Text: Joshua 10:1-15

Yesterday our prayer was Jehovahshalom—the Lord is our peace—as we sought peace in order to run towards the battle with a warrior’s heart. Today, our focus is where the mighty warriors ran from—Gilgal. But the question is, “What was at Gilgal?”

Gilgal was the first campsite for Israel after crossing the Jordan. It was there that, after the miraculous crossing of the Jordan, the 12 memorial stones were taken from the river bed and set up by Joshua; it was where the people were circumcised preparatory to their possession of the land. To Gilgal the ark returned every day after having compassed the city of Jericho during its siege. It was there that the Gibeonites came to make their treaty and again to ask aid against the Amorites. Gilgal was still the headquarters of the Israelites after the battle with the Amorites; again after Joshua’s extensive victorious campaign in the hill country of Judea extending to Kadesh-barnea and Gaza; and still later upon his return from the great battle at the Waters of Merom. My point is we all need a Gilgal to base our battles from.

Our Gilgal will be a place where we remember the miraculous and consecrate ourselves for battle. It is a place of God’s presence and rest. It is one that is both private and public: private, as in our secret place of prayer; public, as in our place where we gather together as one.

Today give God praise for your fellowship of believers, your church, where there is Presence and Rest. Remember the “stones” that mark the miraculous in your life and continue to devote to destruction those strongholds resident in your Canaan land.