DOD 33 - Monday, July 31, 2017

I lead worship in church this morning, and we sang a song that I shared with some of you a couple weeks ago in Men's Integrity. If you haven't heard it, it's called Do It Again, and you can listen to it by following this link. Please take a few minutes and do so:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOBIPb-6PTc

This was a special weekend for me. While getting to be on stage leading at Quest Community Church, the place where the Lord has met us, healed us, pursued us, and invited us into so much healing and freedom over the past 7 years, I was reminded of the anniversary of this weekend back in 2010, when I was fired from my ministry job in Central KY over yet another layer of my deception and manipulation coming out into the open, and the downward spiral to the end of myself and to rock bottom began.

The song above begins with these words... "Walking around these walls, I thought by now they'd fall, but You have never failed me yet. Waiting for change to come, knowing the battles won, but You have never failed me yet."

READ Joshua 5:13-6:27 - The Battle of Jericho

The song is referring to this story... The people of God, under Joshua's leadership, were approaching a fortified stronghold of a city and Joshua was told by the Lord that HE was going to deliver this city into their hands. I'm sure when the people first heard about this, they assumed, because of previous battles, that it would take an incredible amount of personal strength and intestinal fortitude, with significant bloodshed, lost life, and incredible pain and sacrifice. They didn't know if they would even survive, let alone have success, and I'm sure they were scared.

And then the Lord told them how they were going to do it... this is a paraphrase. March around the city blowing horns for seven days and do not speak or shout a single word. Just be obedient to what I'm asking and create a sound that reaches all the way to the heavens, to remind both you and the enemy that there is a God and I am Him. And then on the 7th day, during the 7th rotation around the city, after having made nothing but trumpet sounds, lift up a battle cry of a shout with one voice among all the people of Israel, and watch what happens when you make yourself available, and trust my unconventional ways, and pick faith and obedience instead of fear and control.

A life yielded to God in faith and obedience and gratitude is a powerful thing. A body of those lives all united in the pursuit of community, having a mutual understanding of the power and presence of God - now that is something that is utterly formidable. 

Some questions come to mind that I'd love for each of us to spend some time with the Lord on today:

1. How is this unconventional God asking you to yield yourself and your plans to His greater and better purpose? What are some specific things he's asked of you that might not yet make sense or that are simply requiring a lot of faith in this season? 

2. What battle stands before you that you are dangerously close to stepping into on your own power and with your own plan, knowing that God might have a better way? 

3. What wall exists in your life that the Lord has already showed you He wants to bring down? And are you in agreement with Him that they need to come down? 

4. What does faith in action look like for you this week? How can you grab your trumpet, and take your laps around the city in your own life, knowing that the day will come when He asks you to give a shout and watch the walls come down? 

It was just a month after that date 7 years ago this weekend, when I would finally come to the end of myself, humbly take a knee and give my life to Jesus Christ, and pick up my trumpet to begin walking around the walls in my life as a fully yielded follower of Jesus. In the time from then to now, I've seen my shouts of praise to God bring many walls down, and I know there are still many more to trust Him with. But I know He's leading me and is committed to my complete and total freedom. I'm in this one with Him for the long haul. 

One final note... the key to this victory is not found in Chapter 16. I believe the snapshot of the success of Joshua is found in the final two verses of Chapter 15 - before the faithful marching and eventual success ever took place. The bible says at the end of 15 that Joshua fell face down in reverence before the Lord on the eve of the marching and when he recognized that he was standing on Holy Ground, he took off his sandals, because he wanted nothing coming between him and the HOLINESS and PRESENCE of God. 

Joshua knew The GREAT I AM, and it affected every part of his life, and nothing was going to hinder him from being a faithful servant of the Lord. What a model for us as men to follow. When you live with that kind of posture men, face down in reverent awe before the almighty, no request or command from God is too crazy, or too foolish, or too out there. You can simply trust Him and follow through. Let's be barefoot men this week, creating pockets of holiness ground everywhere we go!