Take Off Your Shoes
Scripture Reading: Joshua 5:13–15
“And the captain of the Lord’s host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so,” Joshua 5:15.
Take Off Your Shoes
Father I thank you for the gift of salvation and because your love is deeper than any imagination. Father God we thank you because we can call you Emmanuel, our very present God with us. We thank you because your Word is clear: you love your own to the end. You are not a changing or intermittent lover. We give you glory and honour today and thank you for you are the Captain of our lives, the pillar that holds our lives. If not for you who was, who is, and who always will be on our side, where would we be today? Father, today we ask in Jesus’ name that you give us the grace to turn aside after experiencing the miraculous in your deliverance; to turn aside to see the great sight, to receive directives from you, and to receive the reason for your deliverance.
At the beginning of the commission for deliverance of the children of Israel from bondage, Moses saw the burning bush and after turning aside, God told him to put off his shoes for he was standing on holy ground, Exodus 3:3–5. Subsequently he led the children of Israel out of bondage. They went through all the experiences of the deliverance from Egypt and the reproach of Egypt was removed. Now they are at Gilgal with Joshua, Moses’ successor, and are fighting the battle for Jericho. At that point, the Angel of the Lord, the Captain of the Lord’s host said unto Joshua, “Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so,” Joshua 5:15. The connection between Exodus 3:5 and Joshua 5:15 is in receiving the same directive. Why did God ask Moses to take off his shoes at the beginning of the assignment of deliverance? Why did God ask Joshua to take off his shoes at the end of that assignment? The reality is that when you are standing on holy ground you have to take off your shoes. Shoes represent the filth of the world, the things you have brought into the place of salvation. Shoes represent the baggage you have accumulated, the things you have walked on, the mess you have stepped on, the things not fit to be on holy ground. Are you standing on holy ground? Have you removed your shoes?
Moses and Joshua were told to take off their shoes because they were standing on holy ground. You and I must turn aside at the miraculous manifestations of God’s mercies and get to the place where we will be told to take off our shoes. Turning aside in that context for you and me means embracing salvation.
Standing on holy ground means that the Lord has come into us and has made all things new and we should not bring the shoes of the world into this new life. Are you standing on holy ground? We stand on holy ground, first when we turn aside, and second when we worship God. When we turn aside, we want to ask questions: Lord I want to see, I want to understand why the bush did not burn in the fires that came.
We want to ask: Lord, are you for or against me? God will tell you He is the Captain of the hosts, the Captain of your life, and He has come to command you to turn aside. Once you turn aside and you encounter God, you will worship. Joshua fell on his face and worshipped God; then God said to him, “Loose thy shoe.” The Lord is speaking today, saying we should take off our shoes.
There is a cry for holiness in the land, a cry that we take off our shoes. We are to loose the things of the world that we used to prop ourselves up in our old life. We are to take off our shoes so that the walls of our Jericho will fall down. Take off your shoes so that you can carry on your assignment and ministry in life. Take off your shoes so that God can begin to perform miracles in your life, so that you will begin to see things the way God sees them. Take off your shoes so that holy blessings will come upon you. Taking off your shoes means you put off the things of the world and stand on the promises of God.
Take off your shoes so that you can stand on the covenant of Calvary and begin to experience things you have never experienced before. Put off your shoes and begin to work in the dimension of the miraculous, the dimension of the realities of the things God has designed for you. Stand on holy ground brethren, that God will do something new in your life.
Moses took off his shoes because he recognized by the commandment of God that he was standing on holy ground and as he took off his shoes, he became another man. Joshua took off his shoes and became another man, accomplished victory, and the walls of Jericho fell down. The Lord is speaking to you and me today to take off our shoes to become new in Him.
Prayer Points:
Holy Father, give us the grace to forget the promises of man, to take off the props of the promises of man so that you can begin to do a new thing in our lives. Help us to loose the shoes off our feet and to stand, like Moses and Joshua, on holy ground in Jesus’ name, Amen.
