Overcoming the Obstacles to the Promise

Series: The Year of Promise

“The GPS That Refuses to Believe You Know Where You’re Going”

You ever notice how your GPS has more faith in its plan than you do in God’s sometimes?

You can be driving down a road you’ve taken for 20 years, and that GPS will still say:

“Recalculating… make a U‑turn.”

And you’re like,

“No! I KNOW where I’m going!”

But the GPS keeps insisting:

“Turn left.”

You turn left.

“Turn right.”

You turn right.

“Proceed to the route.”

And now you’re in a neighborhood you’ve never seen in your life.

Finally you yell at the GPS,

“I know where I'm going , but YOU are the obstacle!”

“And isn’t that how life feels sometimes? We know where God is leading us… but everything around us keeps trying to reroute us.”

Circumstances say, “Turn around.”

• Fear says, “You’re lost.”

• Doubt says, “You missed it.”

• Time says, “You should’ve been there by now.”

But God says,

“You’re still on the right route. The promise is still ahead. Keep moving.”

Just like Israel at Jericho — the walls didn’t mean they were lost.

The walls meant they were close.

Introduction

As we step into this Year of Promise, many of us are excited, hopeful, and expectant. But if we’re honest, some of us are also tired. Some are discouraged. Some are staring at situations that feel impossible. And like Israel standing before Jericho, we find ourselves asking:

“Pastor, I’ve been waiting for years. I’ve prayed. I’ve believed. I’ve marched. And I feel like giving up.”

This message is for every person who has ever felt stuck outside the promise.

Text Background & Historical Context

Jericho wasn’t just another city. It was one of the oldest, most fortified cities in the ancient world.

The Canaanites who lived there were known for deep spiritual darkness—idolatry, occult practices, and even child sacrifice. Jericho represented everything that opposed the purposes of God.

And even though the city covered only about eight acres, it was protected by two massive walls, fifteen feet apart, guarded day and night by soldiers and watchmen.

To Israel, Jericho looked impossible. To us, our Jericho may look impossible too.

But the size of the obstacle does not determine the power of the promise.

Joshua 6:1–20 NIV

1 Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. 2 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. 3 March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. 5 When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.” 6 So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant of the Lord and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of it.” 7 And he ordered the army, “Advance! March around the city, with an armed guard going ahead of the ark of the Lord.” 8 When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets before the Lord went forward, blowing their trumpets, and the ark of the Lord’s covenant followed them. 9 The armed guard marched ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard followed the ark. All this time the trumpets were sounding. 10 But Joshua had commanded the army, “Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!” 11 So he had the ark of the Lord carried around the city, circling it once. Then the army returned to camp and spent the night there. 12 Joshua got up early the next morning and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. 13 The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forward, marching before the ark of the Lord and blowing the trumpets. The armed men went ahead of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the Lord, while the trumpets kept sounding. 14 So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days. 15 On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times. 16 The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city! 17 The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the Lord. Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent. 18 But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it. 19 All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury.” 20 When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city.

Joshua 6:1–20

— The Setup for the Miracle

The gates were locked. The walls were high. The enemy was ready.

But before Israel ever marched, before a trumpet ever sounded, before a shout ever rose…

God had already spoken the promise: “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands.”

Not I will. Not I might. Not I’m thinking about it.

“I HAVE delivered it.”

The promise was settled in heaven long before it was visible on earth.

HOW TO SEE THE PROMISE

1. To See the Promise, You Must Meet the Promiser

Before Joshua ever marched around Jericho, he had an encounter.

Joshua 5:13 Joshua looked up and saw a man with a drawn sword — the Commander of the Lord’s Army.

Joshua asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” The answer was essentially: “I didn’t come to take sides. I came to take over.”

Before God gives victory, He gives revelation. Before God brings the promise, He brings His presence.

You cannot walk into the promise without walking with the Promiser.

He is the 4th man in the fire, He the shepherd in the valley, and

2. To See the Promise, God Has to Take Over

Israel didn’t need a better strategy. They didn’t need stronger soldiers. They didn’t need more weapons.

They needed God in charge.

We don’t overcome Jericho by effort — we overcome by surrender.

3. To See the Promise, Become More God‑Conscious Than Problem‑Conscious

Israel could have stared at the walls. They could have stared at the soldiers. They could have stared at the impossibility.

But God said, “See… I have delivered Jericho into your hands.”

Not “see the walls.” Not “see the enemy.” Not “see the problem.”

See the promise.

Paul said, “I press on…” Not because the path is easy, but because the promise is sure.

The Promised Land is not ours to take — it is Christ’s to give.

4. To See the Promise, Stay Focused on the Finish

In the natural, nothing looked different:

The walls were still standing.

The enemy was still inside.

The promise was still unfulfilled.

But God said, “I have already given you the city.”

Faith doesn’t deny reality — faith declares a greater reality.

5. To Take the Promise, You Must Shout

Joshua 6:20 “The people shouted with a great shout… and the wall fell down flat.”

The Message paraphrase calls it a “thunder‑clap shout.”

Your shout is not noise — it is a weapon. Your praise is not emotional — it is spiritual. Your worship is not optional — it is warfare.

Scripture after scripture shows the power of a shout:

(Psalm 47:1 “1 Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy.” )“Shout to God with cries of joy.”

(1 Samuel 4:5 “5 When the ark of the Lord’s covenant came into the camp, all Israel raised such a great shout that the ground shook.” )“The ground shook.”

(Ezra 3:13 “13 No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away.” )“The sound was heard far away.”

Your shout breaks strongholds. Your shout collapses walls. Your shout pushes back darkness. Your shout announces to hell: “God has already given me the victory!”

6. You Don’t Win the Promise by Fighting — You Win It Because the Lord Fights for You

2 Chronicles 13:13–16 “13 Now Jeroboam had sent troops around to the rear, so that while he was in front of Judah the ambush was behind them. 14 Judah turned and saw that they were being attacked at both front and rear. Then they cried out to the Lord. The priests blew their trumpets 15 and the men of Judah raised the battle cry. At the sound of their battle cry, God routed Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. 16 The Israelites fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hands.”

Judah was surrounded — front and back. But when they cried out and lifted their battle shout, God routed the enemy.

Paul says it this way:

“We do not fight with the weapons of this world… our weapons have power from God to destroy strongholds.” (2 Cor 10:3–4)

The shout is not about volume — it’s about faith. It’s about agreement. It’s about declaring what God has already spoken.

Conclusion

This is the Year of Promise. But promise does not mean easy. Promise does not mean instant. Promise does not mean without obstacles.

Jericho stands between where you are and what God has spoken — but Jericho is no match for the God who promised.

Walls are coming down. Strongholds are breaking. Barriers are falling. The promise is already yours.

All that’s left is to march, to believe, and to shout.

1 Thessalonians 5:24 NIV

24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.