The Devil Doesn't Stand A Chance

Joshua 9

 

New King James Version (NKJV)

 1 And it came to pass when all the kings who were on this side of the Jordan, in the hills and in the lowland and in all the coasts of the Great Sea toward Lebanon—the Hittite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite—heard about it, 2 that they gathered together to fight with Joshua and Israel with one accord.

THE DEVIL DOESN'T STAND A CHANCE

Joshua leading the children of Israel is the best Old Testament example we have of God leading his people into the promises of his Word!  Joshua and the armies had just won two battles- one in Jericho and one in Ai.  Prior to those victories, they had already become famous among their enemies.

Look what Rahab the harlot told them when they were still only scouting the land:

Joshua 2:9b  I know that the LORD has given you the land, that the terror of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted because of you.

Now you know you've got something going on when you attract not one devil but many!  When they can't defeat you alone, they try banding together!  They were on this side of the Jordan- in the promised land and were in the process of driving out the inhabitants and taking over territory.

We are called to walk in our promised land spreading the good news. Today we are not physically removing people from our surroundings but we are translating their hearts out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.  However, as far as Israel is concerned, this is the physical land God promised them and to this day, because Israel never fully took their land, they are still fighting battles that would have been unnecessary had they done all God told them to do.

In the verses above, we see on group of kings- Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.  It says they heard about "it" and gathered together in one accord to fight against Israel and Joshua as Israel's leader.  This was not a surprise.  What was the "it" they had heard?  They had heard about Israel's victory over the first two cities in the promised land- Jericho and Ai. They had also heard of their victories beyond the Jordan.  God was with them and had been with them and as long as they had obeyed him God had fought for them.

When the bible says they heard about it, they took an action.  The devil isn't concerned about you if he can keep you in a defeated place but when he hears about your victories and about how you are defeating his kingdoms and tearing down his strongholds he will begin to strategize. If you aren't being fought, you probably aren't winning any battles! In fact the devil may have you right where he wants you- in a state of complacency.  It's the ones who are winning battles and taking ground for Jesus the devil fears and takes action against!  The bible says here they joined together in one accord to fight against Israel. 

One of the main things to note here is that all the kings joined together in one accord to fight against Israel.  You know you're feared of the devil when he has to join forces with other devils just to strategize against you.  The devil isn't omni-present or omni-powerful.  When it takes more than one devil to come against you, you know you've got something he's afraid of.  In Joshua 5 it says the hearts of the surrounding kings were melting an they had no breath in them. 

That was prior to the walls falling in Jericho.  The armies of Israel with Jesus as their captain and Joshua as their leader went on to defeat Jericho and Ai, fighting armies larger and more fortified than themselves but yet victorious in every way!

Here in Joshua 9 they had heard with their ears and actually perceived that Joshua was no ordinary leader and this was no ordinary army.  They feared their future. Surely by now they knew that the God of Israel had ordered their extinction!  No wonder they pooled together in an attempt to preserve themselves and to stop the armies of God.  They had heard about Israel's victories in both Jericho and Ai.  They knew they didn't stand a chance alone.  What they didn't know was that they didn't stand a chance even unified against Israel because Israel had God on their side!  You know you've got something about you to be feared with the devils unite forces against you! Hallelujah!

Note:  Time and space doesn't permit me to continue with more detail now but this plan of the enemies' turned out to be futile.  It was shortly after this Israel did battle these kings and it was in that battle the sun stood still for Joshua so the thing to know is that as you go forward in your purpose in God's kingdom, with God on your side, no devil, devils or other enemies can stop you!  God will fight for you even in he has to stop the sun on your behalf!  Amen!

FORWARD MOTION: ONE BODY, ONE ARMY

FORWARD MOTION: GOD'S STRATEGY- ONE BODY, ONE ARMY

Joshua 8:1b-Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai

God told Joshua to take the whole army.  To take something, you have to reach out to grab it.  To take involved wrapping your hand around it and to wrap your hand around something you have to reach out.  You have to actually grab it and accept it in your hand before you can carry it with you.   God was telling Joshua to reach out to the entire army, not just part. 

In the previous chapter, he had grown overly confident and had not even sought the Lord.  He had seen how easily Jericho had fallen and only sent a partial army into Ai.  You know, with God's help a partial army could win.  The point wasn't that the army was partial or full, but rather that Joshua had moved without seeking and he had not included the whole army which was God's will at the time.  Had he sought the Lord first, I'm sure God would have told him there was something to deal with first.  In each of our undertakings in life, we need to seek God first for his will and second for his leadership.  In this case it was strategy.  We have strategy in our undertakings in the same way an army has strategy for a mission.  If we will seek the Lord, he'll give us a strategy.  

TAKE THE WHOLE ARMY- ONE BODY- ONE ARMY

Here he says to take the whole army.  God wanted the whole army involved in this victory!  Maybe he didn't want one warrior to feel as if he didn't play a part!  God's army today is made up of an entire body of believers and not one is without significance!

Romans 12: ³ For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. ⁴ For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, ⁵ so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. ⁶ Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; ⁷ or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; ⁸ he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

1 Corinthians 12:¹² For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. ¹³ For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into^[c] one Spirit. ¹⁴ For in fact the body is not one member but many. 
¹⁵ If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? ¹⁶And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body?¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where would bethe smelling? ¹⁸ But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased. ¹⁹And if they were all one member, where would the body be?
²⁰ But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. ²¹ And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” ²² No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary. ²³ And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, ²⁴ but our presentable parts have no need. But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, ²⁵ that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. ²⁶ And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

THE PROBLEM OF DIVISION

I believe one of the biggest problems in the body of Christ today is division.  We divide ourselves according to our likenesses and that's probably to some degree normal.  However, rather than recognize the strengths in others, we often hear Christians criticizing one another. Denominations divide and cut off communication with anyone except their own.  It creates a schism in the body where there is no longer flow between strengths but a severing according to beliefs.  These two passages teach that every member has something to offer and one member shouldn't say to another, "I have no need of you."

This principle can be applied to relationships and businesses as well.  When strengths are recognized and appreciated, a unit is actually stronger.  Instead of focusing on differences, we need to ask, "What strength does that person have?"  Another question would be, "What strength can I bring out of that person."  The most successful companies are those that recognize the strengths of individuals and utilize them to the fullest. 

UNITY DRAWS

I believe as the body of Christ stops dividing and starts uniting as a whole army we will see more people come to Jesus.  When the world looks on and sees divisions and disharmony, what do they see that is worth following.  The bible says the world knows us because we love one another.

John 17:20-23  ²⁰ “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will^[e] believe in Me through their word; ²¹ that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. ²² And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: ²³ I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. 

In fact, according to this passage, it is our unity and our love for one another that causes the world to believe in Jesus.  It's God's presence inside of us that is the draw and yet the church continues to argue over who's right!  Let's make it a point to join together with other believers with one heart and mind and that is to make him known among the people!  Keep in mind that if every person in every city found a church there wouldn't be enough seats to hold all the people.  Maybe rather than divide over differences, we need to join together and make his name known among the people!   Let's take the whole army and go up for he has given us victory!  Amen!

FORWARD MOTION: THERE'S BOOTY JUST AHEAD!

THERE'S BOOTY JUST AHEAD

Joshua 8:1 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land. 2 You shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may carry off their plunder and livestock for yourselves....

FORWARD MOTION

God told Joshua here NOT to be discouraged.  He told him to keep moving forward.  He even promised great plunder just ahead.

This promised came after what some may have perceived as failure.  There may have been discouragement and a temptation to give up in Joshua's mind.  God revealed the problem to Joshua and told him to move on!

Discouragement and fear are the enemies of forward motion.  While fear is paralyzing, discouragement is weakening and disheartening.  Fear stops you in your tracks because you're afraid of the future based on the past. Discouraging words deprive you of the will to move on.  Discouragement is usually spoken from the mouth of another, however you can also discourage yourself.  On the other hand you can encourage yourself as David did after a failure at Ziklag.  (He encouraged himself in the Lord.) We have to stop listening to outside and inside voices that bring discouragement and cast down everything spoken into our ears that isn't good, edifying, encouraging and uplifting.  If what you're hearing isn't edifying or encouraging you to come up higher, and to move on further, it's not God!   If what you're hearing is condemning, discouraging and stopping you, the words aren't from God!  It's time we know who we're listening to!

GOD SAYS TO TRY AGAIN! DON'T GIVE UP!

Joshua 8:1b-Take the whole army with you, and go up and attack Ai. For I have delivered into your hands the king of Ai, his people, his city and his land.

Even though they had just experienced a failure God said to get up and try again!

THE CALL TO VICTORY WAS ALIVE AND WELL

The call to victory was not nullified by one defeat.  The call was still there.  The best thing to do if you've fallen off a bicycle is to get up and try again.  You learn what you did before that may have caused you to fall and you try again.  The more you try, the better you become at riding.  Eventually you become the master of the bicycle!

This time God said the same thing he said at Jericho, "I HAVE DELIVERED INTO YOUR HANDS THE KING OF AI, HIS PEOPLE, HIS CITY AND HIS LAND!"

THE KEY TO FUTURE VICTORY IS FORWARD MOTION

Joshua 8:1c "And you shall do to AI and its king as you did to Jericho and its king. Only its spoil and its cattle you shall take as booty for yourselves.

Wow! Did he say, "It's spoil and its cattle you shall take as booty for yourselves?"   If Joshua had refused to go, and insisted in wallowing in defeat, he would not have experienced the victories in the future.  You shall take is a statement about the future!  Think about it- if you refuse to walk forward, you never get to what's just ahead.  If you stay in yesterday, you will never experience today or tomorrow.  Today and this moment lasts only a moment but there is a future just ahead!  We can't stop!  We must try again! We must keep going! The call of God to a victorious life in the land of promises does not go away just because there's a failure in the journey of life.  It's through those failures that we grow and know and become stronger.  The message here is to deal with what needs to be dealt with, put the past behind you and move on.  Move on in the promised land.  There will be victories and disappointments in this road called life but move forward and don't lose heart.

Forward motion is key!  Let the past be the past at last but let the God of forward motion lead you to your victorious future- the booty is just ahead!