A Journey of Faith – Shouting Shoes

/0 Comments/in /by

Back in December my daughter Anna needed new basketball shoes and we ended up purchasing Nike Kobe, named after the well known Los Angeles Laker Kobe Bryant. What a great marketing technique to get people to buy the same footwear as Kobe, inspiring players to think and hope that maybe, just maybe, wearing his shoes will help them play like him! Unfortunately Anna still can’t slam dunk a basketball, but the cost was worth it since her Achilles tendon is healing and she has been able to return to the court.

In our faith journey, we are given the Father’s shoes and our goal is to imitate His son Jesus. Jesus removed his sandals for us and gave up his life by dying on the cross so that we can stand in victory. He conquered our strongholds and gives us spiritual strength to go on. Last week we read that Joshua was commanded to take off His shoes in submission to the Commander of the Lord’s army (Jesus) and die to himself, so that he could ultimately follow the Father’s plan.

The Father’s shoes certainly don’t match those of our culture in style, color or in our idea of what we consider footwear necessary to win. Notice God’s plan for victory:

“I have delivered Jericho into your hands…. March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priest blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout, then the wall of the city will collapse…” (Joshua 6:2-5)

These marching orders are the same for us today. The Father has already “delivered” your Jericho into your hands. Your Commander of the Lord’s Army secured your victory at the Cross. Put on His shoes and follow in His steps around the spiritual strongholds in your life. Keep your eyes on Jesus, the True Priest, and know the Holy Spirit dwells not just with you like the Ark of the Covenant, but in you.

Can you hear the greatest victory shout trumpeted out for the entire world to hear, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). Satan and the strong holds of our sin have been overcome by the Cross forever. There is just one more thing you are commanded to do, shout praise to your God in faith for your victory and watch the walls of your Jericho come tumbling down!

Taking off your Shoes – Journey Deeper

/2 Comments/in /by

What was the greatest victory ever won without shoes? If you guessed Jesus’ death on the cross give yourself a thumbs up. Like Joshua before him, Jesus submitted to the Father’s will for His life and was crucified without shoes. A powerful symbol for us today about how to gain victory in our daily battles.

Jesus overcame–Satan, our sin, the demonic strongholds of the world–through surrender. When it appeared like He was doing nothing by dying a meaningless death, He was transforming everything. Jesus shares that our journey of faith starts with daily dying as well: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me,” (Luke 9:23).

Before we can truly “follow” we must surrender our shoes and join Jesus in a death to self, to become nothing to gain everything, Jesus in us.

Join me in a prayer of taking off:

Dear Father today I take off my shoes, dying to my will and surrendering to yours. I give you my plans tainted with my pride and seek to listen to your heart for me. Lord help me to empty my self of all the distractions, fears for security, self-preservation, and worldly longings, so that I can be filled with the life of King Jesus. Father help me to understand that what the world calls “a waste of time,” you see as the most important component of my life, kneeling before your presence. I praise you that as I’m again crucified with Christ this day you have already gone before and guaranteed the victory, Amen!

A Journey of Faith – Taking off your Shoes

/0 Comments/in /by

“Take off your shoes!” If you were a player in a game and your coach said that to you, wouldn’t you think it was a crazy request? How could you be expected to play well without shoes? Yet, in Joshua 5:15, God commands Joshua to do just that. Why? Because this is where true faith wins the victory over the enemy.

Here are 3 reasons why I think it important for Joshua, and for each of us, to remove our spiritual shoes once in a while:

1) It is God’s battle and not ours: In vs. 13 Joshua was looking at Jericho and probably saying to himself, “How on earth can an untrained army, with no real weapons, take on one of the strongest walled cities in the region?” Just then God showed up in the form of the “commander of the Lord’s army,” (many think this is the pre-incarnate Jesus).

Notice when Joshua asks “whose side are you on?” The “Commander” with the drawn sword says “neither.” Meaning He was not there to take sides but to take over.

2) God wants you to know His presence and provision is all you need to overcome the enemy. The victory wouldn’t come through great feats of men with all the right weapons, rather the enemy would be defeated by the living presence of God and His heavenly army.

3) Victory starts with reverent submission to the will of the true Savior. When Joshua realized he was in the presence of God “he fell face to the ground” and asked, “What message does my Lord have for His servant?” (vs. 14)

God’s response was “take off your sandals for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did, (vs.15), he took off his sandals AND victory was won. It was won before it happened. It was won with the act of full surrender to the will of God.

Lately, I find myself spending too much time focusing on my Jericho. AND, with that I become just a little bit anxious at the over-sized walls and its laughing enemies that taunt my weakness. How this story brings me back to the truth that it has nothing to do with my shoes. In fact, He wants me to take them off and behold the Holy One declaring that the battle belongs to Him; His presence and provision are all I need. I surrender to His plan for victory.

Will you join me this week in taking off your shoes and looking away from your Jericho, so that you can fix your eyes on the True Commander and Chief, Jesus Christ. (Hebrew 12:2) It is through this act of true faith that our victory over the enemy can be won.

Strengthen Your Shoes – Journey Deeper

/1 Comment/in /by

In church this past Sunday I was touched by the Father’s tender presence filling my heart with overflowing joy. The pastor beautifully prepared us to come forward to the communion table, and after tasting the body and blood of Jesus we sang of His great faithfulness and love. For a moment my spirit drank from the heavenly realm and His love surrounded me with blessed assurance. My response was tears of praise. What a great way to start the week!

On Tuesday I shared with you that one way to “strengthen your shoes” was being reminded that you belong. You have been adopted into God’s family by the blood of Jesus, symbolized in Joshua’s day by circumcision and in our day by baptism. But another essential element to “strengthen your faith shoes” would be intimacy with your Heavenly Father.

Notice after the children of Israel were circumcised they had communion; “On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover” (Joshua 5:10). Under the nose of their enemy, the Father had them set a table for the Passover. God wanted to remind His children of His intimate love. He wanted them to taste and see that He alone is faithful and good!

Jesus gave us the fullness of the Passover meal displayed in the Lord’s Supper, or Communion. This is an invitation to be spiritually intimate with our Savior. The secret behind the power of the New Testament church was that they knew they belonged to the Father through their baptism and daily intimacy as they ate together at the Lord’s Table (Acts 2:42-47).

Read Joshua 5 again and notice the Israelites gained their strength for the battle by being centered on knowing whom they were and experiencing the presence of God’s overwhelming love.

In baptism and the Lord’s Supper, God has given us two great pictures and seals of our belonging and His intimate love. Don’t neglect these gifts of grace. Let them strengthen your faith. Let them remind you that you belong and are intimately loved.

Prayer:

Abba I confess today I belong to you. I claim my baptism as the seal of this truth. Nothing can separate me from your great love as your precious child. I ask today that you feed me spiritually the gift of your Son Jesus Christ. Let His broken body and blood from the cross cover my sin and present me perfect before your presence, so that I may walk forward in faith knowing that your love is all I need. Amen!

A Journey of Faith – Strengthen Your Shoes

/1 Comment/in /by

Last week I sat behind the bench during my daughter’s basketball game. I overheard the coach articulating the game plan and giving a pep talk as he encouraged each player and the team as a whole. As Coach D. paced the sidelines and interacted with his players, he united the team and each one knew they played a part, they belonged. “Belonging” is the key not only to a successful, victorious team, but for us as well on our faith walk.

Over the years I have realized in almost any situation when one senses that he or she doesn’t belong or matter, a door is left wide open for the enemy to wreak havoc. Loneliness and insecurity drive us to believe the destructive lies of the enemy. He deceives us into thinking that belonging is found in anything and everything BUT the Father’s loving arms.

In Joshua 5 God had His children do two very important things in order to strengthen their faith and move forward in victory. The first has to do with “belonging” to the Father’s family (we’ll talk about the second thing on Thursday).

In Joshua 5 verse 2 the LORD said, “Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites again.” Can you say Ouch! For 40 years the Israelites wandered in the wilderness without the need for circumcision, but now a new generation was called to walk in faith and circumcision was a reminder that they belonged to God (see Genesis 17). Their future success would not come from their own strength, but instead from the fact that God the Father loved them – they belonged to Him! His strength would allow them to be victorious in battle.

I know that, today, circumcision points to the work of Christ on the Cross, where his blood was shed to bring us into relationship with the Father. I also know that the water in baptism replaces the former and is the new sign and seal of our adoption into the family of God. So, because I have been baptized, I know I belong to the Father’s family.

I’ll be honest, though, there are still times on this journey of faith I get lonely and the Jericho ahead scares me to death! How I need to be reminded daily of these words, “for you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship (adoption). And by him we cry ‘Abba Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s Children” (Romans 8:15, 16).

This verse strengthens me. It reminds me that I belong, that my Dad is King of the Universe. I have been baptized into His family through Jesus His Son, and He loves me! My victory is found in Him alone.

A prayer I repeat many times a day is “Abba, I belong to you!” Try praying these 5 strengthening words this week on your faith journey and watch how the Holy Spirit will give you all you need to move forward.