God, I'm all in.

Too often, we find ourselves begging God to deliver us or to provide answers to our problems. We expect Him to change a situation without us changing our actions. And that, my friends, is where we go wrong.

One day, I was watching a sermon by Sadie Robertson Huff. She talked about the word "hineni," which means, "Here I am Lord. No distractions, send me." That word has stuck with me since. What would it look like if we lived with no distractions, putting ourselves wholly before the Lord and letting Him send us wherever? We would see our lives completely transformed into something that only God can do. So why are we not doing this?

I want to unpack Joshua 5-6 today, starting with Joshua 5:13-14. Joshua is on his way to Jericho, facing a huge obstacle. The wall outside of Jericho was huge - something that takes God-sized power to get over. He's (most likely) praying at this time when a man, who looks like a normal guy, appears. He asks the guy, "Are you for us or for our enemies?" In response, he says "neither." Like seriously... he could have said anything but instead, he said "neither." Going on, the man says, "but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come." I think this is so interesting - it shows us that we are sometimes so focused on needing God on our side (just like Joshua was concerned if this man was on his side) when in reality, he already is. I loved it when Pastor John Lindell said, "but the real issue is, are you on God's side?" Think about that... are you on God's side?

Continuing to Joshua 6, we see the Israelite army marching around the city of Jericho once a day for six days. On the seventh day, they marched around the city seven times, and when the priests blew their trumpets and the army shouted, the walls of Jericho fell down. This was just as the Lord had said. What I find interesting in this story is the trust they had in the Lord. Such actions seem foolish to the world. They are in what would typically be a violent battle but instead are marching around a city. And because they trusted in the Lord, the walls did fall.

Joshua 5-6 ties back to the word hineni - "Here I am Lord. No distractions, send me." Joshua was initially distracted; he was worried if this man was on his side or not. God spoke to him saying, "Stop worrying about who is on your side. I am and that's all that matters." He is, and will always be, on our side. Then, we see an Israelite army focused on God - no distractions. They were prepared for the Lord to work and they didn't care if it seemed foolish to the world. Because of their faith in Him, they were successful.

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Today, I challenge you to look at whatever you're struggling with. Take a deep look at how you're handling it. Are you so worried about conquering your Jericho that you forget to submit to the Lord? Are you worried about what the world will think? How your situation will turn out? Allow yourself to fully surrender to the Lord, to say "Hineni, God. I am here. No distractions, no limits. Send me where you need me." When you choose to let God work in your life, you experience freedom unlike any other. Sometimes it requires us to change our actions; to be without a plan. And speaking from experience, sometimes the chaos is exactly what we need to find the peace God has for us.

He loves you. He will never leave you or forsake you. Stop trying to fix it yourself and let the Lord fix it for you.