[Scripture: Joshua 6:1-7]
Knowing who you are in Christ is the definition of “Christian spiritual identity.” Developing a spiritual identity with a strong faith is a core Christian value that I found in the story of Joshua. When the Israelites rediscovered their spiritual identity, that motivated them to drive out their enemy from the land.
Attitude of the Israelites
Do you remember when the Israelites ran away from Egypt? At that time, they looked like fugitives who needed to hurry to escape from Egypt to the desert. On the day of the exodus, Moses reminded his people to leave in a hurry even if that meant that their bread dough would not have time to rise. Moses told them to keep silent, move quickly, and not to make unnecessary trouble with people on the way. These were Moses’ central guidelines when he led the Israelites for forty years.
However, God said to Moses that He would not cross over the Jordan River with them. So, Moses gave his last farewell sermon in Deuteronomy 31. It sounded a lot like a graduation commencement address. The main idea of his speech was this: “Now that you have finished your forty years of desert education, be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid of any individual you meet in the new world.”
Sometimes, I like to watch university commencement addresses because some of them are so inspirational. Among them, Lou Holtz’s address at Franciscan University in 2015 is my favorite. He gave the graduating students three rules. The first one was: “Do right.” The second: “Do everything to the best of your ability.” The last one was: “Show people you care.” He then added one more, which was: “Do not complain.” His point was something like: “You’re going to have problems; you’re going to have difficulties. That’s part of life. Don’t tell people about your problems. Don’t you know that 90% of people don’t care? And the other 10% are glad you got them.”
Did you know? If you grumble before people, it is complaining. On the other hand, if you grumble before God in the name of Jesus, it turns into prayer. That is a great advantage and power of the name of Jesus Christ.
Jericho was the Israelites’ first battle after they crossed over the Jordan River. Joshua’s army had a totally different attitude than Moses. They looked like a well-trained army that would be victorious in battle. They looked confident and didn’t try to run away from the enemy anymore. Instead, they were ready to confront their enemy with a clear sense of purpose and the right motivation as an army of God.
What turned a disorderly crowd into a well-maintained army? It was the attitude! They changed their attitude from a loser’s mentality to a winner’s mentality in order to drive them out of the promised land. If they did not drive out the enemy from the land, the enemy would have driven the Israelites out from the promised land. So, God told the Israelites to tear down Jericho because Jericho would have torn them down if they didn’t.
Kingdom Attitude
The story of Joshua gives us a clear principle of what a Christian’s attitude should be. Ephesians 4:22-23 says, “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off old self” “instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitude of your minds and to put on the new self.” This means, if you want to live a new life in the kingdom of God, you and I need to have a Kingdom attitude.
What is a Kingdom attitude? That means confronting your unholy habits and driving them out of your life. John Wesley said this is the way of Christian perfection. Christian perfection means not moral perfection but perfection in love with the pure motivation of one’s heart.
If you think you are born-again through the washing and rebirth in the name of Jesus Christ and renewal by the Holy Spirit, you need to do a holy task. You need to confront your unholy habits and drive them out from your daily life. If you don’t drive them out, they will drive out the heavenly joy and peace in your life, and they will ruin your spiritual life.
Theological and Practical Application
How did the Israelites change their way of life or behavior from complaintive to compliant? Faith was the answer. The Israelites were living in between faith and fear. When they had faith, they were compliant. But when they had fear, they became wild and complaintive.
For that reason, Jesus said, “fear not but believe.” It is one of the most repeated commands in the Bible because fear diminishes the quality of a Christian’s life. Faith and fear cannot coexist because these are mutually incompatible, like light and darkness. Light and darkness cannot be in the same place because darkness is the absence of light. In the same way, if a Christian loses their faith, fear takes its place.
Hebrew 11:1 tells us about Christian faith. “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” An absolute faith is what we need to have. God is working for us above in heaven. In theological language, I can say that God is a transcendent being. God is beyond time and space, which means God can see what we cannot see.
Do you use a map or GPS when you go to another place you have never been? I use GPS a lot because I believe a satellite is always hovering above and sees us from above, so it knows exactly where I am and the place where I need to go.
“Transcendent” means having a satellite-like view. God sees everything from the above. On the other hand, God is an incarnational being, which means God can intervene in our daily lives as Jesus Christ the incarnate as a son of Mary. Therefore, God understands every suffering and weakness of ours. So, I am confident when I pray about everything to God.
I hesitate to tell this story, but I will tell you because it is true. When I was in Cincinnati, Ohio for my college years, I had bed bugs in my room. It was so irritating. At that moment, I did not know how to handle the situation. So, I prayed so hard that God would kill the bed bugs, and after that, God opened my eyes so I could see every single one of them and I smashed them. Finally, I got them all. Prayer has the power to even kill bad bugs.
If you pray to God, God’s Spirit helps open your spiritual eyes to find the enemy that is irritating your spiritual life and gives you the power to drive them out of your life. Philippians 4:5 says, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.”
God’s miracles begin with your faith, and they are completed by your prayer with your corresponding actions.
Please, stay with people who have the same faith and share your time with someone who has Godly habits as much as you can. Doing that helps you to keep a confident faith and also helps you drive your spiritual enemies out of your life.
Our Church will walk with you, help you develop your spiritual identity, and help you to find God’s purpose in your life. Let’s walk together to victory.
2021.08.15. Pastor Cloud Poy
@ Photo on Unsplash
