Joshua 3-5
This passage in Joshua has always been one of my favorites because of it's example of Spiritual warfare. Maybe because it's subtle or because there doesn't really seem to be an enemy. Generally, when human armies are in combat the 'other side' is fairly obvious. Some times that can be true in the Spirit Wars as well but it certainly isn't in this case.
First, lets take a look at the plan. Following orders from the Lord God, Joshua ordered the priests, the Levites, to carry the Ark of the Covenant ahead of the people until they reached the Jordon river. This was the Jordan during the harvest flood season. During this time it can grow up to a mile wide and 150 feet deep. God has a way of using the most difficult situations to move so that there can be no doubt that it was God [and ONLY God] who completed this miracle. The priests were instructed that as soon as their foot touched the water it would "stand up like a wall." so they would be able to cross on dry ground. This miracle is very similar to the crossing of the Red Sea 40 years earlier. It may have been easy for them to imagine what God was going to do if they were able to remember the prior crossing. But, remember that not a single person over 20 years old at the Red Sea was alive at the Jordan river. You can guess that they probably thought the idea was absurd and in reality it was!! But God is a master at creating the impossible.
Whatever the Isrealites may have thought about the instructions given by God through Joshua, no matter how bazaar they thought it, they never said a word. That is the key to their victory in Spiritual Warfare. Thankfully Satan does not have the ability to read our minds. He has no idea what we are thinking. He can hear what we say and see what we do but thoughts are private; between you and God. The enemy can flood our thoughts with obstacles, temptations, doubt and disbelief but, if the trust in God and refuse to speak that doubt, then Satan's ploys have no power. Speaking those negative thoughts can give him a foothold. But speaking instead the truth that God gives us is the basis of Spiritual Warfare. There never has been and never will be a better weapon against the devil than the Word of God.
So, what does your mouth say?
First, lets take a look at the plan. Following orders from the Lord God, Joshua ordered the priests, the Levites, to carry the Ark of the Covenant ahead of the people until they reached the Jordon river. This was the Jordan during the harvest flood season. During this time it can grow up to a mile wide and 150 feet deep. God has a way of using the most difficult situations to move so that there can be no doubt that it was God [and ONLY God] who completed this miracle. The priests were instructed that as soon as their foot touched the water it would "stand up like a wall." so they would be able to cross on dry ground. This miracle is very similar to the crossing of the Red Sea 40 years earlier. It may have been easy for them to imagine what God was going to do if they were able to remember the prior crossing. But, remember that not a single person over 20 years old at the Red Sea was alive at the Jordan river. You can guess that they probably thought the idea was absurd and in reality it was!! But God is a master at creating the impossible.
Whatever the Isrealites may have thought about the instructions given by God through Joshua, no matter how bazaar they thought it, they never said a word. That is the key to their victory in Spiritual Warfare. Thankfully Satan does not have the ability to read our minds. He has no idea what we are thinking. He can hear what we say and see what we do but thoughts are private; between you and God. The enemy can flood our thoughts with obstacles, temptations, doubt and disbelief but, if the trust in God and refuse to speak that doubt, then Satan's ploys have no power. Speaking those negative thoughts can give him a foothold. But speaking instead the truth that God gives us is the basis of Spiritual Warfare. There never has been and never will be a better weapon against the devil than the Word of God.
So, what does your mouth say?