Three weeks ago my Pastor preached on something that has stirred inside me and hasn’t let go. I want to share the notes I have with you here.

To begin, Pastor Clint is preaching on the book of Joshua currently. I LOVE it when a Pastor picks a book and goes through it like this. He doesn’t use it every single week, but most weeks he does. The reading of Joshua correlates to my church’s theme verse for 2010 “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15). <side note: you can also see I used a variation of that verse on the left in regards to this blog.>

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. *NKJV*

1. We are either for the Lord or against the Lord. We cannot be neutral. It’s not about not offending… we need to not concern ourselves regarding whether the Truth offends. (v.13)

• One of the ways the devil deceives people is to convince them they can be neutral. There is NO middle ground.
• Joshua 24:15 “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord”
• Everyone has to make a choice. If you are choosing not to make a choice, guess what? You have chosen!
• Have you chosen? Have I?
• We are living in a time when God’s people had better be declaring our allegiance to Jesus. If not, we are doing the will of the devil.
• We need to be making this decision daily to live our lives for Him.

2. Our Lord always comes to us when we need Him and in the way we need Him. (v.14).

• This is one of the pre-incarnate appearances of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament.
• When God chooses to meet our need… that is an encounter with God.
• Matthew 28:19-20 “Go, therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
• Jesus promised His power and His presence as we’re about His work.
• When I need to know He’s there, He always shows up.

3. Every Leader is second in command behind the Lord. (v.14)

• Joshua was a leader who knew his place/position !
• Do I understand my relationship with God?
• No matter who we are as leaders inside the church or for our families, we are in second place behind Christ!

4. No matter where He leads, we are on Holy Ground (v.15)

• Joshua was in heathen territory! And at the same time on holy ground! (Leviticus 18 – describes the Ammorite people where Joshua is currently at)
• What does that mean?

Where the Lord leads me, I am on holy ground.

• My family, my home, my music, my computer time, my craft time… ALL of it. The Lord is within me, therefore, the Lord is with me. If He is with me, He is leading me… therefore…………..at all times, I AM ON HOLY GROUND.
• A servant of the Lord needs to know and understand that wherever we are, we are on holy ground… at home, at work, at school, at church, in public, and in private. All The Time.

We are never outside of God’s presence.

I went through my notes to write all this down because I had never thought of it like this. I had never taken the time to stop and realize that I AM HOLY. Not because I deserve to be holy, not because I’m good enough to be holy………. but because Christ lives in me, He leads me, He directs me… and wherever Christ is, that place is holy ground. Have you ever thought of it like that? Ever since that sermon (posted on the 11th of July just so you have an idea how long I’ve been “chewing” on this sermon), I have felt that it was written for me and me alone. Sure, it probably benefited many of those in the congregation. BUT it was meant for me.

God has been at work in a major way in my heart over the last two years, and even more so… over the last year. Over time, I am sure I will blog bits and pieces of it… but just know that I am not who I was. I have been a Christian since April 10th, 1993… but I have not understood it all. (well, do we ever understand it ALL?) For years, I went through the motions. For years, I “played” church. I would go to church and then come home and just live day by day, never thinking, never consulting God the Father. He was “for Sundays… for that one to two hours a week” … for that small amount of time I would grant Him. After that, the week was about me, my family, my wants and needs, etc.

That is no way to live a life. Yes, I was saved then. I knew I was a sinner, I believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and knew the Bible to be true and I took it as literal and God-breathed. I confessed my sins, I asked the Holy Spirit to dwell inside of me. And He did. He does. But oh how I must have grieved / saddened Him when I chose my own road instead of God’s way. Daily. Without even considering Him.

Because of those choices, God allowed things to happen. He knew that in order to get my attention, He would have to break me. Break apart my stubbornness, my pride, my anger, my greed. All of it. And He has. And He does. And if necessary, He will again. For He is the Potter and I, I am merely the clay. As you can view in my header, I chose four photos that were very significant for me.

1. The broken pot… that was me. It is me. Fully broken. My heart has shattered many times. I like this quote “It is a wonder what God can do with a broken heart, if He gets all the pieces.” -Samuel Chadwick

2. The cross… the ultimate sacrifice. Blood spilled for me. For my sins. For the sins of my past, my present, and my future. Without the cross, there would be no hope for me.

3. The bible… my source of comfort… for learning, for discipline. For truth poured out.

4. The Potter’s Hands… I particularly like this photo with how the hands are cupped in a heart formation. God takes delight in me. I’m not some careless piece of clay. He has taken time to kneed me, press me, shape me, slice me, reshape me, etc. It’s not that I mean nothing to Him; in fact, I mean a great deal to Him. ME. Little ‘ol me… is loved by the Creator of the universe. WOW.

So these four photos really do describe me and my Christian walk. And I’m sure if you are still reading, you may be wondering what on earth all this has to say about the sermon Pastor Clint preached on. Well…  I’m not sure. Ha. (and you thought I’d have some awe inspiring words!). I just know that this has all been jumbled up inside of me and it needed to be written down.

I  feel shaken when I consider that at all times I am on holy ground, that at all times Christ dwells in me. I feel humbled to be loved and desired by my Creator. For I surely do not deserve it. Any of it. Yet He gives.