Captain of the Host

"...and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us or for our adversaries. And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come." (Joshua 5: 13, 14)

Joshua saw a man with a sword and asked him if he was on Israel's side or the enemy's side, and the man responded that he wasn't on anyones's side - he was the captain of the Lord's host.

We have our causes. We work to see righteousness wrought in this or that arena. We struggle with those of an opposite mind. And we firmly believe God is with us and for us because He is righteous and we're doing righteous things.

But I see in this scripture that God is on His own side, He has His own agenda. And when we get in line with God's agenda then all the other things will be taken care of.

God is a man of war - He's a lot stronger than we are. We need to join in His battles and He will vanquish all our enemies.

Before I came to know the Lord I held views and opinions entirely different from what I believe now. What made the difference? Salvation. When I received a new nature, it came with it's own beliefs, and they became mine. No one struggled to convince me that this or that was right or wrong - I walked in a new light which gave me new vision.

Jesus called twelve men and they turned the world upside down by preaching the Kingdom of God. They didn't have television or newspapers or books or CD's or DVD's -they had Jesus. There was as much flesh, world and devil in their day as in ours, but they had a single message and wrought wonders with it.

I'm glad there are activists fighting for good causes, but we need to advance the Lord's cause. We need to spend time with Him as did the twelve, to become thoroughly familiar with His ways, and we need to be inundated with the Spirit as were the 120 in the upper room. Then, and only then, will we be equipped to do the work set before us as as the church.