Good morning.
I remind you of what you probably already know: God the Father is delighting in God the Son, and He has invited us to abide in Him. Therefore, He is delighting in us. It is a great privilege to be with you and to share our Lord Jesus.
Our brother led in prayer and applied the indispensable principle. Usually, where I go, that is not the case. So I like to remind my own heart, and I like to remind everyone, as we come to look at this precious Word.
There are many different approaches, different principles, and helpful things, but there is only one indispensable way to study the Bible: total reliance on God’s Holy Spirit. It is God’s Word, and only God can reveal God.
He has promised us that He would do that. He delights to show us a living revelation, a manifestation of His Son. When we see Him, we are changed. That is the only purpose for our gathering together: to behold the Lord, to become more like Him, and to worship Him.
Let me give these two Bible verses, and then we will pray again. They are from Psalm 147:17–18:
He casteth forth His ice like morsels:
Who can stand before His cold?
He sendeth out His Word, and melteth them:
He causeth His wind to blow, and the waters flow.
Evidently, it is a word picture of a spring thaw. You have this river locked in ice, and it is a picture that God breaks up the ice. Then His wind—His Spirit—blows, and the rivers flow.
I do not know your heart or what is going on, but it is possible that someone is ice-locked in their heart. I just know that He sends forth His Word, and His Word breaks the ice in fragments. Then He blows His wind, the ice melts, and the water flows.
I wonder if we can trust God to do that for us this morning. Let us pray.
Father, again, we just add faith to our brother’s prayer by saying, “Amen.” Again, we trust You this morning to take the veil away from our hearts and eyes and show us, in a fresh and living way, our Lord Jesus.
We thank You for every part of Your Bible, and in a special way for these precious chapters in the book of Joshua. Now, Lord, we ask You to give us a revelation of the revelation. We pray that through this written Word, we might behold the living Word.
We thank You in advance that we will behold Him—not because in any way we deserve it, but because our Lord Jesus deserves it. It is in His name we claim it.
We commit this session unto You, in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
This weekend, we have been sharing together from the book of Joshua, especially Joshua 6–11. We have been looking at the land as a picture of our Lord Jesus—the land of milk and honey.
It is a wonderful illustration of Christ: the life of milk and honey. As they were to enter into the land, we are to enter into the Lord. As they were to abide in the land, we are to abide in the Lord. As they were to live off the land, we are to live off the Lord. It is a wonderful picture of our Lord Jesus.
As we look at Joshua 6—actually the end of Joshua 5—through Joshua 11, we see that the Holy Spirit has given us three strategic battles. There were many more battles than that. In fact, in one place there is a list of thirty-one different kings with their armies mentioned.
There were many battles. But in this seven-year battle for the fullness of the land of Canaan, the Holy Spirit focused on three battles.
In Joshua 6–8, we have the battle for central Palestine—central Canaan—illustrated by Jericho and Ai. The second battle is for the south, the battle of Beth-horon, which we looked at last evening. This morning, God helping us, we would like to go north and look at the battle at the waters of Merom in Joshua 11.
I have suggested that each of these battles contains a principle—a secret of entering the fullness of the Lord. There are many principles, but these three are basic. If you are serious about entering the fullness of the Lord, trust the Lord to burn indelibly into your life the truth of these three battles.
The first principle is illustrated in the battle of Jericho. Though we did not touch on Ai, that gives us the same truth in the negative: the battle is the Lord’s.
The battle is not yours; it is the Lord’s. When the Man with the sword in His hand takes us in—that is our Lord Jesus—only Christ can lead us into Christ. When He takes us in, we win.
If, as happened in the historical record, the Angel of the Lord puts His sword back in His sheath, we lose. We cannot win on our own. That is the first principle.
If I am ever going to know the fullness of the Lord, I have to learn with growing conviction: the battle is not mine; it is His.
The second principle, illustrated in the campaign caused by the wiles of the Gibeonites, is another foundational truth: God is faithful.
No matter how badly I may blow it, God is faithful. Even when I get myself into an unholy alliance because I did not seek counsel of the Lord, even though I have to live with the consequences of my own decision, God is faithful.
We need to know, as we go on in a heart knowledge of the Lord, that the battle is not mine; it is His. We need to know that He is always faithful, no matter what. He is always there, and He is always faithful.
When we ended our discussion last night, we tried to answer two questions. Joshua’s heart was so thankful for a victory he did not deserve. His heart was crying out, “How can this continue? I do not want this day to end.”
God tells how this day can continue. In a marvelous miracle, He put the brakes on the whole universe and stopped nature. He said, “If you want this to continue, it is not in a natural way, but in a supernatural way.” He gave that supernatural day.
Then we ended with this question: When I get in trouble and get into an alliance with the Gibeonites, will they ever go away?
Well, they may. But I know this much: God will turn them into servants. God will turn the curse into a blessing. Even the consequences of your sin—He is sovereign over that, and He can turn that around.
They will continually bring water, and they will bring wood. In other words, the wood was used for the altar, and the water was used for the cleansing of the sacrifice and the laver. They will take you to the cross.
God will use even your enemies in order to humble you and to bring you constantly to the altar.
There is one more principle. If I am going to know fullness, I need to know, increasingly so, that it is not my battle; it is His. I need to know that God is faithful, no matter what I might do.
Then there is another battle, another campaign, way up north at the waters of Merom. This morning, I would like to set that principle before your heart. God assisting, we trust Him to make these things so real.
This third campaign is the battle for the north. The first three verses of Joshua 11 tell us about the gathering of the kings of the north. Follow along, please. I am going to read Joshua 11:4–5:
And they went out, they and all their hosts with them, much people, even as the sand that is upon the sea shore in multitude, with horses and chariots very many.
And all these kings met together; and they came and encamped together at the waters of Merom, to fight with Israel.
This battle takes place in the north, but we see later, from how they pursued the enemy, that it was not only the armies of the north. Those who had survived in the west, in the east, and in the south all gathered together and joined those in the north.
So you have this massive army coming against the people of God. It says, “very many horses and chariots.” When the Holy Spirit says “very many,” we can believe there were very many.
We do not know how many. He does not give us a number. Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells us in his history that there were three hundred thousand infantrymen, ten thousand cavalry, and twenty thousand chariots.
I do not know where he gets his numbers, and he is not always trustworthy. He is an uninspired historian. Sometimes he is on, and sometimes he is not. But if we use his numbers, there were probably fifty thousand horses and twenty thousand chariots.
I know this: there were very many. I do not know whether there were that many, but there were very many. I call attention to that because of the strange command God gave in connection with this battle.
The command is in Joshua 11:6:
And the Lord said unto Joshua, Be not afraid because of them: for to-morrow at this time will I deliver them up all slain before Israel: thou shalt hough their horses, and burn their chariots with fire.
Hamstring the horses. Burn the chariots with fire. If you have the King James Version, it says, “Thou shalt hough their horses, and burn their chariots with fire.”
In this third battle, we do not have a lot of detail. The Lord does not spell out the strategy of this particular battle as He did at Ai. We do not read of any special miracles here, like Joshua marching around the walls or the sun and moon standing still.
We do not read about God hurling hailstones and killing more of the enemy than the soldiers killed with the sword. We do not read about them going in circles or climbing a mountain and traveling all night long. We do not read about that here.
The Holy Spirit focuses on this one detail in the northern campaign. So we can assume that the great principle of entering His fullness must be connected with this detail.
What does it mean to hough the horses and burn the chariots with fire? The Lord has given me a big library, so I said, “I will research it, and I will be able to tell them what it means to hough the horse.”
The New International Standard Bible Encyclopedia says that it means, “To render the horse useless by cutting the tendons under the hock.” Does that help? It did not help me either.
So I said, “I have got to find out what a hock is.” Here is what I found: “The joint between the tibia and the tarsus in the hind leg of a quadruped.” See, we have got to know these things.
One commentator said Joshua was commanded to cut the sinews of the hinder hoof. Basically, to hough the horses—to hamstring the horses—meant at least this: they were to be completely incapacitated for use in battle, for war.
They had to lame the horses. I say “at least,” because one of my references said that by cutting the hamstring, you also cut a chief artery, and the horse would bleed to death.
I do not know if they killed them or just crippled them. I think they just crippled them. I talked to a horse owner and trainer from Australia that I know, and I asked if she could tell me anything about hamstringing.
She knew what they did and what happened. She said they do not die, but they cannot run anymore. They are used only for very light farm work and always on level ground. If they are hamstrung, they cannot go up a hill or down a hill.
The point is this: God said, “Hamstring the horses. Incapacitate them. Do not add them to your own army.” That was what He was saying.
Then they were to burn the chariots with fire. As far as the record goes, this is the first time Israel faced the iron chariot.
You say, “Did Egypt not have iron chariots?” Yes, they did, but Israel did not face them. They were behind them. You remember, they were being chased, and then God swallowed up those iron chariots in the Red Sea.
This is the first time they came face to face with them. For many years, scholars said the war chariot with the scythe—the blade coming around the wheels—was introduced to the world by Cyrus, the Persian king.
But archaeologists have uncovered some of these iron chariots and dated them back to Joshua’s day. If you saw Ben-Hur, you probably remember those chariots with blades coming out from the wheels. They would mow down an army like wheat in a field.
That is what Israel was about to face. We have to get a feel for what they were going through. When you read the Bible, ask the Lord to help you enter in. Put yourself in their shoes and consider what they were experiencing.
If there were fifty thousand war horses and twenty thousand chariots that could cut down a soldier like hay in a field, that had to be frightening. The first part says that they numbered like the sand on the seashore.
There is a description of a war horse in Job 39:19–25. Let me read that to you:
Hast thou given the horse strength?
Hast thou clothed his neck with the quivering mane?
Hast thou made him to leap as a locust?
The glory of his snorting is terrible.
He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength:
He goeth out to meet the armed men.
He mocketh at fear, and is not dismayed;
Neither turneth he back from the sword.
The quiver rattleth against him,
The flashing spear and the javelin.
He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage;
Neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet.
As oft as the trumpet soundeth he saith, Aha!
And he smelleth the battle afar off,
The thunder of the captains, and the shouting.
That is a war horse. That is one war horse. Now picture fifty thousand of them.
A couple of weeks ago, Lillian and I were invited by a Christian couple to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. They had a timeshare and gave us a wonderful holiday. They were trying to treat us, and I do not know what got into our friend, but they said, “Let’s go horseback riding.”
Well, I am sixty-six years old, you know. So I said, “I am going to be tough,” and I was spouting out my bravado. I said, “All right, let’s go horseback riding.” But all the way to the place, I was thinking in my heart, “I do not know if I am going to do well here.”
I was still spouting my bravado. I said, “I hope my horse’s name is Thunder. I hope my horse’s name is Tornado.” Lillian said, “All right, cool.” I said, “I hope my horse’s name is Psycho. I hope my horse is named Lightning.”
Well, we got there, and Lillian’s horse was named Bullet. They took one look at me and brought me to Lil Ann.
The stirrup was up to my ear. They said, “Put your foot in here and swing it over.” Yeah, that is going to happen.
Anyway, when they finally got me on the horse, Lillian gave me the camera and said, “Snap pictures along the trail.” I spent my whole time praying that the horseflies would not bother Lil Ann.
They told us what to do and how to hold the reins. In case Lil Ann was going down a hill, I was supposed to lean back. They gave us a choice: two hours or one hour. They graciously said, “One hour.”
I just knew my horse was going to run through the woods and blaze a trail with my face or something like that. Anyway, that was not a war horse. Lil Ann was a trail horse. I did not have to do anything. She knew everything to do.
When they had to go right, she just went right. I did not have to pull the rein or anything like that. She knew the trail.
I call attention to that because there is no miracle recorded concerning how they conquered fifty thousand war horses and twenty thousand chariots. There is no miracle recorded.
I am convinced there was a miracle with war horses like Job describes, but that is not necessary for the principle we need to see. The Holy Spirit does not tell us how they did it.
I live on an island near the sea, and I know what the seashore looks like. If the army was numbered like the sand on the seashore, and all those armies had gathered together from the north, south, east, and west for a final attack on Israel, God must have done something wonderful.
He must have done something wonderful for them to conquer all those chariots, all those horses, and all those armies. But God does not tell us about that supernatural victory.
Instead, He says in Joshua 11:6:
Be not afraid because of them: for to-morrow at this time will I deliver them up all slain before Israel: thou shalt hough their horses, and burn their chariots with fire.
Let me suggest the principle. If I am going to know the fullness of the Lord—if you are going to know the fullness of the Lord—you need to understand, and understand well, that the battle is not yours; it is His.
You need to know also that no matter how badly you may blow it along the way, your God is a faithful God. He will give you a supernatural day of mercy in which to live, and He will turn the curse into a blessing.
Now we come to this strange command: hamstring the horses and burn the chariots with fire. I think what He was saying is this. I will say it several ways so we do not miss the point.
Jesus is enough. He does not need to be supplemented by horses and chariots. Jesus is enough. He does not need to be added to.
Another way to say it is that victory must be continued and maintained in the very same way it was begun. When you started out and marched around Jericho, it was the Man with the sword in His hand. That is how it began: by trusting Jesus.
That is how it has to continue, and that is how it must ever be. Jesus is enough. Jesus is sufficient. We do not have to add anything to Him.
This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. By this command, God reminds us that we will never, ever need anything the world has to offer to add to our armory.
We do not need carnal weapons. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds and everything set up against the knowledge of the Lord.
I wish I could have seen the expression on Joshua’s face. He faced this huge army, this great gathering. For the first time, he saw these wooden chariots supported by iron.
Then God gave him this command: “Hamstring all the horses, and burn the chariots with fire.” I can imagine one of the natural thoughts that might have gone through Joshua’s head: “Boy, this is wonderful.”
“If God gives us victory here, and we conquer all of these, we can add them to our army. How strong we are going to be in the future! Nobody had better ever come against us. We are going to strengthen our forces by having these iron chariots.”
That is how the world does it. If they go in and conquer, those tanks are now ours, those planes are now ours, that ammunition is now ours, those guns are ours, and those ships belong to us. It gives us a stronger army and a stronger navy.
God said, “I cannot allow that. I cannot allow that. I will give you victory, and you will conquer those, but then you must hamstring—incapacitate—every horse for battle. You do not need it.”
“You will still have the horse, but as a source of victory, you do not need it. You have the Lord.”
I believe one of the greatest dangers the Christian faces as he goes on in a heart knowledge of the Lord is thinking that somewhere along the line he must supplement the Lord Jesus.
To supplement Christ is to change Him completely. He sits on a solitary throne. He is sufficient. We do not need to add anything to Him. He is enough—just the Lord alone.
That is what you needed to take Jericho. That is what you needed to take Ai. That is what you needed at the battle of Beth-horon. It is no different whether you are in the middle of the conflict or toward the end of the conflict.
The third lesson is this: I do not need anything this world offers. I do not need its methods to know the fullness of God. I only need the Lord.
Oh, for a people who would realize that they continue in the same way they have begun:
As ye received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.
So that it is not just a principle out there somewhere, let me make several applications.
In your Bible study, may God help you to hough the horses and burn the chariots with fire. You do not need a great big library in order to get God’s heart in this precious Book.
You do not need to know Hebrew, Greek, or Aramaic. You do not have to go to a seminary or to some Bible school. You do not need to read all the how-to books, go to the conferences, or have all the tapes.
You do not need study guides. You have the Holy Spirit of God living in your heart—a resident Bible Teacher in your heart.
If you would come as a little baby before the Lord, He will reveal it unto babes. When it comes to the study of this Book, hamstring the horses and burn the chariots with fire.
In your Christian ministry, hamstring the horses and burn the chariots with fire.
We do not need all the world’s methods that they try to give us. We do not need somebody with a dramatic testimony, some big name, some athlete, or some Hollywood person coming in to get the enthusiasm going.
You do not need the principles of group dynamics, how to hold an audience, how to keep them, and all that kind of thing. You do not need all that psychology babble.
You do not need credentials, endorsements, or anything in front of your name or after your name—all these degrees and all of that. You do not have to get involved in all these fundraising programs.
I remember some years ago—I remember it sadly—I was waiting for the Lord to guide me, and I did not have a clue about knowing Christ in an intimate way. I took a pastorate at a Congregational church. So now I was a Congregational pastor.
There were a couple who were saved, but not the deacon board. They said, “We need money. We are going to have a fair.”
They held a fair, and four deacons got a big sheet the size of this room. They held the corners, and there was a little hole in the middle of the sheet. The deacons stood there, and you had to throw money to see if you could get it in the hole.
There was a big pail underneath, and then you would win a stuffed animal or something. And I am pastoring this church. That is not God’s way. He lowers money; man does not raise it.
Oh, people are using so many gimmicks and high-pressure schemes. I know a pastor personally who built one of those things you see at a carnival.
It is a chair with a spring. He sits up there in a suit. If you bring three visitors, you get three balls to shoot at the target, and he falls into the baptistery.
You laugh, but this is reality. Hamstring the horses and burn the chariots with fire. We do not need all that kind of thing.
I was reading recently about the command, “Do not consult the dead.” I said, “Well, that is one thing I am safe in. I am not going to consult the dead.”
Do you realize how many Christians go to unsaved counselors—marriage counselors and all the rest? That is consulting the dead. In principle, that is exactly what it is.
I am suggesting that God’s method is this: you have the Lord. You have Jesus. Hamstring the horses and burn the chariots with fire.
Now, the horse is going to live. There are some things that we will have in addition, but they are an expression of a relationship; they are not the source of the relationship. All we need is the Lord Jesus.
Not Jesus plus “find your gift and develop your gift.” Do not supplement Christ. It is not Jesus plus a second blessing or a third blessing. It is Jesus alone.
It is not Jesus plus a great creedal statement. It is Christ alone. Other things are helpful, but they are not necessary.
It is Christ. It is not Jesus plus a quiet time. It is not Jesus plus a season of prayer and fasting. It is not Christ plus my faith. It is not Christ plus repentance. It is not Christ plus even the fellowship of God’s people—not as a need. Christ alone.
As we go on in the Lord, I have got to know the battle is His and not mine. I have got to know that no matter how much I mess up, He is faithful. I have got to know forever that it is just Him.
He is enough, and I do not need all these horses and all these chariots.
I had not intended this, but I felt led of the Lord to take one step more. With this, we will wrap it up.
The rest of the book of Joshua—I almost said Exodus—I want to give you one principle. There are many principles here, but through these last eleven chapters there is a great principle.
If it is true that the Lord is fighting my battle, if it is true that I know He is going to be faithful forever, and if it is true that I am looking unto Him and Him alone and hamstringing the horses, then this next truth is also going to be true.
It is a glorious, glorious miracle. I like to summarize these chapters in the words of Psalm 47:1–4:
Oh clap your hands, all ye peoples;
Shout unto God with the voice of triumph.
For the Lord Most High is terrible;
He is a great King over all the earth.
He subdueth peoples under us,
And nations under our feet.
He chooseth our inheritance for us.
The rest of the book has to do with choosing their inheritance. If you just jump into those chapters, they might seem boring because they cast lots, this group gets this part, and that group gets that part.
Joshua 18:6 says:
Ye shall describe the land into seven portions, and bring the description hither to me, that I may cast lots for you here before the Lord our God.
I was so overwhelmed with the sun standing still, the moon standing still, and the walls of Jericho falling down that I did not realize one of the greatest miracles in the book of Joshua is this last miracle: the casting of lots.
You know the principle of the lot in Proverbs 16:33:
The lot is cast into the lap;
But the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.
The principle of the lot is this: Leave the choice to God.
If He is fighting for me, if I know He is always faithful, and I know He is never to be supplemented, I can trust God to place me where He wants me. That is the rest of this book.
Now, how they did the lot is up for grabs. It is not one hundred percent clear. Some say they had colored stones and drew stones, or put stones in an urn. Some say the stones lit up or something like that.
Probably what happened was that the land was divided into natural divisions—mountains, valleys, streams, rivers, and so on. They somehow marked those, like you put names in a hat or an urn.
“This is section one, this is section two, and this is section three.” Then in another urn they would put the names of the tribes, or perhaps their staffs or something to represent the tribes.
The elders or the priests would draw: “This is lot number twelve, and this is tribe number six.” That was where they lived. They did that, and it was a miracle.
The point is not whether they flipped a coin, drew a straw, or pulled names out of a hat. The point is: let God decide.
Rest in the sovereignty of God. If you know that God is fighting your battles, if you know that He is faithful, and if you are not supplementing Christ, you can believe God is doing another miracle and placing you exactly where He wants you.
I was a student at Columbia Bible College, and one brother graduated in 1967, the same year I graduated. He was so anxious to serve the Lord. There was no time for seminary. “I finished my Bible school. Where do You want me, Lord?”
He had no word from God. He had recently been married, and we knew this couple well. So he took a couple of elders into a room.
He put a world map on the wall. He took a dart and a blindfold. He blindfolded himself and had his wife turn him around and around. Then he threw the dart at the back wall.
It landed right in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
He did not know what to do, so he said, “Let me throw another dart.” He took another dart, she spun him around, he threw it, and it landed in Mexico.
He went to Mexico, and he was there for more than thirty years, ministering unto the Lord. I do not know. I think perhaps the first one fell in the Pacific Ocean because God was saying, “That is not how I guide.”
The second one landed in Mexico because He said, “But I am going to honor your heart.” His heart was saying, “I want God to decide. I want God to decide.”
His wife is still there. He is in heaven at the moment.
It takes just as much a miracle of God to put Simeon, Judah, and Reuben in the right place as it was to get the sun to stand still. It takes a mighty miracle of God to put you in the right place.
Sometimes we say, “I wonder what God is doing. Am I in the right place? What am I supposed to be doing?” You have got to know He is fighting the battle for you. You have got to know He is faithful.
You have got to know that it is always Christ, and that you are going to look to Him. Then you can trust the sovereignty of God—that where you are is where God has put you—and rest in that place.
The way they did it was so wonderful. Judah got fourteen hundred square miles of land, but Reuben got only seven hundred square miles. Benjamin got only three hundred square miles.
If men were choosing for themselves, can you see the bickering and the jealousy that would be going on? Joshua’s tribe was Ephraim. Suppose God had left it to Joshua to decide his own inheritance.
People would say, “Oh, yes, teacher’s pet. We know what land you are going to get because of who you are.” No, God did it by a mighty miracle.
In the division of the land, some people got low regions and dry regions. Some people got well-watered regions, good for pasture. Some people got desert lands. Some got valleys, some got mountains, and some got forests where they had to clear out the trees.
Some were by the seacoast. Some lands were rich, and some were barren. But no man chose his own place.
He simply said, “God is going to fight for me. Even if I mess up, I know He is faithful. I am just going to keep looking to the Lord.”
One peace like a river attendeth my way—you know that song:
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well with my soul.
As you go on in the Lord, I want you to know that it is His battle, not yours. If you mess up, He is still there. He is not going to deny Himself; He is still faithful.
Do not supplement the Lord. You can rest in the faithfulness of God. You are where He wants you.
I want to close with an illustration that I read. I do not know if it is a true story. It really does not matter, because the point is beautiful.
I read about a family: a man, his only daughter, and his wife. They went on a sightseeing vacation to Europe. It seems from the record that the daughter was interested in seeing the sights, much like some people come to Newport to see the ocean and others want to see the mansions.
I cannot get into the mansions, you know. They have all these mansions there, but that does not do anything for me. For some people, though, they like it.
The mother said, “I am not feeling well today. Do you mind if I stay in the motel room, and you and Mary go out sightseeing?” Mary was sad because she wanted her mother to come along, but her mother was sick.
So Dad and Mary went out. They ended up in a cathedral, a big cathedral with stained-glass windows. A wonderful beam of light was coming through one of the stained-glass windows and acted like a prism.
There was the most beautiful rainbow on the floor. She said to her father, “Oh, I wish Mother could see this rainbow. It is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Look at this.”
When her father was occupied with something else, she went over to the rainbow and took out her purse. In her purse she had a little handkerchief.
She took out the handkerchief and spread it out right on the rainbow. Her handkerchief was filled with all these wonderful colors, and she folded it up and put it back in her purse.
Her father did not know anything about it. When they got back to the motel, she ran up to her mother and said, “Mother, Mother, I have got to show you one of the most beautiful things.”
She reached into her purse, took out the little handkerchief, and opened it up. There was nothing there. She thought she had captured that rainbow.
In the last couple of days, I have been so privileged to be with you. I have seen some writing down reflections in a notebook and taking notes. There is nothing wrong with taking notes. Somebody was on the computer taking notes, or whatever they were doing, gathering reflections.
You may say, “Let me tell you about battle one. Here is the principle. Battle two.” Then you are going to go out and say, “I want to share that with somebody,” and it is not going to be there.
Because it is not the reflections in your notebook or on your computer. It is the reflection in your heart.
If, in fact, you are letting God fight for you and you are not fighting for yourself, then that rainbow is in there. If, in fact, you are rejoicing in the faithfulness of God—that you have been messing up, but God has been faithful and has come through for you—then that rainbow is in there.
He has given you a supernatural day to live in, a day you did not expect and did not deserve. If, in fact, by God’s grace, you are able to hough the horses and burn the chariots with fire, and you are content and resting in the place God has put you, then that rainbow is in there.
Now go to your friend. I am suggesting that there will be the reflection—the radiant manifestation of the Lord Himself.
That is what I pray God will do for each of us: that reflection in our hearts that comes from accepting and living by these tremendous truths.
Let us bow together, and thank you for your kind attention.
Our Father, we thank You so much that the battle is not ours, but Yours. Thank You so much for Your faithfulness and Your patience. We would not exist for a moment if it were not for Your great patience.
Thank You for putting up with us, for turning the curse into a blessing, and for making the Gibeonites serve us.
Thank You, Lord, that we do not ever need the world’s methods, programs, ways, ideas, or weapons in our Christian walk. Thank You that Jesus is enough.
Thank You that You have supernaturally placed us where You have placed us. Teach us the secret of contentment, that we can do all things through Christ Who strengthens us.
Grant that we can go out knowing the fullness of God and radiate the life of Christ to all around. Work this, we pray, for the sake of our Lord Jesus. In His precious name we pray. Amen.