Monuments in the Land Part II

A Lesson on Not Surrendering

One of most difficult lessons to learn in our Christian walk is how not to give up even when we have failed.

When we last read Israel had been humiliated in a devastating loss that they should have won easily.

Knowing that the enemy was no where near the amount of people in Israel was embarrassing to say the least. What would have made it worse would have been if they had just surrendered and were satisfied with the Just enough or the victory of a time ago.

This next monument we will see will exemplify many things for us to learn as Christians

What will become more and more clear is even in defeat we are to look to the Lord for the solution and way ahead .

Once we are entrenched with the enemy we must be relentless there can be no surrender

Change the Perspective

Ai mean ruins or can be symbolically tied to things that are waste

We may even consider the meaning to symbolize the things that will lead us to ruin.

The loss at Ai due to the sin of one is not the end.

Heap of ruins exemplify the mistake was not the end they are evidence whether it is the first time or the 100th time you can overcome.

Joshua 8:1–2 ESV

And the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not fear and do not be dismayed. Take all the fighting men with you, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, and his people, his city, and his land. And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king. Only its spoil and its livestock you shall take as plunder for yourselves. Lay an ambush against the city, behind it.”

The strategy to follow once crossing that space the Monument in the Valley of Achor will cause one to turn their face to the Lord

2 Things occur in the space in which we commit to stay in the fight

God will bring encouragement… stop looking to man or the flesh

We will need to Trust God in the process.

The perspective here changes for us

we learn to stop relying on our way or even the way we think God will do it

we stop playing God for ourselves and say “Lord I don’t know how to do this but I trust you will do it”

The Strategy Belongs to the Lord

The first encounter Joshua sends up only about 3000 men because of how small this place was.

Sometimes the battle looks real small but its a stronghold you have been fighting for years...

This strategy relies on what is seen and not what the Lord is saying.

The heavenly strategy is the “Strategy to overthrow what once was a cause for humiliation” it will elevate your battle plan from repeated defeat to victory

Joshua 8:3–7 ESV

So Joshua and all the fighting men arose to go up to Ai. And Joshua chose 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them out by night. And he commanded them, “Behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind it. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you remain ready. And I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. And when they come out against us just as before, we shall flee before them. And they will come out after us, until we have drawn them away from the city. For they will say, ‘They are fleeing from us, just as before.’ So we will flee before them. Then you shall rise up from the ambush and seize the city, for the Lord your God will give it into your hand.

Regardless what is seen in the natural the Lord will declare what can only be seen in the Spiritual

The battle plan will often not anything like you imagined it would be

Few things to consider while you await the orders

Satan will continue to use the same attacks until you change the strategy… (our dependence on God is imperative)

Victory requires the entire body of Christ

Js 5:16 confess our sin to one another that we my be healed

1 John 1:9 if we confess He is faithful to forgive.

In this instance 12000 would need the full strength of the 30k to win

Be careful to hear the strategy well

Obedience to His Strategy Is Key

In the following verses 10-17 we note Joshua’s meticulous attention to detail to the strategy.

He commands the warriors accordingly and prepares to engage in a battle in which failure has occured.

1. Vacating the stronghold… cannot be accomplished without obeying the command of the Lord.

Ps.40:6-8 its not the sacrifice but obedience the Lord is in search of. It is here where the victory will be found.

Reduce the Stronghold to Ashes

Some want to see the Lord move on their behalf without following His strategy

The victory will become manifest as you obey the strategy

Joshua 8:18 ESV

Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” And Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city.

His javelin was that like a guideon it contained a standard or banner and sharp arrow on the end.

It is only when the Lord has commanded that the decisive blow is given.

Again we will see the it is the Lord who will give the city into His hand.

Set it on Fire

Joshua 8:19 ESV

And the men in the ambush rose quickly out of their place, and as soon as he had stretched out his hand, they ran and entered the city and captured it. And they hurried to set the city on fire.

Whatever that stronghold in your life can have no place to live.

He did not stop the assault when it looked like he had won he continued the fight until it was all left in ashes.

Lift a Monument that Declares of His Victory

Joshua 8:28–29 ESV

So Joshua burned Ai and made it forever a heap of ruins, as it is to this day. And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening. And at sunset Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree and threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city and raised over it a great heap of stones, which stands there to this day.

Hanging the king in public to show great triumph over the enemies

We testify of the once upon a time shame that existed now is the story of victory.

This city was almost the ruin of Joshua but the ruins of the city declare how the Lord brought victory

Not only did he hang the body of the King of Ai he brings it down and tosses it at the entrance to signify the total routing of the enemy in this place

The taking of the stronghold must be done without rebuilding the stronghold.

Call to action: Do not stay in the defeat. Be encouraged, receive the strategy, completely route the enemy level the ground, let your testimony be as the ruins of Ai… that the ashes will speak of the victory in Christ.