Where is your place of holy ground? It is a place that signals breakthrough. God has destined for each of us a “holy ground” moment in which He will peel back the veil and reveal part of our destiny.
Holy ground moments have something in common. First, they are rare. We pray for these moments. God, what am I called to do? What is my purpose in life? What is my next step?
Here are seven signs you are on holy ground—and how not to miss the directive of that moment.
There is a historical connection with the revelation of holy ground moments and Holy Week. I believe Jesus had a place of “holy ground” in the Garden of Gethsemane. It was a place of transition, and as He turned aside that night to pray, it was His intersection with destiny in which He had the opportunity to accept or decline what God the Father revealed to Him and requested of Him.
Holy ground moments are an invitation and revelation. It is the Father’s offer to go into a new place. A “mission impossible” moment, if you will, where He says, “This is your assignment, if you choose to accept it.”
We all have strategic intersections in our lives. These are places and moments that shape our destiny if we will turn aside to take a closer look and recognize them.
This is our place of holy ground.
It is where the natural intersects with the supernatural in a way that is completely unexpected, unexplained and undeniable. When God shows up and reveals a part of our destiny and invites us to be a part. It won’t make sense. It is a place where we must make a decision to step into it—or ignore it. There is no middle ground.
We see the term “holy ground” twice in Scripture.
First in Exodus 3 (restated in Acts 7) when God brought Moses to the place of the burning bush. He was instructed, “Do not approach here. Remove your sandals from off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”
This same phrase is used only one other place in Scripture, in Joshua 5:15. After Joshua brought the Israelites across the Jordan to Jericho, he encountered the commander of the army of the Lord who said to him, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.”
What do these instances have in common, and how do they apply to us today? These seven signs of holy ground are important to recognize.
- It coincided with the season of Passover and Holy Week—where we are now.
I think it is significant that Scripture reveals that Joshua’s encounter in Joshua 5:15 coincided with Passover. Did Moses’ as well? If we consider the Garden of Gethsemane a place of holy ground, then Jesus’ occurrence was also at Passover.
In the Jewish calendar we are in the month of Nissan, the first month of the new year. Certainly, a strategic time. This is the month of new beginnings and where the feast of First Fruits sets the stage for the entire year. The sacrifice given of first fruits is an offering of ourselves.
Does it mean God only reveals destiny at this time? Not at all. But it does show that there is something special in this window of time in which heaven invades earth. Be ready.
- It required a willingness to look deeper.
When Moses saw the burning bush, he didn’t just pass by. Instead he said, “I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt” (Ex. 3:3).
His action was the correct response, which prompted the Lord’s response.
“When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him from out of the midst of the bush and said, ‘Moses, Moses'” (Ex. 3:3-4).
It makes you wonder, What if Moses hadn’t turn aside to take a closer look? What if he had determined that he was tired and just wanted to get home? Or if he hadn’t recognized the miracle that was taking place before his eyes which beckoned him?
It required a response, as Moses chose to go deeper. God always invites us to relationship. It’s all about the journey, not just the destination. We must “turn aside” with Him and look deeper.
- It was a marker of transition.
Both Moses and Joshua were in a place of transition during these occurrences. God was inviting them to a new place—a higher place they had not yet envisioned. It was a place of destiny and impartation to them both. Moses was given a word that he would lead the Israelites out of Egypt. Joshua had just taken over as leader after Moses’ death and was leading the people to the promised land. It required that they leave behind who they had been to walk into the destiny and purpose that God was revealing. They had to see themselves and their call in a new way.
They had a decision to make as they stood on holy ground, as do we. –
- It was a place of assignment.
In each case, there was an assignment given to accomplish a task beyond their skill set or natural ability. That’s the thing about holy ground. It is beyond anything we can do in and of ourselves. It requires a choice and decision. It is not so different than the contestants on the game show Let’s Make a Deal, as God says, “There are two doors before you, but you can’t really see where either leads.” We know one choice will be a fabulous destination and the other will be something average or below.
The good news is God actually tells us which door to choose. He doesn’t want to trick us. He points the way to the right choice.
Yet it’s still not easy, is it? Abraham was told to go to a place he had never been. Noah was told to build an ark, when it had never rained. Joshua was told that the way to conquer a city was to walk around it once each day for six days and seven times on the seventh day with the worshippers, the Levites, leading the way. Holy ground moments won’t make sense to the natural mind.
- It involved a “passing over” or “passing through.”
To reach another place requires action. We can pray. We can wait. We can whine. But eventually, we have to move.
During Passover, the angel of death “passed over” those whose homes had the blood of the Passover lamb brushed onto the door posts. And so must we pass over or through from one place to the next when we come to a holy ground moment.
- It required humility.
Moses and Joshua were required to remove their sandals. Shoes were of symbolic significance. The act of taking off a shoe in those days was used as a seal to bind an agreement. It also was a place of “undress” or being dispossessed. Both cases apply, for as Moses and Joshua obeyed the instruction to remove their sandals, they showed agreement as they bound themselves to the word of destiny and they displaced/removed themselves from their past. They were choosing a new road, one they couldn’t walk successfully on their own.
- It hinged on worship.
Joshua and the Israelites were instructed to shout (In Hebrew, “shout” in this verse is Rua—a shout of joy and victory. It was a prophetic act done before they saw their victory, in anticipation of the victory.) after they had walked around the walls of Jericho seven days. Moses was told that after the Israelites were delivered, they would return to the mountain of the Lord to worship. It is a place where we worship beforehand and build an altar of remembrance afterwards.
Holy ground moments are rare. They are moments when He peels back the veil to reveal something about us that we have often not yet seen ourselves. We may experience them only once or twice in our lives. But they are there. For everyone. Those moments that cannot be explained, understood or denied. God shows up and we are changed—if we so choose.
Holy ground moments require that we kneel before Him to accept the path He has revealed, even when it is usually only a piece of the puzzle. This will require enormous faith and trust along a road we have ever been before. It will look impossible. And it is without God.
“Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.”
-—Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Where are Holy ground moments? They are in front of you. He has been preparing you for it your entire life. He will bring you to that place—but it may not be as dramatic as a burning bush. It may be as simple as ministering to a small child in a foreign country when God says, “Truly I say to you, as you have done it for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you have done it for Me” (Matt. 25:40).
As we ponder the road to the cross and the victory of resurrection, it is also important to recognize that this is a season of impartation. Watch for those invitations in which we have the opportunity to turn aside and look deeper when He beckons with an invitation to holy ground. {eoa}
Karen Hardin is a literary agent and published author. She has been in the Christian publishing industry for 25 years and has had the privilege of working on numerous projects for some of the most recognized names in the industry. Her work has appeared in USA Today, World Net Daily, Crosswalk.com, Charisma, The Elijah List and more. She is called to exhort, encourage and help others to walk in identity and destiny to achieve their highest potential in their gift and call. For additional articles by Karen, go to: prioritypr.org or karenhardin.com.
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