The Battle Plan for Your Life | Lessons From JerichoSample

Joshua 6 and 7 cover 2 key battles that the Israelites participated in – the battle of Jericho and the battle of Ai. Compared to the battle of Jericho, the battle at Ai was supposed to be very easy.

Jericho was an impenetrable city, and God led the Israelites to defeat this mighty opponent. Ai, on the other hand, was tiny, and the Israelites decided they didn't even need to send a lot of soldiers to defeat the city.

But the Israelites end up in a humiliating defeat, and they have to flee from the simple battle.

Why?

Because God wasn't with them.

And why wasn't God with them?

Because one of the Israelites had taken something that God had commanded not to take, and he had hidden it for himself.

Here's the part that’s strange about this one guy and about so many of us. This guy saw God do impossible things, and he knew the power of God. So do many of us. It is amazing how many of us believe that God is sovereign and can search minds and know hearts, and yet we try to hide things from Him while believing we can get away with it.

It's absolutely ridiculous. There really is no point trying to hide from God any detail of our lives.

Luke 12 says, “Everything that is hidden will be shown, and everything that is secret will be made known.”

So we might as well be honest and vulnerable now, because only then can our hearts be pure.

Don’t try hiding any part of your life from God. Don’t try covering your sin up as Adam & Eve tried to. Bring your sin into the light.

This is the key to winning battles in your life.

Confess everything to Him, reveal everything, and you will see Him.