Recently I was led to meditate on the purpose of consecration. Mar 2016 was the first time I was impressed upon the need to consecrate myself to the Lord. I didn’t know what it meant and I hadn’t blogged about this topic. Maybe because I hadn’t gotten the full revelation yet.
Come to think of it, the past few years had been a journey of consecrating myself to the Lord. But it was only in Feb 2020 that I received a word about Joshua 3:5 again. I didn’t know we would be going into a time of lockdown. In Mar 2020, I was reminded about the need to consecrate ourselves again. The prophets were all talking about this.
In Apr and May 2020, the call for consecration became more distinct because we were all entering into a cocoon stage. During this time, the prophets were urging the believers to draw near to God, to seek Him first and to encounter His presence. For some of us, it wasn’t that we were doing anything wrong but that God was about to bring us to a new level. We had to press into Him to receive the strategies for the crossover.
Joshua 3:5 was given to God’s people the day before they crossed Jordan. There is a call to consecrate ourselves, to surrender to His will and stay close to the Lord now more than ever. The reason is clear. We are crossing over to our promised land very soon. And this is also why the prophets kept telling us not to give up now. Press into the pressure and we will break out into the new place. Pressing into the pressure is how we provoke a suddenly to manifest in our lives.
The old has passed away and the new has come. Increasingly the Lord has been saying this repeatedly and telling us to let go of the old wine skin. It was necessary to renew our minds and to stay close to Him so that we could align ourselves with the new things He is doing. Otherwise we would not be able to recognise the day of His visitation and reject the new move simply because it was strange to us.
I just realised that the command to consecrate themselves was given by Joshua not the Lord. He was sensitive to recognise that God was coming on the scene mightily. Again it was back to the purity of our hearts. The more we are yielded to His will, the more God can pour out His power on us and work through us. At the end of the day, He is looking for pure vessels that He can work with. Without us He will not, without Him we cannot.
After the Israelites witnessed the Lord parting Jordan and they stepped foot on the promised land, they were told by the Lord to circumcise themselves at Gilgal. The reason for doing this was also an act of consecration. In fact it was an outward circumcision of the inward heart. The timing for this act couldn’t be more inappropriate. They were putting themselves in dangerous situations for the enemy could attack them while they were still recovering. But again this act proved that their trust was in the Lord to protect them.
It was a very necessary act on their part to prove their hearts’ allegiance to the Lord. God also rolled away their reproach as this place Gilgal meant rolling away the reproach. God had to remove all the condemnation in our lives before He can cause us to defeat our giants. After that the Lord Jesus appeared to Joshua as the Commander of Hosts and revealed the strategy to defeat Jericho.
They were to march around Jericho for seven days. On the seventh day, they were to circle the city seven times. After the seventh time on the seventh day, they were to sound the trumpets and give a shout of victory. Yet another senseless battle strategy that soundEd silly. But the number seven showed that the circling was part of a spiritual exercise or process designed to set the people apart (sanctify them) for the Lord as a holy people who belong to a holy God.
God was testing their hearts to see if they would complain about the silly act of circling the city. Besides, Joshua didn’t reveal that they had to do this for seven days. The instruction was given to them day by day. They were told to keep silent until the day Joshua say to them to shout. They didn’t know how long they had to do this. But they didn’t question Joshua or ask about the battle strategy. This was such a stark contrast compared to their parents who seemed to question Moses at the drop of a hat.
Once again the Lord impressed upon me Isaiah 1:19. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land. This second generation of Jews was amazingly obedient and willing to do anything to possess their promised land. Maybe they were sick and tired of wandering in the desert unlike their parents. They watched their parents perish in the desert because of their disobedience, complaints and murmuring.
The Lord is saying something very important now. In the days to come, we have to be like the Israelites and do what our Commander in chief tells us immediately. No delay and no questioning. There is no time to ask if it makes sense. Just do first then think. Whatever Jesus tells you, do it. God is looking for yielded hearts and a clean vessel to pour out His power. This means that we have to be willing and obedient for His power to flow through us. And the world will see it and give glory to Jesus.
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