9. BELIEVING GOD WHEN VICTORY DEMANDS YOU’RE ALL

9. BELIEVING GOD WHEN VICTORY DEMANDS YOU’RE ALL

Introduction:

Joshua 10:1-15 - thank you God for loving me enough to change me. Life is a fight. God is calling us to be fighters, fighting the good fight. Different seasons are so much harder than others. God says sometimes “You just stand here and watch this!” We will have seasons when God will require everything that we have got. When victory demands you’re all, your focus is on believing in God.

1. Joshua 10:1 – Jerusalem was the heart of the Promised Land, and this is the first time we hear about the king of Jerusalem (Canaanite king).

Jeremiah 33:15-16; 23:6; Psalm 8 – LORD – YVWH, Lord – Adonai, or Master.

Lord – Adoni Zedek – Lord of Righteousness.

LORD – the LORD our Righteousness.

By the time you have made a people in the grips of selfishness, with self-destructive hearts; by the time your big enough to be covenant LORD, our Righteousness, I’s say you are God and bow down. Amen.

a. He is father, Abba, Bridegroom, Husband, Provider, CEO, CFO, and Weatherman.

When you have got a goliath standing before you, you have got to know that your God trumps every title. There is nothing beside Him. There is no One like Him. He is beyond compare.

2. When we begin to operate with the mind of Christ, and start thinking like He thinks, because that is how He sees it. God would not let the devil set you up in this way unless He said “You have provided the perfect backdrop for me to show off.” Amen.

a. Joshua 9:1-4, 14 – We have got to be so careful not to assume because it looks right. We get so tripped up by making decisions on appearances of things. We have got to inquire of the LORD. Be careful who and what you make a pact with. Joshua and the Israelites were called into one of the hardest battles of their lives. God required everything they had for this one and all because they were deceived.

You and I lose so many battles mentally before we even get out there and fight spiritually.

MENTAL:

How unfair.       How stupid.

Whose fault?     Our own bitterness.

When we are defeated, we are defeated by ourselves, because our enemy does not have permission to defeat us. We are more than overcomers in the power of the Holy Spirit. When we do not stand in that right, we are giving over and losing the battle to our own war within, to our own bitterness. Enough!

PHYSICAL:

They had an all night march from Gilgal to Gibeon (21-26 miles) and 4,000 feet ascent uphill.

SPIRITUAL:

“You made your bed, lie in it.” When we think God is just like humanity that is what we do to one another. God is not like us. God will pull you out of the messes that you have made. Christ Jesus came to earth to pull us out of the mess we made, but He will require our cooperation. Some of us are basing this on a poor decision that we have made, and will not be able to accept the help of our God. Its grace. Your chastisement will never be for the sake of punishment. God never punishes us just to punish us. Not ever. Chastisement (root word “discipline” – disciple). God only chastises to the degree that we are taught.

3. When we are in a situation where victory is going to demand everything we’ve got, it is going to take everything we’ve got. These battles don’t happen all the time, but they come along.

Joshua prayed for more daylight. Jeremiah 32:17 – Sovereign Lord, you run the place. That was Joshua’s attitude.

Exodus 33 – “Show me your glory.” No one else has ever had that kind of encounter that Moses has had, because no one else has ever asked. God loves it when we pray big, even if He throws His holy head back and laughs, and slaps His knee. Let us believe big things about God. He is huge. When God does it, he also works out all the consequences of His miracles.

4. Joshua 10/Luke 8:8

When God requires everything we’ve God, the dividends are going to be huge. Thank you Lord! This is going to be good to the degree that it has been hard.

5. The more we get involved, the more we give it, when we are so totally involved with Him and we are partnering, He is going to show us a victory like we have never experienced in our entire lives, if we let Him. Do not let go! God knows that you and I have need of an occasional high. There ain’t no high like that high. There is no high like the Most High! The Most High is the Great High! The Great High is the Safe High!

Psalm 47:1-8 – The psalmist is crying out that when the power of God falls in our midst, when He has done something awesome for us, when He has somehow made His presence known, and he has come into our midst and worked miracles on our behalf; when He comes like He does, when we praise and worship Him, when we know He is there; when he has descended upon us and we know it, God forbid that we not shout for joy when he ascends! God forbid that we should not clap our hands all ye people, and shout unto God with a voice of triumph. There are times when shouting and dancing is appropriate. When He has been awesome, shout for joy! The more we clap, the more inclined our God is to come in with an encore!