Joshua 5:13-15 “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”.

When we are near the place of victory and we look up we encounter the realm of the supernatural, that is, God’s supernatural power that transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary. What was for Joshua just another ordinary battle was transformed into a major lesson in how God works, not by man’s might or power but by His Spirit.   

God used the commander of His army, to remind Joshua and us by extension that once you are walking in the presence of the Sovereign Lord

           i.        It is Holy Ground and must be treated with reverence;

          ii.        The road to victory is not an ordinary road but one that mapped out by the Lord and so it is holy

         iii.        We are not worthy to stand and remain in the presence of the Lord.  We can now only do that through the blood of Jesus

         iv.        The Lord wants us to strip away certain things which are blocking full surrender to him such as the sandals:

1. The sandals represented –
   1. 1. human covering vs. God’s covering
      2. human direction (one’s own pathway versus God’s highway)
      3. Man’s legal tender in transacting business vs. God’s business transactions.

Could it be that, the Lord was asking Joshua, and by extension us, to surrender everything about the victory to Him and His methodologies?   

What is the Lord asking us to do today?  What victory must be handed over to the Lord?  What must we strip away or allow the Lord to strip away from our personhood?   Have we surrendered our all to Jesus?  Are our spiritual eyes open so that we can see the Lord’s ministering servants (angels) who are sent to guarantee our victory which follow obedience?   Are we spoiling our victory by disobedience when all was in place for the victory? 

PRAYER

Lord we surrender our humanness to Your Divine recreation of who we are.  Give us the eyes to see Your supernatural at work and give us the will to trust and still obey when we cannot see our way.  Forgive us for blocking the very victory we need.  We cast down everything that does not reflect You in our lives.  In Jesus’ name,  Amen