The Power of Unusual Obedience!

Joshua 6:20  So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. 

Jericho stood as the first and most formidable barrier in the land of promise. Its walls were thick, its defenses strong, and its reputation intimidating. From a natural perspective, it was unconquerable. Israel had just entered the land, and immediately, they were confronted with a fortress that could not be overcome by conventional means.

But God did not give them a military strategy — He gave them an instruction.

They were told to march around the city, remain silent, blow trumpets, and on the seventh day, release a shout. There were no weapons of siege, no visible plan of attack, no strategy that made sense to the natural mind. The victory would not come through strength or skill, but through obedience to God’s voice. Faith had to move even when the method seemed unusual.

Day after day, they walked in silence. There was no visible progress, no sign that the walls were weakening. It would have been easy to question the process or adjust the plan, but they continued in obedience. Then on the seventh day, at the appointed moment, they shouted — and the walls collapsed.

Jericho did not fall because Israel was strong; it fell because God was faithful.

This is the nature of spiritual victory. The greatest strongholds are not broken by force, but by alignment with God’s instruction. What seems foolish in the natural often carries power in the Spirit. Obedience becomes the weapon, and faith releases what God has already determined to do.

Revival follows this same pattern. God often leads His people in ways that do not appeal to human reasoning. He may call for worship when pressure is rising, prayer when action feels urgent, or persistence when nothing appears to be changing. But spiritual battles require spiritual weapons, and victory comes when we trust His method above our own understanding.

Jericho was more than a city — it was a declaration. No barrier can stand before a people who are aligned with the voice of God. The walls that appeared permanent collapsed in a moment because obedience positioned the people for a breakthrough.

Beloved, do not measure your breakthrough by what you see — measure it by your obedience. The walls before you may look immovable, but they are not stronger than the God who has spoken. This is the hour to trust His strategy, even when it stretches your understanding. If we walk when He says walk, worship when He says worship, and respond when He says speak, the walls will not stand. Revival will not be released through human effort, but through a people fully aligned with heaven — and when that alignment is complete, every stronghold will fall.

Copyright 1999-2026 Worthy Devotions. This devotional was originally published on Worthy Devotions and was reproduced with permission.

How to display the above article within the Worthy Suite WordPress Plugin.

[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]

The Lord (YHVH) commanded the grain offering on Shavuot, (known as Pentecost among Christians), to be made of the finest flour, baked with yeast, that is, leaven. Leaven, in the Bible, is almost universally, a symbol for “sin”, and in the OT is strictly forbidden on the altar of YHVH., yet here, in the Feast of Weeks it is commanded as part of the offering. Just six weeks prior to this festival, Israel had spent a week eating unleavened bread, a clear picture of the connection between the Passover Lamb and the removal of sin from our lives. Now the grain offering for Shavuot contains yeast; two loaves with it. Why? A common interpretation of this for NT believers is that the loaves represent Jews and Gentiles, the two types of redeemed people, who, of course, still contain sin in our lives.

We've just returned to Israel and the region seems to be nothing but a boiling cauldron ready to erupt. In just a few days, we will celebrate the Feast of Weeks, or Shavuot, in Hebrew. Most Christians recognize this holiday as the Feast of Pentecost -- the time when the Holy Spirit descended and empowered His saints to accomplish the mission of global witness to Yeshua (Jesus).

Three thousand years ago, when Solomon dedicated the Temple to God, the priests offered up thousands of sacrifices. After the sacrifices were offered up — then the glory of God fell! The glory of God was so thick and heavy that the priests could no longer minister! Do you see the connection? First the offerings — THEN the glory fell!

In the beginning of Psalm 2, David points out that the kings of the earth are against the Lord and his "anointed" [Mashiach "Messiah" in Hebrew]. David recognized the true authority of God and advises the kings and rulers of the world, as well as their subjects, to "kiss the Son, lest he be angry." The act of "kissing the Son" would be one of homage to a king, and would indicate submission to the kingship of the Son. Those who are wise will do so before the Son, the Messiah, comes to judge the world!

When the twelve spies were sent into Canaan to spy out the land, ten returned with a bad report. Their assessment was that it was impossible to conquer the land that God had promised them. Forgetting how God had led them with a pillar of fire by night, and fed them manna from heaven during the day, brought forth water out of a rock, and parted the Red Sea, they saw the situation with only their natural eyes, failed to walk by faith, and succumbed to fear.

When we moved into this place five months ago, the bushes in front looked terrible. The yard hadn't been cared for in so long that the bushes had grown into the trees, pulling down the branches, creating a thick wall of dry, dusty and intertwined shrubbery and blocking out the sunlight. Almost everything in the front yard was dead from lack of sun and sometimes even rain.

Since we returned to our home in the Negev Desert in Israel, we've noticed that the usual "desert scene" we are so accustomed to, has completely blossomed with grass and flowers -- what an amazing difference! It suddenly occured to me, as we were delighting in the beauty of it all, that the seed was already there! No one planted it. All the hills, now rolling endlessly with green -- they are not owned by anyone. Miles and miles of grass and wild flowers suddenly shoot forth where there was nothing but brown before! It was just waiting for someone to water it! And God brought the rains.