Joshua 6:20, “So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.”
If you are saved, you are a soldier of the cross, and you are engaged in a war where many enemy strong holds need to be conquered. They are everywhere: in your world, your nation, your church, your family, and, yes, in ourselves. These ancient outposts of our enemy are strategically placed, heavily fortified, and well defended. The way to victory is through obedience. God has given us the victory, but we must fight. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. We are to put on the armor of God: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, as shoes for our feet, the gospel of peace. On our head the helmet of salvation. In one arm the shield of faith, and in the other the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and soaking everything in prayer (Eph. 6:10-18).
If you are not saved, do you understand that you are also a soldier, only you stand against the Lord Jesus, and that only leads to destruction. Would you consider Rahab the harlot? She was spared. She was saved because she trusted God’s promise. The only wall left standing at Jericho was the one in which she lived, the one from which the scarlet cord hung from the window, the sign of God’s promise to her (Josh. 6:17, 22-23).
Faith is taking God at His Word and living accordingly. That was the only difference between the Israelites and the Canaanites. The people of Israel were not morally superior to the people of Canaan. The Jews were every bit as sinful as the people of Jericho. The only difference was that the Jews faithfully followed the one true God. The people of Jericho, except for Rahab and her family, would not.
Do not let past failure keep you from presently moving forward behind God. The only way to gain victory is to do this one thing. Forget those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before and press on toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (see Phil. 3:13-14).
