Prepare Yourself

Joshua 3:5 – Then Joshua said to the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”

Thankfully it does not take a brilliant scholar to understand Scripture. All that is required is a desire to know, intentionality and the Holy Spirit. Scripture contains the character and action of God. We can see Him and we can see ourselves.

We join the Israelites at the crossing of the Jordan River into the Promised Land. The mantle of leadership has been passed from Moses to Joshua, and God wants the Israelites to know Joshua is His chosen leader. It is time for the people to stop looking at their own strength and depend completely upon the Lord.

Joshua speaks to the people and issues a call, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.” (3:5) God calls His people to prepare for the mighty works that He will do in their midst. For too long, His people have been just getting through the day. They have been following the same routine day after day after day. They were not ready for God to do anything wonderful. In fact, they were not expecting God to do anything wonderful. It is my thought they were used to life as normal and expected nothing else to happen.

There lies a spiritual danger the Israelites faced. The Israelites became complacent. They did not anticipate, certainly did not prepare, for God to work in their lives in a mighty way. Complacency is a snare that easily entraps. We become accustomed to the normal routine of our days. We get so used to moving through our life and getting the necessary activities done forgetting that God calls us to mighty things. God reveals Himself mightily to the world and often times He uses us to do it! Let’s prepare and get ready expecting that God will act because we want Him to be made much of. May our lives be characterized with remembrances of His mighty acts instead of our power and complacency.

God is calling each one of us to prepare ourselves because He will act. Will you be prepared when God chooses to use you in a mighty way?