To those of you that has ever paid on a bill or given a check that was postdated know that; that basically means that you write a check and date it for some time in the future and the understanding between the two parties is that the check is not to be cashed until that particular date.
In essence, a postdated Check implies that you have an assurance that on a future date you can take the check to the bank and it will be honored.
You have an assurance in your hand for a future date
You can cash that check on the recognized date, and what you are saying is that I may not have the money now, but I will have it then on that upcoming agreed date.
We find there are times in our lives where money may be short, and we need to get some things done, but our money is funny. We need to pay some bills but our months are longer than the money. We find ourselves facing hurdles and circumstances that have causes our finances to be short, but we still need to take care of business. We will find that there are some burdens of life that we are trying to bare, that will bring us to the point where sometimes we would write a
postedated check in order to make it.
As we consider our text this morning we find the Israelites is
in this same position. There they are standing, on the edge of the Promise-Land. After their years of bondage. After facing the Red Sea. After wondering in the wilderness for 40 years and after losing their great leader, Moses.
Here it is that this is generations after the promise had been spoken to Abraham – Isaac - Jacob. After their period of trials tribulation and travail. Now they are standing with the Promise Land in their vision. But there is a problem here. A bit of a snag in the process. You see even though they have caught a glimpse of the Promised-Land. Despite the fact, that their place of victory is just around the bend. They still can’t touch it yet
The Israelites were faced with a problem, the Israelite were faced with something that hindered them, stalled, they were held up by something that impeded their progress, the issue that kept them at bay was a wall. And some of us can related to what the Israelites were dealing with because many of us have faced some of the same issues in our lives at some point or another. The issue of a wall.
Pastor what is a wall? Well, a wall is something that separated them from the fulfillment and the promise. A wall is something that hindered them from moving from where they were to the place that God has called them to be.
And many of us know what God has promised us, but we have not arrived yet because there is a wall in front of us. We know that there are blessings for us, but right now there all we see is a wall. We can literally feel our blessings-but it’s behind the wall. We know that God promised our Children would be blessed, but they are hindered by a wall. We know that God said that our church would improve but, there is a wall.
Understand that Joshua and the children of Israel were on a mission to gain the Promised Land. A land that was promised to them, but, in order for them to get there they had to overcome, surmount, defeat and conquer the obstacles that were in their way. I wonder saints, how many of us has found ourselves in a similar situation, it seems like the harder we work at every turn we find more obstacles. We pray but it seems like our prayer are hindered.
We recognize that God has spoken his promises over us but yet, we find ourselves faced with obstacles. We always find ourselves facing something that’s trying to keep us back. It feels like there is a gap that needs to be bridged. Some growth that needs to take place, or a stronghold that needs to be broken. In other words, there is a wall that needs to be removed, that keeps us from receiving the God ordained place of victory on the other side
So the question becomes: How do we remove these hindrances? How do we overcome the obstacles? How do we position ourselves to receive all that God desires for us to have and be?
The scripture tells us in verse 2 that the Lord said unto Joshua he said see, I have given into thine hand Jericho. Now the word see is an interesting word, which brings me to our first point this morning. And that point is which I have stated before. We must learn how to develop our spiritual eye.
Understand that when God begins this conversation with Joshua, God wanted him to see this situation with his spiritual eyes. Isn’t that what faith is all about? He’s not asking him to see the situation through his physical eyes. He’s not asking Him to evaluate the situation based on what he can touch or upon that which is tangible. He’s not even asking him to evaluate it based on what seems reasonable. He’s telling Joshua to look with his Spiritual Eye.
It is through the spiritual eyes that even while we are in the receptacle of pressure, even when it looks like all hope is gone that we can look to the hills from whence cometh our help and know that our help cometh from the Lord.
So here it is, Joshua is standing overlooking the city of Jericho. The same Jericho, the city that he and Caleb along with ten other spies had looked upon 40 years earlier. The same Jericho that the children of Israel had decided they would be unable to conquer.
Remember that Jericho which had two walls that encompassed the city. Jericho is fortified and impregnable, and now God is saying see, what I have given unto thy hand Jericho
God is saying, now Look Joshua, I have given the Hebrews a reason to praise me, I have given them a promise that they can bank on, in other words, I have written them a promise note, an IOU, a cash on delivery, a post-dated check, a promissory note, and now it’s time to take it to the bank. It is time to make good on it. What he is saying to Joshua is that, which I have spoken, that promise that I made to the people of Israel, I’m about to make good on my word.
Here is what I have learned about a promissory note, or a IOU, or even a posted dated check. On the date of collection, on the date when payment is due, it is still of no value until you take it to the bank. In other words, even though you have it in your hands and in your procession, you you’re self still have to do something with it. That brings us to point two. We have to be willing to put action with your faith. It’s not enough for us just to talk about pressing forward in oneness, but some actions must be placed with it. It’s not enough to talk about love, love is verb and a verb has action to it.
Look at the situation. Now when you look at the scripture, one would suspect that when God gives an order like that, a order to simply march around the wall day after day, that there would be some objections and that somebody would cringe at the command. But the interesting thing here is that the Israelites were not afraid to trust God to do a new thing. So I have to question the saints.
How many of us are afraid to let God do a new thing in our lives? How many are afraid to let God do a new thing in our situations? I know that many of us say that we are ready: yet, when God is dialoging with us. When God is trying to bring about change in our lives. We get a case of spiritual amnesia, as though we don’t remember what God has done for us before, we forget that if he did it before he can do it again.
It is as though we believe somehow that: The same God who were at the beginning of creation was able to speak light into the darkness. The same God that was able to bring order out of chaos. The same God that was able to speak to the Red Sea and had it open up, so that the Israelites could cross over on dry land. The same God that loves us so much that he is able to number even the hairs on our head. The same God that loved us so much that He sent His only begotten Son Jesus the Christ to die for you and me. The same God that was able to raise that same Son on the Third day with all power in His hand. That somehow that same God is suddenly unable to perform the miraculous with the impossible.
As I watch the Saints of God, it is as if sometimes we forget that God is bigger than the situations in our lives. We refuse to move on with what God says, as if He is not the Alpha & Omega –the beginning and the end - author and finisher of our faith. It’s because we allow our fears of the unknown and the uncertainty to paralyze us and limit us from receiving all that God has planned for our lives.
Most of the time we want God to move in our lives and come to our rescue. We understand that there are some situations in our lives that are much bigger than we are, and we wait for God to move and deliver us and then come to church and want to testify and fall out in the church.
But we must learn how to praise God in advance. We don’t wait for the battle to be over. We must learn to praise God in the battle, praise him in advance. So, in order to bring down the walls we must trust in the God, who is able to heal the sick, give sight to the blind, give strength to paralyze, and raise the dead. And I believe that a praise in advance can help bring the walls down.
Can we run back to the Scriptures, and I will prove my point. The Israelites were doing as God commanded and were going around the wall for the seventh time on the seventh day. And as God commanded, on that seventh time the priests let out a blast on the trumpets. Now let me clarify something.
There is an interesting thing about the trumpets. The trumpets that these priests were sounding were not the trumpets to announce battle. These trumpets were the same trumpets that are used in worship. These trumpets were the same trumpets used to signify that the presence of the Lord was in the place. These were the trumpets of Jubilee. These were trumpets of Praise.
Now wait a minute. Has someone made a mistake? Have they loaded the wrong Trumpets to go out and do battle?
Because remember they were on their way to battle, did the Israelites make a mistake? They were on their way to fight in Jericho. They needed to hear the trumpets sound to let them know it was time for battle. Because when they heard the trumpet for battle, they knew that there were going to be some fatalities in war. This sounding was to be the sound that it was on and poppin
Now please remember that at the time that these trumpets of jubilee began to sound that the walls were still standing.
The shouts that went up was an advance praise, this was a praise Him in advance attitude.
The shouts that went up, was not because the victory was already won, but the shouts went up because the Israelites understood that the battle was not theirs, but the Lords.
You see their praising began not because they had fulfilled the promise, but the praise went up in recognition of the fact that God had spoken a promise, and the word that he promised was that they were going to accomplish that thing that it was sent out to do.
Can we be honest this morning? Every now and then when some people make a promise to you, there are times when you have to wonder if they are going to make good on what they promised. But may I tell you that if God makes a promise, then you can trust and believe that he will deliver.
With the Israelites, the praises went up in recognition of the fact that no matter what things may look like from the outside that God had already ordered their steps on the onside, and He had shown them without question that all the promises of God in Him are yea and amen. So, as the shouts of praises went up, I heard that the walls fell-down. And I don't know who I am preaching to this morning, but somebody on the live needs some walls to fall.
You’ve been running from pillar to pole
You have tried it your way
You have been in the storm long enough
You are sick and tired of being sick and tired
You have conquered one wall and now it seems like another has come up against you.
But I dare you to start praising God in advance like the problem is already solved. I dare you to start praising him like you have lost your mind, until you get a breakthrough, and until the walls come down.
Which walls Pastor? I’m talking about the walls of unbelief
I’m talking about the walls of fear. And any other wall that are hindering you.
Your Deliverance is in your Praise. I dare you to send up an advance praise this morning. Because my God Inhabits the Praises of His people.
So please Praise him in advance before the wall is moved.
