Every Place the Sole of Your Foot Trods

Joshua 1:1-9 Now it came about after the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, that the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' servant, saying, 2 "Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, cross this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them, to the sons of Israel. 3 "Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I have given it to you, just as I spoke to Moses. 4 "From the wilderness and this Lebanon, even as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun will be your territory. 5 "No man will be able to stand before you all the days of your life Just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you; I will not fail you or forsake you. 6 "Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. 7 "Only be strong and very courageous; be careful to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may have success wherever you go. 8 "This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it; for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. 9 "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."

Today as I was meditating on the wonderful promise God made Joshua I asked the Lord to tell me the secret to the promise.

Today we speak to people as if none of the promises God makes are conditional. I find that we set people up for a devastating impact with reality when we do this.

The promises of God are sometimes unconditional but most of them bear a "IF / THEN" clause.

I say this as often as I can without being irritating - with all the "IF / THEN" promises, if we do our part God will do His part. If we do not do our part God cannot do His part since He cannot lie.

So I was asking this morning what was the secret that Joshua discovered to have such a wonderful promise given to him?

You see I want to see the world transformed. I want God to give me and everyone who belongs to Him every place the soles of our feet trod. That is such an amazing promise. I know that it is God's will.

He has us pray it every day:

Matthew 6:9-13 "Pray, then, in this way:
'Our Father who is in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
10 'Your kingdom come
Your will be done,
On earth as it is in heaven.
Someone might tell me I cannot say God asks us to pray this every day..... and technically that is true - if you are not eating! Jesus continues: 

11 'Give us this day our daily bread.
12 'And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 'And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.'
 
The passion of every believer's heart is to be for the Kingdom of God to come on Earth. That is not just a prayer for the return of Jesus. It is a prayer that the will of God will be done on Earth today through our taking the rightful dominion of the Earth for God through the demonstration of His Will through us.
 
This was what was being told to Joshua. He was establishing a theocratic nation led, provided for, protected by and having the presence of the God who created the universe.
 
Joshua was establishing the Kingdom of God in Israel.
 
The promise was not just made to Joshua but to the nation as a whole:
 
Deuteronomy 11:22-25 "For if you are careful to keep all this commandment which I am commanding you to do, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and hold fast to Him, 23 then the LORD will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you. 24 "Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours; your border will be from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the river, the river Euphrates, as far as the western sea. 25 "No man will be able to stand before you; the LORD your God will lay the dread of you and the fear of you on all the land on which you set foot, as He has spoken to you.
 
I believe the demonstration of earthly Kingdom principles in the Old Testament is to give us insight into Heavenly Kingdom principles.
 
Like Joshua, we are establishing the Kingdom of God on Earth.
 
We are to be taking ground where ever we are. It is to be a never ceasing recapturing of  the Earth for God wherever our feet go.
 
So how do we do it?
 
Of course we can't do it alone and that is the wonderful truth that Joshua was privileged to know.
 
He knew that God was the one that was taking the ground. All he did was walk around!
 
But to say that as if everyone who claims God in their lives has the reality of the promise being fulfilled in their lives is false.
 
Some of us have given ground away that we should have inhabited.
 
Some of us have given ground to the world.
 
Some of us have even given ground to the devil.
 
So what did Joshua do to see the ground God intended for him to take be taken?
 
As the Father was sharing His heart with me this morning I heard the simple secret: 
 
"Joshua stayed with me so I could stay with him."

Exodus 33:11 Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.

Joshua knew the secret of continually abiding in the presence of God. As he stayed with God, God stayed with Him. And when God stays with us all that He does is with us as well.

John 15:4-5 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.