We have been considering keys to obtaining our promises in Jesus by looking at the Book of Joshua as they finally entered Canaan to obtain the promises for them that were first spoken to Abraham.  In my last blog we looked at the fall of Jericho and keys for obtaining promises related to that conquest.  I want to consider one more element of obtaining and maintaining promises as we end this little series.

After the great victory at Jericho, Israel was full of confidence for the battles ahead.  Jericho had been the first, the greatest, and the most significant city in Joshua’s campaign  to take the Promised Land from the foreign tribes that were living there.  As a kind of “first fruits” of battle and the promises to come, God had instructed them to dedicate Jericho to him.  They were to take no plunder and no slaves but to destroy and burn every part of the city.  They would be allowed to take plunder from the remaining battles, but this first one was to be given to God as an acknowledgement that he was the one who gave them victory and as judgment on the false god’s the inhabitants of Jericho had worshipped for hundreds of years. They indeed destroyed the city, except for Rahab and her family, and prepared for their next conquest – the city of Ai.

Ai was a much smaller city with inferior defenses. Joshua sent men to scout out the city that was to be eliminated next and they came back suggesting that Joshua send only two to three thousand men to Ai.  After the way God had given Jericho into their hands they thought Ai would be a picnic.  The text says that Joshua sent three thousand men, but they were routed by the smaller forces in Ai and thirty-six were killed. The people of Israel were devastated by the defeat.

“ Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown to the ground before the ark of the Lord…And Joshua said, ‘Ah sovereign Lord, why did you even bring the people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us?’ … The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Stand up. What are you doing down on your face? Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant.’”  In the ensuing verses, Joshua discovers that a man named Achan had taken gold, silver, and clothing from Jericho and had hidden the plunder in his tent.  Because of his sin, God had removed his hand of protection from Israel so that they were defeated in battle.  In addition to that, Joshua had not first inquired of the Lord to see if they should attack Ai.  The Lord would have told him then that the covenant had been broken and they would be defeated.

There are several lessons in this for us. First of all, many promises of God are conditional.  Under the new covenant, faith and faithfulness are required to receive most of the promises.  In the New Testament, we see in the Parable of the Talents that financial success and favor are given when we have been good stewards of what God has already given us. Healing comes to those who have faith to receive it and the gift is given to those who believe God for it.  Peter could walk on water as long as he did not take his eyes off of Jesus and his faith did not waiver.   James tells us that we have not because we ask not or because we ask with selfish motives. We do not have to have perfect faith but we have to continue to pursue our relationship with God or the manifestation of the promise may be withdrawn.

Sometimes we are faithful until we receive what we wanted and then begin to act independently of the Lord as Joshua did when he attacked Ai without inquiring. When we begin to “maintain” the promise in our own strength, then the blessing of God may be withdrawn.  However, we also see in Joshua 7-8, that once the sin was discovered and dealt with, the promise still stood and God once again began to give them victories.

The principle is that sin can hinder the promises of God being fulfilled – our own sin or the sin of others we are associated with. The sins of leaders in nations, businesses, churches, or families can limit blessings that could have otherwise come to those they lead.   The sin of a spouse can hinder the fulfillment of God’s promises in the lives of family members. There is a way back to the promise through repentance but only if the sin is dealt with and repentance is genuine.  Paul tells us that we must not be yoked together with unbelievers (2 Cor. 6) in marriage, treaties, and business covenants. Our salvation may not be affected by those relationships but our blessings, answers to prayers, and fulfillment of promises may well be hindered.

I am convinced that many of our prayers go unanswered and the power of God is not displayed because our churches have little regard for holiness. We live in the age of compromise and tolerance.  Many of us have begun to tolerate in our own lives, our own churches,  and society things that God’s word calls sin. When there is “sin in the camp,” everyone is affected.  As individualistic Americans, we tend to view that principle as unfair.  Why should the sin of others cost us?   We need to remember that God makes the rules, not us.  When we tolerate sin in our own lives or in our church, it may well cost us. There is wisdom in that dynamic, however, because if I know someone else’s sin will cost me or my family, I will encourage them to live for the Lord and seek holiness…for their benefit as well as my own.  Of course, we have to guard against legalism and self-righteousness but Jesus was perfectly holy without being either of those. He accepted people where they were but did not leave them there. He was very gracious with the woman caught in adultery, but in the end instructed her to go and sin no more.

God has made many promises to his people and Paul tells us that in Jesus Christ every promise is “Yes” and “Amen.”  He wants to fulfill those promises for us. When there is a problem in the fulfillment of a promise, the problem is not on his end.  Of course, some promises are simply put on hold because of timing but we do need to examine ourselves to see if we are failing in one of the conditions of that promise.  Ask the Holy Spirit to show you if there is something lacking or if sin is blocking the way. If there is, then repent and deal with the sin. If not, then keep seeking, asking, and knocking. Our God is a generous God who loves to give to his children and who loves to fulfill his promises. It is to his glory to do so.

We have been exploring the Book of Joshua to discover keys to obtaining the promises that God has laid aside for us in Christ.  One of the most famous episodes in the life of Joshua and in the entire Bible is the fall of Jericho.  We want to consider that section of scripture now as we look at obtaining our promises. As a reminder, God lead Israel out of Egypt with his powerful hand.  The Israelites did nothing other than believe enough to leave their captivity behind. Egypt is always a “type” of bondage or captivity in scripture.  It is a picture of Jesus leading us out of our bondage to sin.  Our salvation comes to us freely through the sacrifice of Jesus. We simply need to believe and receive.

For Israel, the first part was obtaining salvation and freedom from slavery.  The second part was taking hold of the promises that God had set aside for them in Canaan.  To obtain the promises of a land flowing with “milk and honey,” Israel would have to cross the Jordon at flood stage and face their enemies in battle, clearing out the land one battle at a time.  Of course, God would go ahead of them and fight for them but they had to partner with God in obtaining these promises and engage the enemy with him. They had to wield a sword, summon faith, get sweaty and dirty, and risk their own safety each time they took new ground. There may be any number of promises for which we will need to contend in the Spirit and war against the enemy in order to obtain a breakthrough for healing, relationships, the salvation of a loved on, or for the future of a nation.  Many of the promises in scripture are not just handed to us.

The first thing we need to be aware of is that Jericho stood in the way of Israel’s conquest.  It was an impressive, walled city that housed several thousand people at the time of Joshua.  Archeologists tells us that it had an outer wall that was about 15 feet high and an inner wall six feet thick and about 45 feet high above the surrounding plain. Inside the city was a fresh spring and the harvest was nearly over.  Those inside the city could have withstood a very long siege.  However, the siege would last only seven days.

The truth is that Israel could not have taken Jericho in their own strength.  They had no military technology or experience for facing walled cities and actually had little experience in battle of any kind.  In the face of that, God gave them a strategy that seemed ridiculous to the wise and experienced in warfare.  God instructed Joshua to have the priests to take up the ark of the covenant and to march around the city one time each day for six days with seven priests marching before the ark blowing on trumpets. An armed guard marched ahead of the priests and behind the priests but were silent along with all the people of Israel. They did that for six days.  On the seventh day, Israel arose at daybreak. The priests carried the ark again with seven priests marching ahead of the ark and blowing trumpets but on the seventh day they marched around the city seven times. On the seventh lap, when the priests blew the trumpets the people shouted and the walls of the city collapsed. Joshua and the fighting men swarmed into the city and destroyed it.

Neither Joshua nor any of his commanders would have ever plotted out that strategy to take Jericho.  Except for faith in God, the whole enterprise would have seemed foolish and futile up to the last moment. It might have even been embarrassing as they walked around the city each day silently while those within Jericho most likely stood on the walls and jeered at them.

Many of the promises of God are fulfilled through unusual, unorthodox, unexpected, and seemingly foolish ways. Otherwise, we would assume the promise came through our own strength and wisdom or simply by coincidence. Paul tells is that God chooses the foolish, weak, and the lowly things and people in this world through whom to accomplish his will so that he gets the glory (1 Cor. 1:27).  When we are seeking a promise or needing a breakthrough in our lives, it is best to ask God how he wants us to pray or what our part should be in the breakthrough.  There were times when God told his people to fight.  Other times, he told them to worship.  Other times, he told them to watch.  Other times, he gave them seemingly foolish things to do that seemed like a waste of time. Why march around the city for six days instead of taking it in one?

We often think promises are not being fulfilled in our lives because God is withholding.  We forget that there is demonic resistance that stands against the promises.  Sometimes that resistance is significant. Much of what God would ask us to do is aimed at breaking down walls in the unseen realm. Jericho had been a center for idol worship for centuries before the days of Joshua.  God told Moses and then Joshua that he would give them every place they set their feet for conquest.  I believe that each day the ark was carried around the city with priests blowing trumpets was a prophetic declaration of victory over the demonic powers of Jericho and each day the unseen walls were weakened by that declaration.  What may have seemed foolish and a waste of time was essential.

You may be praying for the fulfillment of a promise in your life.  God is faithful and his promises are sure, but we must sometimes contend for those promises with prayer, with declarations, and with faith.  We should also ask God how to pray for that promise. We should ask if we should be taking any action or waiting on his timing and we should be willing to look foolish, at times, if he directs to so something that makes no earthly sense. God has made promises to his people. He did not make those promises so that he could withhold them.  But, in battle we grow strong and we grow closer to him.  Those things are probably more important than promise we are seeking … but keep seeking.  If you do, the day will come when the walls will crumble and you will have your promise,

We have been looking at the Book of Joshua to find keys for obtaining the promises of God in our own lives.  The Promise Land of Canaan has always been a “type” of salvation and the promises of God that are stored up for his people.  God had promised Israel the land of Canaan in his covenant with Abraham as he promised the land not only to Abraham but to his descendants.  The promises were sure, but had to be obtained by faith and at times through warfare.  Victory was assured…but only by faith and faithfulness to Jehovah.

We need to remember that salvation comes to us through no works of our own but only through faith in Jesus.  Promises, however, are often conditional.  As children of God, we will receive what we need no matter what, but we will have to put in effort for what we want or desire beyond the basics of our spiritual lives.  There are times we have to contend for promises, persist in prayer, take steps of faith, and so forth.  Because of that, I want us to continue to look for keys to obtaining promises that God for us.

In chapters 3 & 4, we are told of the actual crossing of the Jordan.  If you have seen the Jordan River today, it does not look like a formidable barrier for an army or a nation to cross. Much of it has been depleted by irrigation and increased population. However, at the time of Joshua, we are told that the Jordan could be over a mile wide at the time of harvest, which is the time that God chose to send his people across.  It could also be ten to twelve feet deep in places so it was a very formidable barrier at the time.  Once again, without the intervention of God, Israel could not enter the Promised Land. He could have chosen an easier time of the year, but a miracle here would give them faith for the battles ahead. On the morning of the invasion, the Israelites were told that the priests, carrying the ark of the covenant, would lead them across the river.  They were to stay 1000 yards behind the ark and God would show them amazing things (Josh.3:5).

Remember, the entire nation of Israel was crossing.  That would be some two million people including women and children, old and young, plus livestock. This would be an impossibility without the supernatural intervention of God.  They were to keep their distance so that all could spread out and see the ark, which represented the presence of God.  Keeping your eyes on God is essential for receiving your promise.  The writer of Hebrews instructs us to fix our eyes of Jesus. Our focus must be on him more than the promise.  He is the source of blessing and power and he directs our steps. Going our own way or running head of God will not get us to where we need to be. God must lead and we must follow.  He picks the place for us to cross the Jordan and he leads the way.

We are told that as the priests who were carrying the ark, stepped in to the river, God stopped the flow of the river some fifteen miles upstream.  How he stopped the river we don’t know, but as the water flowed on south, the people were able to cross over on dry land just as they had crossed the Red Sea with Moses. When God provides a way, he provides a clear way.  If it is not clear, it may not be the way or the time he is showing you.  The priests stood in the middle of the riverbed as God’s people passed over down stream from the ark so that God continued to stand between his people and destruction.

When Israel had finished crossing over the Jordan, God instructed Israel to provide a man from each tribe to hoist a large stone from the riverbed and take it across to stack up as a historical marker to remind the generations of what God had done there.

Remembranceis a very significant thing in the kingdom of God and a key to receiving his promises.  Countless times in scripture, the mighty works of God that he had done for his people are recounted.  Stones are piled up, altars of remembrance are erected, and the story of deliverance from Egypt is recounted every Passover.  As David prepared to face Goliath, he recalled that God had already delivered him from a lion and a bear and he expected no less with the Philistine. Testimony of what God has done is important because each of those testimonies sets a precedent for what he is willing to do again.

We need to remember what God has already done for us. Journals, index cards, testimonies, even Facebook are places where we can recount the faithfulness and goodness of God in our lives.  Too many believers focus on one yet unanswered prayer and forget all the other prayers and blessings God has answered and directed their way.  In doing so, their faith fails for the one prayer that has not yet come to pass.  If God has been good and faithful in the past, why would we expect him to be any different in our present or in our future.  He is unchanging.

Let me encourage you to establish some process for remembrance. It doesn’t have to be a pile of stones as a reminder of what God has already done for you out of his goodness but some kind of record that you can review and that can be passed on to your children, builds faith and endurance for those promises that seem long in coming. Remember to remember.

Right now we are unearthing principles for securing the promises of God in our lives by scanning the Book of Joshua. The Promise Land or Canaan is a type or shadow of our salvation in Christ.  Having been released from Egypt (sin and bondage), the nation of Israel crossed through the Red Sea (baptism) and finally entered the land that had been promised to Abraham and his descendants under the leadership of Joshua.  Within the land, they were to find their rest, their provision, and their destiny. The promises of God waited for them to enter and take possession of the land.  Faith, obedience, and battles would be the keys to possessing those promises.

Another key to possessing the promises of God that is clear in the beginning chapters of Joshua is that no person can succeed in facing the enemy and entering into God’s promises alone. Too many believers don’t understand that there is strategic opposition to their quest for the promises of God in the spiritual realm.  We have an active enemy that works tirelessly to keep us from taking back the territory of blessings, love, relationships, and destiny that he has stolen from us. Because of the opposition we cannot fight our battles alone.

The nation of Israel crossed the Jordon together. The nation fought their battles together. The nation celebrated victories and shared in the spoils of war together.  As Americans, we are enamored with the idea of rugged individualism and self-sufficiency. That is such a core value that many of us find it hard to ask for help when we are facing a challenge.  Even in our spiritual lives we think we should be able to go it alone.  Although the New Testament teaches that we are all parts of the same body and are created to be interdependent on one another, we still tend to view the church as a group of individuals who go their own way, answer to no one, and who live a life unaffected by the actions of others.  That is not a Biblical view.

I grew up in what therapists call a disengagedfamily.  We lived under the same roof, ate meals together, and shared household chores but were never really involved in each other’s lives.  We didn’t have family devotionals or family game nights. We each did our own thing and rarely knew what other family members were facing or going through on a day-to-day basis.  We were very private and didn’t share our hearts with one another about anything.  We may have told our friends, but not our family.  Many believers function that way with their church families.  Other than church services and occasional service projects, they are disengaged.  By the way, that is called a dysfunctionalfamily.

We need spiritual family around us who know us (yes…even the yucky stuff), encourage us, pray for us, fight our battles with us, and sometimes rescue us.  Christianity is not personal.  It is relational.  You will not be able to cross the Jordan alone and win your battles against the enemy without being close to other believers who will stand with you when the battle rages.   If you have not found those people, then ask the Lord to connect you with some authentic believers to do life with you.  You will not and cannot fully enter your Promise Land without them.

In Part 1 of this study, we found that faith, obedience and a willingness to battle the enemy would be requirements for securing the promises of God in our own lives.  In Chapter 2, we find that intentionality and strategy are often needed to enter into everything that God has for us.  The chapter begins, “Then Joshua, son of Nun, secretly sent two spies from Shittim. ‘Go, look over the Land,’ he said, ‘especially Jericho.’”

We need to remember that the last time Israel sent spies into the land, the outcome was less than spectacular. Moses sent twelve spies into Canaan and ten came back convinced that the tribes were too powerful for them to overcome.  These unfaithful reports won the day and caused Israel to wander in the wilderness for forty years due to their unbelief. I am certain that Joshua sent proven men of faith this time and he sent them secretly. The text could mean that the people of Jericho would be unaware of the spies, but it may also mean that the Israelites were unaware that spies had been sent. This secrecy may have been to insure that Joshua would hear the report first so that no seed of unbelief would be sown even unintentionally.

Sometimes the faith we have is fragile and a lack of faith most often insures victory for the enemy.  An essential principle here is that we should be careful to surround ourselves with people of faith when we seek to secure a promise from God.  Cynics, doubters, and unbelievers can undermine our faith and, consequently, rob us of our promise. Someone once suggested that Jesus told some of those he healed to tell no one because the doubt of those they told might undermine the faith of the one who had received healing, so his healing might be lost. I’m confident that Joshua did not send the spies to determine if Jericho could be taken, but rather to determine the best way it could be taken. Sometimes we wonder if God will keep a promise rather than wondering how he will keep it. One perspective questions God’s faithfulness while the other affirms it.  The difference is significant.

An essential principle for all warfare is that a wise person should know the enemy he or she is about to face.  Paul told the church at Corinth, “I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, in order that Satan might not outwit us. For we are not unaware of his schemes” (2 Cor. 2:10-11). He tells us in Ephesians that we are to put on the full armor of God so that we can stand against the devils schemes (Eph.6:11). Satan is strategic concerning his attempts to undermine our faith, keep is from being effective, or lead us away from God.  We should be strategic as well in our battles against him.  In other words, we should know how to engage in spiritual warfare because our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual powers in heavenly realms. (Eph. 6:11-12).

Too many of us live our spiritual lives haphazardly.  We tend to react to spiritual challenges rather than being proactive and preparing for what the enemy will certainly send our way sooner or later. We wait for the crisis to come and then try to build our faith in the midst of that crisis rather than having established a foundation of faith for the storms that will inevitably come.  At other times, we quickly repent of all our sins that we have not been dealing with to that point. When we do, we may be going through the motions of repentance in a last ditch effort to win God’s favor without godly sorrow truly being in our hearts.  These are reactive ways to face the enemy rather than strategic ways. These ways are less than effective.

A wise general not only knows the enemy and his strategies but also knows his own strength and weaknesses. Satan is a predator.  He will always attack our weakness rather than our strength. He will always attack the stragglers rather than those firmly in the herd. We should know and acknowledge our vulnerabilities so that we can strengthen our defenses around our weakness through prayer, time in the Word, and accountability with others.  We should steer clear of places where temptation will be amplified.  A man struggling with alcoholism should not attend a party where everyone will be drinking.  A man who struggles with lust should be very careful about what he watches or reads and the beaches or swimming pools he frequents. A wise man builds walls and guard rails around his vulnerable zones.

In order to be strategic, we must take stock of ourselves, our strengths, our weaknesses, our resources, and the known tactics of the enemy before we wake up one morning to find ourselves in his crosshairs.  Many of the promises of God will require an invasion of enemy territory to remove the barriers that the enemy has erected that stand between you and the blessings the Father has for you. Preparation before the battle is essential.

In addition, what the two spies discovered was that those in Jericho were full of fear. They found an unlikely ally whose heart God had prepared for that very moment.  Another principal for securing the promises of God is that we should be open to unexpected vessels that God has placed in our path to help us on our way.  In this case, the prostitute Rehab became a key element inthe victory of Israel because her testimony confirmed that God had already prepared the way for Israel’s victory.

The “faith boosters” the Lord supplies are also helpful as we move to secure the promises of God.  Sometimes those boosters are progress we are beginning to see after months of prayer. It may be a prophetic word assuring you of God’s involvement or a scripture that the Holy Spirit highlights as you spend time in the Word.  Receive those things as encouragement from the Lord as you press in for your promise. God wants you to secure his promises. Jesus died that you might receive them. Be strategic, intentional, and prepared as you remove the enemy from your path.

I am reading through the Book of Joshua once again and I think it is one of those books that deserves several blogs. Joshua is one of those rare characters in scripture about whom no faults or failures are recorded.  He was the aide-de-camp of Moses from the day they left Egypt to the death of Israel’s great leader and prophet forty years later.   In that position, he had assisted Moses in all of his duties.  In all probability, he became a confidant of Moses and had heard his heart, his hopes, and his frustrations on many occasions. He also heard about Jehovah and personally experienced him many times at the tent of meeting where Joshua personally spent a great amount of time.  He and his brother Caleb were the only two spies out of twelve who had initially been sent to survey Canaan. Joshua and Caleb brought back a good report and a recommendation to take the Promised Land immediately. The other ten spies confirmed God’s description of the land as rich and fertile but had no faith that they could defeat the tribes they saw living there.   Because of their faithless report, Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty years.  The Book of Joshua describes the days when God’s people finally entered Canaan to claim the land their parents had never entered because of unbelief.

The Book of Joshua is a blueprint for claiming the promises of God. The land of Canaan contained the future and the promises that God had made this little nation going back to the patriarch Abraham. The promises, like most in scripture, were conditional. Three things would be required to obtain the promises – faith, obedience, and warfare. The land had everything they needed to prosper as a nation, but it was also filled with pagan tribes who had no intention of giving up their claims to the land.  Some of these tribes were formidable with the likes of Goliath roaming the countryside.

I do find it remarkable that a generation of faith grew up out of a generation of fear.  The parents of the men and women who were now prepared to cross the Jordan River had fallen into fear, grumbling, and idolatry at every turn. Yet, out of that unpromising seedbed, God had raised up a generation of belief.  The faithful voice of Joshua had to be part of that.

The first chapter of Joshua reveals keys for claiming our promises in Christ.  I know that many of us have been taught that all things come to us by grace and as a gift of God so that our efforts have nothing to do with what we receive. That is absolutely true regarding our salvation.  Eternal life has come to us through the blood of Christ and his sacrifice and rests on no works or righteousness of our own.  However, our reward in heaven, beyond salvation, depends to a great extent on our efforts.  We are to lay up treasure in heaven.  It is not laid up for us as if we are trust fund babies.  We must seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness before “all these things” will be given to us. We must run the race to win and we must put on the armor of God if we are to have victories, and so forth.

Israel had been given the land and the assurance of victory in their battles, but they had to cross the Jordan at flood stage and still fight to obtain the promises. In doing so they would grow in character and faith and would build a relationship with God through the process. I believe we must do the same to experience many of the benefits and promises that are ours today in Christ.

At the outset, God told Joshua, “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses” (Josh. 1:2-3). The phrase, “set your foot,” means to “march.”  It is not a promise that God would give them every place they visited or went sightseeing. It is a promise that God would give them victory everywhere they engaged the enemy. It has the flavor of intentional warfare engaged in to take territory.  Jesus echoed this thought when he said, “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it” (Mt.11:12). To gain the promises of God, we will have to be intentional and forceful in the face of the enemy.

In chapter one alone, God tells Joshua to be strong and courageous three times.  He does so on the basis that God would go with them.  He tells Joshua, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Josh.1:5). If God is with us and we are operating in his will, who can stand against us?  Because Israel had waivered in the past, God emphasizes that they must be strong and courageous…not because they are amazing warriors, but because they believe by faith that God will fight with them and for them.  To the degree we believe that God is with is and for us, we can face the enemy and every crisis with courage.

God goes on to instruct Joshua in the need for obedience.  He says, “ Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go” (Josh 1:7). This is about alignment.  God is with us, when we are with him.  If we stay aligned with the Father, then he is free to bless us and give us success.  If we are misaligned with the Father in parts of our life, to bless us would reward and reinforce the sin in our lives, which would then increase and lead to disaster. God is a good father who will always point us toward life and blessing, not a permissive father who lets us go our own way.

At the end of chapter one, Israel prepares to cross the Jordon and engage the enemy. Joshua prepares his leaders by remind them of God’s promises and their part in obtaining the promises.  The last words of his leaders were, “Only be strong and courageous.”  So, four times in once chapter we are admonished to be strong and courageous when we face the enemy because God is with us and will be faithful to give us victory if we are marching with him.  Too many of us today still doubt the love and provision of God when life or the enemy rises up against us.  Too many of us have pockets of our lives misaligned with God’s will and then count him faithless when life doesn’t go our way.  Obtaining the promises we have for peace, provision, success, healing and so forth require something from us today just as it was required of Israel in the days of Joshua  – faith, obedience and warfare.  More in my next blog.

When you read early Christian writings there is always a great deal of emphasis on Christ’s admonition to take up our cross daily in order to follow him. The theology of the cross is that God uses hardship to conform us to Jesus and to teach us to make him our source of strength and supply.  In America, where comfort and plenty have defined many lives, the idea of taking up our cross is rarely proclaimed and is even a bit offensive if we are honest. In some corners of the kingdom, a prosperity gospel has been preached which suggests that material abundance and ease are God’s will for his people on earth and proof of his favor. Preachers of that gospel tend to live on lavish estates and raise money for twenty-six passenger jets to fly around the globe preaching to the poor.

I’m not opposed to believers making a great living. It is believers with means whom God can use to fund the kingdom here on earth and actually care for the poor. What I question, even in my own life, is how much I have bought into the notion that sacrificial living is no longer an essential element in pleasing God and drawing close to him.  In fact, American believers tend to see hardship in our lives as proof that somehow God is displeased with us.  If that were the case, then Jesus and those who first followed him must have been very displeasing to God. I am reminded of David’s words when he said, “I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offering that cost me nothing” (2 Sam.24:24).

Taking up our cross daily is not necessarily a call to poverty or persecution.  It is, however, a call to setting our personal agenda aside each day while we genuinely seek God’s agenda for us.  It is saying “No” to the natural man who demands to have his way, demands to be treated with respect, demands his rights, demands to be first, demands to be given the seat of honor, refuses to submit to anyone, and who is always self-focused and concerned about his comfort, his success, and his well-being.

The truth is that most of our pain and discomfort in life comes from our self-focus. It is that focus that measures every interaction to see if we were given due deference.  It notices every ache and pain in our body and keeps score in every relationship.  It takes offense, issues judgments, justifies our own shortcomings and rings the “victim” alarm every time we feel that life hasn’t been fair. Our self-focus keeps pulling the scab off of our own wounds as we constantly rehearse the scenes where those wounds were inflicted and keeps Jesus at bay because we feel such a need to protect ourselves by being in control.

Taking up our cross daily puts the focus on Jesus and others, rather than ourselves.  It actually reduces our pain even though we believe our pain would increase. It is something, I believe, that only the Holy Spirit can do in us, but won’t due without our constant permission. We all want to be filled with the Spirit but if we are filled with self, there is little room for the Spirit to move and work.

In a culture that promotes self-love, attending to our needs first, and entitlement it is difficult to take up our cross.  We would rather pay someone else to carry our cross for us. Unfortunately, that task cannot be outsourced.  The paradox, of course, is that the key to abundant living is dying to our own demands. The key to freedom is surrendering to Jesus…not just the parts we don’t care about but everything. I believe it is also a key to greater anointing and power because when we carry our cross, we will steward those things as Jesus would, rather than for our own affirmation. I need to consider this reality in my own life today.  You might need to as well.

Most mainline churches in America today still seem to fear an over-emphasis on the Holy Spirit. They certainly believe in the Holy Spirit as that part of God or that part of the Trinity that resides in God’s children, gives life to the spirit of man, and who shapes our character as Christians (fruit of the Spirit). However, the idea of power, revelation, prophetic words, words of knowledge, gifts of healing, visions, dreams, etc. are not on the menu in these churches. They seem to believe that if Christians pursue these supernatural manifestations of the Spirit, they will be led astray by the enemy into all kinds of deception and a faith focused on miracles rather than Jesus.

At the same time, there is a frustration in these churches, or at least among some of the people and leaders, that what we have in our faith is insufficient to truly meet the needs and challenges of the day. What do you do when your members suffer for years with depression, anxiety, fear, suicidal thoughts, addictions, doubts, gender confusion, or vaguely diagnosed illnesses and your prayers and Bible study only seem to give them temporary relief but no real victory?

Typically, churches that do not operate in the “supernatural” gifts of the Spirit, either conclude that these people have insufficient faith to be set free or send them out to secular doctors and psychologist for treatment. Even if they go to Christian counselors or therapists, most of them have been trained in secular approaches to treatment…so our people only get what the world offers with the simple addition of a prayer and a scripture. A theology then arises from our inability to help our people that declares that it is God’s will for his people to suffer in this fallen world, just as those who have no faith but the promised healing and freedom will come as we enter the presence of Jesus in heaven.

At the same time, we have the presence of Jesus within us already here on earth. Why shouldn’t that presence (the Holy Spirit) provide healing and freedom here as well as in heaven? In addition, Paul declares in 2 Corinthians 10, that we are not to wage war as the world wages war, but are to use divine weapons to pull down strongholds. He states this need for divine weapons because he also declares that our real struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual powers in heavenly realms. What doesn’t touch the spiritual realm will not set us free, if there is a spiritual component to our physical illness or emotional torment. And Paul suggests that most of the time, there is a spiritual component. Churches who don’t want to “over-emphasize” the Holy Spirit leave their people in the grasp of dark spiritual forces because secular treatment doesn’t touch the spiritual realm.

Of course, all churches pray for the healing of physical illnesses and emotional torment. Typically, however, the prayer is more of a wish than an expectation because if God doesn’t operate supernaturally in his church any more, then we can’t really expect more than secular doctors, science, and therapy can deliver. More than that, if God has provided solutions for infirmity and emotional distress through supernatural gifts of the Spirit, then he expects us to exercise those gifts as his primary source of healing and freedom and not just keep calling on him to do what he has equipped his church to do.

Sometimes we act like a policeman who has graduated from the academy and has been given authority and power to go make arrests and bring criminals to justice, but every time he sees a crime in progress, he calls the chief of police to come and do something. The chief will say, “ You have authority and power. You make the arrest. That is your job. If you can’t, then resign from the force.” If we keep calling on God to do what he has anointed and appointed us to do, then much will go undone. A heavy and healthy emphasis on the Holy Spirit in the church that stays consistent with biblical guidelines is the answer.

Before you push back, think about what an emphasis the first century church placed on the Holy Spirit beginning with Jesus himself. Jesus declared that the Holy Spirit would live in us, counsel us, teach us, lead us into all truth, reveal the heart and mind of God to us, heal us, free us, shape us, and give us power for ministry…to do what he had been doing. He didn’t tell the disciples to wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit shaped their character or delivered sound doctrine so they could be effective witnesses. He commanded them to wait for power, which immediately manifested in tongues, revelation, and boldness. Can “supernatural” spiritual gifts be abused? Sure. They were widely abused in Corinth. Paul, however, did not tell them to quit exercising the gifts but to exercise them with love and a sense of order. When the church was looking for qualified leaders, they did not search for seminary graduates or successful businessmen, but looked for those who were full of the Spirit…which also manifested in miraculous works. The church was ordered to be filled with the Spirit at all times and to pray in the Spirit at all times. They were to earnestly desire spiritual gifts and to bear the fruit of the Spirit in their lives. When Ananias and Sapphira were disciplined unto death in Acts 5, it was because they had lied to the Holy Spirit. That suggests the prominence the Holy Spirit held in the church.

We could go on, but it would be heard to emphasize the Spirit more than the early church did or the New Testament does. I believe there is more danger in under-emphasizing the Spirit rather than over-emphasizing him. The truth is that the church needs much more of the Spirit rather than less if we are to fulfill our mandate of discipling nations and bringing heaven to earth.

The New Testament has a great deal to say about who we are in Christ. As a result there are many declarations among Christian writers and teachers outlining our identity.  In our own ministry we encourage those to whom we are ministering to read a two-page declaration out loud each day that states who we are in Christ. We ask them to do that for sixty days.

We say sixty days because recent brain research has demonstrated that it takes about that long for new neural pathways to form in our brains that contain the thoughts we have been repeating and reinforcing with our verbal declarations.  There are other strategies to strengthen the process of getting God’s word into our mind as part of the renewal process Paul calls us to in Romans 12:2. Writing out the declaration, using different colors to do so, using the non-dominant hand, and listening to a recording of the declarations in your own voice are examples.

What we believe about ourselves is a reliable indicator of whether we will succeed or fail in life – not just in careers but also in relationships, health, and even spiritual matters. Our self-image or our identity sets us up for confidence or insecurity.  It determines whether we face new relationships with an expectation of acceptance or rejection.  It determines whether we face the future with hope or fear.  It determines whether we feel strong or woefully vulnerable. We could go on, but you know the concept.

Ultimately our identity or self-image boils down to whether we think we are reasonably capable, significant, valuable, and lovable or whether we believe that we are defective, incapable, insignificant, and unlovable.

Scripture tells us over and over that in Christ we are loved, we are very significant, we are highly capable, and that we matter so much that Jesus died for us while we were still sinners.  We are new creations, kings and priests, more than conquerors, sons and daughter of the Most High, God’s craftsmanship made for a divine purpose, totally forgiven, holy, and totally accepted by God.

When most believers read the things that God says about them, they discount the message and think that those things might be true for others but not for them.  Even after receiving salvation and the Holy Spirit, they continue to walk in their old identity – the old man -which we are commanded to put away. That image is typically negative. Sometimes the church has even wrapped a garment of acceptability around that negative self-image by calling it humility.

However, to discount or dilute the word of God on any topic is simply unbelief and unbelief invites the enemy and opens the door for him. We must always give God’s word more authority than our emotions, what our parents said, or what we have come to believe through past experiences. If we continue to walk in the shadow of a broken heart and a broken identity, we will never have faith that every one of God’s great promises are truly for us, and we will never face the enemy with confidence.

Whenever we minister deliverance, the standard thoughts pouring through the person’s mind to whom we are ministering are thoughts from the enemy such as:

• You belong to me and you will never be free.
• These people have no power over me.
• You will be alone and helpless without me.
• I don’t have to leave, I own you.
• And so forth.

His goal is to make God’s people feel helpless, weak and inadequate so that they back down from the confrontation. God has given us amazing promises.  He has told us that we have power and authority over the enemy.  We can resist the devil and he will flee from us.  We can join Jesus in destroying the works of the devil and we can do the works that Jesus did and even greater things by faith.  Believing that is the issue.

What I have discovered is that if we do not believe who we are, we will not believe what God is willing to do through us. In the face of Satan’s boasting and lies, we will wilt.  Faith is not just about what we believe about God, but about who we are in Christ as well. We have authority to cast out the enemy because of who we are in Christ.  We have strength to stand against his schemes because of who we are in Jesus.

As we disciple people, we should spend a great deal of time helping them know and believe what their position is in Jesus, because it is that position that gives them access to the throne room of God and the power and resources of heaven. Know one will truly know what their authority is in Christ until they know what their identity is in Christ as well. We should make a habit of not only declaring who God is on a daily basis, but also who we are in Christ on a daily basis as well.  When both of those things are settled in our hearts and minds, Satan has no chance.

In Acts 12, King Herod launched a season of persecution against the church.  He rounded up several of the leaders and James, the brother of John, was put to death. In the same sweep of church leaders, Peter was also arrested and placed in prison under heavy Roman guard. During the night, an angel awoke him and led him out of the prison and on to the streets. Peter thought he was having a vision or a dream but eventually decided that he actually had been delivered from his captives.  Once on the streets, the angel disappeared and Peter hurried to the house of John Mark’s mother where other believers were gathered in prayer on his behalf.  The story then takes a humorous turn as well as revealing something about us as believers.

The text says, “Then Peter came to himself and said, ‘Now I know without a doubt that the Lord sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s clutches and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating.’ When this had dawned on him, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer the door. When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, ‘Peter is at the door!’ ‘You’re out of your mind,’ they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, ‘It must be his angel.’ But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. (Acts 12:11-17).

The scene turns humorous when Peter, desperately wanting to get off the streets, knocked on the door and was left standing in the street as the servant girl ran to tell everyone that Peter was there.  It becomes a revealing scene when those praying for Peter’s release didn’t believe that he could possibly be at the door. How often do we pray with words of faith but without a heart of faith to match our words?  Undoubtedly, this little gathering of believers had verbalized some powerful prayers on Peter’s behalf.  Yet, when their prayer was supernaturally answered, they told the girl who had reported it that she must be of her mind.

One of the things I am learning to do is to check my faith for a prayer before I offer the prayer.  The good news is that God answered the prayer of those early believers in spite of their apparent lack of faith for what they were asking.  This falls in the category of aspirational beliefs rather than actual beliefs.  I aspire to have strong faith, so I say all the right words, but in actuality I don’t anticipate a powerful response from God.  I know that is my condition when I am skeptical about a report that my prayer was answered or when I am totally shocked to see God answer it.  In reality, many of us would honestly have to say when we pray, “Lord. I believe, help my unbelief.”  Again, God is good and often answers our less-than-faith-filled prayers anyway, but the goal is to pray with great confidence.

When I remember to do so, I find it helpful to rehearse in my mind all the times and ways that God has been faithful before.  I find it helpful to remind myself of his unchanging character and his faithfulness to his word.  I find it helpful to declare his promises related to what I am asking for and to remind myself that in Jesus all those promises are “yes” and “amen.” I also find it helpful to ask for the Spirit to give me a greater gift of faith for that moment and the moments to come.  At times, the Spirit may prompt me to repent of unbelief or to command a spirit of unbelief and doubt to be silent and leave. By going through that process, I am more able to align my heart with God’s word and so have more confidence in the outcome of my request. Then I can pray with more faith and, perhaps, even believe that the stranger knocking on the door is Peter.