PROCLAMATION
“And The Lord
said unto Joshua, ‘Fear not, neither be thou dismayed; take all the people of
war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai; see, I have given into thy hand the king
of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land; And thou shall do to Ai and her king as thou
didst unto Jericho and her king; only the spoil thereof, and the cattle
thereof, shall ye take for a prey unto yourselves; lay thee an ambush for the
city behind it.” Joshua 8:1-2 (KJV)
EXPLANATION
These are
the words of God which were revealed to and written by Joshua under the
influence of The Holy Spirit of God. The first time that Joshua led
the Israelites against the army at Ai, The Lord God was not with them for they
had sinned and broken their covenant with Him. (Joshua 7:11-12) The
first time, Joshua listened to his spies and did not speak to The Lord God
before going into battle. (Joshua 7:2-5) The second time Joshua
prayed, listened to God, and followed His plan when he attacked Ai. (Joshua
8:1-8) The Lord God had to encourage Joshua because the Israelites
had been routed by Ai the first time they fought them. This time, he
had renewed his commitment to The Lord God. This time Joshua did it the right way, God’s
way, and this time he was victorious. (Joshua 8:10-29)
APPLICATION
All too
often we do things our way, without going to The Lord God in prayer
first. The Bible teaches us that we should pray about everything.
(Matthew 21:22 and Luke 21:36) We need to show our love for, and our
obedience to, The Lord God with our life and our lifestyle. Jesus,
The Christ, said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” (John 14:15) And,
if we love Him, then we should not be afraid to step out on faith and do what
He says do. (1 John 4:18) We should not
let the fear of failure, or the fear of rejection, cause us to stop doing
something God’s way. Even if we failed the first time, we should do
it again, but prayerfully do it the right way this time. Do it God’s
way. Let’s not go into battle unprepared. Let us pray
first, then let us put on the whole armor of God. (Ephesians
6:10-18) If we do it His way, the victory is ours. (1 Corinthians
15:57)
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