Faith. Maturity. Growth. Breakthroughs. Miracles. Victories. It’s exciting to see God at work!
Think about Israel. They had come through the wilderness. The Jordan River parted before them as they crossed over it. Then they conquered the walled city of Jericho by simply walking around it. They were God’s people coming into the land that he had given them. Nothing could stop them.
Until Ai.
3,000 confident men from Israel went up to conquer the city of Ai, but were soundly defeated. Instead of a swagger in their walk, Israel retreated like cowards. They were paralyzed with fear. Although the focus of blame was on a man named Achan, there was another more serious reason they had lost.
Before going into Jericho, we are told that Joshua fell on his face and worshiped God, and then said,
“What does my Lord say to His servant?” (Josh. 5:14)
But there is no record of him doing anything like this before going on to Ai.
A pioneer Foursquare missionary to South America named Jean Firth, used to tell a story about a flight that her and her husband were once on. They were flying over the Andes Mountains in old rattletrap of an airplane. What made matters worse, there was horrible turbulence. The old plane was being shaken to pieces.
Frightened to her core, Jean prayed, “Lord, I wish you would stop this turbulence the way you spoke calm to the storm on Galilee.” The Lord gently replied to her heart, “You speak to it.” So she did. “In the name of Jesus I command this turbulence to stop!”
Immediately it was calm.
She and the rest of the passengers were enjoying the smooth air, but then the turbulence started again. Jean knew what to do. “In the name of Jesus I command this turbulence to stop,” she said confidently. The turbulence continued. She prayed again, “In the name of Jesus I command this turbulence to stop!”
The turbulence got worse.
“Lord, earlier I spoke to the turbulence and it stopped. But now it’s not working. What’s wrong?“ Jean asked. To which the Lord, again in a gentle way, replied to her,
“It’s because you didn’t ask me this time what you should do about it.”
Although we may see God do incredible things in us, through us, and around us, one thing that will never change is our need to constantly seek his face and rely on his spirit. Prior victories don’t guarantee success. Moves of God’s Spirit last year, last month, last night, are not enough to keep us strong and refreshed spiritually for this moment. We need revival and it only comes through a child-like dependence on God that refuses to trust in our own abilities.
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