Prayer: The Timeless Secret of High-Impact LeadersSample

Prayer-Walking—Abraham and Joshua

When God gave Abraham the pledge of the Promised Land, he also gave Abraham an intriguing command to “Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you” (Genesis 13:17). Steps of faith would ultimately be the key to securing the land.

When Joshua took the reins from Moses, he had the big job of leading the people into the Promised Land and conquering it. Knowing how fearful Joshua was of such a huge undertaking, the Lord gave him many wonderful promises. One had originally been given to Moses: “Every place where you set your foot will be yours” (Deuteronomy 11:24; also see Joshua 1:3).

Joshua began to experience the power of this promise when he led the people to follow the priests as they stepped into the flooded Jordan River by faith before it opened for them to cross. When the priests stepped in by faith, the waters parted and they and the other Israelites passed on dry land (Joshua 3:15–17).

Next, Joshua had an encounter with the Commander-in-Chief of the Lord’s army, Jesus Christ. Jesus commanded him to “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy” (Joshua 5:15).

After that, Joshua saw the promise kept again in a different way when he faced the task of conquering Jericho. Located near the Jordan, Jericho was the key to conquering the Promised Land. As the city of moon worship, God wanted it destroyed. But that posed a problem.

The walls around this impregnable city were so thick they said you could drive a chariot around the top. There was no army on earth that could hope to attack Jericho and succeed. Therefore, the Lord gave Joshua a unique battle plan.

He was to take the ark of the covenant and march his army behind it around the city once a day for six days as the priests blew their trumpets. On the seventh day, they were to march around it seven times. On the last time around, the people were to shout for victory.

When they shouted the victory call, the walls fell in. Jericho was breached and then totally destroyed (Joshua 6:20, 21). Again the faith to step out in obedience to the Lord was rewarded.

Since the days of Joshua, Christian leaders have led their people to take steps of faith. Through the years it has not been uncommon for pastors to lead their people to literally walk around a piece of property claiming it for the Lord as the site of their new church facilities. Others have prayed in every seat of their church’s sanctuary asking God to fill those seats and touch everyone who will be seated in them on Sunday.

In recent days some have adapted the principles applied by Joshua as a means of evangelism and spiritual warfare. They call it prayer-walking. Prayer-walking has been defined as “praying on-site with insight.” Done corporately or as individuals, prayer-walking is a form of intercession that takes the intercessor to the battle.

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