Last night the Holy Spirit led me to study Philippians 1:9. It says, “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and discernment.”

I looked at it through four translations. Here is my paraphrase: that your love will continue to increase and expand beyond anything you have ever known; that it will lead you into a deeper, experiential knowledge of who the Lord is; that you will live in revelational insight.

Then I went on to verse 10 which says, “That you may approve the things that are excellent that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ.” Again my paraphrase from four translations: learn to sense and recognize what is vital so that your love is not contaminated.

I also looked up Hebrews 12:11 and 1 Peter 1:22 in the four translations. Then I asked the Lord to instruct my heart during the night. I had a dream. In this dream He said to guard my treasure. What was that treasure? Love.

When we are saved, Romans 5:5 says, “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

I know from personal experience, and my years of counseling, that emotional pain, bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness, and hidden sin can harden a heart. A hard, callous heart shrinks. It does not expand. The capacity to love decreases.

Jude verse 21 says, “Keep yourselves in the love of God…” The word keep means to guard, protect, and preserve. How do we do that? In my dream He turned me to John 15.

Our love for the Lord grows, expands, and increases as we spend time with Him. Verse 4 in the Amplified says, “…no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in (being vitally united to) the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in Me.”

Have you allowed your first love to decrease? Has your heart capacity shrunk? That was the Lord’s indictment against the church of Ephesus. Revelation 2:4 says, “Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”

Philippians 1:11 was the capstone of verses 9-10. My paraphrase: filled with the abounding fruit of righteousness that is birthed in a love relationship with the Lord that brings Him glory.

Partial obedience is an oxymoron. It is also the grounds of disobedience because it is not wholehearted. Do you remember when Moses sent out 12 spies? Joshua and Caleb came back with a good report, but the others didn’t. Joshua 11:15 says, “As the Lord had commanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did. He left nothing undone of all that the Lord Lord had commanded Moses.”

Hmm. I had to ask myself: is there anything that I have left undone that the Lord has told me to do? Joshua 14:14 says, “Hebron therefore became the inheritance of Caleb…because he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel.”

In Numbers 33:55 Moses warned the children of Israel what would happen. It says, “But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall be that those whom you let remain shall be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides…”

The children of Israel only partially obeyed. Their disobedience set them up for failure because they failed to drive out all the inhabitants. You can read these verses for yourself. Joshua 13:13, 15:63, 16:10, 17:12. What haven’t we driven out of our country that are now irritants and thorns?

In Joshua’s last address to the ones he had lead to the promised land was recorded in Joshua 23. Verse 11 says, “Therefore take careful heed to yourselves, that you love the Lord your God.” Verse 12 was the warning that if they clung to the remnant of the nations that remained among them. Verse 13 says, “…they shall be snares and traps to you, and scourges on your sides and thorns ini your eyes, until you perish from this good land which the Lord your God has given you.”

Joshua’s words are timeless. They speak to us today. Let us take them to heart on our knees. The Lord’s spoken words are His oath. His word will not return to Him void. His purposes will not be thwarted. May the words in Joshua 21:45 hold true for us today as well. It says, “Not a word failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass.”

There is another point in Joshua 9 that had far reaching consequences. The two ambassadors from Gibeon spelled out their deceit. They declared how fresh all their provisions were when they left. Verse 14 says, “Then the men of Israel took some of their provisions; but they did not ask counsel of the Lord.” Had they asked the Lord, He would have told them of the deception. Nothing is hidden from Him.

The covenant they made was binding in the eyes of God. Saul made a fatal mistake when he broke that covenant. 2 Samuel 21 was the account of David avenging the Gibeonites. There was a famine in the land for three years. David inquired of the Lord for the reason. Verse 1 says, “…The Lord answered, It is because of Saul and his bloodthirsty house, because he killed the Gibeonites.”

I really appreciate the account recorded about David in 2 Samuel 5:18-24. He was faced with two exact scenes. Yet, as each one was presented before him, he inquired of the Lord. The Lord interacts in our lives as He did in those before us. He doesn’t change. He remains faithful because He cannot deny Himself.

Therefore, when a new situation arises in our lives, we need to ask Him what to do. We are called to live by faith. It is an unshakeable heart-conviction of belief in what God has said. We don’t copy what the Lord told us to do previously. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith…” I like to stop right there and consider the word ‘now’ as present, current, active, steadfast, and fresh. 

Isaiah 30:1 says, “Woe to the rebellious children, says the Lord, Who take counsel, but not of My Spirit, that they may add sin to sin.” Verse 15 says, “…In returning and rest you will be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength. But you would not.” Tragic words.

Hebrews 6:17 says, “Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it with an oath.” What God has spoken is an oath and it will come to pass. Ephesians 1:11 says that He works everything in our lives according to the counsel of His will. We can trust Him explicitly. 

Joshua 9 is the story of the Gibeonites planned deception. Verse 3-5 says, “But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, they worked craftily, and went and pretended to be ambassadors. And they took old sacks on their donkeys, old wineskins torn and mended, old and patched sandals on their feet, and old garments on themselves; and all the bread of their provision was dry and moldy.”

Their actions revealed a very well thought out plan to deceive. Why? They feared for their lives. Verse 9 says that they had come from a very far country. The truth was they were next in line after Ai. Verse 16 says, “…they were their neighbors who dwelt near them.”

What was the result? In verse 22 Joshua asked why they had deceived them. Verse 23 says, “Now therefore, you are cursed, and none of you shall be freed from being slaves…” In verse 24 the Gibeonites gave their reason for the deception. It says, “…we were very much afraid for our lives because of you…”

Let’s go back to the first recorded planned deception and the curse that followed. Genesis 3:1 says, “Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which God had made…” He deceived Eve by making her question God’s command. Verse 14 says, “So the Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, you are cursed…on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.”

Why do we plan to deceive? It is first a thought. Our deceitful actions are premeditated. 2 Corinthians 4:2 says, “But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” Deceit is a work of darkness. We are children of light.

I love Joshua 8. It reveals how we are to do spiritual warfare. Let us learn from this chapter God’s secret strategic weapon and put it into practice.

Let me give you some background. Joshua had sent men to spy out the land in chapter 6. Verse 4 says, “So about three thousand men went up there from the people, but they fled before the men of Ai.” Achan’s sin had not been discovered yet. Because there was sin in the camp they were defeated. Yet, God used it in a mighty way in chapter 8.

God instructed Joshua to set an ambush behind the city. The strategy was that when the men of Ai came out, Israel would flee as before. That was God’s trap. Verse 17 says that there was not one man left in the city because they all pursued Israel.

In Verse 18 the Lord told Joshua to stretch out his spear. Verse 19 says, “So those in ambush arose quickly out of their place…” They set the city on fire. Verse 21 says that when Joshua saw that the ambush had taken the city, they turned back and struck the men of Ai down. None escaped.

We, the church, are God’s secret weapon of ambush through prayer. Concerted, united prayer stands in the heart-gap the enemy has made. The proclaimed gospel gives them their own weapons of warfare when they believe. As they are discipled, the enemy’s strongholds are destroyed.

Jeremiah 1:10 says, “See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.”

There is nothing in the Bible like Joshua 6. In this chapter God’s secret strategic weapon was used. I’ve often wondered as I read this chapter what was going through the minds of His people. He knew every one of their thoughts. What would you be thinking if you were told to circle a high walled city seven times? Verse 10 says, “…You shall not shout or make any noise with your voice, nor shall a word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I say to you, Shout! Then you shall shout.”

Hmm. How are you at keeping silent? In 1997 the Lord introduced silence as part of my quiet time. Oh was that ever a battle! Thoughts came flooding into my mind like gangbusters to thwart that new discipline. Psalm 131:2 says, “Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul…” Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God…”

The reason silence is His secret strategic weapon is because the hidden rises. It cannot hide in silence. We saw yesterday in James 1:14 that we are enticed because there is something hidden within. Flesh-fruits: hidden broken expectations, covetousness, and impatience to name just a few.

Joshua 7 is a great lesson for us all. I am thinking about Christ’s body. Perhaps Achan’s sin will help us understand why the church is so weak, and why our nation is troubled. There was sin in the camp. Achan’s hidden was exposed. Could it be some thought raised up in their silent march around the city?

Verse 19 always gives me pause. It says that confessing sin glorifies the Lord. Verse 21 was Achan’s answer. It says, “When I saw…I coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden…” Let’s go back to verse 11 to see how Achan’s hidden sin affected everyone. It says, “Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them…” One man caused ALL of Israel to sin?

Romans 5:12 says, “Therefore, just as though one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” When I connected Joshua and Romans it helped me to understand James 1:15 in a different light. It says, “Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.”

I encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal any sin hidden in your heart, then sit still before Him. Revelation 8:1 says that heaven was silent one half hour after He opened the seventh seal.

Proverbs 6 says to sluggards to study the ant. Why? Ants are diligent to provide for their needs. Verse 8 says that they gather in the summer to store up for the winter.

I am in a battle. I have some scouter-ants looking to break the code that would allow them free access into my kitchen. I have to be diligent to find the beginning of their trail. Right now it seems to be coming from my electrical outlet.

I leave the room and come back to find a new scouter roaming my countertop. There is no food in that area, but they haven’t given up. They are determined to find something to report back to their hill that they have found provision.

As I watch, I am reminded of James 1:14 which basically says that If there are no unresolved issues, then there is nothing to entice with. It is the hidden: buried pain, root of bitterness, or unconfessed sinful lusts. That is what arises from within when we are tempted to sin. The hidden attracts and fuels the temptation.

Jesus said in John 14:30 that satan was coming, but he had NO hold on Him. Do you have things hidden that allow you to be caught in satan’s temptation-trap?

1 John 1:9 says that the hidden is removed through confession. When we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive us, and to cleanse us.

Many years ago, in youth group, I learned this definition of an excuse: a skin of reason wrapped around a lie. There is no excuse to sin. It is always a choice. Hidden sin defiles us and those around us, as we will see tomorrow with Achan.

Before the children of Israel could go into the promised land, circumcision had to take place. Why? Those born in the wilderness had not been circumcised. Joshua 5:9 was the Lord’s statement after it was done. It says, “…This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you…” The circumcision set them free from all ties to their slavery.

We were slaves to sin. We were bound in iniquity. The world system was deeply ingrained in our hearts. At salvation, our hearts were circumcised. Colossians 2:11 says, “In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ.”

What hinders you in your walk with the Lord? Our hearts can get contaminated through what we see and hear. Habakkuk 1:13 says that the Lord’s eyes are too pure to look upon evil and wickedness. We are to exemplify Him. David wrote Psalm 51 after his sin with Bathsheba. Verse 10 says, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.”

Our flesh is hungry. It wants to be fed. Psalm 37:3 says to feed on His faithfulness. We starve our flesh by constantly yielding to the work of the Holy Spirit. May He continue to circumcise the flesh in our hearts: circumcision made without hands. It is essential to read His word daily, so He can use it to cut out those fleshly entrapments that displease the Lord.

There is nothing like Joshua 4 in all the Bible. One man, from each of the tribes of Israel, carried a stone on their shoulders. They took them out of the Jordan while the priests stood in the middle on dry land. The reason? Verse 6 says, “That this may be a sign among you when your children ask in time to come, saying, What do these stones mean to you?”

Verse 17 says that Joshua commanded the priests to come up from the Jordan. Verse 18 says, “And it came to pass…the soles of the priests’ feet touched the dry land, that the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed all its banks as before.” Marvelous testimony that nothing is an obstacle to the Lord, and that He is in control of all things at all times. Think about the Jericho sentinels that watched God at work.

Do you journal? I started seriously journaling in 1976. I had heard a radio broadcast by David Maines. He talked about writing down the things the Lord was doing. It was to document His intervention as something to look back on when we needed encouragement.

Habakkuk 2:1 says, “I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart, and watch to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer when I am corrected.” I use this verse as a faith statement in my quiet time. My pen is poised to write.

Verse 2 says, “…Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it.” I write down verses that the Holy Spirit highlights in my daily reading. I ask questions and write the answers. I record His miraculous interventions. I also use my journal as a workbook when I am studying words and what their application means to me.

I encourage you to build your memorial stones through your journaling. Joshua 4:21-24 was the reason God had them carry out the 12 stones and build a memorial. Verse 24 says, “That all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.”

Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” For me, journaling keeps me on track. The Holy Spirit will take me back to an insight and point to that memorial stone as a reminder of God’s past and present work in my life. It is a journal of my journey of progressive sanctification.

Facing The Impossible Again

If you remember, when the children of Israel came to the Red Sea, they faced two impossibilities. The Red Sea was uncrossable, and the Egyptian army was heading straight for them. What did the Lord do? Exodus 14:19-20 says that the Angel of the Lord caused a cloud of darkness to block the Egyptians, but gave light to the Israelites. They did not come near one another all that night.

In Joshua 3 they faced another impossibility. Verse 15 says, “…the Jordan overflows all its banks…” This time they had to lodge three days before their impossibility. I wonder what they were thinking as they waited.

I love verse 4. They were told to follow the ark. It says, “Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before.” They were in uncharted territory. Right now, we have never been in the situation that we are in today as a nation. The Lord has charted our course. He knows what He is doing.

The Lord told Joshua what He was going to do. In verse 9 Joshua told the people. Verse 13 says, “And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests…shall rest in the waters…that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off…they shall stand in a heap.” Amazing. God’s ways are so much higher than our ways!

Now think about the people in Jericho. They were watching that whole scene. Joshua 6:1 says, “Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in.” The enemy was watching them just like some of them watched God in action at the Red Sea.

Nothing is impossible for God. He can move our obstacles of mountain proportion. He can split the skies and rescue us. He can part the waters that block our way. As we each face our impossibilities, let us look to the One who can do all things. Ask Him to intervene in your situation, doing what only He can do. That is His speciality 💜