Joshua
Dan and I are going to be moving to Richmond Virginia. I am so excited to finally know where we will be moving too. Now the race is on as we make the transition. As you pray for us, I want you to pray for our Sunday school class more. I love this group of young adults. There will need to be a new teacher found. It is my greatest desire that it be a young couple like us. I remember for me, the young couple my own college class had was very influential to my spiritual development as well as my growth as a maturing adult. I want so much for them to have the same blessing as I had. I will miss them so much. They are such a great group.
Today’s lesson in church was incredible. Pastor Thurman taught from Joshua. He spoke about: the Senior Commander of the battle, the strategy of the battle, and the salvation of the one who believes. Christ appeared before Joshua in what is called a Christophony, a pre-appearance of Christ as the commander of the army of Heaven. He accepted Joshua’s worship which shows that this is not an angel. Also, Jesus is the Commander of the army of Heaven. When Christ is standing before Joshua in ch. 6, it is such an awesome testimony to His total “Godness”. Pastor said that wearing shoes was a sign of authority so when Christ told Joshua to take his shoes off it was in essence saying you are no in control of this situation.
Christ told Joshua that He had already given over Jericho to the Israelites for Jericho did not believe in God even though they knew the power of Israel’s God through the parting of the red sea, the plagues in Egypt and the miracles in the desert. God chose for them to have Jericho. His only command was for them to walk around the walled in city playing instruments praising God (there is more detail to it than that, but you will have to read it for yourself). How awesome is that? They walked around Jericho singing and praising God and the walls came crumbling down. God is the staring actor in this story.
What I was thinking during the sermon; imagine the application in our own lives. Eph. 6:12 says that our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. When we praise God marching foreword in our walk with him, the strongholds of Satan in our lives and others come tumbling down. We praise Him and pray to Him and He will do the rest.
As far as the prayer aspect, God has given me a paradigm shift these past few weeks. Our battle is not with our bosses, our parents, spouses, or the driver who cut us off. Each of us faces battle with the enemy. We have so many ungodly beliefs forced at us from the time we are born. Satan and his army works very hard to make sure he ingrains in us his curses and lies such as pride, fear, shame, anxieties, insecurities, laziness, lustfulness. I have struggled with lies that I am a failure and that I need to please other people or live up to their expectations. I can tell you now that God has been able to free me from the lie that I am a failure and we are working on the other one. The point is that, when we see a fault in another person that is our chance to pray for them that God can free them from that bond to the enemy. We are all either contagious Christians or contagious sinners. Other people feel the effects of our actions every day. I have only just realized that when I am experiencing rejection or persecution from another person or people, it is not them that my battle is with but the enemy that has them in bondage to the lies they believe. God gave us to speak against those spirits of evil intent. Of course you have to realize that when you stand between Satan and his prey, you might get hit (like trying to break up a fight between two gerbils once, I got bit.) God is our strength. He gives us the armor in Ephesians 6. This passed week, I realized to get rid of the spirit of fear that was filling me with anxiety and stress that I had to speak against it and then replace it with the fear of the Lord. So I spoke against that spirit and then asked God to replace it with the fearing him. I haven’t always understood exactly what fearing the Lord meant so I prayed God would show me. Well He is and whoa! I’m getting it.
I really digressed from the sermon there. Rahab a prostitute was the only one who believed. God saved her and her family. Another thing I was struck with since I have been reading Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers is that her dad, mom, and brothers were saved because of her. Her dad people! Do you understand the entirety of that? The Canaanites were a terrible people. They did not hold back in their sin. This man’s daughter was a prostitute. Questions fill my mind from what I already know about the Canaanite people, the book, and my work as a child advocate and a pregnancy counselor for teens. How old was she when he gave her to a man? What all had she been forced to do? A girl, a “low man on the totem pole”. It was her faith that saved her father when he should have been the one saving her. She also became a part of the lineage of Christ. What does that mean for your life? What does that mean to you? You are just as precious to God as a forsaken prostitute. There is no worthless person to our God. We are all precious priceless treasures.
Any way, that is what I got from what I heard this morning in church. I am thankful that I can share this with you all. You know that I would love to hear what God is telling you through what ever is in your life. He is just so amazing. I could never doubt him, be angry with Him, doubt His choices, turn my back, but never doubt who He is as our God. That’s an idea for another blog, another day.
Today’s lesson in church was incredible. Pastor Thurman taught from Joshua. He spoke about: the Senior Commander of the battle, the strategy of the battle, and the salvation of the one who believes. Christ appeared before Joshua in what is called a Christophony, a pre-appearance of Christ as the commander of the army of Heaven. He accepted Joshua’s worship which shows that this is not an angel. Also, Jesus is the Commander of the army of Heaven. When Christ is standing before Joshua in ch. 6, it is such an awesome testimony to His total “Godness”. Pastor said that wearing shoes was a sign of authority so when Christ told Joshua to take his shoes off it was in essence saying you are no in control of this situation.
Christ told Joshua that He had already given over Jericho to the Israelites for Jericho did not believe in God even though they knew the power of Israel’s God through the parting of the red sea, the plagues in Egypt and the miracles in the desert. God chose for them to have Jericho. His only command was for them to walk around the walled in city playing instruments praising God (there is more detail to it than that, but you will have to read it for yourself). How awesome is that? They walked around Jericho singing and praising God and the walls came crumbling down. God is the staring actor in this story.
What I was thinking during the sermon; imagine the application in our own lives. Eph. 6:12 says that our battle is not against flesh and blood but against the rulers, the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. When we praise God marching foreword in our walk with him, the strongholds of Satan in our lives and others come tumbling down. We praise Him and pray to Him and He will do the rest.
As far as the prayer aspect, God has given me a paradigm shift these past few weeks. Our battle is not with our bosses, our parents, spouses, or the driver who cut us off. Each of us faces battle with the enemy. We have so many ungodly beliefs forced at us from the time we are born. Satan and his army works very hard to make sure he ingrains in us his curses and lies such as pride, fear, shame, anxieties, insecurities, laziness, lustfulness. I have struggled with lies that I am a failure and that I need to please other people or live up to their expectations. I can tell you now that God has been able to free me from the lie that I am a failure and we are working on the other one. The point is that, when we see a fault in another person that is our chance to pray for them that God can free them from that bond to the enemy. We are all either contagious Christians or contagious sinners. Other people feel the effects of our actions every day. I have only just realized that when I am experiencing rejection or persecution from another person or people, it is not them that my battle is with but the enemy that has them in bondage to the lies they believe. God gave us to speak against those spirits of evil intent. Of course you have to realize that when you stand between Satan and his prey, you might get hit (like trying to break up a fight between two gerbils once, I got bit.) God is our strength. He gives us the armor in Ephesians 6. This passed week, I realized to get rid of the spirit of fear that was filling me with anxiety and stress that I had to speak against it and then replace it with the fear of the Lord. So I spoke against that spirit and then asked God to replace it with the fearing him. I haven’t always understood exactly what fearing the Lord meant so I prayed God would show me. Well He is and whoa! I’m getting it.
I really digressed from the sermon there. Rahab a prostitute was the only one who believed. God saved her and her family. Another thing I was struck with since I have been reading Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers is that her dad, mom, and brothers were saved because of her. Her dad people! Do you understand the entirety of that? The Canaanites were a terrible people. They did not hold back in their sin. This man’s daughter was a prostitute. Questions fill my mind from what I already know about the Canaanite people, the book, and my work as a child advocate and a pregnancy counselor for teens. How old was she when he gave her to a man? What all had she been forced to do? A girl, a “low man on the totem pole”. It was her faith that saved her father when he should have been the one saving her. She also became a part of the lineage of Christ. What does that mean for your life? What does that mean to you? You are just as precious to God as a forsaken prostitute. There is no worthless person to our God. We are all precious priceless treasures.
Any way, that is what I got from what I heard this morning in church. I am thankful that I can share this with you all. You know that I would love to hear what God is telling you through what ever is in your life. He is just so amazing. I could never doubt him, be angry with Him, doubt His choices, turn my back, but never doubt who He is as our God. That’s an idea for another blog, another day.
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