God Fights for You

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April 26, 2020

When is the last time you’ve experienced sustained and consistent victories in your vision, leadership, or life? I don’t know about you, but I want God fighting for me in my life. I want to experience sustained and consistent victories.

In Joshua 10, we find Israel in the middle of a military conquest of the land of Canaan. More amazing than the victories Joshua experiences is that God was fighting on behalf of the Israelites. The conclusion of this chapter is simply:

And Joshua captured all these kings and their land at one time, because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel– Joshua 10:42 ESV

The source of Joshua’s victories was God fighting on behalf of the Israelites. What we want to learn from this story is, what did Joshua do as the leader who witnessed God fighting on behalf of his people. There are four actions Joshua took that effectively allowed him to experience sustained and consistent victories with regard to his vision, leadership, and life.

I’m going to breakdown how we can apply these four actions into our own lives as two categories: obedience and fearless trust in God.

Joshua’s Obedience

In Joshua 10, we find five Amorite kings joining forces to fight against Joshua and the Israelites. Halfway down the chapter, Joshua executes the kings at the mouth of the cave they went to hide in. From there he went to a city named Makkedah and he did exactly to the king and the city as he did to Jericho in chapter 6, which was to destroy all things devoted to destruction.

Photo by Piotr Makowski on Unsplash

Then he visited the next city and did the same thing, and then the next city and did the same thing. So, on and so forth. We learn two simple things about obedience to God:

1️⃣ Do exactly as God commands

The reason the story seems to repeat itself over and over again in this chapter with only the names of the city changing is because Joshua did exactly as God commanded him.

In Joshua 6, God tells Joshua to separate himself and the Israelites from the “things devoted to destruction” in Jericho and destroy them. Joshua took that command to mean that he and his people are set apart from the destruction that lies rampant in the cities and they must conquer to inherit the promise land. So, every city and king that Joshua and the Israelites faced in chapter 10, they did to those places exactly what they did to Jericho. They did not deviate.

If we want to do exactly as God commands in our lives, then we too must indiscriminately root out all things in our lives that are devoted to destruction. What is that in your life? Is it pride? Adultery? Possessions? Jobs?

If we want to do exactly as God commands in our lives, then we too must indiscriminately root out all things in our lives that are devoted to destruction

2️⃣ Don’t allow distractions to become the main pursuit

The second way we can model Joshua’s obedience is by not allowing the distractions to become our main pursuit. In verse 19, Joshua tells the people “not to stay there yourselves” but rather “pursue your enemies….”

Joshua understood that trapping the kings of the Amorites wasn’t a victory in itself. It was a distraction that could suck the attentions of the Israelites in the wrong direction. The war doesn’t end at the cave.

We need the same type of laser focus Joshua had on the main pursuit, which wasn’t just capturing the kings of the Amorites. If we want to be completely obedient to God, then we cannot allow distractions from derailing our obedience.

Joshua’s Trust in God

The second part to experiencing God fighting for us requires two daily habits we need to implement.

3️⃣ Don’t wait to double check God

Many of us check and double check what God wants from our lives even though we know what He wants from us, complete obedience to Him. If you want to model fearless trust in God, then don’t hesitate to reconfirm what you already know and start doing it.

You may not have all your answers, but if you know God is fighting for you, then we need to habitually take action steps toward the direction God is leading you in. In Joshua 10:8, we find God speaking to Joshua, and in verse 9, Joshua is already moving. Joshua and his army were “suddenly” at the place for war. It’s time for us to habituate moving with the same urgency Joshua had.

4️⃣ Speak with God

A second habit we need to implement is to speak with God regularly. We need to pray and spend time with our God if we want to fearlessly trust in God. When Joshua spoke with God in verse 14, God responded. God responded by providing a miracle in the battle.

Joshua had fearless trust in God because he spoke with God and trusted their conversations meant something. The Bible says that when we speak to God, He listens and responds. So why aren’t we in the habit of speaking with God more frequently?

When we obey God and choose to fearlessly trust Him, God fights for us.