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Hello [subscriber:firstname | default:Beloved],
One of my spiritual daughters came to me one day to explain the challenges in her home. She was distraught over her husband’s infidelity. I said to her, “You want his heart to come back to you and change his life. But my daughter, I have never seen you so sorry that your husband is so far from God. This means that you don’t care about his salvation! The most important thing for you is that he is faithful to you. This means that you are fighting your own battle, and that the peace you seek for your home is just for you as a wife. Not for God!
According to the Word of God, shortly before entering Canaan, the promised land, Joshua found himself facing a fortress: the city of Jericho, closed, barricaded (Joshua 6:1). “Behold, a man stood before him with a naked sword in his hand. And he went to him and said to him, ‘Are you one of us or one of our enemies'” (Joshua 5:13). Joshua wanted to know for which side the angel he had seen was ready to fight. The angel’s surprising answer was: “No, but I am the leader of the Lord’s army, I am coming now (…)” (Joshua 5:14). He said no! This means that he was not for the enemies of Israel, nor for Israel. He was there, ready to fight, for he had already drawn his sword; but he was ready, not to defend the interests of Israel, still less those of the enemy camp, but to defend those of God.
There are many Christians who, in the face of their many challenges, fight for their own interests and not for the Lord’s, as was the case with this sister I mentioned earlier. They have received firm promises from the Lord which, perhaps, are slow to be fulfilled. For some, it is childbirth after many years of marriage. For others, it is marriage, employment, healing, ministry take-off or growth, finances etc. that are delayed. The examples are legion. They pray, they fast and they make declarations, without success. There is like a ‘Jericho’, a fortress, seemingly impregnable, that stands before their promises. But why do they seek these things? They are out for their own interests and not for God’s!
Beloved, it is high time that you “convert your fight” to enter your promises, your Canaan. Did not the angel of the Lord say to Joshua “I am coming now“? The army of your heavenly Father is ready to fight for God’s interests which are automatically in your favour. That sister I was talking about wanted her husband to change for her. All she has to do is to change her way of praying and ask her husband to give his life to Jesus so that he can be saved; thus, he will become again the loving, faithful and devoted husband she is looking for. Yes, this sister’s happiness is in God’s interest because once converted, faithful to the Word of God, he would be de facto faithful to his wife!
Hannah, mortified by her rival Penina, prayed to have a child, in vain. When she put God’s interests first by deciding that the child she would have would be dedicated to God and serve the Lord, she had Samuel and other children afterwards (1 Samuel 1)! Solomon asked for wisdom to lead Israel, he put God’s interests first and the Lord granted him, in addition, glory and incredible wealth (1 Kings 3:5-13).
Why do you want to get married? So that you are no longer alone or so that your marriage will be for the glory of God and fulfil the wonderful destiny God has in store for you? Why are you looking for this job or funding? Just to buy a house, build your business and buy nice things or to help advance the Kingdom of God?
Joshua and the angel were there for the same purpose: to take Jericho. When Joshua came across the agenda of the Lord’s army commander, he bowed down as if to abandon his own interests to espouse those of the Lord. And there the Almighty God revealed to him the tactics to be used to bring Jericho down.
You too, Beloved, in the face of your challenges, change your outlook and prayer, and redefine your priorities. “Whether you eat or drink or do anything else, do all things for the glory of God,” says the Bible (1 Corinthians 10:31). Seek the glory of God, put the interests of your heavenly Father first and He will give you victory over the Jericho of your life.
May God bless you!
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