GOD IS WITH YOU IN YOUR BATTLE...
BUT AS LEADER

September 22, 2002 am
Mike Blume


TEXT:

Joshua 5:13-15  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 standest is holy. And Joshua did so.

Joshua was surveying the enemy territory of Jericho before a battle he knew would have to occur.
They had never fought a city like this before.
But God was going to meet Joshua and give the answer.
Joshua suddenly saw a man standing in front of him with a sword drawn in his hand.
Joshua was bold.
But this man standing there said something that was absolutely unexpected.
This tells us something about Joshua and about ourselves in situations we enter.
We face battles of everyday life and immediately think we have to deal with them in our own power.
If we can learn this lesson, our battles with Satan, the world and temptation will be far more easily dealt with God's way.

Joshua was not supposed to look at God and realize that God will join his army and be on his side.
No matter how right your heart is and how holy your cause may seem to you, God does not join you.
Too many people have some sort of pie-in-the-sky idea of God that He is there whenever you need Him to do what you think should be done.
God is not a servant, church.

God wants to have you serve Him, and fall in line with what He wants to do.

This angel did not ask Joshua what instructions Joshua might want to give to him.
Joshua would take orders from him.
So many times we have all these instructions for God to follow.
When we face a battle, we need to seek God and feel for His directions for us.
We go at it backwards and try to get God to come and join our forces and be our next in command beside us and do whatever we ask.
Now don't get this wrong.
Always remember that God is Supreme Commander!

And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant? 

Joshua got the message!
And sure enough, we read instructions given to Joshua...

Joshua 6:1-5  Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in.  (2)  And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour.  (3)  And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days.  (4)  And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams' horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets.  (5)  And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.

But God was not only reminding Joshua that God Joshua is not the leader.
He did not abandon them in this hour of need.

And the captain of the LORD'S host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so.

When the man said this, we are reminded of words spoken to Moses as God spoke from the burning bush.

Moses had tried to deliver Israel and failed.
God would do the leading.
Removing shoes was an act of respect and obedience and submission.
David stood before Israel and told Goliath:

1 Samuel 17:47  And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD'S, and he will give you into our hands.

The last time God showed Himself on holy ground, and commanded shoes to be removed was when He worked to deliver Israel and save them from Egypt by the blood of the lamb.
Perhaps we felt we were to make our own battle plans after we let God save us, because we knew we could not save ourselves.
He's not just there at the start to save you.
If you want to experience a deliverance from God in your present battles, then take your shoes off and offer yourself as His servant.

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IT'S ONE THING TO REALIZE HE IS LORD, BUT ANOTHER TO BE ABLE TO LET HIM LEAD.

We're so used to leading and contriving battle strategies, that it's hard to have real faith in God and believe we shall win without making our own plans.

So...

Joshua 6:1-7  Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in.  (2)  And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour.  (3)  And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days.  (4)  And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams' horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets.  (5)  And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.  (6)  And Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said unto them, Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the LORD.  (7)  And he said unto the people, Pass on, and compass the city, and let him that is armed pass on before the ark of the LORD.

They were to go around the city for seven days.
They took seven ram's horns.
The priests blew the trumpets and circled the city once every one of those seven days.
The message is that we need to hear the preaching of the COMPLETE POWER OF CHRIST (seven horns of the rams) repeatedly until we come to fully know about it (seven days speaks of time to fully learn - -God knows we need time to let this sink in), and then we will shout with confidence!

Had they only experienced one day of blowing a toot with the seven horns, speaking of the full power of God, they would not really the revelation get into the hearts of the people.

But seven days and the same seven horns sounding for each of those days, would bring them to enough time to "fully" understand the truth.

And their shout would then be full of UNDERSTANDING AND CONFIDENCE.

And THAT resultant FAITH would allow God to work on their behalfs!

Joshua said SHOUT BECAUSE GOD HAS GIVEN YOU THE CITY!

In other words, shout because you are convinced it is your's before you actually enter it and enjoy it.
When you speak forth, if it is not in faith, it will do nothing, whether or not you do it in Jesus' name.