Power Walk Ministries

Guest (Male): Thanks for tuning in to today’s installment of Power Walk. We’re so glad that you’ve joined us as Reverend Paul Cannings continues with this series titled Victorious. There are countless distractions we face in life: keeping up with families, work, finances. It’s hard to carve out time for things that really matter to us, isn’t it?

Yet the Lord speaks to us just as He did in scripture. But are we listening? Challenging us to make room in our lives for the Lord, here is Pastor Cannings with the message, Learn to Listen.

Dr. Paul Cannings: One day someone gave some Rockets tickets to my wife and me. My wife said, "No, I'm busy, I can't go." She said, "Let me invite our boys." So I got the two boys together and we were going to head to the Rockets game. I needed to buy a ticket, but I couldn't afford a ticket in such a good spot as the two tickets they received. When I saw the price, I said, "Okay, I'm going to be further up." So I decided to go to another spot. We could hang out before the game, at halftime, and after the game, but during the game, I told them to enjoy the game in their good tickets.

In the middle of the game, I forgot to say where we were going to meet during halftime because I was in a different spot. I had marked the spot and we got it all arranged because we got there early, but I didn't say what particular spot we would meet at halftime. We agreed on a spot for when the game was over, but not for halftime. I was trying to call my sons and I could actually look down and see them on the phone trying to talk to me, but the noise in the arena was so loud that they could not hear me. They were looking up at me and waving, but they couldn't hear because the background noise was so loud. Eventually, one of them texted, and that solved the problem for this old man.

Understand that there is so much noise in our lives today that God can't get through to us. There is the noise of difficult relationships, health issues, and fighting through depression. There is the noise of overwhelming, complex decisions that need to be made and the pressure of trying to make them. Sometimes the noise is our schedules being so busy that when we sit down or kneel to pray, we fall asleep and hear ourselves snoring. Sometimes the noise is so loud when we read the Bible that we can't even understand the scriptures like we want to. Intense emotional issues and mental stress can lead to mental challenges.

How do we listen to God when the noise is so loud? How can we bring the noise down and actually hear Him? This is the issue for Joshua in Joshua chapter six. In chapter one, Joshua is afraid. The Bible says in verses eight and nine, "Joshua, do not tremble." Joshua had to take on the shoes of Moses. Moses was so revered that God had to bury him on a mountain. Can you imagine being 120 years old and having no health issues, and then God takes you up there to die and buries you so that nobody would worship you?

Those are the shoes Joshua is filling. On top of that, he now has to lead these people across the Jordan, and God says He isn't opening up anything until Joshua puts his foot in it. Then he has to go against the most valiant warriors on this earth in Jericho. He is facing double-reinforced walls and the fact that the gates are closed. Then God tells him to do some of the most nonsensical things that are not a strategy for war, but a strategy for worship. It is nonsensical.

Joshua is looking at the situation and trembling in his boots while facing what he has to do. This is the noise that Joshua has to bring down in his life. That is why the Lord of hosts shows up. Joshua has all of these paradoxical dynamics in his life. How do you deal with the kind of reverence that God has for Moses and then take on an enemy that is valiant? Joshua is trembling, and God comes to him to tell him he must lower the noise and learn to listen. When the Lord of hosts arises before him, Joshua is convinced of this man's power.

Joshua was a military guy, and God came in front of him in military array. Joshua could click to that very quickly. That is how God works. That led Joshua to learn the first lesson of listening: you are second; you are not first. Jesus Christ is first. You must seek Him first, not our emotions, fears, or anxieties. We cannot let complex situations take us into a headache. The first thing I must recognize in my life in order to be able to hear and listen to God is that He is Lord.

He is never out of control. All things work together for good. He can take a bad situation and make it great. This is a God who will never leave me nor forsake me. He didn't show up as the Lord of hosts against the people of Jericho; He showed up as the Lord of hosts standing over Joshua. He asked Joshua if he was going to believe the Word of God from Sunday to Sunday and day to day. If you are going to be His disciple, you have to deny yourself and pick up a cross to follow Him. Picking up a cross is like Christ saying, "I must be about My Father's business." That is the first thing that helps the noise come down.

The second thing is learning how to listen. Joshua chapter six, verse two says, "And the Lord said." Why didn't it say, "And God said"? It says "Lord" because it is tied to the Lord of hosts. "The Lord" also means two things. First, it means, "I am Yahweh. I have shown you that I will keep My covenant with you." For 40 years, in spite of the people not listening, He still let them live out their lifespans. There is a time to live and a time to die.

In spite of the fact that they rebelled, voted the leader out, and tried to fight the war on their own, He still allowed them to live out their lives. This is the same God who showed you that you could cross the Jordan. This is the same Lord who is feeding you manna from heaven and providing water from dry rocks. He has shown you that He will never leave you nor forsake you, even when you are disobedient or go astray. He did not violate the covenant He made with Abraham because it is an unconditional covenant.

On Calvary's cross, Jesus Christ was the only one on the cross. When it came to Abraham's covenant, God walked in the blood by Himself after the animal was cut in two. He did not ask Abraham to walk. On Calvary's cross, He did not ask you or me to be there with Him because He established the covenant between us and God and said, "It is finished." He went to heaven as a wave offering and God accepted Him, so now all sins are forgiven. Ephesians 2:8 says that salvation is a gift from God. It is not from works; we didn't earn this.

Since it is a gift, it is grace. We need to accept the fact that if we truly believe in Jesus Christ, we are saved. It requires a willingness to turn our lives over, obey Him, and walk in Him. He then says that the Spirit of God will come into us. John 14 says He is in us forever and Ephesians 1 says He seals us for the day of redemption. There is no way He can leave you or forsake you when He is right inside of you. Therefore, He is Lord. He is also Lord because He is Adonai; He fights for you.

They didn't fight this war. If you read chapter six, God is having a worship service, not a strategy for war. Who fights our battles? The offensive weapon we have in the armor of God is the sword of the Spirit. The Word of God is a double-edged sword that does not return void. His Word does the fighting when I choose to trust and believe in it. When God has spoken, nothing can ever come back void and nothing could ever be a lie. When God speaks, I need to pay attention to the details He is giving.

He gives us details because Satan doesn't give us any space. Christ has to make sure that we are fitted together fitly because Satan will use any crevice there is to come at us. You see this with Jesus Christ when He was being tempted. Satan took two words out of the verse to cause the Word of God to move in a different direction. He did the same thing when he tempted Eve. He quoted what Christ said but switched it so that Eve would go the wrong way. Satan uses the same vocabulary; he just has a different dictionary.

God has to be careful to make sure that we follow the details He has given us, which is why it is important to listen. Remember that His Word does not wither away. First Peter 1:21 says His Word is not going away. We must listen because it will be the same Word 20 years from now. Satan has no new tricks. Paul said he knew all of Satan's schemes. Satan is a created being and cannot create anything, so whatever he was doing 20 years ago, he will do again 20 years later.

Another way to listen is to learn to understand the scriptures. Take time to understand them. I love what Paul says in Colossians 1:9-11 about learning to understand. Then you must practice it. I pay attention to it, know it is the truth, and know God cannot lie. I apply myself to understanding it, so now I am giving energy to the victory I already have through the Word of God. We will mess up when we try to do what God called us to do. The question is not whether we will mess up, but whether we will confess it and believe He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

This is how we tune the noise down: by facing the issue in front of us from His vantage point. We apply the sword of the Spirit while we wear the breastplate of righteousness, the belt of truth, and the helmet of salvation. We wear the shoes of peace and walk in the Spirit rather than the flesh. That is the victory. The only way to move forward is to stand. Paul said there are times when the darts are coming so fast all you can do is stand. There are times you can walk worthy, run the race, or press toward the mark of the high calling. It doesn't matter what you face; it matters who you face it with. When you choose to face it with Christ, you have to listen to Him.

Guest (Male): That was Pastor Paul Cannings, pointing out that the Lord did not give Joshua strategies for war, but strategies for worship. Likewise, I pray that God will bring solutions to our problems in ways that we may not understand. Visit us online at PowerWalkMinistries.org for all of our ministry resources. To find out more, you can call us at 281-260-7402. That number again is 281-260-7402.

Once again, our web address is PowerWalkMinistries.org. Our mailing address is PO Box 920517, Houston, Texas, 772092. We’d love to hear from you. And if you live in the Houston area or you’re planning a visit, please join Reverend Cannings at Living Word Fellowship Church this Sunday. For church location and service times, visit LWFellowshipChurch.org. As we leave you, remember: it doesn’t matter what you’re facing in life, make a choice to face it with God.