“And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant?” (Joshua 5:14).
TEXT — Joshua 5:13-15
Message
A teenager, truly converted and zealous for the Lord, was in his small room one afternoon with his wooden door only a slit open when something like a human head was peeping at him through the nearly totally shut door. Surprised, he dropped the tract in his hand and watched closely. He saw a being enter his room. It became obvious it was not actually a human being because it was wearing no clothes and unnaturally yellowish in colour.
Despite these manifestations, the young man remained undaunted, watching the strange figure until it slowly sat on the only chair in the room. Then the young man shouted, “Jesus!” Immediately, at the mention of that name, the evil personality disappeared. It was much later that a voodoo priest came to confess that his demon could not execute its assignment to kill the young man because there were two angels guiding him.
In our passage, Joshua was by Jericho, just before embarking on the great Jericho march, when God appeared to him as a man of war. Christ came as Captain to review the troops, animate them, and give the necessary orders for the besieging of Jericho. The sword in His hand denotes how ready He is to defend and save His people.
No doubt, Christ is the Captain of our salvation (Hebrews 2:10) and Commander to His people. We are assured of victory through His presence and assistance. However, Joshua remained ignorant of the presence of the Lord until “he lifted his eyes and looked”. Therefore, you need to ‘lift up your spiritual eyes’ of faith to focus on the Lord. Besides, with Christ, the Captain of the Lord’s host, you will never lose any battle.
Listed among “500 most powerful people on the planet” by the Foreign Policy magazine in 2013, Pastor (Dr.) William F. Kumuyi is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM) headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. DCLM started in 1973 as a 15-member Bible study group right in Kumuyi’s apartment at University of Lagos where he was a lecturer. His revolutionary Bible teaching on personal holiness and commitment to evangelism soon gained so much traction and resulted in a widespread revival.
2 comments
I lift up my spiritual eyes of faith to focus on the Lord and I sing for victory as follows:
The wall of Jericho fell down flat/2ce. As the children of God were praising the Lord, the wall of Jericho fell down flat.
I lift up my spiritual eyes of faith to focus on the Lord and I sing for victory as follows:
The wall of Jericho fell down flat/2ce. As the children of God were praising the Lord, the wall of Jericho fell down flat.
My help comes from the lord who made heaven and heart