”Then Joshua said to them, “Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed; be strong and of good courage, for thus the LORD will do to all your enemies against whom you fight.” Joshua 10:18-26
When the Children of Israel entered the Promised Land, they immediately faced 5 kings who were determined to stop their progress. Joshua and his army warred with them and eventually defeated them, but 5 of the kings fled the scene and hid in a cave. When they were found, Joshua commanded that they be brought out and that the feet of his leaders be put on their necks and be killed. He told his men not to be dismayed, but be strong. Why would he say that? The word ‘dismayed’ actually means to ‘tear down’ or ‘fall apart’. It’s possible that these Kings were taunting those who were going to kill them but Joshua said ignore this, don’t let yourselves be torn down by their words. I can imagine them shouting out that if you kill us our brothers will come back and get you.
We too can be afraid when standing against our enemy the Devil. We can be scared to take Him on because of His taunts and lies. He can shout out all sorts of threats like “you are going to die,” “this problem will never go away.” Satan is actually afraid of us and knows we have the power to resist Him in Jesus name. He wants to rob us of our blessing, our inheritance, our Promised Land. The bible says that Satan comes to destroy, but Jesus has come to give us life and we are on the winning side.
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. “ John 10:10
Our enemy Satan wants to rob us of our peace, our joy and our confidence. He says things to us like, “You are unworthy, and you’ll never have victory.” We need to know that in Christ; our destiny, our victory, our Canaan Land is assured, but we will still need to go out and fight for it. Just like the Children of Israel, we have been given the land but we still have to claim it.
In these verses in Joshua 10 we see that Joshua told his men to go to the cave and bring these 5 kings out and kill them. They needed to do something about the situation for it wasn’t all done by God. The victory needed to be enforced by them. This is an important point.
The fact that there was a cave and that there were 5 Kings in this story is very significant. Caves for us would be symbolic of the strongholds of the mind that the enemy can hide in. There are thought patterns hiding in our minds that can be affecting our lives. I call it ‘Stinking Thinking.’ The Devil’s thoughts from within are shouting out to us, with all sorts of misinformation. These cave needs to be addressed and the ‘stinking thinking’ dealt with. We need our minds renewed if we want to experience our inheritance.
“The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:4-5
It’s also interesting to note that these 5 Kings were then hung on trees, v25. This would be speaking to us of how Jesus dealt with our enemy at the cross when He was hung on a tree. It was on Calvary’s Tree that Satan was defeated and our sins hung on the cross.
“Having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” Colossians 3:14-15
We don’t realise how powerful an enemy stronghold can be until we try and step out in faith. Satan cant stop us from doing anything, but He can lie us and make us decide to stop. Getting out of our comfort zone can be hard. When we leave the safer place, and head toward the Promised Land there are enemies that come against us. There are thoughts that try and stop us. We need to step out in faith but the Devil challenges and taunt us. He did it to Eve in the Garden when He said, “Has God said?” He tries to put doubts in our minds. If He can’t stop you getting saved, He will try and stop you entering into your Canaan Land, your destiny.
The fact that there are 5 Kings is very significant. These 5 Kings are symbolic of our 5 senses, that we have to subdue if we want to enter into the fullness of our inheritance in Christ. We have 5 senses that connect us to this fallen world. Sight, Hearing, Touch, Taste and Smell. When we step out on our journey of faith, we need to realise that even though we need these 5 physical senses to live in this world, they can be a hindrance to our receiving from God in the invisible spiritual realm.
“While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:18.
When we started our journey of Salvation, we needed to step out in faith and learn to ignore our feelings, otherwise it was impossible to please God. We are saved by faith and this still applies when it comes to receiving our present-day blessings including our healings as well. Praise God He has given us a 6th sense and that is Faith. Unfortunately, many of God’s children don’t know how to fight these 5 kings and are dismayed by their taunts when confronted by them. We need to learn to walk by faith, and not to walk by our feelings.
If you walk by your five senses, you are a ‘Carnal’ Christian. So many Christians are carnally minded and are locked into this world. They live off this world; their strength comes from this world so that they walk by their feelings instead of by faith. So many need their fix from the world every day, instead of from the word of God. They’d rather listen to the Bad News than feed off the Good News. We can be saved but still ruled by our 5 senses. These 5 Kings still need to be dealt with otherwise we’ll never enter into our Canaan Land this side of Heaven. We can live our lives by ‘knee jerk’ reactions only going so far and no further. The answer is to have our minds renewed.
The longer I live the more I realise how much I was robbed in the past by the enemy. I have been ruled by my emotions, and my feelings instead of by my faith. This has kept me away from so many blessings; one of them being to walk in divine health every day, which I now enjoy.
It’s not easy to learn to walk by faith. It can be a long road, but the rewards are fantastic. When Israel came out of Egypt they could have gone into Canaan Land by a shorter route but there would have been a lot of warfare, which they weren’t ready for yet.
“Then it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, “Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.” Exodus 13:17
These Kings were defeated and hid in caves, which would speak of the strongholds that can be set up in our minds, hindering our walk with God. But Praise God, there is a 6th Sense that overcomes the world and these strongholds, and that is the 6th sense of faith.
“For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.” 1 John 5:4
This 6th Sense ‘Faith,’ trumps the other 5 senses. Faith says that in spite of my 5 senses I will believe God and that everything is going to be OK. God is with me, He loves me and I am a Victor not a Victim. Greater is He that is in me than He that is in the world. I will choose to believe God rather than my 5 senses. Faith feeds on the good word of God and the power of the age that is to come. Hebrews 6:5.
If you are ruled by your 5 senses, you’ll always end up being the victim, for your senses are susceptible to what’s going on around you. Your senses can be Faith killers. Your feelings can go up and down like a Roller Coaster and steal your dreams, your confidence and the promises of God over your life.
When David faced Goliath, everyone was afraid of the giant, resulting in them all being paralysed with fear, and that included King Saul. This type of atmosphere surrounded David as he stood before Goliath. The giant was taunting him, but the still small voice of God was telling David that there was victory for him and his 6th sense overcame his feelings. He could spiritually smell, taste, hear and feel the victory. The 6th sense also has these qualities but needs the word of God for its daily food.
Look at Peter when he was called to walk on water. As he looked around and saw the waves and heard the wind, he sank. Jesus said ‘walk on water’ but his 5 senses cancelled that all out leading him downhill to failure. Also look at Elijah when he fled from Jezebel and ended up in a cave. He wanted to hear from God. There was fire, wind and a great earthquake, which are all powerful impressions on the 5 senses, but it says that God wasn’t in any of those, for He was in the still small voice.
“Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice. So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. Suddenly a voice came to him, and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” 1 Kings 19:11-13
We need to learn how to quieten our hearts so as to hear and believe the still small voice above the shouts of the enemy, So often we are ruled by our emotions and feelings more than what God is saying to us. We have a knee jerk reaction too so much in our life. It takes time to renew our minds, so let’s start today. As we feed our faith on the word of God, it will grow. It says that faith ‘comes.’ If faith can come then it can also go, if we don’t feed it.
“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17
We need to renew our minds so that by default we always run to the word of God. Our Father wants us to mature and not remain as babies. For so many all the Devil needs to do is say “Boo” and he ends up paralyzing us. God wants us to learn to stand on our own two feet, and the way to do that is to be weaned from the world. Weaned from our constant dependence on our feelings to guide us through life. It’s interesting to note that when Abraham and Sarah ‘weaned’ Isaac they threw a party. They laughed when he was born, but threw a party when he was weaned.
“So the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the same day that Isaac was weaned.” Gen 21:8
The Angels in heaven rejoiced and laugh when another soul is saved, but God throws a party when we learn to walk by faith and are weaned off our 5 senses. It’s then that we really begin to live.
Folks, we need to deal with these 5 kings that we face in life. Many Christians don’t deal with them and leave them in the caves and strongholds of their minds. They keep feeding them on the world instead off starving them out. They need to understand that these Kings have already lost their power through the cross. We need to hang them on the tree. We need to crucify the flesh. I am very careful now about what I watch on TV as it can feed fear in my heart. I remember when the film ‘Jaws’ came out. It really had an effect on so many of us and we were scared to go in the water for a while in case of sharks. If you keep feeding your fears they will rule your life. I personally don’t go there anymore to feed off the world and am so enjoying the liberty of living by faith and not by sight. I starve my feelings and feed my faith every day on His word. I want to close this message with one of my favourite verses from Romans.
“For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.” Romans 8:11-12.
We often think that a carnal person is like a barbaric Viking indulging his flesh on wine, women and song. But in a biblical sense to be ‘carnal’ is to go by your 5 senses only and not by faith. Paul warns us that if we do this it always lead downhill and eventually to death. On the other hand, to be spiritually minded it leads you upwards, to life and peace. The spiritual mind feeds on the good word of God. To be spiritually minded is to go what you believe.
“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” Romans 8:6-8
Our destiny is meant to be in the Promised Land here in this life, as well as in the next. On the way there we will have to deal with these 5 Kings, our 5 senses if we want to experience victory and get out of the wilderness. Jesus has won the victory for us already on the cross and what we need to do is realise what the enemy is trying to do and enforce the victory. This is that which overcomes the world – our faith. The 6th Sense.