hint of what God has for us. Everything we have ever had in this walk in the way of personal directives and personal prophecy over any person or any place is just hors d’oeuvres. It is only a little taste to whet your appetite and make you seek God.
“But I thought we were going to talk about my prophecies.”
No, we are going to talk about preparing your heart to walk in those prophecies.
“Are you for us or for our adversaries?” Joshua 5:13b.
We have not understood that before we face Jericho, we are going to face God. Before we take the land, God is going to take us. We must break the impasses that have kept us back from everything that God wants; we are going to face them and break them down. Where are they? They are right within us.
You say, “But I thought the fall of Jericho was one of the greatest acts of faith that ever came forth in the history of the world.”
It was, in a way. Walking around that huge city for seven days and then watching the walls fall down flat was awesome (Joshua 6). The local historians probably wrote about it for years. Yes, it was an act of faith; but it was also a test of dedication and a test of motivation. We come back to the importance of the preparation in our heart—our motivation and our dedication. We read in Hebrews 11 about great men of faith who believed a Word from God. But how long did they believe it? One hundred and twenty years Noah believed (Genesis 6:3). All that time he was working away on the ark. One hundred and twenty years was a good test of faith, but it was a test of dedication and motivation too.
How many people have had a Word from God and they backed off, thinking, “This is rough. I’m going to forget this.” But this is what it is all about; we are right down to the finish line.
God has changed hats on us. He was coming on strong as the mighty God of grace, full of mercy; He was everything to us. But now we see that sharp sword. Our first reaction is, “Please! Be careful! You could hurt something.” And then the question comes up in our mind, “Jesus, are You for me? Really, what are Your intentions?”
But God is confronting you! He is saying, “What are your intentions?” He is testing your dedication, your motivation: “How long will you persevere? What are you looking to achieve?”
Going into Jericho was a test of motivation for the Israelites. They had to go take one of the richest cities in the whole Jordan valley, and they could not touch a thing—not one thing (Joshua 6:17–19). But one man by the name of Achan was tempted by a wedge of gold, some silver, and a Babylonish garment (Joshua 7:1, 21). I think it was really the Babylonish garment that got him. It is still getting people. If anything tempts people in this walk, it is to go back and put on one of the garments of Babylon.
The temptation to be a part of the whole carnal Christian church world, to be a part of Babylon, hits you hard: “I’ll sneak this in. I’ll keep this. No one will know.”
Jericho was a test of motivation; it was a test of dedication. Ai came next, and it was a defeat (Joshua 7:4–5); but that defeat was already determined because they had failed at Jericho (Joshua 7:1). Motivation and dedication are the underlying factors behind victory or defeat.
The defeat at Ai was based upon someone’s lack of dedication, someone whose motivation was, “Give me the gold and silver and the Babylonish garment. I’ll hide them in my tent; no one will know.” That was behind the first defeat that occurred in the conquest of Canaan under Joshua.
It is interesting to compare the book of Joshua to the book of Acts. The seventh chapter of Joshua corresponds to the fifth chapter of Acts. In Acts 5, Ananias and Sapphira pulled an “Achan.” It was a test of their motivation and their dedication. Peter said, “When you sold your property, the money was in your hand; you could have done what you wanted. You said one thing, and you did another.” Then they were struck dead (Acts 5:1–10). That is the bottom line of what God is going to do now. If He did that at the beginning of the conquest of Canaan and at the beginning of the Church, what do you think He will do at the beginning of the Kingdom?
He is going to put you to the test! He will put you in a place where your confession will have to be followed up by the dedication and the motivation behind it.
Are you ready for this? Can you say, “I believe this, and I am dedicated. And to the best of my knowledge I am motivated right. I want the Kingdom of God. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t want the will of God and the Kingdom of God to come forth. God give me more strength, more grace, because I am going all out. I am going to go all the way with the Lord. There will not be any drawing back.”
What is the greatest value of this thing that God has done in taking away positions in favor of commissions? It is the fact that when God takes away your position and gives you a commission, it is the greatest test of your motivation, the greatest test of the strength of your dedication. You say, “I opened up to this commission and I have gone through the testings.” Of course you have; it was death to you. The flesh doesn’t like it. But you are still moving on with the Lord.
Have you read the This Week, “The Line Is Drawn”?* Every time I read it I think, “The sword is drawn,” as in Joshua 5. You see, the line is drawn, and we realize that many people have been eliminated already because of this test of motivation and dedication.
But we don’t realize how many, many more are still right in there, walking on with God, because from the very beginning they made a commitment.
We respond, “I’ve come this far, and I’m going on.” There will be such a flow of revelation upon us and such a joy, even though we know that we may lay our lives down, that blood will flow before the Kingdom of God is established in the earth. There will be the blood of martyrs, but the blood of martyrs is the seed of the Kingdom. Things will happen which by all verdicts of human evaluation will not be anything we want.
And when He broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, wilt Thou refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow-servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, should be completed also. Revelation 6:9–11.
We have shifted from position to a commission, and it has been the biggest blessing we could have. It has reduced us all down to a place where there can be no motivation, no dedication, that is not purely for the Kingdom of God to come forth. How much faith do you have? Are you ready to see that faith come forth? It is a bowing down of Joshua before the Captain. It is the meeting with God which precedes the fulfillment of the promises; it is the preparation in our hearts of dedication and motivation. Like the igniting of a fuse, let our hearts respond explosively to what God wants. It can happen that fast.
Prayer: First we approach Thy presence, O Lord. First we give ourselves to Thee afresh. We are aware of Thy drawn sword, and we say, “Slay us, Lord, if we be not submissive servants to the Captain of the host of Israel. We would rather perish at Thy hand than be defeated in the battle because we were not prepared to possess the promises.”
Loose us! We loose ourselves; we declare our release. We move in. We declare our liberty. We declare our dedication. We proclaim again our right motivation. If we are liars, may God judge us. But there is a difference between being a liar and proclaiming something by faith that you do not even know about yet. Faith can say, “Yes, I’ll walk in this!” We proclaim that we are going to walk in it!
What we are facing is that the Lord is being honest with us, and He wants us to be honest with ourselves. He is confronting us about the thoughts and intents of our heart. Are they continually evil (Genesis 6:5), always looking to the evil side of everything? Are they cynical? Are they bitter? What is our motivation? Are we going to take the Living Word and build our own kingdom out of it? Or is there a pure motivation to see the Word come forth?
What do we do if our motivation is wrong? We cry out, “Lord, Thou desirest truth in the inward parts.” Then we say, “Purge me with hyssop, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be white as snow” (Psalm 51:6–7).
There is a release for us. Anything that we lack He can supply. The grace of God is completely available to us. The door is open to any who would open their hearts. He has empowered us to change.
Perhaps you say, “I need help, that this Word could explode in my heart. If something is lacking in my motivation, if something is wrong, God can help me with it.”
The Lord has a drawn sword. And what He is saying is that your soul life is in jeopardy. He puts His sword against you and He says, “He that saves his life will lose it” (Mark 8:35).
Let’s face it—this whole Living Word came to start a war. The Lord said, “I didn’t come to bring peace but a sword” (Matthew 10:34). And that sword is pointed at us first. The battle begins with God’s conquest of us.
We do not want a diminishing impact in this Word. We do not want it to mean less to us than it is supposed to mean; neither do we want to forget it. May God cause this Word to grow bigger in our hearts every day—that it not diminish, but increase. In Acts 19:20 we read that the Word of the Lord increased until it prevailed over everything. It increased within the people who submitted to it. Let us say, “We are hearing this Word, and it will increase. It will not diminish. Tomorrow this Word will be even more important to us than it is now.”
The day of playing with what God is doing is over. There cannot be within us a mixture of half Babylon and half the Kingdom, half yesterday and half tomorrow. It is all tomorrow; it is all go.
And it cannot be serving both God and mammon. You cannot serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). It all boils down to this: Your motivation and your dedication are tested to the utmost. You may have thought that the devastation you have been through was a test of faith only, but it was more than that.
You cannot walk with God without the devastation which aids that preparation. What is more important—the promises, or the preparation to see them fulfilled? The Word of God over us did not come to tease us and “lead us on.” That Word was followed by devastation. Many have had this reaction: “I thought I was going to have a great blessing that would exalt me. Instead, I’ve been put into devastation.” The preparation of our hearts comes through devastation. We come to the end of ourselves, and there isn’t any way to go but to say, “Lord, You’re the Captain. We bow down. Whatever You want, Lord, we’re in it.”
It is one thing to realize our sin, but in this Word we have faced something also that has made us realize our dedication and our motivation; it has revealed to us our willingness to serve Him.
Maybe we have faced roots down deep that had to be uprooted, but we have also faced that we are the planting of the Lord.
“Then all your people will be righteous; they will possess the land forever, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified.” Isaiah 60:21.
To grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified. Isaiah 61:3.
In a sense, it is a meeting with God when you see what happened to you: “I came through it, and I love God; I love Him with all my heart. I’m ready to go forward.” It doesn’t mean that we finally rose up to a place of exaltation; it means that we finally came down to a place of submission.
Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23–24, KJV. We are crying for it.
It is amazing the prayers that come forth in the belly of a fish at the bottom of the sea (Jonah 1:17), or at the point of a drawn sword. All of those things are a symbolic expression, written for our admonition (I Corinthians 10:11). You have gone through devastation; what are you going to do now? We have God just where He wants us, and we rejoice in that.
The Lord said, “Take up your cross and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24). Anyone who picks up a cross knows that he is likely to die on it. He is not going to pick it up without thinking, “What’s going to happen to me?” He may hope that an earthquake or a four-alarm fire or something will come and discourage everybody so that he can run away; but when they start putting the nails in him, it dawns on him, “They mean business.” And that is exactly what God has done with us. God has meant business with us; and what has happened to us is a growing realization that what He first said to us a generation ago about the cross, He meant.
We are like the disciples on the road to Emmaus. In the Word which God has spoken, we have heard things, but we didn’t hear them. We have known things, but we didn’t know them. We have felt things, but we didn’t really feel them. It is as if God has ripped off layer after layer to reach down into our hearts, and now our hearts have become sensitive; we are yearning for His will. As the disciples listened to the Lord and He sat and broke bread with them, their eyes were opened (Luke 24:30–31). That is happening to us. It is not so much that He is opening our hearts; our hearts have been open. But He is opening our perception to understand what has been going on in our lives. We say, “Fine. If it is devastation, we take it. If it is a drawn sword, we take it.” Our hearts are open. We are willing to serve Him.
As with the two on the road to Emmaus, the Lord may veil His presence in order to bring a greater revelation of Himself to us.
Faith not only believes the promises of God, but prepares for a great fulfillment of them.
Bring your vessels not a few if you would enjoy His blessings not a few.
God’s promises often have their fulfillment in direct ratio to your preparation.
Jericho’s fall was more than a test of faith; it was a test of Israel’s motivation and dedication.