Power Walk Ministries

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Guest (Male): Series titled, Victorious. Why do we so often feel defeated in dealing with the challenges that come our way? Pastor Cannings zeros in on God's method for victory through Joshua's obedience at the wall of Jericho. Let's listen to the message, Seeing is Believing.

Dr. Paul Cannings: A man was walking by a baseball field and he got intently engaged in the game because the kids were really into it. He was standing by the fence near the person that was the outfield player, and he's talking to the outfield player and just saying, "Hey man, great game. Y'all are really working hard." The little kid turned around and looked at him and said, "Yes sir, yes sir." But he looked right back at the field. After a while, the man asked him, "What's the score?" because he saw him chasing the ball here, chasing the ball there. The kid looked at him and said, "Oh, it's 18 to nothing," in a kind of a carefree way. The man says, "Oh man, I'm sorry. Y'all are losing really bad." The little kid looked around at him with his eyes looking at him like, "We haven't bat yet." That was his response.

I thought that was an awesome response when I read that because people understand that many times when it's 18 to nothing in their lives, divorce is in front of them, the child is struggling with drugs, the doctor just said cancer, and that word for many people is a death sentence. They've heard that the jobs are being lost at their company. When the obstacles are great, many times we tend to think that God has forgotten us, we have sinned, we have done wrong, we have done evil, and God is just coming after us, or He doesn't care.

Because Christianity in our day tends to have this whole premise that once I get saved, I immediately will have joy and happiness every day. When that doesn't turn out to be that way, we feel as if God has forgotten us and God just wants to judge us for everything we've done in the past that we know we confessed before Him. As the disciples were walking with Jesus one day, they saw this man who was blind, and Jesus Christ was about to heal him. They said to Jesus Christ, "Hey, who sinned here, his father or his mother?" And Jesus Christ responded by saying, "No, no, no. This was done so that God is glorified."

Many times when we come to the issues that are 18 to nothing, we tend to back up. When it comes to the issues, we don't tend to slow down to seek to learn the will of God in it so that whatever we do in word or in deed brings Him glory. That is exactly the mindset we need to have as believers in these last days when things are said to be more difficult, when God is telling us that things will get from bad to worse. He's not telling us it's going to get better.

So how do we live a victorious and productive life with the mindset that even though he was on the house arrest, he would say, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me"? He could talk about killing Paul and he would say, "I'll be anxious for nothing. I will meet it with prayer, and if you kill me, it's going to be for Christ that I have gain. If you let me live, it's going to still be for Christ, so either way you go, I'm not changing my mind. I counted it all loss anyway, and I'm pressing towards the mark." And he would write four letters in the New Testament while on the house arrest.

That mindset of 18 to zero, that mindset that Jesus Christ is seeking to develop inside of us, is attached to this principle that throughout this week, I want you to remember. Victory in the Bible does not start from the outside; victory is when we have an inside victory. When we're anxious for nothing, when inside the fruit of the Spirit, nothing could stop the joy of our life. The trials have so built up our trust in God, our dependency in God, our commitment to God, that the Spirit of God, the joy, the peace, the strength, the long-suffering, which is the strength for long periods of time, when we look at the fact we can still function with gentleness, not bitterness, kindness, not resentfulness, we can function this way simply because the Holy Spirit has now taken over our lives and we now walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh.

This is when victory is achieved because the more you beat up on Paul is the more he became like Christ. The more you beat up on Jesus is the more God you see out of Him. That's the victory that God is into, that's the victory that Christ modeled for us, that's the victory that He modeled for us in the life of Paul, and that's exactly what you would see in the life of Joshua in Joshua chapter six, verse one. Please remember that principle. Victory's not how things are removed on the outside; it's how it changes me on the inside so that He who is in me is greater.

In verse one of chapter six of the book of Joshua, Joshua says this to us. He says, "Now Jericho was strictly shut up because of the children of Israel. None went out and none came in." Please understand that when we get to verse two, this does not make any logical sense. This statement, literally, is somebody who we would say is fantasizing. There's no way that's going to happen. That's verse two. And in chapter six, verse two of the book of Joshua, it says, "And the Lord said unto Joshua, 'See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, the king thereof, and the mighty men of valor.'"

That sentence has no sense to it. Number one, see, the gates are shut. The walls of Jericho are double-reinforced walls, 30 feet high, very thick. That's why they felt secure enough to build houses on the wall. Rahab had a house on the wall. It gave them a sense of security. So the spies 40 years earlier, when they looked into that land and they saw that, they would cause the enemies that are around surrounding cities to not challenge them. Matter of fact, Jericho was the city that if you could conquer that city, everybody needs to be serious about you.

They know that this people are way too powerful. So God set up the most powerful nation after Egypt for them to conquer to make a statement as they go into the rest of the Promised Land. This is a city that folks don't even think about fighting, they would just trade with them. Very well laid out, irrigation, all these different things developed inside of it. So if you try to trap them in the city by blocking up the water, they found ways to get water in the city so they could still survive and not die from thirst. So when you're saying that they lock up the gates, they're saying you can't touch us.

That is exactly why when God is talking to people who were former slaves who are coming to Jericho, and He is having a worship service rather than a strategy of war, it makes no sense. That's why the Bible is saying in 2nd Peter chapter one, he says when a person accepts God's word as comprehensive to constantly reflect off of it in terms of whatever they do, that person, verse nine through 11 of 2nd Peter chapter one, is not shortsighted. That person can see. 1st John chapter one, verse five through verse seven, says if I walk in the light as He's in the light, I'd have fellowship with Him because I could now see when I walk. So seeing is not based on what I can physically see; it's based on what I truly with conviction believe.

So He looks at Joshua and He prepares him to want to see. Joshua's always been a person, no matter what you say to Joshua, Joshua's going to believe God. He and Caleb were saying we need to go; the other 10 spies were saying no, we don't need to go, this is crazy. Why? Because in Egypt, unless you're a soldier, you were not allowed to carry a weapon. So all these different weapons that they had, they've had to gather those weapons. And Joshua, he used to be a general in the Egyptian army, that's what historians say, who was a mighty man of valor in the Egyptian army. Even though he was a Jew, he led men to war, many people believe against Ethiopia, and did such a great job defeating Ethiopia.

So Joshua probably trained these people how to fight because they weren't allowed to carry weapons. So how do you see when you don't see? And that's why the Bible when it talks about a person being blind, it's not that they don't see the problems that they face, it's that they can't see because they're blind. Understand, seeing is what He's challenging Joshua with, is the fact that the Lord of Hosts met Joshua. And Joshua in verse 13 of chapter five lifted up his eyes and looked and behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hands.

And Joshua, a man of valor, went unto him and said unto him, "Art thou for us or for our adversaries?" And he said, "Nay, but as a captain of the host of the Lord, am I now come." And Joshua fell on his face, the man of valor, to the earth and did worship and said unto him, "What saith my Lord unto thy servant?" And the captain of the Lord of Hosts said unto Joshua, "Loose your shoes from off thy foot, for the place whereupon thou standest is holy." And Joshua did so. This is most likely Jesus Christ saying, "I am here to fight this battle."

See, Joshua, the gates are closed. See what I am telling you to see. You just believe it and see. When we allow the obstacles of our lives to cause us to be blind, it's not that Jesus Christ can't overcome the obstacles or make us so strong in the obstacles that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us even though the obstacle is there. It's the fact that if He can't get us to see, then there's evidence that we don't believe. The thing that He rewards, Hebrews chapter 11, verse six, says is faith. He rewards us trusting His word, no matter how crazy it seems to be when we are seeking to do it.

He says just trust it. Trust Me. I'm always good, I'm always perfect, I'm always righteous, I can never make mistakes. I am perfect in every way. There is nothing I could say that could ever be a lie. The Bible says in Hebrews chapter six, verse 18, God cannot lie. There's nothing inside of Him that could make Him lie. That's why Jesus Christ is the truth. Like water is wet, so there is no way you could ever get Jesus Christ to even conceive a lie. Satan is the father of lies. He can't think, the Bible says in John chapter eight, verse 44, to tell the truth. He can't even conceive of how to do that.

But Jesus Christ is by His very nature the truth. So there's no way that I shouldn't trust the person who is telling me that when I lose my mind in Him, I gain life, I learn His will. And when I lose my mind in Him, His word does not return void. So victory is in seeing through His eyes, not mine. We'll pick this up again tomorrow, and I pray that you start seeing through His eyes. That's exactly what we ask our kids to do. No, that's not the person you should marry. That's not the person you should date. No, you can't drive at 14. Yes, you need to do your homework because it's important as you build your future. They can't see it, but they choose to trust our eyes. Christ is saying, "I am your parent, God is your Father, trust Me. Stay focused."

Guest (Male): Thank you, Pastor Cannings. It's so true. Victory in the Bible does not start on the outside but happens when God transforms the heart of a person.

Dr. Paul Cannings: Power Walk Ministries seek to support itself by the books and the materials and the videos that God has blessed us to be able to use to minister to your life and to strengthen your soul and to equip you spiritually to be productive. And that's the way in which we develop support for this ministry. We feel that if we touch your life in an effective manner with a book or CD, etc., then that will lead for us to touching other lives. So go to our website at www.powerwalkministries.org.

Guest (Male): We're excited about this book, When You Pray, a new book that's coming out. Your support of the ministry of $25 or more would make this book a blessing to your life or for those around you that need to hear When We Pray, how to move in our prayers to see and experience the blessings of God and grow closer to God. This is the book. Come to our website at powerwalkministries.org and be blessed.

And while you're there, look for Pastor Cannings' release, A Quiet Place. This is a daily devotional designed to help you grow in your faith day by day. Again, our web address is powerwalkministries.org or call us at 281-260-7402. Our mailing address is PO Box 920517, Houston, Texas 77092. And now remember, Joshua's victory is not fiction. The Lord who went before him and gave him the victory is the same God who is with us today.