To be able to move into and
operate in the new season of restoration set before us, we are going to have to
change our mindsets about the Lord and His ways and purposes.
In 2007, the Lord gave me Joshua
3 and Joshua 5 as a sort of “template” to outline what would be coming in the
next five to seven years. All of what the Lord has been doing in the body of
Christ over the last five years has been to ready us to enter into this final
season of restoration and harvest, in order to prepare for His bodily return to
rule this earth. This has meant intense training for the sons and daughters of
God so as to forge His image and likeness in us. This is so that He can release
His authority and power through us, which, in turn, will bring the justice and
restoration all the prophets have prophesied (Acts 3:19-21). He’s preparing a
wilderness offspring-generation for battle to destroy the works of darkness,
induce a harvest of the earth as His inheritance, and prepare the earth and the
nations for His return and rule. Wilderness mindsets (which are a mixture
between that of the kingdom
of God and the ways and
means of the world system) cannot get us into this new place, nor can they
operate with any effectiveness in this new realm. Before His glory and His
judgments are released that will “balance the books” and remove everything that
hinders His love and plans, He must deal with unscriptural mindsets and methods
that are hindrances, at best, and heresies, at worst.
Joshua 5 tells us of an encounter
with the Lord that Joshua, the chosen, anointed, “apostolic” leader had to have
to equip him and the covenant people in order to prevail over the enemy. They
were about to face powers and strongholds they never imagined could exist much
less be defeated. Their previous generation’s leaders saw the nephilim (“giants”) offspring inhabiting
the land, responded with fear and rebellion, falsely accused the Lord and
Moses, and thus disqualified themselves from possessing the Lord’s (and their!)
inheritance. Coming out of Egypt (a type of the world system governed by
Satan), and wandering, wilderness mindsets (the above mentioned mixture) had to
be completely repented of and dealt with in order to become the “kingdom
partner” of God they were chosen to be. Even Joshua himself had to have a
deeper, heart-level, mindset-altering encounter with the Lord be get him ready
to engage.
Joshua 5:13-15: “And it came to pass, when Joshua was by
Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood 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?’ So He said, ‘No, but as Commander
of the army of the LORD I have now come.’ And Joshua fell on his face
to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, ‘What does my Lord say to His
servant?’ Then the Commander of the LORD'S army said to Joshua, ‘Take your
sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.’ And Joshua did
so.”
Joshua’s qualifications to lead
Israel into battle into the promised inheritance were spending almost every
waking moment in the presence of the Lord in the tabernacle of meeting (Ex.
33:11), and ministering to Moses (Ex. 24:13). Joshua did have experience as a
warrior as he led the “boots on the ground” battle with Amalek in the valley of Rephidim (Ex. 17:7-18). He also was
there watching the interaction between Moses and the Lord as they met
face-to-face when the glory of the Lord manifested on the mountain (Ex.
24:13-18). What a resume! Yet, even Joshua did not recognize the Lord as He
manifested Himself for this new season! Joshua had known Him as Provider,
Redeemer, Lawgiver, Friend of Moses, the Bridegroom-God of Israel (Ex.
20), the Healer (Ex. 15), etc, but He
did not recognize the Lord as He presented Himself for victory in the new
season – the Warrior-King.
Joshua was originally told by the
Lord in Joshua 3:4 that the path that He was taking them was a path that no
one had gone before. Only the Lord, Himself knew the way and He would
lead them to victory. There was not a prophet, apostle, pastor, teacher or
evangelist who had ever faced what they were about to face, nor did they have the
anointing, knowledge or wisdom to engage it. Joshua could not look through the
prism of the past, in any form, and be able to make it! The Lord was
taking them on a path they had never been on, and would be using methods and
ways never before seen. They also were about to experience the Lord in a
dimension never known before – the Warrior-King who executes judgment to set
things in order, remove satanic forces and strongholds, and to prepare His
people to be a sanctuary for His presence. The battles they had known in the
past were mostly battles with the “flesh”, but now they were going to face
satanic forces and strongholds they could not have imagined. Only the Lord
Himself, in their midst, with them fully cooperating with Him as surrendered
partners, would be able to prevail over these enemies. To accomplish this,
there had to first be a change of mindset (repentance)
take place from the “top down”!
This must happen now in the body
of Messiah as we prepare for battle to work with the Lord to bring in the
end-time harvest of the nations looming before us. Demonic powers and
strongholds have had very little damage done to them by the existing, organized
church. It’s not working! All the money, “ministry” activity and meetings have
not accomplished transformation and the overthrow of existing structures,
mindsets and strongholds. BUT…we’re about to see the Lord in a way that we have
heard about with the hearing, but not heretofore experienced. This does not
mean our Redeemer, Healer, Shepherd, Bridegroom lessens in any of these
manifestations we have experienced. It just means the Warrior-King is about to
make Himself known (Rev. 19:11-16)! When we see and experience Him this way, we
will be broken, humbled and surrendered in an even deeper way than ever, thus
fitting us to work with Him to see His inheritance become a possession!
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