“When Easy Become Impossible and the Impossible Becomes Easy”
November 20, 2011
Joshua 7:2-5
2 Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth Aven to the east of Bethel, and told them, “Go up and spy out the region.” So the men went up and spied out Ai.
3 When they returned to Joshua, they said, “Not all the army will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary the whole army, for only a few people live there.” 4 So about three thousand went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai, 5 who killed about thirty-six of them. They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries and struck them down on the slopes. At this the hearts of the people melted in fear and became like water.”
Have you ever had a bad day? Have you ever been in a spot in your life where nothing went right? Ever have a time when it seemed the windows of heaven were closed and God wasn’t listening to you? We all go through times like that – sometimes it is just a ‘down’ day for us. Sometimes it is nothing more than a naturally bad day. But sometimes God really isn’t listening. Sometimes it may be God IS withholding His blessing from us. This morning I want to suggest three things that are blessing killers in our lives and three things that will open the windows of heaven for us.
The first blessing killer is sin – or disobedience. In our Scripture, one man sinned and hindered the whole nation. One man was responsible for the death of many. One man prevented God from blessing a nation.
Imagine this scene. The army had done the impossible. They had just conquered Jericho – with the Lord’s help. Jericho was suppose to be impossible to penetrate – but the walls came tumbling down and the weapons were marching, singing and blowing on trumpets. Now they faced the little ol’ town of Ai. “Piece of cake”, they thought. Not everyone has to go fight. There are just a few of them. But then they were soundly thrashed. Their faith must have been severely shaken. Joshua fell to the ground in prayer, tore his clothes and threw dirt on himself in anguish. He was like that all day. Then the Lord came.
“The LORD said to Joshua, “Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions. That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction.”
Joshua 7:10-12
There is a spiritual principle here that we had better learn. And that is that God will not hear us if we are in a rebellious relationship with Him. These people, or a least one of them, violated his covenant with God. They had stolen and they lied. And God appears to be impatient with Joshua. He seems to find his prayer – almost offensive. God doesn’t want to hear us praying for His help when we are in rebellion with Him. Listen to His Word.
“Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.” Isaiah 59:1-2
“If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened”
Psalm 66:18
God said, “What are you doing down on your face?” I think the principle here is before we get down on our knees we better see what is down in our heart. If there is sin – there is one prayer that God wants to hear from our lips – and that is the prayer of confession and repentance.
When it seems your prayers are not being answered first test yourself. In the New Testament the Word says,
“Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves…” 2 Corinthians 13:5
It would be wise for us to periodically test ourselves spiritually. Are we living up to God’s Word? We have this unique human ability to justify our actions, rationalize our choices – and even convince ourselves the truth is a lie and a lie is the truth. Consequently, we must test ourselves against the Word of God to see if there is any sin in our lives. If there is – there will be no blessing until it is dealt with.
Saul is another vivid example of a blessing removed because of disobedience. 1 Samual 15 records the incident of Saul not obeying the Lord – and then lying about it. He had convinced himself that he was doing the right thing. And his actions caused God to be sorry He ever made Saul king. Disobedience does that. Sin is a blessing killer.
Another blessing killer is 2. a lack of faith. Remember the 12 spies Moses sent out to spy out the land and bring back a report? 10 had a lack of faith. They said “the people were too strong, we are too weak, we can’t do it!”
Joshua and Caleb were the only ones with faith. They said “we CAN do it – with the Lord’s help.” But the people listened to the doubter and the faithless – and as a result – they all died in the wilderness when they could have been feasting in prosperity.
Jesus said, “According to your faith it will be.” A real blessing killer is doubt – or a lack of faith. If you don’t believe it will happen – it probably won’t. God gives us a weekly test of our faith. Listen to His Word.
8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’
“In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the LORD Almighty.” Malachi 3: 8-11
Do you see how this is a test of our faith? Every Sunday we have an opportunity to demonstrate our faith and trust in God. None of us has so much we can give out of our abundance. None of us are so financially secure that we don’t struggle to pay our bills and provide for our families. We ALL could use a few more dollars in our bank account.
God says, “Yes. I know. Now write that first check to me. Figure out what is ten percent and make it out to me?”
Our flesh cries out, “But I don’t think I have enough to do that! I can’t buy this thing I really want. I may not be able to pay this bill if I do that.”
God says, “Trust me in this. Test me in this. See if I won’t open the floodgates of heaven and pour so much blessing out on you that you won’t have room for it all.”
Do we trust Him? Our tithing record testifies whether we do or not. And if we lack the faith – it kills the blessings we might have had.
Another blessing killer is, 3., not putting God first in our lives. Jesus said,
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”
Matthew 6:28-33
The pagans run after all these material things. The pagans put pleasure before and things and their fleshly desires before God. Our problem today is not that we reject God – but that we don’t have time for Him. We don’t have time for morning devotions. We don’t have time for Church. We don’t have time to pray. We don’t purposefully reject God – we just don’t have time for Him. That’s a blessing killer.
There are many other blessing killers we need to watch out for – like ingratitude and Unforgiveness for others in our heart and not being compassion toward the poor. The Bible says,
“Whoever shuts their ears to the cry of the poor will also cry out and not be answered.”
Proverbs 21:13
There are other blessing killers the Bible mentions, but, bottom line - we need to seek Him and His Kingdom first. We need to seek to be right with Him first. If we don’t – it will kill some wonderful blessings that God longs for us to have.
And that is a good transition into what I want to talk about next. I want you to know that God loves you and so delights in blessing you. In fact He longs to come to your rescue in times of trouble; He longs to answer your prayers and He longs to work miracles in your life. But He is hindered by our sin; our lack of faith and our wrong priorities. But let me tell you what will open the windows of heaven for you.
First of all, obedience. I can’t tell you how important obedience is. But let’s let God’s Word do the talking.
“So be careful to do what the LORD your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. Walk in obedience to all that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.” Deut 5:32-33
1 Blessed are all who fear the LORD, who walk in obedience to him. 2 You will eat the fruit of your labor; blessings and prosperity will be yours. 3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table.” Psalm 128:1-3
“We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” Acts 5:32
“and, once made perfect, he (Jesus) became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.” Hebrews 5:9
Don’t you delight in rewarding your obedient Children? Don’t you delight in granting their requests and desires when they are obedient? How much more so does God delight in blessing HIS obedient children. And for us under the New Covenant – there are really only two commands we need to focus on. Now, you scholars are probably thinking, “Yeah, the two greatest commands. Love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself.”
Actually, those aren’t the two greatest commands in the Bible. They are the two greatest commands in the Old Testament. If you obeyed these two commands the others would just fall into place. But people couldn’t keep these two commands. It wasn’t working too well for them. Look at God’s greatest leaders, Moses, David, Solomon. All sinned. The flesh was too strong. Obeying the OT commands was done in our own strength. Jesus found it necessary to give us a new command.
Just before He ascended into heaven He said “go and make disciples, baptize them, then TEACH them…” Teach them what? “to obey everything I have commanded you.” What did he command? Jesus said,
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
John 13:34-35
So loving one another is the New Testament Great Command. It is the core command of genuine Christianity. You can’t love God without loving your brothers.
There is only one other command Jesus gave. John knew it. He said,
“And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.” 1 John 3:23
These are the New Testament Great commands. Believe and love. I could give you dozens of Scripture references to support that – and maybe I will do that at another time. But what I want you to know is that what the Old Testament could not do – the New Testament could. Because Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to empower us – so we could obey what Jesus commanded us to do. When we obey Him – it opens the windows of heaven for us.
Another thing that will open the windows of heaven in your life is 2. faith. God’s Word says,
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Hebrews 11:6
“If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.” Luke 17:6
“In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.” 1 Peter 1:6-7
Faith opens the windows of heaven. It results in praise, glory and honor for us. And faith is a choice. Faith is an act of our will. God reveals His will to us. We believe. We trust. Then we Act. Believing, trusting and acting together is defined as faith. Choose to live by faith. It will open the windows of heaven for you.
One last thing I will mention, although there are many more, that will open the windows of heaven is, 3. love. Perhaps the greatest verse in the Bible, certainly the most well known and most loved is,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16
“Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.” - Deuteronomy 7:9
“For the LORD loves the just and will not forsake his faithful ones. . .” - Psalm 37:28
“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” - John 15:12-13
I don’t think we really understand how much God loves us. The bible tells us He knew us before we were even born. He already had plans for us. He knew everything we were going to do. (Psalm 139)
Have you ever seen pictures of guys talking to their pregnant wife’s belly? It’s kind of cute. They are telling them all the fun things they are going to do and the plans they have. God actually does that! David says God spoke to him while he was still in the womb. (Psalms 51:6)
God speaks to us in the middle of the night. When we are feeling lonely and lost – Jesus is right there with us. The Scripture says,
“By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me…” Psalm 42:8
“You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” Psalm 16:11
“the LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.”
Psalm 147:11
Love opens the windows of heaven. I told you that one of the two great commands of the New Testament is to love one another – but we could only do that because God loved us first. Because He loves US – we can love Him.
Our Heavenly Father DELIGHTS in us, who love Him. He fills us with joy. He withholds no good thing from us. He fills our worst times with songs – songs of comfort, like a lullaby; happy songs of joy; songs of victory. Our God sings to those who love Him. He delights in us. And He will protect us and shine His goodness upon us. Every good thing He will give us. (Psalm 84:11)
I don’t know about you – but I want the windows of heaven open. I want the blessings of God in my life. When we walk with the Lord, when we trust in His word, when we seek His face – good things happen. May it be so in your life.
If you are missing out on blessings in your life – now would be a good time to get into the blessing mode. Jesus said, confess, repent and ask. Let’s do that.
Jesus,
I confess I have not been living the way I know you want me to. Please forgive me. Cleanse my heart and purify my soul. Give me the power through the Holy Spirit to walk in love and obedience with you. Please open the windows of heaven and pour out on me Your blessing.
