He Fights For You by Max Lucado and Andrea Lucado

Walk Circles around Your Jericho

 Here is what you need to know about the walls of Jericho. They were immense. They wrapped around the city like a suit of armor, two concentric circles of stone rising a total of forty feet above the ground. Impenetrable. 

Here is what you need to know about Jericho’s inhabitants. They were ferocious and barbaric. They withstood all sieges and repelled all invaders. They were guilty of child sacrifice. “They even burn their sons and daughters as sacrifices to their gods!” (Deut. 12:31 ncv). 

They were a Bronze-age version of the gestapo, ruthless tyrants on the plains of Canaan. Until the day Joshua showed up Until the day his army marched in. Until the day the bricks cracked and the boulders broke. Until the day everything shook—the stones of the walls, the knees of the king, the molars of the soldiers. The untoppleable fortress met the unstoppable force. Mighty Jericho crumbled. 

But here is what you need to know about Joshua. He didn’t bring the walls down. Joshua’s soldiers never swung a hammer. His men never dislodged a brick. They never rammed a door or pried loose a stone. The shaking, quaking, rumbling, and tumbling of the thick, impervious walls? God did that for them. God will do that for you. 

Your Jericho is your fear. Your Jericho is your anger, bitterness, or prejudice. Your insecurity about the future. Your guilt about the past. Your negativity, anxiety, and proclivity to criticize, overanalyze, or compartmentalize. Your Jericho is any attitude or mind-set that keeps you from joy, peace, or rest. Jericho. It stands between you and your Glory Days. It mocks you and tells you to take your dreams back to the wilderness. It stands like an ogre on the bridge of progress. It is big; it is evil. It blocks your way. And its walls must fall. 

To live in the Promised Land, you must face your Jericho. It’s not always easy. Every level of inheritance requires a disinheritance from the devil. Satan must be moved off before the saint can move in. Joshua told his people to “go in to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess” (Josh. 1:11). The verb translated possess means “to occupy” (by driving out previous tenants, and possessing in their place).

Satan won’t leave without a fight. He will resist. He will push back. But he will not win. why? Because God has already declared that you are the victor. Satan, defanged and defeated at Calvary, has no authority over you. God’s word to Joshua is God’s word to us: “Be strong and of good courage” (1:6). Do not heed your fear. Do not cower before your woes. Take the land God has given you to possess. “And the Lord said to Joshua: ‘See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor’ ” (6:2). God did not say, “Joshua, take the city.” God said, “Joshua, receive the city I have taken.” Joshua did not go forth hoping to win. He knew that God had already won. The same can be said about you and your challenge. God does not say, “Dotun , break your bad habit.” He says, “Dotun, I have broken the bad habits of your life. Receive the blessing of my victory.” 

Remember, you are a co-heir with Christ. Every attribute of Jesus is at your disposal. was Jesus victorious? Did he overcome sin and death? Yes! will you be victorious? Can you overcome sin and death? Yes! The question is not, will you overcome? It is, when will you overcome? Life will always bring challenges. But God will always give strength to face them. 

Things are different in the Promised Land. Hang-ups and addictions do not have the last word. Today’s problem is not necessarily tomorrow’s problem. Don’t incarcerate yourself by assuming it is. Resist self-labeling. “I’m just a worrier.” “Gossip is my weakness.” “My dad was a drinker, and I guess I’ll carry on the tradition.” Stop that! These words create alliances with the devil. They grant him access to your spirit. It is not God’s will that you live a defeated, marginalized, unhappy, and weary life. Turn a deaf ear to the old voices and make new choices. “The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places; yes, I have a good inheritance” (Ps. 16:6). Live out of your inheritance, not your circumstance. God has already promised a victory. And he has provided weapons for the fight. I can picture the soldiers perking up as Joshua, their commander, announces, “It is time to take Jericho!” “Great!” they reply. “we have our ladders and ropes!” “we will scale the walls!” “Our spears are sharpened, and our swords are polished!” “which side do we attack first?” Joshua looks at his men and says, “well, God has a different strategy.” The general outlines the most unlikely of attacks. “Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord” (Josh. 6:6). Joshua commands soldiers to march before and behind the priests. He tells the priests to blow the trumpets continually as they walk around the city once a day. As for the rest of 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” (v. 10). wait a minute. No war cry? No hand-to-hand combat? No flashing swords, flying spears, battering rams, or catapults? Just priests, rams’ horns, marching, and silence? Joshua has at least forty thousand soldiers at his command, and he tells them to be quiet and watch? what kind of warfare is this? Spiritual warfare. Every battle, ultimately, is a spiritual battle. Every conflict is a contest with Satan and his forces. Paul urged us to stand “against the wiles of the devil” (Eph. 6:11). 

The Greek word he used for “wiles” is methodia, from which we get our English word method.3 Satan is not passive or fair. He is active and deceptive. He has designs and strategies. Consequently, we need a strategy as well. For that reason “though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds” (2 Cor. 10:3–4). 

To be continued.