Rev. Christopher recently concluded a series entitled “You are Predestined for Greatness” and in that series he presented the thought that each of us who is a reborn child of God has a purpose and a destiny of eventual victory. He suggested for our spiritual consideration the idea that in spite of all of the promise that God has spoken over our lives there are still some obstacles that we may face and some tribulations that we must endure. But as heirs we can move forward with faith, we can be persuaded that nothing will separate us from the love of God, Nothing will derail his purpose, nothing can hinder us getting to the places that he has prepared for them that love the Lord.
But, for all of that, the reality of the situation is that sometimes we find ourselves facing walls in our lives. There are some times that for all that God has spoken into our spirits, we find ourselves facing situations, hurdles and circumstances that seem to be impermeable…Walls! We find sometimes that there is brokenness that hinders us from receiving what God has desired for us to have…Walls! We find there are some burdens of life that we are trying to bare, some un-forgiveness in our spirit, some inability to move beyond who and what we are today…Walls! Nevertheless, I am here to tell you today, that no matter what the walls are in your life, God is sufficient in all things. The God who has brought you thus far on the way did not bring you to the wilderness to leave you. You are standing on the edge of the Promised Land. Your eyes may not be able to see it but set your spirit to receive it. You are on the edge of your breakthrough, on the edge of your victory, on the brink of receiving the fullness of the promises of God. Your walls are about to come tumbling down!
As we look at our text this morning we find the Israelites in the same position as some of us in here. There they are standing on the edge of the promise land. Finally, after their years of bondage. Finally after facing the Red Sea. Finally after wondering in the wilderness for 40 years and after loosing their leader Moses. Generations after the promise had been spoken to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. After their period of trial, tribulation and travails…Now they are standing with the promise land in their field of vision. But there is a catch here, a bit of a snag in the process. You see even though they have caught a glimpse of the Promised Land, In spite of the fact that their place of victory is just around the bend, they still can’t touch it yet. See there is this issue of a wall. A wall that is separating them from the fulfillment of the promise. A wall that is hindering them from moving from where they are right now and the place that God has called them to be.
And I wonder saints, how many of us have found ourselves in a similar situation. We recognize that God has spoken promise over us but yet we find ourselves facing a wall. We find ourselves facing something, some gap that needs to be bridged, some growth that needs to take place, some stronghold that needs to be broken, some 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 the walls. 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 two that the Lord said unto Joshua: See, I have given into thine hand Jericho. The word SEE is an interesting word, which brings me to our first point this morning. And that point is that we must develop our spiritual eye.
Understand that when God begins this conversation
with Joshua with the word See. He is not asking him to see the situation through his physical eye. He is not asking Him to evaluate the situation based on what he can touch or upon that which is tangible. He is not even asking him to evaluate it based on what was reasonable. He is telling Joshua to look with his Spiritual Eye. See it is with the spiritual eye that even while we are in the crucible of pressure, even when it looks like all hope is gone that we can look to the hills from whence cometh our help for our help cometh from the Lord. So here Joshua stands overlooking the city of Jericho. Jericho, the city that he and Caleb along with ten other spies had look upon 40 years early. Jericho, that the children of Israel had decided they would be unable to conquer. Jericho with two walls that encompassed the city. Jericho this fortified impregnable city and now God is saying See…I have given unto thy hand Jericho.
So, God is asking Joshua to have faith. He is saying to Joshua that I have spoken a promise to the people of Israel and in this moment I am about to make good on my word.
That brings us to point two, You have got to be willing to put action with your faith. Now when you look at the scripture, one would suspect that when God gives an order like that - an order to simply march around the wall day after day - that there would be some objections and that somebody would balk at that command. But the interesting thing here is that the Israelites were not afraid to trust God to do a new thing.
I have to question saints. How many of us are afraid to let God do in a new thing in our lives. Afraid to let God do a new thing in our situations. I am reminded right now of an illustration. The illustration revolves around the African Impala. Now the African Impala is a graceful and majestic beast. It is capable of jumping 10 foot vertical and thirty feet out. It is capable of jumping very long distances and of scaling very high walls. Yet, if you see these animals in the zoo they are kept captive behind short walls of 3 to 5 foot high. Now one would question why it is that this Impala does not escape to its freedom. The reason is fairly simple. The reason is saints that while an Impala can jump very high and while it can jump very far it will not move unless it can see where its feet are going to land. I have to wonder how many of us find ourselves acting like that African Impala. See God has equipped us to jump real high. Scripture tells us in Isaiah 40:31 “But those who wait on the LORD will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. “ See God has equipped us to jump real far as the scripture tells us in Psalms 18:29 In your strength I can crush an army; with my God I can scale any wall.
Yet, many of us, when God starts speaking, when God starts trying to do a new thing in our lives…We get a case of stiff neck and a case of lead feet. We refuse to move forward on the promises of God because like that Impala we are unsure where our feet our going to land.
It is as though we believe somehow that the same God that 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 spoke to the Red Sea and had it open up sp that the Isrealites could cross over on dry land, that somehow the same God that loves us so much that He would number even the hairs on our head, that somehow the same God that loved us so much that He sent His only begotten Son Jesus the Christ to die for an old wretch like you and me, that somehow the same God that was able to raise that same Son on te Third day with all poser of life and death in His hand. That somehow that same God is suddenly unable to do the miraculous with the impossible. It is as if sometimes we forget that God is bigger than the situations in our lives. We refuse to move on what God says as if He is not alpha and omega, the beginning and the end, the author and the finisher of our faith. We allow our fear of the unknown and the uncertain to paralyze us and limit us from receiving all that God has planed for our lives.
God has told us that we are heirs to the kingdom of God, and that if we who are called by His name should humble ourselves and pray, turn from our evil ways that we would hear from heaven. He has told us that He would give us the desires of our hearts. He has told us that He would never forsake nor would He ever leave us. He has told us that he is our strength and our refuge. Yet, we act as if he is not omnipresent, omni essence, and omnipotent and that He has not charted a path for our lives and ordained a place of victory for us. We refuse to move outside of our comfort zones, unsure of where our feet are going to land. But the steps of a good man are ordered. I am here to tell you that God is ready to do a new thing in your life and when God starts moving on your behalf there is no weapon formed against you that can prosper for Greater is He that is in you than He that is in the World and if God be for you who can stand against you. in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I’m going to get ready to take my seat, but I want to give you one final point. In order to bring down the walls in our lives we must develop a Hallelu AnyHow Kind of Spirit.
See the scripture tells us that 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 priest were sounding were not the trumpets to announce battle. These trumpets were the same trumpets that are used in worship to signify that the presence of the Lord was in the place. These were the trumpets of jubilee. These were trumpets of praise. Please note here that at the time that these trumpets of jubilee began to sound that the walls were still standing. The shouts that went up were a Halelu Anyhow kind of shout. The shouts went up 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. 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 promise and the word of promise that He had spoken was going to accomplish that thing that it was sent out to do. It would not return back void. 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 and He had shown them without question that all the promises of God are yea and amen. . And as the shouts of praise went up the walls came tumbling down.
The walls in your life may still be standing. Situations may still look a little tough to handle. You may have just come in here this morning after crying all night long, but I dare you to trust God enough to have a Halleluiah Anyhow kind of shout. I dare you to shout now like you’ve already took the city. I dare you to start praising now like the battle is already won. You don’t have to wait for the battle to be over. You can shout right now. Halleluiah Anyhow. You can shout right now.
