My grace is all you need.  My power works best in weakness. 2 Corinthians 12:9

Sometimes God stops us in our tracks, just short of where we want to be.

The Old Testament of the Bible is full of incredible stories that are each there for a purpose. Chapter 5 of the book of Joshua is set as the people of Israel are about to begin to take the land that they’d been promised.  If you’ve heard of the Battle of Jericho, where the walls around the city fell down before the Israelites, we’re joining the story just before this. The people were camped outside Jericho, having just watched God miraculously hold back the waters of the Jordon River so that they could walk across.

But then, God told their leader, Joshua, to do something baffling from a military perspective: He told Joshua to circumcise all the males. This incapacitated their entire military, making them completely dependent on God in a vulnerable place. “Today,” God said, “I have rolled away the shame of your slavery in Egypt. So that place has been called Gilgal to this day” (Joshua 5:9). The people celebrated the first Passover outside of Egypt as the men recuperated.

Next, came a change in command. A sword-bearing man appeared in front of Joshua.  When the man called himself, “The Commander of the Lord’s Army,” Joshua fell on his face in worship.  The message was clear: God Himself would bring about victory over Jericho and the conquest of the Promised Land.

If you’ve been asking God for a victory in your life, here’s the question: Are you willing to be led to a Gilgal? Are you willing to be conquered by God, allowing Him to put you in a place where only His power alone will move you forward?