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So tonight I want to talk again about the heart of a conqueror, and we're learning lessons from Joshua. Because just like God worked in Joshua and the children of Israel and brought them into a new time, a new place, a new land with new blessing, God wants to do that in our lives. The Bible says we go from glory to glory to glory. This is never going to be a time when it's all been done. There's never going to be a time when we've experienced it all, had it all. God has more for us.
But if we're going to enter into that new time, that new season where God does new things in our life, where we experience new blessing, there will be battles along the way. And in order to win those battles, and some of you right now, you frankly are facing a battle. Can I just encourage you that that battle is simply a doorway to a new time and a new season that God has for you in your life?
And so this series is instructive for us. It's designed to give us faith and courage to believe that God is going to go before us. We've talked about having strength. We've talked about having courage. We've talked about the importance of consecration. We talked about remembering what God has done, having the thankfulness to look back and say, "God, you were with me there." That's part of being a heart of a conqueror. Remembering what He's done helps us to believe Him for what He's going to do. We talked about the importance of not delaying our obedience, but taking care of things so that we can enter a new season of blessing.
Tonight, I want to talk to you about having spiritual vision. Spiritual vision. In order for you and I to achieve victory, one of the keys is we have to be able to see what God sees. In Proverbs chapter 29 and verse 18, King James puts it this way: "Where there is no vision, people perish." The enemy hates vision. He hates vision. Sunday, he hates, he hates it when people are believing God for more. He hates it when people are looking for what God's going to do, because he wants everybody to perish. I like the way The Message put it: "If people can't see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves."
I want to ask you tonight, can you see what God is doing in your life? Do you have a sense? Can you see what God is doing in this church? Can you see what your place is in the church? Because God has a place for you. If you're not serving, it's because you haven't seen what God has for you. Can you see how God is leading you? Do you have a sense of that? Vision is seeing what God is doing. The question is never, "Is God doing something?" The question is, "What is God doing?" And our vision determines what we see.
You know, you can see and not see. I was preaching at a ministers' conference out in Arizona, and when I'm not wearing glasses, I wear contacts. And at that time, I was only wearing one. It was kind of a mono-vision deal, so I'd read with one eye, long distance with the other. And so I had one contact in my left eye. And and I'm preaching. And as I'm preaching, I all of a sudden, and it was a message I had not ever preached before, at a minister's conference. Oh, it was a new message. I wasn't super familiar with it, in as much as I needed to be able to see my notes. So in the middle of the message, I felt something that kind of wiped my eye, and the contact popped out. Only I knew that. But it instantly, I was like, "Oh no," because I could not see one note. I mean, I was like, "I can't read anything. I can't see anything." So I'm sitting there. I could see, but I couldn't see. That's a horrible feeling when you're just in a situation and you need to see, but you can't see.
It's possible people can can be in the kingdom, can have God working around them, and have eyesight that sees, but doesn't see. I mean, just like you can have somebody who physically is nearsighted, that means they, they, that the distant objects are blurry. There are some people who are spiritually nearsighted. They can only see what's right in front of them. They can't see down the line. Other people, they're farsighted, and that means distant objects are clear, but that things up closer blurry. And some people have spiritual farsightedness. They're able to get excited about the future, like five years from now, and I'm gonna do this, I'm gonna do that. But they're not too excited. They can't see what God is doing tonight, tomorrow, the next day. And it's attending to what God is doing now. That opens the door for what God's going to do in the future.
Some people are spiritually colorblind. They have the inability to differentiate between the nuances of what God's doing. They don't have the discernment to understand how God is working. They, they don't sense it. Some have spiritual tunnel vision. They don't see the periphery. They only see just one little part of, of the picture. They don't get the big picture. But the person who has the heart of a conqueror is a person who has developed 20/20 spiritual vision.
So how do we do that? And, and how do we get that? We're gonna see this in Joshua chapter five. Before we jump into Joshua chapter five, I want you to look at Joshua chapter six and verses 1 through 2, because they're very interesting. When you read scripture, don't go too fast, because if you go too fast, you're gonna miss the nuances of what the writer of the scripture is telling you. Here you have an idea of that in Joshua chapter 6: "Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel." So Jericho is the, is a fortress on the border of the land of Canaan, designed to stop invasion of the land and invading armies. So here is Jericho. It's all shut up. It's there. And say a city, we're gonna talk about that next time about the city itself. Says, "None went out, none came in." And the Lord said to Joshua, "See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor."
What I want you to notice is verse 1 and verse 2 are given in contrast to one another. Verse 1 tells us what Joshua sees. Joshua is standing there, and he's looking with his physical eyes at a physical city, and he's wondering how he's going to get in there. He's thinking about it. He's considering it. He is the military leader of a group of former slaves, and now he's facing this huge fortress designed to repel invasion into the land of Canaan. And from a physical standpoint, the people of Israel attacking that city and taking it seems like an impossibility. It doesn't seem very likely. But in verse 2, God says, "See, I have given Jericho into your hand."
You know, sometimes we see the physical reality, and we're not seeing the spiritual reality. And the physical reality, if that's all we see, can be very discouraging and very overwhelming. Some tonight, and you're overwhelmed and you're discouraged because all you're seeing in your situation is what your physical eyes see, what your physical ears hear, and it's discouraged you and it's made you feel like giving up. And that's exactly where the enemy wants you to be.
And so the art of spiritual living, the art of the victorious Christian life, the art of having the heart of a conqueror, is to understand that we live in a spiritual world, or a physical world, but there are spiritual realities. And that there's the physical world and there's the spiritual world, and we have to learn to see with spiritual eyes. We need spiritual vision.
The question is, how do we develop that? I want to give you three things, and then we're gonna get the presence of the Lord.
Number one: Spiritual vision comes from being in God's presence. Now look at this in Joshua chapter 5 and verse 13: "When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked." Now, I want you to remember, whenever you see, like we get to chapter 6 and verse 2, it says, "The Lord said, 'See, I have given Jericho into your hands.'" So at the start of this story, Joshua is looking at the end of this story. God is telling him, "Look with my eyes." Do you get that? So these verses are about spiritual vision. It starts with that, it ends with that.
"When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand." I think I believe Joshua was sitting there looking at Jericho. He's looking at the city. He's looking at the fortifications. He's thinking, "How are we going to take this city?" And as he is looking intently, all of the sudden, he notices there's a man standing right there with a sword. That will get your attention. It doesn't say the man. It doesn't, there's no indication initially this is an angel. There's nothing that says, "And a man was standing in a gleaming white robe, board." There was a being with, and with wings and a sword. That would have honestly, while scary initially, been very encouraging to Joshua. I think though, by the very nature of the question, because Joshua's gonna say, "Are you for me or against me?" I think it indicates if it's a human-looking person. You say, "Is it an angel? Is it the Lord?" Some will say it's, it's a pre-incarnate Christ. Some will say an angel, and there's reasons for both of those. We won't get into that. I'm just simply saying that it looks like a man holding a sword. And Joshua's instantly like, "Dude, we can do battle. I mean, is I mean, are you for me or against me? Because if you're against me, I'm gonna cut your head off." I mean, that's really, he's got to think that way. If you were looking at an enemy territory and all of a sudden somebody dressed like a soldier had a weapon just like yours, and you were looking at one another, your first question would be, "Are we on the same team or not?" Right? That's Joshua. He looks at him.
And I think what's happening there is Joshua is sitting there, and as he's thinking about Jericho, you know what he's doing? He's doing what a godly person always does when they're facing an impossibility. He's praying. He's waiting on the Lord. He's asking God, "What am I going to do?" When you're gonna conquer land, make sure you're always in God's presence, and you're gonna see this play out because you're gonna see him in the presence of the Lord. But the key to spiritual vision is to be in the presence of God.
Second: Spiritual vision comes when we submit to God's purpose. Now look at this in chapter 5. Joshua went to him and he said to him, "Are you for us or for our adversaries?" And he said, "No." Now, that's not an answer to the question, "Are you for me or against me?" No, that's a very interesting response. Do you know what's happening here? What's happening is the man's interest is not the same as Joshua. Joshua is interested in a victory over Jericho. That's why he says, "Are you for us or against us?" The man's interest, his focus, is on heaven's purpose. It's very interesting. Look at it, verse 14: "And he said, 'No, but I am the Commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.'" In other words, here's what's happening. He's saying, "Joshua, you're asking if I'm for you or against you, but my bigger concern is serving God and accomplishing His purpose."
You know, sometimes what happens is we're so interested in winning our particular battle that we've, it's almost like tunnel vision, and we're not seeing God's bigger picture, and we're missing out on God's purpose. The God has a purpose, and, and does He want us to win the battle? Certainly. But if we win the battle and we miss His purpose, then we can lose the war. If we win the battle and we, and we don't understand God's purpose in our life, then have we really advanced? I mean, watch this in verse 14. Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped. So again, he is, he is in the presence of the Lord. And he said to him, "What does my Lord say to his servant?" I mean, it's instant submission to the will of God. For Joshua, do you see what's happened here? It's no longer about winning or losing. Conquering Jericho has instantly become secondary to the Lord's will.
I want to ask you a question: Are you more committed to getting that battle won, or are you more committed to the Lord's will? What if God's will is, is different than you think it ought to be? What if God says, "I'm gonna, I'm gonna, you're gonna win the battle, but I'm gonna ask you to do some things along the way that don't make any sense." Are you wanting to do that? What if God says, "I'm gonna let you win that battle, but you're gonna look kind of stupid to people who are watching you, because I want people to see my power on display." Where are you at in that? Are you willing to say, "You know what? All I care about is the Lord's purpose and the Lord's glory, because it's not about me, it's about Him, and I'm the Lord's servant. Whatever His will is, that's what I want. I want His will more than I want my personal victory."
This is, this is a very powerful thing because, you know what's gonna happen? If you know the story, God's gonna say, "Guess why? Here's how I want you to take the city. I want you to march around it a number of times and then shout, and the walls are gonna come down, and you're gonna take the city." Which makes absolutely no military sense. And you know the people of Jericho have to be thinking, "What is with these people? And who gave them this instruction?" Oh, Joshua did. He said, "God." God may want to declare His glory through you. But if you're not committed to being submissive to His working, His purpose in your life, you're not gonna have what it takes to carry out His plan, and you're not gonna have the victory. Here's Joshua, he's just submissive, and so he's, he's waiting on the Lord.
Look out at verse 15. "And the Commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, 'Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.' And Joshua did so." I mean, this is, it brings up something really interesting that you see throughout the book of Joshua. There is a pattern that emerges, and it's one of spiritual preparation and relationship with God, followed by God doing great work. So think about it. They, they're told, "Consecrate yourself, for tomorrow the Lord is going to do great things." So before you cross over, consecrate yourself, and then you'll cross over miraculously. Remember that chapter 3? And then when you get to chapter 4, it's like, "Hey, take time to give to have Thanksgiving and to correct some disobedience. Take time to be with the Lord, and then you're gonna see a new season where you're gonna eat off the land." Later, we're gonna see in chapter 7, "Make sure that you don't have sin in the camp, disobedience in your life, or you're not going to know victory." In other words, get things right with God. Be walking in a right relationship with God, and then you're gonna be able to take AI and defeat that city.
It's a very interesting. And here you have the same thing. What you have is, you have this spiritual preparation and relationship that, that God wants with the people, this worshipping of Him before you see Him do something amazing. So Joshua's worshiping. He's prostrate before the Lord. And then when you get to chapter 6, what happens? What are the people doing when they're walking around Jericho? What are they carrying? The Ark. And they're taking the Ark out, and they're going around the city. What are they doing? The Ark is the presence of the Lord. What, what are they saying? They're saying, "The presence of the Lord is the key to every single victory in my life." And I don't have to be the strongest. I don't have to be the best warrior. I don't have to have the best strategy. What I do have to have is the presence of the Lord. And if I have the presence of the Lord, and I'm walking with the presence of the Lord, and I'm worshiping the Lord, because they're blowing the trumpets, and when they actually get ready to go in the city, what do they do? They give a shout of, what? A shout of praise. What does that tell you? They're worshiping the Lord. Their mindset is one of worship. Their mindset is one of relationship with God. And when you have a mindset of worship and a mindset of relationship with God, and you're submissive to His plan, you're gonna watch the walls fall.
So it's an interesting thing. What this is telling us is that the taking of the land was not as important as the worshipping of God. I said, that's a big lesson for us. The solving of your problem, while important, is not as important as your worshipping of the Lord. The solving of our problems, while important, is not as important as our submitting to the purpose of the Lord. The solving of our problems, while important, is not as important as spending time in the presence of the Lord. Because spiritual preparation and relationship with God always lead to victory, always.
Number three: Spiritual vision comes when we believe what God says. Look at it in Joshua chapter 6 in verse 2. Joshua sees this Jericho shut up inside and outside, no way in, no way out. People, people, the armies cannot get in. If it looks like an impossibility, and the Lord said to Joshua, "See, I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, its mighty men of valor." Once he believes those words, he gets God's plan. Listen, here's the way it works in our lives. And we're gonna pray. God will invariably speak a promise to your heart concerning your situation. You'll either read it, read something in the Bible, and it'll jump off the page, and you will know in your heart, if you've been in this presence. That's why I've got to be in His presence, because His presence sensitizes you to His voice, to His prompting. So you're facing a problem. For every problem, there is a promise. That's true. The issue is, will you believe the promise? Because if Joshua doesn't believe the promise, "See, I have given Jericho into your hand," he's never gonna get the plan. And the reason why is because he wouldn't believe the plan either. If you can't believe the promise, you'll never be able to believe the plan. Because honestly, the plan is crazy unless God's in it. That the plan doesn't make sense unless God's in it.
I mean, if you don't believe the promise, listen, I just tell you this right now. The reason why people don't tithe, you don't believe that. You don't believe the promise. If you believed the promise, you could do the plan. But you don't believe the promise. You don't believe the promise that you'll have more if you give to God. The promise is Malachi 3:10: "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, and test me in this," says the Lord of hosts, "if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you won't be able to contain it." You don't believe that. Or you tithe, you're like, "Now, I don't believe that." Don't think it's true. I'm just using that as one example. But that's how it works in every aspect of your life. If you don't believe the promise, you will never have faith to believe the plan.
This is why when we come into the altar to be in the presence of the Lord, it's so important. But hear this, when He speaks to your heart, you have to believe. And if you don't believe, you're finished. This is there. I mean, what else do you want Him to do? Well, I want Him to do it anyway. It doesn't work that way. You have to believe. You say, "But it doesn't make sense." You have to believe. How do I know it's Him? You're in His presence. You have to believe He's spoken to you.
I want to ask you this: What is God promised to you? Because I would suggest there are some of you, you're facing a battle, and God has promised you something regarding your situation. You've just waffled. You're in one day, you're out the next. "I don't know. Yeah, I think how God's gonna do it." The next day, "I don't know." Well, you know, are you in or out? Do you believe or don't you? If Joshua says, "I just don't believe that's possible," he's finished. And here's the tragedy.
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His faith determines the destiny of 2 million people. Your faith determines the destiny of people around you. Listen, if I, as a pastor, if I operate by faith and believe, it affects what happens here. If, if I, if I'm not in the presence of God, I will not have the faith to believe when God speaks. I'm just, I just know that to be true. It's just how it works. If I'm not willing to submit and say, "God, I'm all yours. It's whatever You want. Your purpose is what's important in this thing." Unless I, unless that's where I live, it's not gonna work. And that's true on a pastoral level. It's true on a personal level. It's the way the kingdom is set up.
Spiritual vision comes from being in God's presence. That's why we're here. Spiritual vision comes from getting in His presence. And I think there's something about the pressing in at the altar and the saying, "God, I, I want You, and I don't want I without distraction. I want You. I want to hear from You. I'm coming to hear from You." I think He honors that. He answers that. That's what was going on with Joshua.
And when you submit to God's purpose, you're gonna have spiritual vision. What's more important to you? Conquering your Jericho, or pursuing God's purpose for your life? At some point, you've got to say, "God, you know what? I need, and I believe You to do it. But God, I want Your purpose in my life. And whatever Your purpose is, and if that means I'm gonna look silly because I'm marching around a city and it doesn't make sense as being the way to take it, I'm willing to accomplish Your purpose, even if nobody understands it, and I look crazy as I'm doing it." But see, a lot of people, they want to, they want to look a certain way. And if that's your priority, then look a certain way and forget conquering, because the world doesn't understand.
And vision comes when we believe what God says. Has He spoken a promise to you? Will you believe it? Will you believe His promise? If you won't believe His promise, you will never believe His plan. If you don't believe His promise, it'll be obvious in the way you live your life. And this, this is what the prayer meetings, you know, whether you're a chaplain or at the North Campus or the West Campus, this is what this moment is about. It's about saying, "God, I'm gonna draw close so I can hear from You, so I can walk by faith, so I can see with Your eyes, hear what You're speaking to me, and go forward with the heart of a conqueror."