Surrender for the Victory
“Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in.” Joshua 6:1 ESV
Jericho was on high alert and ready to defend itself. It was a double walled city that was virtually impenetrable. Jericho like the Red Sea and the Jordan River presented an obstacle that seemed humanly impossible for Israel to overcome. But is it really an obstacle, or is it an opportunity for God to be God? “We are faced with a series of great opportunities-brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems.” We need to remember that obstacles to us are “opportunities” for God to show Himself great and mighty in our life. What disguised opportunities do you face today? For the Israelites Jericho seemed to be a humanly impossible situation. But for God it was an opportunity to show off His power.
“And the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor.” Joshua 6:2 ESV
God is about as clear as He can be, “I have given Jericho into your hand.” But what needs to happen before they can experience and live in that victory? “You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. And when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him.”” (Joshua 6:3-5 ESV)
Before they can experience the victory the walls of Jericho must come down. And God determined that the way the walls of Jericho would fall is by the Israelites marching around the city for 7 days. “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.” (Hebrews 11:30 ESV) God had promised the victory and yet for the Israelites to live in that victory they needed to have faith. Joshua and the Israelites experienced the victory of Jericho’s walls falling AFTER they obeyed the Lord. What would have happened had they shouted after walking around one time? Six times? Absolutely nothing because partial obedience is always disobedience.
The walls came down and they experienced the victory when by faith they obeyed. “So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city.” (Joshua 6:20 ESV) To summarize, God told them that Jericho was there’s, they believed God and obeyed what He said, and the walls fell, and they experienced the victory.
Contrast with the first time they were at Jericho.
“The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a chief among them.”” (Numbers 13:1-2 ESV) Notice that God said, “I am giving you the land of Canaan.” It’s a done deal; the victory is theirs. Ten of the spies come back and say this, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.”” (Numbers 13:31 ESV) “Why is the Lord bringing us into this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become a prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?”” (Numbers 14:3 ESV)
What’s the difference between this and Joshua 6 where they experience the walls of Jericho fall? In both situations God promised the victory, so we know the difference in outcomes is not God’s fault. We could say it a few ways, they didn’t have faith, they didn’t trust God, they were disobedient. God’s Word says it this way, “For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.” (Hebrews 3:16-19 ESV)
When the people had faith and obeyed, they experienced and lived in the victory. When the people doubted and disobeyed, they did not experience the victory and lived in the wilderness. What I want us to see is that in both situations the Israelites believed something. Think about this, when God said, “Send spies into the the land of Canaan which I am giving to you.” Is that truth or is it a lie? God cannot lie so we know that is the truth. That means that the 10 spies and than all of Israel didn’t believe the truth but believed in a lie. They believed a lie that they were not strong enough, the people of Canaan were too big, God just brought them there to get them killed. Where did that lie come from? What effect did believing that lie have? In some way that lie came from the enemy, and the effect it had was 40 years wandering in the wilderness and never experiencing the promised land, never living in what God had said was theirs.
Get personal.
Is it possible that you and I are doing the same thing? God has promised us victory, freedom, but instead of believing God we believe a lie, we let the enemy remain and never experience the victory in our lives. Here’s what we need to know, the enemy is not really the problem, God has already promised victory over the enemy. It is ultimately not the enemy that prevents us from living in victory. All the promises of God are yes in Jesus (2 Corinthians 1:20). Just like He told the Israelites the land is yours He has told born again believers these promises are yours. And just like the Israelites the way to live in those promises, to experience the victory, is by faith, which is trusting and obeying.
What prevents us from living in victory, from experiencing the promises, is not the actual obstacle, but our faulty beliefs. We all believe something, we either believe God and His truth or we believe lies that oppose what God has said. We can call these faulty beliefs strongholds, anything that opposes the knowledge of God or keeps us from fully trusting in God. “For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,” (2 Corinthians 10:3-5 ESV) “ A stronghold is a belief or habitual pattern of thinking that is not consistent with what God tells us is true” (Neil Anderson, Freedom In Christ) Thoughts and feelings of inferiority, insecurity, inadequacy, condemnation, worthless, dirty, alone, not good enough are all strongholds. Because no child of God is any of those things. They are all faulty beliefs that are not true. They just feel true. Often because they have been reinforced so many times that it literally has a strong hold on you and causes you to think and act in ways that contradict God’s Word.
We must understand that tearing down strongholds is not a one-off experience but needs to become a way of life. Just like there were many enemies in the Promised Land that needed to be taken out, you and I have many enemies in our lives that need to be taken out. Remember this is a growing process, just like babies need to grow, learn, and mature; so do followers of Jesus. Any Christian will become an old Christian – that just takes time. But not all Christian’s will become mature Christians because they don’t know how or are unwilling to deal with the strongholds and enemies in their lives.
“We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,” 2 Corinthians 10:5 ESV
- Take personal responsibility.
- “We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God…”
- We destroy; we have responsibility.
- In the way God has set things up, some things are His responsibility, and some things are our responsibility. If we don’t do the things that He has given us to do, they simply won’t get done.
- God has done His part and given you everything you need to live a godly life.
- “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.” 2 Peter 1:3-4 ESV
- No one else can choose to believe the truth for you.
- Take every thought captive.
- “…and take every thought captive to obey Christ,”
- Think of your mind like an airport and you are the air traffic controller.
- A lot of thoughts ask for permission to land. But you have control over which will land, and which will be turned away.
- We are in a battle between truth and lies, and every stronghold is an entrenched lie.
- The key to demolishing it is to uncover the lie behind it and then replace the lie with the truth.
Stronghold-busting.
- Identify the lie you have been believing.
- This is anyway you have learned to think that is not in line with what God says in the Bible.
- Ignore what you feel because, by definition, the lie will feel true.
- Identify Bible verses that speak truth to your situation.
- Write down the top 5 or 6.
- Write a declaration.
- Use this formula: “I renounce the lie that…, I announce the truth that…” or “I reject the lie that…., I embrace the truth that…” or “I say no to the lie that…, I say yes to the truth that…”.
- Example for feeling alone: “I say no to the lie that I am abandoned and forgotten and will be left on my own. I say yes to the truth that You love me, that You have plans to give me a hope and a future and that absolutely nothing can separate me from your love. In Jesus’ name, amen.”
- Read the Bible verse and say the declaration out loud every day for 40 days.
- Remember that for a while the verses and declaration will not feel true. But what God says, is the truth.
- Persevere until the wall falls down. It will likely be like watching a concrete wall be demolished. It withstands 10, 15, 20, 30 blows with no visible sign of being weakened. However, every blow is weakening the wall and eventually the wall will crack and than collapse.
- Commit for the long term.
- We are not called to take out all of the enemies at once. If you try you will likely give up and quit.
- Commit for the long term and take out one area at a time and make sure we really have gained the victory before moving on to the next area.
Living Hope Ministries 