If there’s anyone I know who is comfortable being uncomfortable, it’s Christine. I mean that in the best way. She’s always bravely sharing about the gritty, not-so-fun parts of life on Precepts and Life Preservers. But she also always bluntly calls us to come with her, nearer to Christ, and to the comfort He provides while stretching and convicting us. Be blessed by her words today.
Life likes to bring along impossible battles, doesn’t it?
They span a variety of things that threaten our very faith, and our very purpose. Or at least, that’s how it feels.
Infertility. Chronic illness. Job loss. Depression. Divorce. Natural disasters. Oppression around the world.
Maybe you were like me this week, needing to get through something and you felt ill-equipped. Like it loomed over you, solid and imposing and you gathered what little battle gear you have knowing the enemy rolled its eyes at how futile your little pile of armor was.
But sometimes we need to change our definition of armor, of doing battle. After all, we have a Mighty King who thrives on conquering the impossible.
The Father has me camped out in the book of Joshua lately, and the timing is no coincidence. Joshua faces the impossible. Like, major impossibility at every turn.
He’s supposed to fill the shoes of one of the most compelling leaders ever. He’s supposed to get an entire nation of people to a new land inhabited by a people so fierce that they stop the entire bulk of Israelites in their tracks and have them considering going back to captivity. He’s supposed to devise a way to scale massive sets of walls built one atop the other while facing an army of defenders.
Impenetrable.
Impossible.
I love when the Almighty directs us to His Word and places us right where we might witness His provision span thousands of years. The same Jericho-provision given Joshua lays waiting for us right now.
We stare up at our own personal Jericho and wonder the best way to assess it, approach it, scale it, win it, own it.
What gear do I need? What kind of armor is going to make a difference? What’s my big plan, Stan?
We worry, we get ready to pass out, we become frantic, we’ll take advice from anyone, we despair, we become stubborn.
Meanwhile, He waits to complete the provision He’s already said is ours, if we’ll just follow His instruction so that we might witness His glory in all its fullness.
He waits for us to heed His instruction. And He waits for us to let Him do battle while we step into our only role.
To praise Him.
Yep. We get to praise.
Our weapon is lifting our voices and hearts.
Our armor is the victory declaration of His Provision.
Your Promised Land that looms large? He has said it’s always been ours. We just have to step into it.
“Be strong and of good courage… do not cower. Do not heed your fears. Take the land I have given you to possess.”
–Joshua 1:6, 7
And how do we take the land?
We lift victory-praise. We surround, we encircle our Jericho with shouts of His mighty faithfulness and glory. We shout with everything in us that He’s got this. We march and shout and sing and trumpet His goodness until He reaches a mighty hand beneath our battle ground and with one shake reduces it to rubble.
“Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king, and its army. March around the city once, with all the armed men flanking the priests. Do this for six days. Have the seven priests carry trumpets of ram’s horns in front of the Ark of the Covenant. On the seventh day, march seven times around the city, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast, have the all the people give a long shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in.”
–Joshua 6:2-5
And do not for a moment think your praise will end your battle, beloved. Your praise itself does not bring your Jericho down.
Your praise is the proof that your God is about to bring your Jericho down!
“The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded all the people, ‘Shout!!! For the Lord has given you the city!”
He will reduce your Jericho, your battle, to rubble… to stepping stones that will take weary feet into the Promised Land.
How do we know we have this same promise?
The same hand that brought down Jericho is the same hand that shook Golgotha and rent the veil with His Son’s last breath. It’s the same hand that wrenched keys of death from our enemy and freed every captive. It’s the same hand that beckoned Christ from the tomb.
This is who faces our battles. That verse in 2 Chronicles 20:15 that says the battle is the Lord’s? It’s our truth for today, more so than ever.
Psalm 22:3 says the Lord inhabits the praises of His people.
Look at Acts 16 and see how praise created an opening for God to break shackles, open jail cells, even saved the jailer.
Psalm 149:5-9 says,
“Let his faithful people rejoice in this honor and sing for joy on their beds. May the praise of God be in their mouths and a double-edged sword in their hands, to inflict vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, to bind their kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron, to carry out the sentence written against them— this is the glory of all his faithful people. Praise the LORD.”
So weary friend, unsure about the looming impossible…
He excels at impossible.
And He’s got the battle if we’ve got the praise.
This post is being shared on: #TestimonyTuesday, #RaRaLinkup, #Intentionally Pursuing, #WomenWithIntention, #TellHiStory, #Thought-Provoking Thursday, #DanceWithJesus, #LLMLinkup and #LifeGivingLinkup.
This is such a great reminder of our God who is mighty to save. Just yesterday, my Sunday School class and I started with Hebrews 13:5 and then traced back to the OT all the different times that God gave words of assurance about his presence and His help to His people. Thank you for adding your voice to this beautiful The Word Works choir!
Thanks Michele! I’m so glad I got to join in with this fabulous group of women who love seeing how His Word works! And very thankful… what a blessing this has been. Thanks to Bethany for spearheading such a great series!
Yes! Thank you to Bethany as well! What a blessing!
Michele- any idea how many instances you found?? They must have been numerous!! Amen! So grateful for you both : )
Christine, this brought me to tears again today – today we are facing a wall too, and it feels as big as Jericho in my mind. I literally feel like a weight of bricks on sitting on me and I have prayed, paced, cleaned, did home work through it (and I knew I should praise too, but it is SO hard…) I almost just wanted to cry out all my thoughts to God first before I felt I could praise. Then I sat down to check my email and found your new post sitting there, titled with Battle in it. As I read these words, I felt the Holy Spirit speak. He just used a verse about taking the land recently to me, also, He inhabits our praises was floating around in my head this morning. It is really neat how He just gently reminds us that He’s got it. I read this, crying and praising…and I guess He doesn’t mind that. It is our hearts He is after, not appearances right? Thanks for sharing. Just wanted to let you know how He used this just now. And please keep us in your prayers too, as I am will be praying for you! And God bless you Bethany!!!
Meg, God overwhelms me with how gracefully and amazingly He orchestrates His Word for the exact moment that He knows we’ll need it. Just, wow! I sit here at my desk and lift prayers and scripture for you and your family right now, that as you praise Him you are really praising Him ‘from’ a position of victory and not ‘for a possible’ victory. He is orchestrating the most powerful appointment of His glory over you right now. And He is faithful!!!
Hugs, friend, and blessings bigger than big over your situation. xxoo
So in awe of His timing. He cares for you and about you, Meg. Wonderful to meet you- will be praying for you and your family as you enter the battle and He brings you through!
Thank you for your prayers, Bethany!
Thank you Christine for these words of encouragement. The battles life throws at us often make me quote Shakespear’s words “Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more …”. Thankfully we are much better equipped than Henry V was!!!
LOL… so thankful for that, Niki, so thankful for that!
Chris Tomlin (singer/songwriter) calls Him the God of Angel Armies… we serve a BIG God, no wall is too much, no battle is too fierce. That alone makes me give a shout of praise 🙂
Great post! Sometimes you really need a reminder that you can overcome anything with God. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Christine, it’s great to see you at Bethany’s place. I LOVE this! It goes along with what I wrote about Red Sea challenges. (Although I didn’t talk about praise). I’ve been looking at some high walls lately, friend, and I so appreciate this reminder to turn on the praise! He is worthy, whether He knocks down those walls as soon as I hope or waits longer than I’d like to do it.
I hear ya Betsy, facing a new wall today as we speak… just reminding myself that these walls will quake and come down in His might and timing, and then I see your comment, thank you, your words tell me we’re not alone! 🙂
Christine, you are such an encouragement! Thank you for this post. I’m about to start singing some praises now for a Jericho wall! Thanks, sweet friend!
Aw, thank you Ellen… He has accomplished exceedingly over and above all that we could need! We just need to lift our shout of victory 🙂 Amen!
What a great perspective on praise, Christine. That shift in our thinking can render us so powerful. Praise always leaves us better than it found us – just like God. So glad to be your neighbor at #tellhisstory.
The way He works continues to amaze me, Tiffany. Seriously. Praise makes room for powerful shift, so true! So glad Bethany asked me to join this series, it’s been such a huge blessing.
I spent a long time in Joshua last year too. Great truths in there! I agree that when we “enter his gates with thanksgiving” (ie lead with praise) then our whole perspective changes. Hard to remember in the heat of difficulty, but really life changing if you can do it.
Amen, Karen! That perspective shift can allow us to participate in so much He is doing! So grateful!
LOVE the story of Jericho! Your neighbor at Jennifer’s today in #39.
I love this, Christine. It’s so comforting to know that our God fights for us, isn’t it? And to think that our only role in the battle is praise? Amazing! (This post is a wonderful way to round out the series, Bethany!)
Agreed, Lois!!
Bethany-Thanks for bringing us Christine’s words! Christine thanks for the wise encouragement today. We all have our Jericho and what a great perspective to focus on the praise component. It gave the same story a different and powerful twist, so thanks and I will now remember God’s “got the battle if we’ve got the praise!” Thanks, enjoyed visiting from #DancewithJesus linkup, will be back!
So thankful Christine shared with us, Jill!! Amen and amen!!
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