When To Stop Praying Series

Well, let’s move on, this is getting too convicting...

What happened after the shocking defeat?

II. THE SAD RESPONSE (7:6-9)

This is a sad response because Joshua is really blaming God for the defeat. There’s nothing of "Why did we fail?" or "How can we solve this problem, Lord?"

After a defeat, don’t blame God, don’t throw in the towel. Instead, correct your mistake.

ILLUS: If a football team suffers a loss, what does the coach do? Does he throw in the towel? No, he reviews the films, makes the necessary corrections for the next game.

Maybe we are hoping and expecting victory in our lives, but have never bothered to make the necessary corrections yet.

What do I mean? Maybe we spend a lot of time in prayer over a particular problem in our lives. And we pray a prayer something like this: "Lord, please take care of this problem in my life." Well, could it just be (I know this is going to sound heretical) that there comes a time when God wants us to actually stop praying? Yes, stop praying! When is that?

It’s time to stop praying when there is unconfessed sin in your life that needs to be dealt with! (REPEAT)

ILLUS: Prayer meeting week after week with a woman praying every week this prayer: "Lord, please get rid of the cobwebs in my life." Every week, the same prayer, without fail. Over and over again. Finally, one of the men in the prayer meeting got so fed up, he offered up his own prayer:

"Lord, forget the cobwebs! KILL THE SPIDER!"

Joshua was bemoaning the cobwebs when he should have been dealing with the spider. The Lord, therefore, has some words to say to Joshua...

III. THE SERIOUS COMMAND (7:10-15)

Look at v. 10 again. See what I mean by "When it’s time to stop praying?" I know that we are to pray without ceasing, Scriptures teach us that. But we dare not use our prayers as a way to hide from dealing with our sin.

What was God’s command?

"GET RID OF THE SIN IN YOUR MIDST!"

God tells Joshua to stop praying, stand up, and deal with the sin in his midst!

We all want to enjoy peace don’t we? Well, there’s no way you will enjoy peace if you harbor sin in your life.

"THE ONLY WAY TO BE HAPPY IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE

IS TO BE HOLY IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE!"

2 Corinthians 7:1 "Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God."

Hebrews 12:14 "Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord."

You want to be happy?

GET RID OF SIN! IT’S GOT TO GO!

I’m sure that most of us truly want to trust God. But, you know what? The problem is that you can’t trust someone you’re not on speaking terms with!

You see, when we sin, a cloud of guilt clouds our relationship with God. Psalm 66:18 "If we regard iniquity in our hearts, the Lord will not hear us."

ILLUS: Husband and wife not on speaking terms don’t have much fellowship. Oh, yes, there are still married, but the fellowship, the intimacy is gone. So it is with God. When we sin, we cut ourselves off from enjoying fellowship with God.