Posted on 04/13/2009 9:40:05 PM PDT by tenger
By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days. Hebrews 11:30
I've always loved the Jericho story. I've always seen it as faith AND obedience. First, the people had to have faith that going around the walls even once was a good things. Seven priests accompanied the ark of the covenant and the people along with seven blaring trumpets. They marched around Jericho one time for six days. On the seventh day, they marched around the walls of the city seven times. On the seventh time around they shouted and "the walls came tumbling down." Each day for the people marching was a step of faith. They really didn't know how it was going to end.
Joshua had to obey the Lord and the people had to obey Joshua. The Lord told Joshua how it would all go down. If they had marched around the city and nothing had happened, they would be look foolish or worse. They were blindly obeying a man who had heard from the Lord. Faith and obedience were closely aligned here. Both had to occur for this to work.
Fortunately they had followed Joshua in other instances so it wasn't new to them. They had come to realize that if Joshua said he had heard from the Lord, it must be true and worthy of obedience.
Leaders are like that. When you find one you can trust, you will do what you can to please. When he/she speaks something into your life, you can trust it because of his/her previous track record of doing just that.
Pray for your pastor today. Pray that he will continue to hear from the Lord regarding your church body. And pray that he will be able to recognize and overcome the wiles of the Enemy.
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