OVERCOMING RESISTANCE
Some people enjoy going to church to worship God. Some stumble into a church, still half awake as they worship God. They will nod their heads in agreement to whatever the preacher preaches. They could hardly keep their eyes opened. Being in a right place and in a right time does not guarantee that you will be right. The same applies to our spiritual lives too. Many times, even though we seem to be in a place where we could be easily assured of victory, but we ended up succumbing to the enemy and felt defeated.
God had promised the Israelites a land flowing with milk and honey. The earlier generation was unable to get into the land of promise. But now, the Israelites led by Joshua were already in that land. God had parted the great River Jordan to enable them to cross over from the wilderness and into the land of blessings. When you are in the land of blessings, you will be expecting blessings. But before they could enjoy the blessings, they had work to be done. They had to conquer the land. They had to battle their way to secure the land. The first city that they encounter was the city of Jericho.
Jericho was one of the strongest cities in the land of Canaan during then. Its strength lied in its great walls surrounding the whole city. Now these walls were huge which even contained houses constructed on them. The walls of Jericho were impregnable. There was no way that the Israelites could breach these impregnable walls.
God instructed the Israelites to walk around city once every day with the ark of the covenant leading the way. They were not to make any sound at all. On the seventh day, they were to walk around the city seven times. At the signal of Joshua, the Israelites were to shout with a great shout at the top of their voices. God promised that the walls of the city would come tumbling down.
What this passage demonstrated is the power of God. God is the almighty God of miracles. He could perform that which is beyond the comprehension of men to work out His sovereign will. In this battle to capture Jericho, there are some important spiritual lessons which we can derive to enable us to live a victorious Christian living.
Many times, in our spiritual walk we faced with many resistances – walls of resistance which prevent us from spiritual victory. This could simply be the disbelief in the Lord Jesus Christ. Some may have heard the gospel of salvation many times. They know that God loves them and has sent His Son, Jesus Christ to die for their sins. Yet, they have constructed the walls of resistance in their heart, preventing the Gospel to take seed in their hearts. They have missed the blessings of God. My friends, it is time for you to bring down that wall of resistance.
The walls of resistance could also be some weakness in our character – our anger and fiery temper, our greed, our worldliness, or our lusts. Time and time again, when we try to fight against these, we find the walls of resistance too strong for us. We find ourselves succumbing to their onslaught. We felt defeated, trapped and unable to overcome the walls of resistance in our life. We wonder how we can ever overcome the walls of resistance in our life. Joshua had to learn the steps of obedience rather than trusting in his own wisdom in doing God’s will. He knew that if he followed God closely, he would never fail – or rather, God would never fail him. Joshua remembered the promise which God gave unto him at the commencement of his leadership, that success would follow him if he followed God’s command (Josh. 1:8). God had demonstrated His power drying up the mighty Jordan River. The only way to claim God’s promises is to follow God’s command. This is the sure way to spiritual victory.
Here, we learn that to claim God’s promises in our life for spiritual victory requires us to follow God’s command without murmurings and complaining. We have to follow God’s command with faith. Faith brings us where reason cannot. To be victorious, the walls of resistance cannot be left standing in our life and have to come down. For a Christian, according to the promises of God, he is already assured of victory. We have been empowered to overcome the walls of resistance in his life. We are no longer held captive by sins and undesired characters in his life. Whereas before, we could do nothing but what our sinful nature dictates us. But now, as a Christian, we have been given the promise and power. It is only when we are assured of God’s promises, and walk in obedience to God’s command, we will find God working in us and for us. Then, we can find spiritual victory and have good success. God’s promises must be claimed by God’s way in God’s power. HCL.
