There’s an important point I need to go over again concerning Israel’s battle with the 5-king coalition that’s directly applicable to our lives.
When God told Joshua He had turned over the enemy to Israel, did you notice that Joshua’s men didn’t just sit on their butts around their campfires and sing Kumbaya while they waited for the enemy to surrender?
Hell no, they had to get off of their butts and CLAIM the victory that God had given them.
And when I say they had to “claim it”, I mean they had to fight for it.
That’s right man.
The soldiers’ lives and their bodily health would be put in danger and there would be fears and hardships to endure.
So how does this principle apply to our personal lives?
Well, for example…
…the Lord may have prepared a wife for you, but you still have to ask her out man and risk rejection (yes, she may tell you to get lost the first time you ask her out).
Or God may give us fertile land for growing food, but we still gotta go out and work those fields by planting the crops and keeping the weeds and pests out.
The Lord will do His part but we’ve gotta do our part.
A couple of days ago, I pondered the question of why doesn’t God just hand over blessings to us on a silver platter?
Well another good answer I have for you is because the Lord wants to enter into a relationship with us.
And by definition, a relationship is NOT one-sided.
A relationship entails God doing His part and we doing our part.
Got it?
And just to be clear, our part is not just kicking back and expecting God to do all of the heavy lifting.
Consider the battle at Jericho.
Sure, the Lord caused them walls to supernaturally come crumbling down, but the soldiers still had to drag themselves over the fallen rubble and one by one kill off the citizens of Jericho.
I’m pretty sure it was no cake walk.
The residents of Jericho for sure resisted and some of the soldiers probably sustained injuries, some of them maybe serious injuries.
So understand that just because God has given you the victory doesn’t mean claiming that victory will be easy or there won’t be a price to pay.
To many folks think that all they have to do is just sit and pray on a matter and that’s it.
No way Jose.
Let me make something clear.
Sitting and praying is only the first baby step.
It’s the equivalent of Moses or Joshua seeking God’s will on a certain matter.
After prayer, it’s time to get down and dirty in the mud homies.
After prayer, the time for action has arrived!
And more often than not, taking action can involve serious sacrifices and force us to be inconvenienced in ways we would rather not be.
But does it make sense to think that victory should be painless and without its challenges?
Yeshua conquered pain, sin and death.
But what was the price he had to pay?
One of the most tortuous and prolonged deaths ever recorded in the history of mankind.
I’m done.
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