Joshua 1:9 “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage;
do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you
wherever you go.”
This
is the third lesson in our series. Two weeks ago, we learned that the Old
Testament accounts of the Children of Israel were not written, preserved and
handed down to us as merely a historical record of their journey. Rather we
found that those accounts were intended by God to be a spiritual roadmap for
our lives. We drew parallels between natural Egypt and the spirit of this
world. We found that Pharaoh was a natural representation of satan and that the
enemies faced by the Children of Israel in their conquest of the Promised Land
equal the spiritual enemies we face in our Christian walk today.
Last
week we discovered how the first enemy, called The Canaanite, hopes to render the
Christian powerless by enticing them to Compromise. We cannot hope to live a victorious
Christian life with one foot in the Kingdom of God and one foot in the world.
We heard how to identify the voices of compromise and what to do to defeat that
Canaanite in our lives.
This
week we continue with the third lesson in this series. Today we will learn how
to identify and defeat our second enemy: The Hittite
Exodus 3:8 “So I have come
down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up
from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey,
to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the
Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites.”
40
years after God delivered the Children of Israel from the hand of Pharaoh and
brought them out of Egypt, He finally found a generation who would go into the
Promise Land and face their enemies. (I
hope you are reading along with me in the Book of Exodus this week.) You’ll
find the parallel accounts of Israel in their Exodus provides a roadmap for
each one of us today. We can easily find ourselves in the pages of the Bible.
When
God finally found that generation who would face their enemies He encouraged
them and their leader, Joshua, to be strong and courageous. God told Joshua not
to be afraid nor be dismayed … because
God would be with him everywhere he went.
Dismayed
means to be so afraid that you are broken, shattered, confused and unable to
focus or think clearly. The Hebrew word translated dismayed in Joshua 1:9 is
the Hebrew root word for the word “Hittite”.
There
is one reason why the Children of Israel did not go into the Promise Land and
conquer those enemies in the generation before – Fear! Not just any fear … but the fear which made them afraid, unsettled, disabled, it left them shattered,
broken in pieces and confused.
They were in mortal terror – their fears terrorized
them. They were “dismayed”.
They
were confused and believed God had brought them out to let them die in the
wilderness. Their hopes and dreams were shattered, and they felt there was
nothing they could do. They said, “Why did God do this to us?” This is the goal
of the Hittite. This demon spirit wants to limit us to living our Christian
witness in the wilderness, short of the Promise Land.
The
problem between the Children of Israel and God was not the battle nor the
spoils of war. The real issue was trust. In life, in death, in war, in
financial problems, sickness, tragedy, betrayal or divorce … will you trust
God? In good times and in hardship, God will never leave you or forsake you. You are more than a conqueror! Will you
trust God?
The
reason they did not go into the Promise Land was because they were afraid …
their fear caused them to be dismayed … the Hittite won that battle and for 40
years the Children of Israel and their children and grandchildren wandered in
the wilderness, going in circles with no hope. They were going to church and
receiving the Word from heaven, covered and led and protected by the Spirit of
God but far from the promises.
There
is a certain reverential and respectful fear or concern we should have for the
processes of life when it comes to sickness and disease; or for the hardships
which come along with financial concerns with loss of a job or stock market
declines or bankruptcies; or with relationship problems such as separation or
divorce, children who have gone astray, friendships in troubled times – yes, a
fearful respect that demands attention is healthy but we should never be
dismayed and go to pieces or lose it, or feel left without hope. Why? Because just
as God told Joshua … “the LORD your God is with you
wherever you go.” (Romans 8:38 For I am persuaded …)
Some
fear is good while some fear disables and strikes terror in the heart. Some fear
keeps us from making bad mistakes while some fear leaves us broken and
hopeless. Perfect love equals perfect trust, and perfect trust in God never
leaves us feeling defeated or without hope.
How
can we identify that fear which works for us and separate it from the fear that
works against us? Fear born of the devil has torment.
There
is a fear however that is born out of reverence and respect for someone,
something or some situation. This fear is a healthy fear. Such as:
Psalms 111:10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom …
The
fear of the Lord does not shatter us or break us so that we “go to pieces” and
“lose it”, with no hope and no direction. The fear that is respectful and
reverential is a fear that brings peace, not turmoil, terror and defeat. We do
not have to be dismayed when God is with us.
The
six nations referred to by God in Exodus 3:8 represent those enemies each one
of us will face in life as we march forward in our Christian walk. God wants us
to claim new ground in the Spirit and possess our Promised Land. These six
named nations do not include every tribe, clan or small group of people who
hoped for and worked for Israel’s defeat. These six, the Canaanite, the Hittite,
the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, are those who had the
natural ability to dismay Israel and to stop them in their tracks. These
enemies must be defeated in partnership with God. Remember – Faith makes things
possible … Faith does not make things easy. God demands we participate in our
miracles.
The
Children of Israel could not afford to lose the battle with not even one of
these enemies. If any one of these six enemies were not faced and defeated in
their lives, the Children of God would fail to get what God was willing to give
them. Today, our battle is with the spiritual enemies of God. We cannot inherit the promises living with one foot in the Kingdom
of God and one in the world. Neither can we live the overcomer’s life if
we allow ourselves to go to pieces in the face of our enemies.
God
will never leave us or forsake us … the Lord our God is with us everywhere we
go.
·
When you face the
temptation to compromise your walk with Christ – don’t!
When
fear wants to rob you of hope and shatter your dreams and leave you confused,
terrorized or your life broken in pieces …
1.
Stop where you are and call it what it is – The Enemy of God!
a.
It’s the enemy of fear … It’s the Hittite
b.
Face
it …
c.
Say
– “That dirty demon is trying to make me afraid to face him.” – “Well, it ‘ain’t
gonna’ work!” “Get behind me satan!”
d.
Forget
the situation for a moment – face the
fear … that’s the enemy … he’s trying to break you and confuse you and make
you think you are in this battle alone … the devil is a liar!
e.
It’s not about your victory over the situation, it’s about your
victory in the situation and you get that when you trust God!
f.
Tell
fear that “The LORD my God is with me wherever I go!”
2.
Go to the Word of God and get some armor and ammunition.
a.
Find
3, 5 or 7 scriptures to use against that devil.
b.
The
Word of God is your sword and shield …
c.
Confess
the Word – it strikes at the heart of the Hittite.
d.
Joshua
1:8 ... meditate therein day and night …
3.
Get help.
a.
Get
counsel – Godly counsel - not for others … but for yourself
b.
Find
a friend who will stand with you and pray for you
c.
Confess
your faults one to another and pray for one another …
d.
One
will put a thousand to flight, two, ten thousand …
4.
Don’t go to pieces.
a.
Just
don’t …
b.
If
you find yourself losing it, repeat steps …
You
can have victory over fear … don’t let it shut you down! The Bible says the
greatest fear is the fear of death … you can defeat that enemy through the
blood of Christ when you get Born-Again … Here’s how to do that …
Recognize Repent Receive
