All they had to do to obtain the victory was follow God’s instructions exactly. If they had only walked around 6 times or put the soldiers first instead of the singers, they would have been defeated.

God had specifically told them not to take anything personal from Jericho. This first city was to be His and He gave them exact instructions as to what to do with the bounty. It didn’t matter if His instructions made sense to them; they were just expected to obey.

Achan saw all the rich bounty and thought maybe he could get away with a few things and hide them in his tent. After all, who would notice when there was so much bounty. It was probably pretty easy to stuff them under his shirt or hide them easily with all the people concentrated on getting everything out.

Nobody obviously noticed that he took anything for himself, but the most important person – GOD – saw him. Then the whole tribe had to suffer a terrible and humiliating defeat at a small place called Ai. I’m sure that was an awful thing to endure after their glowing victory only a few days earlier. This small place should have been very easy to conquer after the hugely fortified walled city of Jericho.

As Joshua sought God about their miserable defeat, the truth began to come to light and desperate measures had to be taken to get the Israelites back into fellowship with God. He had told them specifically before they went into battle that the city of Jericho was “accursed” (doomed or dedicated for destruction) and that if they did not keep themselves from the “accursed” thing they would become “accursed” themselves.

Achan had already been told there would be consequences for his actions, but undoubtedly he thought he would be exempt from them or would never get caught.

The Israelite troubles actually began before they went into battle the next time, but it didn’t show up until they had resoundingly lost what should have been an extremely easy battle.

Joshua 7: 1 says “But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan… took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel.”

God would no longer be with them until they got rid of the accursed things, so they had to take drastic measures to be right with Him again.

Achan and his family paid the ultimate price for disobeying God. He took a beautiful garment, 200 shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of 50 shekels weight. Those are small things compared to the extreme price he had to pay in the end. PLUS his sin not only affected him, but every member of his family had to pay the ultimate price.

All Satan wants is for you to give him a very small opening and he will keep poking and prodding until he has enlarged it enough to form a huge stronghold to hide behind. He wants to make it as large and strong as possible so that it will take much time and effort for you to get rid of. He knows that if he can do this many people will just give up and accept the consequences, thinking it is much too hard to tear down the stronghold.

We now look at Joshua 8: 1-8 and see that God truly does give second chances when we get rid of our pride and do whatever it takes to get rid of our sin. The Israelites were able to take the city of Ai easily with God working supernaturally on their behalf.

Have you thought you could handle things on your own and messed everything up terribly?

Israel messed up and lost the battle with the little city of Ai. They thought they could do it on their own and found out the hard way they couldn’t.

God never wants any man to take the glory that is His, but He wants you to live your life in such a way that you are willing to walk in obedience to whatever it is He wants you to do.

He wants to work in a supernatural way in your everyday life to do things that only He can ever get the credit for. You may have done some bad things, but His mercy and grace are so astounding that He truly wants to take your messes and turn them into awesome victories for His Kingdom.

You are greatly loved and uniquely special to the LIVING GOD and He truly does have BIG plans for your life.
NEVER give Satan even the slightest opening to cause havoc and destruction in your life or the life of your family. As soon as you realize you have gotten off track, immediately swallow your pride and repent before God.

Satan will put every excuse in your mind as to why you should not repent. Some of the ones I have faced are:

Wait until a better time
Everyone will think you are weak
People will make fun of you or talk behind your back
…And the list goes on and on

Satan will do anything to keep you from having a close relationship with God. He doesn’t mind if you believe in God – even if you radically believe in God. He just doesn’t want you to live your life in a way that you can be USED by God.

If you already have a huge stronghold, it is not too late to start tearing it down. The Holy Spirit can give you direction and guidance as to how to get started and keep at it until you have the victory.

Don’t let Satan win even one more day. If there is anything standing between you and God get on your face, get forgiveness, and start in a new direction.

I can tell you with certainty that Satan won’t like it a bit, but you don’t have to let him win any longer. Choose obedience to God over everything else and let Him give you victory over any area where Satan has gained control.

Related posts:

1. Has God called lately but you have been too busy to answer?

And he (God) said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;

And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance,

And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.

But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.

God came to Abram and told him what would happen in the future to his people. At the time, Abram didn’t even have a son of his own to be an heir, and certainly didn’t have as many descendants as there were stars in the sky.

This happened several hundred years before the Israelites were even a nation of people. God wanted to show Abram what would happen to this chosen people who would come through him.

The thing that is very interesting about these verses is the last, verse 16. God specifically told Abram that the Amorites would be allowed to stay in the land until their iniquity had been fulfilled, or completed.

God already knew their heart and knew they would not change, but He still had a set time before He would pronounce judgment upon them. What a merciful God we have!

They were a heathen nation who worshiped all different kinds of idols, and probably never even recognized the One True God at all. Yet God gave them much more mercy than they ever could have deserved.

Many times it looks like evil people get away with things indefinitely, but God always has a timetable for everything. When the right time has come, the evil will be judged and God’s justice will prevail. This is why you can forgive the person and get on with your life.

They will be judged at some point because God said so. You can let it go and concentrate on constructive things instead of dwelling on revenge. If you make yourself do this, you will have a much more peaceful and joyful life.

Check out my other sites:

Handbook for Victorious Christian Living - Practical ways to learn to live a victorious Christian life

Blueprint for Victorious Christian Living

Power of the Living Word

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1. Will you give all your burdens to God?
2. Are You Really Able to Give God Your Burdens?
3. Give God All Your Problems!

All they could see is where they had come from. Even though they had been slaves under horrible circumstances, they still preferred it to what they had at the moment. They felt that at least they knew what to expect in Egypt; now they had no clue where they were going or what would happen, so it was very easy for them to whine and complain about everything they thought was going wrong.

Yes, they did have to live in tents for a time, but God miraculously fed and clothed them, and provided for all their needs. He also intervened in such a way that the Egyptians gave them silver, gold, and other valuable things such as animals before they left, so they were not poor by any means. In fact, after their departure Egypt was crippled economically for quite a while.

They had a very hard time seeing God as a loving Father that wanted to give them His Very Best if only they would trust Him and wait for it. His plan was to show them that He could abundantly meet every circumstance or need that ever arose in their life. He just wanted to show them who He was; then they would have no trouble depending on Him to meet their needs. God wanted to reveal His Glory to them to change their hearts and lives forever.

This cartoon is funny, but at the same time it is very sad. I have heard numerous pastors say the hardest part of their job is listening to people who whine and complain because they don’t get their way about something. They talk about the fact that they have to spend most of their time babysitting Christians who should be much stronger in their faith.

Every verse in the Bible has been put there by God for a reason and is totally relevant to you today.

God wanted to give us the whole story of the Israelites as they went from slaves in Egypt to their own glorious land of Canaan. He shows us the mistakes they made as well as the times they trusted Him completely. We can learn from their mistakes and determine that we will not make the same ones.

You may right now be at the point where you don’t exactly know where God is leading you, but He wants you to learn to trust Him completely with your life. He can see the whole picture, and He knows just how He will lead and deliver you in every set of circumstances.

You can’t see into the UNKNOWN, but God sees it perfectly. Trust Him to show you the way.

Are you a whiner and complainer?

Check out my other sites:

Blueprint for Victorious Christian Living

Handbook for Victorious Christian Living

Power of the Living Word

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