“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” (Exodus 33:11).

It is always amazing and such a blessing to read over a passage of scripture and see something I have never observed previously. Meditating on the word gives God an opportunity to hit the pause button and make me take notice of something that challenges and encourages me. I have read the account of Moses and the Tent of Meeting in Exodus 33 countless times…but today when I read it, I gravitated toward the last part of verse 11: “When Moses returned to the camp, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.”

It was as if I suddenly felt God urging me to pay attention to Joshua in the midst of a passage talking about the intimate relationship between God and Moses…which is the relationship I have always focused on in the past. So, I decided to sit with this verse for a season.  I found myself asking many hypothetical questions. Why did Moses take Joshua with him to the Tent? Did Joshua actually go into the tent, as implied in the wording of the Scripture, or was he sitting just outside as most servants would likely do?  Was Joshua able to hear the conversations between God and Moses? Certainly he would have, whether he was inside or just outside. Why would Joshua, who was the servant of Moses, not accompany Moses back to the camp? How long did he stay at the Tent of Meeting before returning to the service of Moses? And, why didn’t Moses seem to care that Joshua stayed behind? Did Moses instruct him to stay there? We don’t have the answers to those questions specifically, but recognizing that Joshua the servant was also the protégé, mentee and ultimate successor of Moses, his “extra” time in the Tent seems to have even greater significance.

Not only did Joshua stay in the Tent, but scripture says he “would not depart” from it…in other words, he refused to leave. Was this time in the presence of God preparation and on the job training for Joshua’s soon to be leadership position, even though he didn’t really know all that God had in mind at the time? Perhaps Joshua was simply spending time in God’s presence to know Him better because the beauty and majesty of God was so compelling that this young leader couldn’t resist soaking and worshiping the One who had obviously captivated his heart.

It seems to me that God has His eye upon Joshua because of the purity and sincerity of his devotion and his commitment to obedience. He had been one of the twelve spies charged with checking out the land flowing with milk and honey. Joshua had found favor with God and with Moses for having courage, along with Caleb, to speak out to the rebellious and fearful Israelites that if the Lord was pleased with them, He would make a way for them to enter the Promised Land. Even though the task seemed daunting because of the fierce tribes who lived there, Joshua believed God’s promise and that He would give His people what they needed to succeed.

We see God’s plan unfold when Moses had, in a brief moment of prideful disobedience, forfeited his privilege of entering the Promised Land. As a result, in Numbers 27:18-20 the Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hands on him; and have him stand before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation, and commission him in their sight. You shall put some of your authority on him, in order that all the congregation of the sons of Israel may obey him.” It would be Joshua who would now lead the people into the Promised Land.

Later, after the death of Moses, God reveals His specific plans to Joshua. We do not have any scriptural proof that God actually spoke to Joshua until after the death of Moses, when He commanded Joshua to cross the Jordan. However, it is my feeling that Joshua knew the Lord’s voice well, for he had spent time in the Tent of Meeting, soaking in the presence of God. When God gave Joshua his instructions, He also encouraged him: “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. Be strong and courageous, for you shall give this people possession of the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. 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. 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. 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” (Joshua 1:5-9).

Here are my takeaways:

• A godly leader spends time in the Tent of Meeting, refusing to leave. If one remains in the place of prayer, intent on being in intimate fellowship with God, one will be better prepared to answer the call of God to step into His kingdom purposes when the time is right.  The place of prayer for Joshua was first and foremost the place of God’s presence…but it was also a place of preparation which ultimately led to greater things than Joshua ever could have imagined.
• A godly leader accepts that mantle as a humble, obedient servant. Joshua could have boasted about his position as Moses’ right hand man, yet he was more interested in spending time with God in the Tent of Meeting than touting his own influence and importance before others. He had leadership qualities, but placed his dependence upon God alone.
• A godly leader believes and trusts God wholeheartedly. Joshua trusted the promise of God and was not afraid to voice his confidence to the people of Israel when they expressed their fear and anxiety to Moses about the fierce tribes standing in their way. He was one of only two of the twelve spies who trusted that God could overcome the seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
• A godly leader is chosen and equipped for God’s tasks. God was pleased to pour out His Spirit upon Joshua, His chosen successor to Moses. Joshua was specifically anointed and commissioned for his leadership role.
• A godly leader waits patiently for God’s timing and is fully prepared when the time comes. Joshua was being positioned by God to take the people of Israel into the Promised Land…something Moses had lost the privilege of doing due to his own disobedience. Joshua didn’t rush the process, but patiently waited for God’s plans to play out at the appointed time.

Have you been lingering in the “tent” with God? Most of us would admit to being pulled in many different directions, even though we no longer have to go to a physical tent to meet with the Father. God has made it possible to meet with Him in any given moment because He has made His home with us. Through the sacrifice of Jesus, we are now the dwelling place of God. And just like Joshua, we do not need to be afraid because God will not fail us if we will be “strong and courageous.”

So – after all of this I have one more takeaway: I need to spend more time in the Tent.

My poor husband! I can sometimes be one of those “squirrel” people – you know the ones. You may be having a conversation and in the middle, the person to whom you are talking or who is talking to you gets suddenly and radically distracted by something completely off topic. Dave can be talking and out of the blue, I will point at something, change the subject, or otherwise divert the conversation. This is always completely unintentional, but frustrating just the same. I can even do it to myself! I will be talking to another person and all of a sudden, my mind gets hijacked by something I see…or by an interrupting sound. Worse yet, I sometimes can’t even remember what I was talking about when my attention comes back around to the person I was originally talking to!

So, when contemplating the difference between hearing God and listening to Him, I fully understand the distinction between the two. Unless one is deaf or hearing impaired, hearing is simply an automatic sensory activity. We don’t need to actively “do” anything to hear. Sound happens. What we choose to do with what we hear involves the activity of listening. I know this about myself as well…when I don’t pay attention to what someone is saying to me, I will have to ask them to repeat it or just try to fake that I was listening instead of hearing “blah, blah, blah” while my mind was elsewhere!

Listening involves attentiveness…it is attaching meaning to what we have heard. It is also intentionally acting upon what is heard by responding appropriately. Because this is sometimes a struggle for me, depending upon the situation, I have to work at and practice the spiritual discipline of listening well. Prayer often involves active listening because there are times when prayer is relational conversation. There are also times when just being in His presence and “being” is enough. This has been called “keeping company with God.” I love those times of intimacy – just knowing that He is with me and I am with Him.

But picking up the voice of God when He speaks to my heart is a completely different prayer experience. I wonder how often I have heard God speak, but because I wasn’t fully and actively listening, I’ve either not obeyed or have missed a blessing. So often, God spoke and still speaks to people who didn’t and/or don’t want to listen. Scripture is filled with examples.

In order to become a better listener in conversational prayer, I must practice truly listening to what I hear and gaining understanding. The disciplines of silence and solitude are very helpful and necessary for my transformational growth in listening to God. If I don’t spend time nurturing my soul in this way, I can easily be the person James admonishes: “Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like” (James 1:22-24 MSG).

God is very clear about Who we are to listen to: “While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, ‘This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him’” (Matthew 17:5)! And Jesus, by example, practiced getting away from the noise and the crowds to hear God in silent, solitary places. How much more should we?

In biblical times, people heard from God but didn’t always listen to Him, which means they did not obey. For me it comes down to paying “close attention” to what is heard from Jesus: “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.” Then he added, “Pay close attention to what you hear. The closer you listen, the more understanding you will be given—and you will receive even more. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them.” (Mark 4:23-25 NLT). What a powerful promise and warning! One who demonstrated listening for understanding in Scripture was Mary of Bethany “…who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word” (Luke 10:39).

It’s easy to listen to the wrong voices in our culture today. Amidst all of the distractions, hearing the voice of Jesus is sometimes very difficult; however, it can be discerned more easily through practicing the disciplines that our Lord engaged in. One of my deepest desires is to get into a much better rhythm of silence and solitude in order to “listen to Him.”

Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven! We have all made this declaration thousands of times, and yet, there are so many insidious ways that the Enemy of our souls finds to take our hearts off of God’s heavenly will for His kingdom on earth.

When I first married my husband, I was so grateful to God that I unintentionally allowed Dave to become an idol in my life. This is, I believe, not an unusual occurrence when people are deeply in love with one another; however, it never occurred to me that this had become so until my husband pointed it out one day. With great humility he sat me down and explained that I was putting way too much spiritual expectation on his meeting my needs and had begun to make my relationship with him more of a focus that my relationship with  God. As he opened my eyes to this very glaring fact, I knew it instantly to be true. My love for Dave had superseded my passion for the presence of God. I was becoming more and more content in depending upon my husband to meet every need and fulfill every desire and to give me guidance and counsel.

Some of this dependence is not inherently bad…but it was growing to a point of becoming spiritually dangerous for me, as well as for my husband. Dave was, of course, flattered and happy to be my “everything” but he began to see a lessening in how his wife was pursuing the presence of Christ in all things. How blessed I am to have married this man, for he was unpretentious enough to guide me back to the One my heart should always be fully captivated by. My kingdom life and work could have been damaged and/or delayed by the enemy’s attempt to distract me – even with something as wonderful as my new spouse! The Devil is devious and underhanded to do such a thing, but he is so successful at it that many Christians, myself included, can easily fall prey to it.

Perhaps your distraction is not a person, but might be technology, a hobby, the busyness of your life, doing good and valuable kingdom things, etc. The Devil knows where we are weak and most likely to be tempted…sometimes it doesn’t take long before we are physically and/or mentally caught up in the presence of what is not God’s intent for us. The key is to recognize when this is beginning to happen to us and to find victory. For some of us, it will mean a greater effort, for we have already become addicted or distracted. We must help one another and encourage each other to be faithfully yoked to Jesus over all other distractions (even those that seem to be kingdom-focused).

That said, how can we pray for God’s best kingdom life each day? Here are several to get you started:

• Father, help me to have a repentant heart for all of the times I have placed others and other things above or before You! Give me a deeper desire to soak in Your perfect presence so that I will want nothing more than I want You! Forgive me for my inattentiveness and neglect. Forgive me for my wandering heart and thoughts. Forgive me for straying from Your kingdom in favor of my own!
• Grace-filled God, help me to keep my eyes fixed upon Your face and my ears listening for Your voice today. Help me not to waver to the right or to the left but to walk in the way You guide me for Your kingdom’s sake.
• Father, protect me from the temptations and roadblocks the Enemy puts in my path to “cut in on” my journey to be the hands and feet of Jesus to those You put in my path. May I never be so distracted that I am not fully aware of a divine appointment or a task You place in front of me.
• Holy Spirit, help me to put on Christ daily and to clothe myself in the armor of God each day so that I might be prepared for the battle. May I be continually aware of wearing the righteousness of Jesus.
• Lord Jesus, give me the strength to turn away from the things that I tend to spend so much time with that they have become or have the potential to become idols in my life. Give me quick recognition right now of anything that I need to say “no” to in order to say “yes” to You! Help my everyday life to be a reflection of Your kingdom on earth as it is in heaven!

(c) Harvest Prayer Ministries

“Nothing but the knowledge of God, as the Holy One, will make us holy. And how are we to obtain that knowledge of God, except in the inner chamber, our private place of prayer? It is a thing utterly impossible unless we take time and allow the holiness of God to shine on us.”   ~ Andrew Murray

Whenever Moses entered the presence of the Lord, his face shone: “It came about when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses’ hand as he was coming down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with Him” (Exodus 34:29). His appearance was transformed by being with a holy God.

In the same way, the gaze of God, shining upon us as we meet with Him in the inner chamber of prayer, is able to transform us into His holy disciples. Being in the presence of God changes us…and the more time we spend with Him, the more He renovates our heart so that our lives reflect Jesus to everyone around us.

As I have been contemplating the mystery of God shining on us in all of His holiness in order that we might reflect the holiness of Christ Jesus, I dug into several scriptures that will help us to prayerfully ask for His holiness to be made manifest in us!

1. We Are Chosen to Be Holy: “For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight…” (Ephesians 1:4). We were chosen to be holy before the world came to be! What an amazing insight into the heart of God. He envisioned us as holy people even before He breathed us into existence.

Prayer: Father, what an amazing truth! You chose me even before you created the world to be holy and blameless in Your sight. I can hardly comprehend how it must grieve Your heart that Your people are so careless with this gift – myself included! Teach me to more fully understand what it means to be set apart for the purposes of Your kingdom!  Shine on me, Holy God!

2. We Are Called to Be Holy: “For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life” (1 Thessalonians 4:7).  After God chose us to be holy, God called us to seek after holiness. Knowing that we have a choice multiple times a day to reflect the life of Jesus in our actions and in what we say, He keeps calling us to choose the way of holiness. How well do we respond to His call?

Prayer: Righteous One, I bow my heart in anguish over my sinful ways and worldly choices. You have called me to be holy and I have not honored Your desire for me to be set apart for Your purposes. Teach me to obey Your call! Shine on me, Holy God!

3. Worship God Because He Is the Holy One: “Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name; worship the LORD in the splendor of His holiness” (Psalm 29:2 NIV).  “Give to the Lord the glory he deserves! Bring your offering and come into his presence. Worship the Lord in all his holy splendor” (1 Chronicles 16:29 NLT). In order to journey more deeply into the transforming work of God to make us His holy people, we must first focus on the glory of our Father, worshiping Him in His holiness. We cannot begin to comprehend the holiness of God in our own lives if we do not camp out in His holy presence.

Prayer: Father, I am in awe of Your holy splendor! You alone are worthy of worship and honor! You invite me into Your presence to give myself as an offering so that You might transform me by Your holiness. May I shine with Your holiness as You shape me into the image of Your Son, Jesus, so that I might be a living reflection of His character.

4. Be Holy Because He Is Holy: “But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:15-16). Holiness is not an option – it is a command from Scripture! We cannot fully obey this mandate when prayer is a duty rather than a desire. Prayer is relationship with the Holy One! The One who desires us to be holy as He is holy! When we neglect this relationship, we cannot obey the call to be holy and to be holy in all we do.

Prayer: Holy One of Israel, deepen my desire to fully know You as I am fully known by You. Forgive me of my prayerlessness and thinking I can work my way towards holiness apart from seeking Your face. Show me what it truly means to be holy as You are holy! Shine on me Holy God!

5. Share in His Holiness: “For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way” (Hebrews 12:10-11 NLT). So many of us look at affliction and suffering as something to be avoided; however, God utilizes these things to refine us. We can’t just arrogantly expect to step into holiness without being purified, cleansed and decontaminated. Our worldliness needs to be contained and transformed into godliness. We should therefore welcome our suffering as the training ground for holiness. Zechariah 13:9 says, “I will bring that group through the fire and make them pure. I will refine them like silver and purify them like gold. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘These are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’” If we are unwilling to walk through the fire, we are unwilling to be holy as He is holy.

Prayer: Father, if I am truly honest, I don’t like discipline, and I would never choose to suffer if it was dependent upon my selfish desire to avoid discomfort. But I know that if these things were not a part of my life’s journey, I would stay an immature, ineffective believer rather than growing into a purified, kingdom-changing follower of Jesus. Give me the strength to endure your loving discipline, faith to believe that You are in the midst of my suffering, and a submissive spirit to allow the refining fire to do its work to make me holy as You are holy. Shine on me, Holy God!

6. Righteousness Leads to Holiness: “You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness” (Romans 6:18-19). Paul pegs us! We are “weak in our natural selves”! We must guard ourselves from making unholy alliances with the ungodly culture around us. Jesus has set us free from sin and death; yet, we keep entangling ourselves in darkness and giving in to the temptations of seemingly harmless distractions. It is in prayer where the alliance with righteousness is made strong and kept whole!

Prayer:  Lord Jesus, because of You, I have been set free from sin, and Your righteousness has become my own. Give me strength to choose holiness over the temptations of the world. Set off alarm bells in my soul whenever the evil one attempts to distract me from the purposes of Your kingdom. Shine on me, Holy God!

7. Perfect Holiness Out of Reverence: “Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God” (2 Corinthians 7:1). Even in this moment, each of us is likely aware of how easily entangled we can become with what contaminates our desire to be holy people. We cannot walk in integrity of heart when we harbor darkness within us.

Prayer: Holy God, show me how to purify myself from what pollutes my body and spirit! Guard my heart and help me to focus all that I am upon the beauty of Your holiness! Give me strength to walk away from the arrogance of my own thoughts and actions so that day by day I look more like Jesus. Show me how to walk towards a more perfect holiness. Shine on me, Holy God!

As we allow the presence of God to impact our lives, He will transform us from the inside out. God’s holiness will be manifested in and through our lives so that our faces truly will shine with the glory of Christ.

A.W. Tozer brings this all into a completed whole for us: “Holiness, as taught in the Scriptures, is not based upon knowledge on our part. Rather, it is based upon the resurrected Christ in-dwelling us and changing us into His likeness.”

(c) Harvest Prayer Ministries

(To Print, make a PDF or Email, click the Green Print button at the bottom of this page.)

What is it we are asking for as we pray for revival? Ultimately, it is for the people of God to begin to experience the presence of Christ in a fresh new way. All other results flow from that. Changed lives in the Church as well as transformation in a culture come not from human effort, but the power of God made manifest in the lives of His people.

This isn’t about praying for a better life or that things would go smoothly for us. It is about God and His purposes being accomplished. The acknowledged leader of the First Great Awakening, Jonathan Edwards, was fired by his congregation in the midst of the revival. On a much larger scale, as the Third Great Awakening was taking place in the United States, the nation was dividing into North and South and war then tore the nation into pieces.

Some look to another great awakening in this nation as the solution to all of our problems. That would be wonderful but unlikely. It is more likely to take place in the midst of great difficulties and even persecution. If it is widespread and lasting, it may well slow or delay the judgment of God against our sinful nation.

More importantly, another great awakening can empower the Church to finish the task of world evangelization. All past revivals have had tremendous evangelistic outreach, and I believe the one to come will as well. In addition, the repentance and humility that will be occurring in the Body of Christ will be a key element in preparing the Bride for the Bridegroom. Revival in the Church can bring a restoration of New Testament purity, passion, and holiness.

How do we pray for revival? Certainly Psalm 85:4-7 gives us a clear picture and we would do well to use this in our own prayers.

“Restore us again, God our Savior,
and put away your displeasure toward us.
Will you be angry with us forever?
Will you prolong your anger through all generations?
Will you not revive us again,
that your people may rejoice in you?
Show us your unfailing love, Lord,
and grant us your salvation.”

One of my personal favorites in revival praying is found in Isaiah 63-64. It is a long passage of Scripture that speaks of Israel’s realization that they were missing the presence of God. They remember days in the past when that was not the case and cry out for God to come back to them. Taking this Old Testament passage and bringing it into New Testament realities is a powerful way of praying for revival. You will find yourself praying with Isaiah, “Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!”

Excerpted from With One Cry: A Renewed Challenge to Pray for America by David Butts, PrayerShop Publishing 2016. Used with permission.