RUN LIKE A CHAMPION

Several years ago I was visiting with two young men from Nagaland, a northeastern region of India. God had moved there in a mighty way, sending revival to the area. Almost the entire population had come to faith in Christ. The Holy Spirit blew through the region with mighty power. I asked these young men about the characteristics of the churches.
They said there were two very distinct results of the revival. First, the churches were filled with praise and adoration to God. Second, the churches were characterized by prayer. I asked these two young Christian leaders what they thought was the difference between the churches in Nagaland and the churches in the West. They had an interesting reply: “The churches in the West have an agenda and they ask God to bless it. In Nagaland, we ask God to establish the agenda.”
God’s Spirit pierced my heart. It’s so true about us in the West. We will develop a strategy and die by that strategy. We’ll ask God to bless the strategy — and even ask Him to use it for His glory. That’s good if it’s His strategy. But all too often we begin with our planning instead of prayer and seeking God’s face. His strategy could look much different than ours.
Such was the situation with Joshua. To an outsider, God’s plan for taking the city of Jericho must have looked ridiculous. He told the children of Israel, “March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight in” (Joshua 6:3-5). This wasn’t the kind of strategy that anyone could just think up, then ask God to bless. From beginning to end, this was God’s strategy.
Several key principles about God’s plan are important for us to understand. First, God gave the children of Israel a promise. The Lord told Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men” (Joshua 6:2). God’s strategy always begins with a promise from God. His plan always triumphs —because it’s His plan. When we begin to understand God’s plan, we can act and work with a great sense of confidence. If we know that what we are doing is His strategy, we can rest assured of His promise to fulfill that plan. One of my favorite verses is 1 Thessalonians 5:24: “The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.”
But Joshua not only had to trust in the promises of God, he also had to obey His voice — even when it seemed unreasonable. God told the children of Israel to march around the city. He didn’t say, “Get your weapons and go fight — fight with all your might.” No! God wasn’t looking for a people of great strength. He was looking for a humble, obedient people. That’s whom He blesses. He wanted them to simply “trust and obey.” There’s no other way to walk in victory but trusting and obeying God.
But one final principle was vital for their success. They needed God’s presence in all they did. They needed the promise of God and their own obedience to God. But that was no substitute for His presence. That’s why Joshua told the priests, “Take up the ark of the covenant of the Lord and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of it” (Joshua 6:6). The ark of the covenant represented the dwelling place of God. If we are to succeed, we must have God’s presence before us, with us, and behind us. We need to seek His face and live in His presence. That’s a sure prescription for victory.