Trust The Power And Promises Of God.

The book of Joshua is a book about “taking the Promised Land”.
Promises: For the Israelites, it was about conquering the land of Canaan, the land promised to them by God.

For us, there are principles that we can learn from, as we learn to move into the life that God has for us as believers. God has a “Promised Land” for us, and there is a sense in which we have to “fight” for it. Yes, God does the majority of the work, the “heavy lifting”, but we partner with God in learning how to live for Jesus.
Judgment: It is also a book about judgment.

God wasn’t just giving the Israelites a new home, God was bringing judgment on the people living in this land.

God has whispered to Abraham that after four hundred years, the “iniquity of the Amorite” would be “full” (Gen. 15:13-16).

Over and over, God has warned His people about the dangers that lie in this “Promised Land”.

God has warned the people not to be too curious about the gods and customs of the people they are conquering. God does not want His people to be like these wicked civilizations.

The main headquarters for the Israelites is in Gilgal.

We’ve already seen the Israelites conquer the cities of Jericho, Ai.

When the rest of the cities in the south saw that the city of Gibeon had allied with Israel, a huge war followed and the Israelites ended up conquering much of the area south of Ai.

The battle now moves into the northern part of Israel

Joshua 11:18 - "Joshua made war a long time with all those kings.

And now here in Joshua 11, it's happening. So it's happening because of the power and the promises of God. Not because the army is any mightier. It's because they believe God and because Joshua is leading the people of God to do what God had called them to do.

Joshua 11:21–23 is a summary of what has happened through Joshua 11, as God’s people have taken the promised land. But I want you to notice specifically in these verses, Joshua came at that time, verse 21 says, and cut off the Anakim. The Anakim. And you pause there and you think about, “Wait a minute, where have we seen the descendants of Anak?”

And you remember back in Numbers 13 and Numbers 14, when the spies went into the promised land to scout it out and they came back and they said, “Apart from Caleb and Joshua,” the group of spies said, “there’s no way we can take this land because the descendants of Anak are there, and they’re so big. We’re like grasshoppers in their eyes. There’s no way we could take them.”

And Joshua and Caleb had stood up and said, “Yes, we can because God has promised to help us.” And yet the other spies and the people of God said, “No, we can’t go.” They basically said, we don’t trust God to help us take this land.

Help us to walk faithfully with you, amidst the challenges before us, and help us to trust in your power, presence, and promises every step of the way.

Trust The Power And Promises Of God.

And you know the story, an entire generation died in the wilderness because they didn’t trust God. And now here in Joshua 11, it’s happening. So it’s happening because of the power and the promises of God. Not because the army is any mightier. It’s because they believe God and because Joshua is leading the people of God to do what God had called them to do.

So we pray based on this picture of Joshua 11, amidst all kinds of challenges we might be facing in each of our lives. So picture different challenges you’re facing, you’re walking through, and look to heaven and let’s pray based on Joshua 11.

Joshua 11:21–23 Trusts In God.

God, we trust in you. We trust in you. We pray that you would help us not to be afraid, not to be afraid of what lies ahead, because we know you are with us. And we know your presence is with us. We know your promises are for us.

We know your power is with those who trust in you, who walk with you, who align with your word, and walk and step with your spirit. And so we pray that you would help us to do all that you are calling us to do. Help us to walk faithfully with you, amidst the challenges before us, and help us to trust in your power and your presence and your promises every step of the way.

Joshua 11:21–23 Asks Us To Learn From History.

God, help us to learn from the history of your people in the Old Testament. Help us to learn not to be afraid or be dismayed, to shrink back from what you are calling us to do. God help us to walk fully in obedience to you.

And as we do, to trust in you every step of the way. God, we praise you for your faithfulness to your promises, to show your power on behalf of your people, with your presence in Joshua. God, we pray the same for our own lives today.

So God, would you show yourself faithful with all your power, to all your promises that you’ve given to us today as your people, as we walk through all kinds of different challenges before us and around us, in our lives and our families, work and churches?

God, please, please help us to walk by faith, to obey you by faith today.

God Is Our Savior.

So God, I pray based on verse 23, specifically saying the land had rest from war. God, we pray with longing for the day when the war will be no more when the battles will be no more when the challenges and the sorrow and the suffering that go with them will be no more.

God, we praise you that the ultimate battle has already been won and there’s coming a day when you will wipe every tear from our eyes.

All glory, be to your name, Lord Jesus. You are the victor. You are our savior. Above all, You are our Lord. We love you. We trust you. And we pray that you would help us to faithfully walk with you, obey you until the war is over until battles with sin and evil and suffering are over and we are with you in your presence face to face.

Come, Lord Jesus. Come quickly, we pray. We pray all of this based on Joshua 11:21–23. Trust God and not your own understanding. Like Joshua, believers frequently face the problem of doubt. Yet, like Joshua, believers must face these challenges by trusting God and not relying upon their own understanding: “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.”

What does Joshua 11:15 mean?

Symbolism can also be found in this verse, particularly in the concept of leaving "nothing undone." This phrase emphasizes the thoroughness and completeness of Joshua's obedience to the Lord.

Here in Joshua 11 there are some things I wanted to focus on for just a moment.

We see in the first few verses that Israel’s enemies banded together to defeat them. It didn’t matter what their differences were, they knew that Israel had defeated every enemy they faced, so if they were to have any chance at all, they knew they had to fight Israel together.

We as Christians could learn from that. We have a common enemy, too. And that enemy is the enemy of man’s soul. It’s satan. And just as Israel had no prayer of defeating their enemies in the Promised Land without the help of God, we have no hope of defeating satan in our own lives without the help of that same God.

Also, the world today is turmoil on a hundred different fronts, but you can be sure that the same enemy is behind it all. It’s satan. He delights when man is fearful, combative, hateful and without hope.

It’s our job to tell mankind of the Good News of Jesus Christ. And we have a better chance of success if we forget about the things that cause division amongst us and focus on what we have in common, Jesus the Messiah.

But if we are divided, our message is diluted. The world is less inclined to believe us. Jesus said they’ll know that we are Christians by our love for one another. Believers need to focus on the One who died for us, not on our petty differences.

Notice that God didn’t fight these battles for Joshua miraculously like he did in the beginning. He has demonstrated to Joshua that He is with him, and He assures Joshua that he will have the victory, but He gives Joshua the battle plan and then leaves Joshua to execute that plan.

Family, as we mature in our spiritual life, he expects more of us. He expects us to fight our own battles. How many times have I heard someone say, “If God would only just take that temptation away, because I just can’t handle it on my own!”

Hogwash. He has given you what you need, you just need to do it. God didn’t fight all of Joshua’s battles, and He’s not going to fight all of your battles, either.