TOPIC: Understanding the Wonders of Thanksgiving, 3B.

SUB-THEME: Wisdom for Possessing your Promised land, Part 2.

Every time we praise, God is set to raise. Inside your praise is your raise. Joel 2:21. Every time we go into praise, God is set to do things.

At the beginning of this month, it was declared that Prophetically, as a Commission, we have entered our promised land. Deut. 8:7-10. Deut 11:8-12 describes what to expect in thatpromised land. God took the children of Israel from Egypt to the promised land. There is an analogy of the journey. Moses was a type of Jesus, Egypt was like the world system (Col. 1:13). The journey through the wilderness is the type of our Christian walk. while the Promised land is a type of Heaven.

God started a journey with the children of Israel and after parting Jordan, the last obstacle on their way to the promised land, He brought them to a little town called Gilgal – a place of renewal, circumcision. The promised land has been prepared but it will only answer to those that are prepared for it. Gilgal is a place of renewal of our covenant with God. Joshua 8:1. In Gilgal, we are to learn the following:

1. We are not expected to run away from obstacles. Not too far from Gilgal was the obstacle to confront. God told them, if He had removed the obstacle of Jordan, He can break down the wall. He is not only the God that parts waters, but also the God that brings down walls. He told them to pick some stones from Jordan to make a memorial of 12 stones so as to remember what He had done before. He taught them not to be scared of obstacles. Every promised land has an obstacle waiting.

2. That Gilgal is a place of preparation. It is a place of renewal, turnaround, it is a wheel. We renew our covenant and sanctify ourselves.

3. He doesn’t want us to be discouraged by barriers. God will remove obstacles away from your path to the promised land, but allow you to face the oppositions. There are giants waiting in the promised land. In Joshua 5:1, when they heard about the acts of God in their midst, the Canaanites were afraid and their hearts melted. God will not move the enemy but will take the fight away from the enemy. God shows His omnipotence by making our enemies impotent. When God is with you, your enemies can see you but will not be able to harm you.

4. After they had observed the passover, planning how they would fight the opposition, Joshua met a personality – literarily met with Christ; He told him he had to give the battle to Him. Joshua 5:14. Your promised land will not answer to your strength, skill or wisdom, it answers to submitting yourself to God’s leading and direction. The promised land is the land of warfare. Every promised land will always involve a fight. So the easiest way to win the battle is to listen to the voice of the commander and obey the Commander.

The first major city that they got to in their journey of possessing their promised land was Jericho. Jericho was the strongest city. God made the strongest the first battle because if they could deal with Jericho, other cities would be a walkover. Our God is a God of strategy. Jericho was an intimidating sight. The wall was between 12 and 15 feet tall, two cars could move on the wall – that shows the magnitude of the thickness of the wall. Before they emerged in the battle to take over the city, God gave Joshua and the people of Israel five promises, these still apply to us today as believers:

1. God said to them – I am going to give you the promised land. The best promise to hold on to is the promise of God. God gave them an assurance that He would give them the land – in fact a concluded deal.

2. God told them – every where you walk will be yours. Everywhere you step on, is yours.

3. Your enemies will not be able to stand against you. Your enemies may be mighty, but there is only one Almighty. If the Almighty is with you, do not fear the mightiness of your enemy. Numbers 14:7-9.

4. As I was with Moses, so shall I be with you. He gave them an assurance of being with them. We fail in battle because we are not God-conscious. We are not conscious of what we carry.

5. I will never leave you nor forsake you.

These promises show us that:

1. God is faithful

2. God will never leave us

3. God will fight for us

Joshua 6:1-19. Joshua handed the reign of command of the children of Israel to God to lead the battle. Joshua 5:13-15. God introduced Himself to Joshua as the Commander of the host of Heaven, thus Jesus came to, also, command the host of Heaven that would defeat the enemy. It was both a physical and spiritual battle. When they started, God gave them the battle plan:

Wake up in the morning, dress-up and carry the Ark of the Covenant. The Priest would go in front and the children of Israel would follow. They would go round the wall of Jericho once a day. Joshua 6:3. Going round the wall took between 2 and 5 hours everyday. God gave a caveat – No talking. In six days, they circled the city six times. It was not a military strategy, it was a divine plan. On the 7th day, He asked them to rise up very early and go round the city 6 times. On the 7th round, the Priests would blow the trumpet and they should shout. So they did 17 laps round the city.

We are to learn the following from this:

1. We learn the wisdom of Presence. God was saying to the children of Israel, if you want me to give you the promised land, you must learn to be present. You must appear at the wall of Jericho. Where you are not present, God cannot work! His miracle will take place when you are where God will do the miracle. If you want me to bring down the wall, be at the wall! God was teaching them the wisdom of courage. The children of Israel were at a disadvantage, they were moving on the ground while the opposition were on the wall watching them. They were an easy target to the opposition – so it was not a good military strategy. Your presence scares the enemy. Every time you show up, even if things are not changing, you put the enemy to fear. God is not raising weaklings; He is raising giants. For me to show up, you must be at the wall. Stop running from the enemy, face them. Keep appearing until you take your inheritance.

2. The wisdom of silence. God commanded the children of Israel to keep quiet. Possibly, the people were mocking them, but they obeyed God to keep quiet. The wall of Jericho was not their greatest challenge, the greatest was their mouth. Many of us loose our inheritance due to our careless utterances. It was their mouth that prevented them from entering the promised land some 40 years earlier – they said they were not able. So in this 2nd attempt, God told them to keep quiet. James 3:2-6. Our mouth is our greatest challenge, not the enemy. If you want your next level, mind your speech! God was teaching them to be quiet until He was done with the battle. Luke 1:18-20. The angel came to Zechariah with good news, in order for John to come, God had to cover the mouth of Zechariah until the day of delivery. Many of us are sealing our case with our mouth. It is not every word you respond to, learn to process in silence. Not everybody should get a response from you – like Jesus before Pilate.

3. The wisdom of perseverance. The magnitude of your miracle will determine the length you need to wait. If your miracle will be heavy, you need patience. You must learn to endure. When it seems like nothing is working, keep doing it. When you are working with God, you have to learn the discipline of patience. God thought them patience – for 6 days, the wall did not fall. God may not come at your time, but He is always on time. Anytime God shows up is the right time. They had to go thirteen times for the wall to fall! Heb. 10:36. When you learn to endure, your miracle comes suddenly. It was at the 7th dip that Naaman’s skin changed.

4. The wisdom of Honour. Joshua 6:18-19. If you want to keep God at work, when your next level comes, let your first fruit go to Him. When your turnaround comes, honour God. Joshua 7:1-10. Do not forget your source when your next level comes. Learn to appreciate God with thanksgiving. Learn to do a project in God’s house. Do a memorial. If you fail to return after God has done it, it will never be your turn for another turnaround. Prov. 3:9. Jericho was their first city so God told them to give Him the first fruit. It is neither your eloquence, connection, brilliance nor your skillfulness. It is Jehovah El-Shaddai, the overdo God that makes it possible. It is wisdom, therefore, to always return in order to secure another turn.