Mar. 13, 2022

“STANDING ON THE PROMISES OF GOD”

“VICTORY OVER LIFE’S STRONGHOLDS”

JOSHUA 6:1-5

Basic Truth- There is no victory in Christian living except through conflict and suffering.

Psalm 119:71 “It is good for me that I have been afflicted,
That I may learn Your statutes.”

James 1:3-4  “Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 4But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.”

The only road to the Promise Land goes through Jericho. And the only road to victory and our Promise Land is through those Jericho’s of our lives.

You have crossed over the Jordon River and that’s good enough, are you satisfied with that?

Joshua 6:1-5

vs.1 “Now Jericho was securely shut up”- this means there was no way in and no way out, it was sealed, secure.

Job 41:15 “His rows of scales are his pride, Shut up tightly as with a seal.”

What is the Jericho in your life? What is keeping you from experiencing the fulness of God in your life?

Proverbs 16:9 “A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.”

Let’s look at a strategy to get through the Jericho’s or the strongholds of our lives:

2 Corinthians 10:3-5

Only through God can the stronghold be overcome. God gives us a strategy to overcome strongholds.

The Four Part Strategy For Victory Over Strongholds:

Joshua 6:2 “And the Lord said to Joshua: “See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor.”

1.   You Have To See The Stronghold For What It Is.

2 Kings 6:15-17

Ephesians 1:18-21

We have to see that we have the same power today, that raised Jesus Christ from the dead.

2.   Seize The Promise Of Victory.

vs.2 “See! I have given Jericho into your hand.”

God has already given us the victory. It has already happened. This is past tense.

Ephesians 6:12 “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

2 Peter 1:3 “As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue.”

God has already given us that power, we have to seize it.

2 Peter 1:4 “By which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

Before the battle has taken place, God has already given us the victory. We have to lay hold of His promises. Stand of His promises.

Romans 4:21 “And being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.”

3.   We Must Wait On God.

Joshua 6:3-4 “You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days. 4And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.”

And walk around that stronghold and check out the city. Don’t get in a hurry, wait on God.

Psalm 27:14 “Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord!”

4.   They Professed What God Was Doing. 

Joshua 6:4-5 “And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. 5It shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him.”

1 Thessalonians 4:16 “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.”

God uses trumpets to mobilize people and announce what He is going to do.

Trumpets- used to inspire awe of God and warn of coming judgment. 

Exodus 19:19-25- Trumpets used to inspire awe.

Isaiah 18:3, 58:1- Prophetic passages of listening to trumpet.

Joel 2:1 “Blow the trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; For the day of the Lord is coming, For it is at hand.”

Leviticus 23:23-25- trumpets used for the proclamation of liberty.

Hebrews 11:30 “By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days.”

Hebrews 11:13 “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”

vs.13- “seen them afar off”- “see”- they saw what God saw.

vs.13- “were assured of them”- seize the promise of victory.

vs.13- “embraced them”- surrounded it.

vs.13- “confessed”- professed what God was going to do.

What are the Jericho’s in your life? What is that stronghold? Are you willing to apply the four steps to that today?