LIFE'S PURPOSE - TO SERVE
The kingdom of God is within. (Luke 17:21) Joshua did not follow the ambitions of a young man, but he yielded his manly drives to be formed, chiseled and groomed so that he too, might be a friend of God.
Staying behind is a cutting away of our human pride from our spiritual desires. It's trusting and yielding to God to make us into what He wants.
There is a time to sow and a time to reap in everyone’s life. It was Moses’ time to reap the glory because he had sown his seeds of a faithful relationship with God by yielding to God’s will.
However, now it was Joshua’s time to sow, to stay behind so that God could prepare him to receive the impartation at the right hour. If he sowed he would have a time to reap the glory of God, too. It is a law of the kingdom. “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked: for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” (Galatians 6:7-9)
This staying behind was Joshua’s act of giving his life to God. “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:39) The time to sow is the time when God calls us to give our life. Unless we sow the seed of giving our lives to God, our serving will become a profession. This is why many people find the work of their ministry fruitless and empty, never bringing forth a harvest of glory for God.
We can walk in another man’s glory, but we cannot produce God’s glory in our life, unless there has been a time of sowing, of giving our life to God as a sacrifice.
Without this time of sowing in Joshua’s life, he could not have become the future leader of Israel. Leaders are not born but are formed. Formed by the willingness to pay the price to let God chisel, break, mold and recreate what He wants in their lives and ministries.
It is through this staying behind that ministries are born, and we can walk in places where other men and women have never walked.
Thirdly, Joshua was found to have the spirit. “And the LORD said to Moses: ‘Take Joshua the son of Nun with you, A MAN IN WHOM IS THE SPIRIT, and lay you hand on him;” (Numbers 27:18) What spirit was found in Joshua that God looked for as a qualification to receive the impartation? (Psalm 51:17) tells us what that spirit is, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart – These, O God, You will not despise.”
If we do not fulfill this qualification, we will not qualify because this kind of spirit must be found to receive heavenly things. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3) Remember that the kingdom of God is established by what seems to be a contradiction to the order of this world. Greatness is smallness, strength is weakness, richness is poverty, gaining is losing.
The greatness of the man of God is not his human will power but the degree of a broken and contrite heart in his life and his willingness to flow with the plan of God. Many people in the ministry have strong opinions, and they are not able to receive the impartation of God’s divine plan for their lives. Impartation can only be received, as we are willing to be broken and accept His divine ways.
Fight as we may, argue with God’s word, as we will, the way to true greatness is through a broken and contrite heart.
In His Love,
Sigi
Devotions
Posted: May 2002