If you want to possess the Promised Land of what God has called you to do in ministry, it begins by tearing down the walls one stronghold at a time. Whether you are seeking to claim a city, or looking to impact just a small group of people, you will need to canvass the perimeter. The phrase “canvassing the perimeter” means to thoroughly cover an area tying up all loose ends.(1) When you, as a believer, canvass the perimeter, you are walking the length and breadth of a target area, encircling it repeatedly until you have saturated every nook and cranny with faith-filled prayer. As an example, allow me to share the testimony of John Dawson, as he and a group of missionaries prayed for a city in Argentina. Dawson says,
I thought back to my first experience at seeing a city change through the power of prayer. It was Cordoba, Argentina, 1978. We were frustrated. The international Youth with a Mission team had been on the streets all day, and we were not getting anywhere . . . The Lord responded and gave us a plan. As we prayed in small groups, the Holy Spirit revealed the same strategy to many minds . . .
We went downtown the next day – all two hundred of us – and formed into small groups of about thirty. We positioned ourselves all through the fashionable malls and streets for pedestrians of the downtown area. Then we did it. We knelt down right there in the midst of the fashion parade, surrounded by expensive bistros, outdoor cafes and boutiques. With our foreheads to the cobblestone, we prayed for a revelation of Jesus to come to the city.
Breakthrough was immediate – breakthrough in us and breakthrough in the city. Large crowds of curious people gathered around each group . . . I stood and explained through an interpreter why we had come to the city. As I lifted my voice to communicate to the people at the edge of the crowd, the boldness and compassion of the Lord filled me and I began to preach . . . Large street meetings went on for several weeks until our departure. Large numbers came forward publicly to indicate that they had turned to Christ.(2)
Canvassing the perimeter in prayer will result in a breakthrough in the walls of resistance and opposition. Your target area can be either a physical stronghold – meaning an actual location – or a spiritual stronghold; and as you pray, you are clearing away stones and tilling spiritual soil in order to sow seeds of the gospel and reap a great harvest. This morning, in the book of Joshua, we will see an example of canvassing the perimeter in prayer and worship.
A Captive Audience (vv. 1-2)
1 Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in. 2 And the LORD said to Joshua: “See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor.”
In verse 1 we read that “Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in.” We read earlier how the Lord’s reputation had proceeded the Israelites before they ever arrived at Jericho (2:10-11), and we read here that the city was paralyzed in fear and all trade and travel came to a halt. Keep in mind that when you begin to enter where God is calling, many of the people you will be trying to impact with the gospel will have heard of your intentions and will be closed off, and the city will be shut up – figuratively speaking.
The Lord informed Joshua that the halt of people going in and out of the city was not something to bring about discouragement. It didn’t mean that the people of Jericho had securely fortified the city, but rather it meant they were trapped and under Joshua’s command. They were right where Joshua wanted them. The Lord said, “See! I have given Jericho into your hand!” (v. 2). When you find that people seem closed off to you, it means they are under conviction by the Lord, and that is exactly where God wants them to be. They are at the place where the Lord can begin tearing down the walls the walls of resistance.
Penetration and Saturation (vv. 3-5)
3 “You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days. 4 And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. 5 It shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him.”
God’s plan for bringing down the walls of Jericho was quite simple. He told the people to march around the city once a day for six days straight, and then on the seventh day they were to march around the city seven times. In every march the priests were to carry with them the Ark of the Covenant, and seven trumpets made of ram horns. On the first six days they were supposed to just “carry” horns, and not blow them; however on the seventh day they were to “blow” the trumpets each time around the city. Immediately after the final time around, they were to blow one really long and loud trumpet blast, and then shout with a great shout; and the Lord said that the walls of the city would collapse.
I want to emphasize some important things about these marches around the city. First of all, taking the Ark along represented God’s presence, meaning that the people were focused on the Lord in worship as they marched. Secondly, the number seven plays a significant role with there being seven priests, seven horns, the seventh day, and seven times around. In Hebrew, the number seven is from the root word savah, meaning “to be full or satisfied.”(3) Seven represents completion, and when applied to the capture of Jericho the Lord was saying that He would “complete” the victory. When you are getting ready to enter your calling, then focus on the Lord in worship and He will complete the victory, or rather, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).
The third thing we need to note is seen down in verse 10. Joshua commanded the people, “You shall not shout or make any noise with your voice, nor shall a word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I say to you, ‘Shout!’ Then you shall shout.” During their marches around the city they were vocally silent. As they carried the Ark of the Covenant they worshipped the Lord; however, their worship was expressed within in the form of prayer. As they marched around the city a total of 13 times, they were praying all along the way. They could not physically enter the city, but they knew that prayer could travel beyond walls and borders.
This same strategy is used today by mission teams, missionaries, and church planters to bring down the walls of resistance within an area, city, or within individual hearts; and it’s referred to as “prayer walking.” Prayer walking involves penetrating hostile or enemy territory, doing reconnaissance work, and bathing the area in prayer. It can be done in as little as a few hours, or take as long as a few days. For example, the Lord commanded Jonah to walk the streets of Nineveh preaching a message of repentance. We read that “Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent. And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk” (Jonah 3:3b-4a). Jonah’s prayer walk was supposed to consist of a three-day journey across Nineveh; and we just saw how the walk around Jericho was seven days in duration.
The aim of prayer walking is to claim every inch of a specified area for the Lord. God earlier informed Joshua, “Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses” (Joshua 1:3). In prayer walking you are aiming to repossess land currently under the enemy’s control and regain it for the kingdom. Prayer walking is a practical way of declaring to the enemy, “We are taking your territory for the Lord! We come to plant the flag of God’s kingdom on every piece of ground that we walk upon! Your time of controlling this area and these people is now over!”(4)
I want to share some practical insight into how to actually do some prayer walking. The North American Mission Board provides a seven-week plan for claiming a community through prayer walking, which is called “The Jericho Prayer Walk.” This plan can be used when trying to get people to attend vacation Bible school, a home Bible study, or revival services – and there are endless possibilities. As I share from the article where I got this information on prayer walking, I must point out that NAMB applies it church planting; but as I said, you can use this in numerous other applications. This seven-week Jericho Prayer Walk works like this:
Week One: Walk the community, praying in Jesus’ name through locked doors, and ministering to others through prayer. This is a walk of intercession. There will be very little interaction with the community.
Week Two: Enter the community at the same time as last week, praying and ministering to the people in prayer. (You will be amazed at the curiosity and increasing interest of others in the community).
Week Three: Do the same as week two. Almost always during this third week, people of peace will appear [people receptive to God’s work], wanting to join in your prayer walk and participating with you in reaching their community for Christ.
Week Four: Do the same as week three. Begin to talk with the people of peace about what God is saying to your heart regarding their community. Welcome any feedback, as well as their desire to be a part of this new work. Ask them to become your prayer partners.
Week Five: As you pray, walk a little slower and stay a little longer. God is sowing into the community not only their need for Christ, but the church or Bible study being birthed in their backyard. Become more public with your intentions.
Week Six: Do the same as week five. Begin announcing the dates (with flyers) of any harvest event or kick-off rally that your team and the local leaders have planned.
Week Seven: As you prayer walk the community, continue to hand out flyers, announcing the kick-off rally with time, place, and other details. During the prayer walk, ask the communities to follow you back to join your team for prayer at the place you intend to start the new church or Bible study (example: a person’s home, community center, under a tree, and so forth). Usually by the seventh week, a cluster of people you have been praying with will have committed their hearts to Christ and are ready for a new beginning.(5)
King Solomon once prayed, “When Your people go out to battle against their enemy, wherever You send them, and when they pray to the LORD . . . then hear in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause” (1 Kings 8:44a, 45). Whatever your calling might be, if you have encountered a wall of opposition in reaching people for Christ, and if you are seeking a breakthrough, then prayer and prayer walking can bring down the walls. If you will pray then the Lord will maintain your cause, for the Lord informed Joshua, “The wall of the city will fall down flat” (v. 15).
He Will Deliver the City (vv. 16, 20)
16 And the seventh time it happened, when the priests blew the trumpets, that Joshua said to the people: “Shout, for the LORD has given you the city!” . . . 20 So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.
In verse 20, we see how the people “shouted with a great shout.” In the Bible a great shout accompanied victory. For example, during the Divided Monarchy, when Judah went into battle with Israel, we read that “the men of Judah gave a shout; and as the men of Judah shouted, it happened that God struck Jeroboam and all Israel” (2 Chronicles 13:15). In the book of Ezra, we read that when the foundation of the temple was laid that “all the people shouted with a great shout” (Ezra 3:11); and Psalm 47:1 declares, “Oh, clap your hands, all you peoples! Shout to God with the voice of triumph!”
In the face of battle, the shout of triumph was never after the victory, but it was always before. It was a shout of faith in the fulfillment of things unseen (Hebrews 11:1), and a belief that God would win the day, and make a way where there seemed to be no way. “The Lord has given you the city!” (v. 16) should be the cry of every prayer walker, as you express your confidence to the Lord that you believe He hears and answers your prayers. When you pray for the walls to come down, you must believe in your heart that it is already done, expecting an answer to your prayers. Jesus said, “And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive” (Matthew 21:22).
Later, when Joshua and the Israelites were getting ready to attack the city of Ai, the Lord encouraged Joshua, “Seize the city, for the LORD your God will deliver it into your hand” (Joshua 8:7). The Lord will indeed deliver the city, and He will deliver any territory that He has called you to claim in the name of Jesus Christ, if you will stake your claim with a faith-filled shout of victory. Keep praying and the walls will come tumbling down. Take the Berlin Wall, for example:
In Russia before the fall of Communism, a man visited the churches and said, “There is no one attending these once-great Russian churches but children and little old ladies in tennis shoes.” Then Lenin’s statue came down and the Berlin Wall was dismantled and missionaries from America began flooding the former Soviet countries. Someone said to the critic, “Never under-estimate the power of little old ladies in tennis shoes.”(6)
Just as the faith-filled prayers of these little old Russian women and young children had a part to play in the collapse of the Berlin Wall, your persistent prayer will enable a breakthrough in your situation. Stormy Omartian says,
The enormous, impenetrable wall [of Jericho] fell down flat. It is the same for our lives. We can look at the walls that have been erected around us to keep us from moving into our destiny, and they may seem impenetrable and impossible. But when we listen to God, do what He says, and lift up powerful praise to Him, the walls will come down. And they will come down completely.(7)
Time of Reflection
Whatever is standing in the way of you taking your city for Christ, or that is hindering you from entering the Promised Land of your calling, be encouraged that the walls of resistance will fall down. Chris Tomlin wrote, “You’re the God of this city. You’re the King of these people. You’re the Lord of this nation – you are . . . For greater things have yet to come, and greater things are still to be done in this city.”(8) Be encouraged that great things are yet to come as your faith-filled prayers tear down the walls that were constructed by your enemy, the devil. Remain faithful in canvassing the perimeter in prayer and you will see a breakthrough!
One of the greatest fortresses is the human heart, in which people have built up walls of resistance to the Lord. There are strongholds within the mind that tell us we don’t need Christ; that we’re just fine without Him. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:4, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds.” One of the great weapons the believer has is prayer, according to Ephesians 6:18.
Let me tell you, if you have been resisting the voice of the Holy Spirit, who has been speaking to your heart and mind, then those walls have been crumbling and you probably didn’t even know it. They have been crumbling as someone has been faithfully praying for you. In Revelation 3:20, Jesus says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.” Jesus is speaking to someone right here and right now about the forgiveness of sin and eternal life. He is inviting someone into a personal relationship with Him. Please, push over the walls that are in your heart, lower the drawbridge and allow Jesus to come in.
NOTES
(1) “An Introduction to Crime Scene Analysis,” (September 30, 2006), http://www.apsu. edu/oconnort/3220/3220lect01a.htm.
(2) John Dawson, Taking Our Cities for God (Strang Book Group, 2002), pp. 18-20.
(3) “Meaning of Numbers in the Bible: Number Seven,” http://www.biblestudy.org/ bibleref/ meaning-of-numbers-in-bible/7.html.
(4) “Prayer Walking,” http://www.e3sudan.com.php5-5.websitetestlink.com/images/ uploads/prayer_walking_and_spiritual_mapping.pdf.
(5) Neal Hughes, “The Value of Prayer Walking in Communities,” http://www.church plantingvillage.net/site/apps/nlnet/content3.aspx?c=joJMITOxEpH&b=4907071&ct=6105853. Neal Hughes is a member of the evangelism staff of the North American Mission Board.
(6) Joe McKeever, “Tearing Down Walls,” (February 22, 2009), http://www.joemckeever. com/mt/archives/001098.html.
(7) Stormy Omartian, The Prayer That Changes Everything (Eugene, OR: Harvest House Publishers, 2004), pp. 261-262.
(8) Chris Tomlin, “God of this City,” (Six Step Records, 2008).
