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.

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As we continue our study of the men who followed David, another characteristic was their ability to war.They learned how to battle with both the right hand and the left hand for hurling stones. If you have ever thrown a ball, you know that you can aim effectively with your dominant hand — but try it with the opposite hand — it’s far more difficult to throw accurately.  But the men that followed David learned to throw with both arms effectively!  It must have taken months of training to develop such skill.

When David was a fugitive from Saul, the men who followed him recognized his rightful place as King of Israel, and they developed a deep loyalty to him, this little band. As we read yesterday, these men were transformed from distress, debt, and discontentment [1 Sam. 22:1-2] into becoming mighty men of war. Having joined David, they quickly realized that they were joining a conflict.

Last night, Jewish people around the world will mourn Tisha B’Av, the ninth day of the fifth month of the Hebrew calendar year. Some of you may know that a lot of bad things have happened to the Jewish people on this date, the first of which was when the spies returned with an evil report of Canaan, the Promised Land, recounted in Numbers 13 and 14. Both the first and the second Temple were destroyed on this exact date, hundreds of years apart. The Crusades began on this day in 1095. The Jews were expelled out of England on this day in 1290, and again were expelled from Spain and Portugal on Tisha B’Av in 1492. And there are many more examples of this infamous day in Jewish history!

An ancient legend tells of a king who walked into his garden one day to find almost everything withered and dying. After speaking to an oak near the gate, the king learned that he was troubled because he was not tall and beautiful like the pine. The pine overheard their conversation and added that she, too, was upset, for she could not bear delicious fruit like the pear tree. The pear tree heard his name and began to complain that he did not have the lovely odor of the spruce. And so it went throughout the entire garden.

In the midst of a serious heat wave, wildfires are spreading across Europe causing thousands to evacuate. This reminded me of a story I once read.

I can’t begin to tell you. So many people I’ve shared the Gospel with have answered, “Well — I don’t need that, I’m a good person.” No, we’re not. We have a tendency to compare ourselves with our neighbor, thinking how nice or how giving we are compared to him or her. But none of us are good by God’s standards. Our good works are like filthy rags, according to Isaiah.

If you look at the ant you will find that they dwell in colonies. Each colony consists of approximately 60,000 – 90,000 ants — they really can’t prosper on their own. They need each other. How does a colony of that many ants to work together? The only reason it works is that they operate in unity. Each ant shares the same purpose, the same goal, and the same aim.