The Power We Have in Unity
“When the people heard the sound of the rams’ horns, they shouted as loud as they could. Suddenly, the walls of Jericho collapsed, and the Israelites charged straight into the town and captured it.” (Joshua 6:20, NLT)
It just absolutely blows my mind how God can completely use us in the most insane ways when we are “all in” for him! When we have a strong passion to glorify him in everything that we do and we put all our trust in what he has for us, we are unstoppable. Without God, we are mere weak human beings with no strength or wisdom. We think we can map it all out, but when God sets foot in our lives, forget about it! However, when he starts to direct our path, it's like nothing words can even describe. And when you put together a group of people determined to see God's will be done, amazing and beautiful things are most certainly bound to happen.
This is so prevalent in the story of Joshua and the wall of Jericho. Joshua and his army were commanded by the Lord to knock down the wall surrounding Jericho and get into the city. From the get-go, the Israelites’ game plan was entirely different than God’s. Their immediate thought was to knock down the wall with physical strength, but God says no, and then gives them a strategy that only God can mastermind.
“But the Lord said to Joshua, “I have given you Jericho, its king, and all its strong warriors. You and your fighting men should march around the town once a day for six days. Seven priests will walk ahead of the Ark, each carrying a ram’s horn. On the seventh day, you are to march around the town seven times, with the priests blowing the horns. When you hear the priests give one long blast on the rams’ horns, have all the people shout as loud as they can. Then the walls of the town will collapse, and the people can charge straight into the town.’ ” (Joshua 6:2-5, NLT)
Like what?!
So these men have been sent on a mission by and for God, they get this crazy set of instructions, and they don’t even question the means nor the outcome. Talk about faith, talk about trust, talk about the power of God. They embarked on this mission, not completely understanding the purpose of these commands, but understanding that they are doing it to glorify God. They followed his commands faithfully, without question and with hearts on fire for who God is, having complete faith in his abilities.
Day in and day out they marched around the city. Finally, when the seventh day came, they marched around the city seven times. After six days of silent marching, just as God instructed them, they let out a roar of praise and the wall of Jericho fell like nothing anybody has seen before. If you’ve ever felt God use you, you know the feeling of coming out on the other end of an impossible situation in victory. That feeling of rejoicing relentlessly and just knowing— knowing that it's not about you. It's about letting God impact the lives around you; letting him work through you constantly.
We are Gods vessels. I just love this story because it just shows so perfectly how when God brings believers together, there is no distance too far. There is not one goal unattainable. There is only awe and wonder in what God does with the army he has created through his redeeming love. One of my favorite quotes is by Steven Furtick and it has stuck in the back of my head since my junior year of high school. “We aren’t waiting on the move of God, we are the move of God!” I love that so much. God has put a calling on all of our hearts to pursue him with all we got, to be a light in the darkness, to encourage one another in the struggle, to face obstacles— not in fear of the uphill climb, but with full trust in God's purpose in all we face. Don’t let the world take that away from you; don’t let the enemy have a hold on your life. Embrace all that God has set out for you to do on your own and with the help of your brothers and sisters. In God we have such beautiful power, not to be flaunted but to be used to do work in the world around us. To do the unbelievable things that only God can do that this hurting, broken world can’t understand.
“I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.” (1 Corinthians 1:10, ESV)
There is strength in numbers. There is strength in friendships built upon Christ. Your words mean something, and the people and goals God has set upon your heart mean something. 100 percent of the time God gives us the instruction manual and never really shows us what the outcome is going to be. He gives us each other to follow his lead together, and at the end of it all, when the wall falls— when you see that friend you’ve been ministering to give their life to God, when you finally beat that thing you’ve been battling, when you see your faith and trust in God pay off— it leaves you speechless at His work. Don’t hide your gifts. Don’t close yourself off from the calling that God has put on your life. If Joshua and his army did that, the walls of Jericho would have never come tumbling down and people wouldn’t have seen the amazing move of God that day. Get together with your brothers and sisters. Pray for one another, encourage each other, worship radically together, don’t hold back. Be unified and don’t waste your opportunity to make a mark together. Change lives through God's power, because we are the move of God.
