The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, And he who wins souls is wise.
Proverbs 11:30
We are told that he who wins souls is wise. Why is winning souls so important to God?
God desires everyone to be saved
God loves humanity so much that He was willing to offer His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life:
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.
John 3:16-17
God desires that everyone will know the truth
God desires that everyone will be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth of Who Jesus Christ is:
Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
1 Timothy 2:4
Winning souls is God’s number one priority
Winning souls is God’s number one priority on earth. Jesus said the harvest is plentiful but the labourers are few. He therefore encouraged us to pray to the Father to send workers into the harvest:
Therefore said He unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into His harvest.
Luke 10:2 (KJV)
Prayer
Dear Lord, please give me wisdom to win souls for You on a daily basis in Jesus name.
Then you shall rise from the ambush and seize the city, for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand.
Joshua 8:7 (ERV)
It was only after Joshua, the leader, dealt with sin in the camp, that God told him not to be afraid, but to take all of the people of war with him and go up to Ai because He had already given into his hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land.
In today’s Scripture, Joshua was giving the men of war the battle strategy that God had given him. The strategy was quite simple; some men were to hide behind the city, then Joshua and his men will approach the city and then Joshua and his men would run away as they were being chased by the men of Ai. Once they had come away from the city, the men who were hiding behind were to rise from the ambush and capture the city. Joshua assured them they will have the victory because the Lord has already delivered the city into their hand.
This story teaches us several important lessons about how sin affects our lives:
Sin separates us from God and gives the enemy the upper hand over believers
Isaiah declares that it is our sins that have separated us from God and our sins has hidden God’s face from us so that He will not hear (Isaiah 59:1-2).
Sin also gives the enemy, who is Satan, an upper hand over believers. We can see through the story of Joshua, the High Priest, that Satan was able to stand at his right hand to resists him because he was clothed with filthy garment which represents sin (Zechariah 3:1-5).
Sin also causes sickness and brings grief into the life of the believer. When Jesus was on earth, often times before healing people He would first forgive their sins, and after healing them, He would tell them to go and sin no more, so that a worse thing will not come on them (Matthew 9:2-5, Mark 2:5, Luke 5:20-24, John 5:14, John 8:11).
Once sin is removed from our lives, God will give us the victory
There is only one consequence of sin, which is death:
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 6:23
Under Joshua’s leadership, Achan and his whole family had to pay for the consequence of their sin, which was death. Joshua could not bear their sins for them.
Thank God for Jesus that He came to earth to deal with the problem of sin. He came as the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29).
Under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, the sinner can come to Jesus, repent of our sins and have all of our sins washed in His own blood so that we can be made righteous before God. Jesus came to destroy the works of the enemy so that Satan can no longer have the upper hand over us:
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 15:57
Prayer
Dear Father, I come to You now in the name of Jesus and by the Blood of Jesus. Please help me to overcome every secret sin in my life through the power of Your Holy Spirit so that I can have the victory through Jesus Christ my Lord.
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The men from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh obeyed Moses. These men crossed the river in front of the other people. These men were prepared for war. They were going to help the rest of the Israelites take the land God had promised to give them. About 40,000 soldiers, prepared for war, passed before the Lord. They were marching toward the plains of Jericho.
Joshua 4:12-13
In this story we are told that the children of Israel were about to cross the river Jordan to go into Jericho, to take the first city that God had promised them.
Even though the men from the tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh had already secured their land on the other side of the river, they did not just sit and wait for their brothers to capture their promised land alone. Instead these men were prepared for war.
As Christians, we also have a promised land ahead of us that we have to reach. Our promised land is not made by human hands, for its architect and builder is God Himself (Hebrews 11:10); it is the New Jerusalem which is coming from heaven down to earth:
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and the first earth had disappeared. Now there was no sea. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It was prepared like a bride dressed for her husband.
I heard a loud voice from the throne. It said, “Now God’s home is with people. He will live with them. They will be his people. God Himself will be with them and will be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, sadness, crying, or pain. All the old ways are gone.”
Revelation 21:1-4
This New Jerusalem, just like the promised land of old, is not easy to attain, we also must be prepared for war in order to reach it. Just like the children of Israel had to destroy the inhabitants of the land before they could possess their land, we too have spiritual giants that we must destroy in order to possess our promised land.
However unlike the Children of Israel who fought a physical fight using natural weapons with their enemies, the Bible tells us that our fight is not against human beings but spiritual forces:
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual host of wickedness in the heavenly places
Ephesians 6:12
What Does It Mean To Be Prepared?
To be prepared is to be ready “standing by,” ready to meet the opportunity (challenge) at hand; ready because the necessary preparations are done (or are sure to happen as needed).
What Is The War About?
War is a conflict between opposing forces.
You will see from the scripture we are about to read that the war is between God and Satan, and the war started in heaven however it has moved down to earth and we human beings are caught in it, whether we like it or not:
And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought,
but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer.
So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.
And theyovercame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.”
Revelation 12:7-12
So, the forces involved in this war are:
Two Kingdoms – the Kingdom of God with Jesus Christ as its King and the kingdom of darkness with the great dragon, that old serpent called the Devil and Satan as its king.
Two opposing Angels – Michael, the Archangel and his angels and Satan and his angels.
The battlefield – the war started in heaven however the battlefield is now the earth and people in the earth.
Battle strategy – Satan is out to deceive as many human beings as he can so that he can drag them down to hell. He continually accuses the children of God day and night. Satan’s strategy is to steal, kill and destroy but Jesus has come that we may have life in its fullness:
The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly
John 10:10
God in His love has provided salvation, strength, Kingdom of God and the power of His Christ to all humanity who choose to believe in Jesus Christ His Son:
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
John 3:16
How Do We Overcome Satan?
We overcome him by:
The Blood of The Lamb – we apply the blood of Jesus Christ when we accept that we are sinners and ask Him to forgive us and wash us clean with His blood. When we accept Him He becomes our sacrificial lamb (Hebrews 10:10).
The Word of our testimony – we testify when we confess with our mouth and believe in our hearts that God raised Jesus Christ from the dead (Romans 10:9).
We do not love our lives to the death – this means that we will be willing to lay down our lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are also encouraged to die daily to our flesh or natural desires (1 Corinthians 15:31).
For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
Matthew 16:25
Next week we’ll be looking at how you can prepare for war.
Prayer:
Dear Lord please help me to be prepared for war as the men from the tribe of Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh. Please help me to always be ready to fight the good fight of faith and lay hold on eternal life, in Jesus name.
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