Pastor Inacio
4-10-10

God commanded Joshua to be bold and be strong and to have no fear for God was with him…’’ (Joshua 1:9).

Romans 8: 15 says: ‘’For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the spirit of adoption by whom we cry out abba father, Rom. 8:15

I Tim. 1:17 says; ‘’ For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of a sound mind’’

Yet it’s so easy for us to get fearful of situations, people and things. Often we experience the fear of failure and that brings us great insecurity and low self confidence. Fear is not from God, and if is not from God can only come from Satan. Its primary purpose is to intimidates us up to the point that it paralyze us from fulfilling the purpose and will of God for our lives that ultimately will bring glory to God. We have to respond with a spiritual boldness attitude and put on a miracle mentality by declaring God’s word to all our challenges knowing and believing that God is on the throne and will never leaves never forsake us. 

Pastor Inacio

5-17-10

The Battle of Jericho (Joshua 6)

Can you imagine how the wicked kings of Canaan felt when they found out that the God of Israel had dried up the swollen Jordan River, so His people could go through on dry land? The Bible tells us, “Their hearts melted and there was no spirit in them any longer because of the children of Israel.” They must have wondered in great fear saying to each other…what’s next, how do we stop them?! The Israelites were camped at Gilgal very close to the city just across from Jericho.
I often wonder about what was going through Joshua’s mind at that time. He must have wondered how they would ever capture the city of Jericho. He could probably even see Jericho’s thick stone walls from their camp. Can you imagine Joshua’s mind racing trying to figure out a way to take the city that looked impossible to conquer and at the same time having to come to terms within his heart about his faith in God and what God had promised him? How would he ever get enough means and men inside to take it over? They had no battering rams or any other weapons strong enough to break through its walls. Have you ever felt like that before? You know God’s promises to you but when you look around there’s just no way it can happen? Joshua knew one thing for sure, though - - if God fought for them, no walls in the world were strong enough to stop them. That is the kind bold faith the Lord wants us to have today when we are faced with walls of adversity.

When you think of the walls and strongholds in your life that seem impossible to climb over or overcome…Know and remember this:
”What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?”   Romans 8:31 
“By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were encircled for seven days.” Hebrews 11:30.

We know that in its day, Jericho was indeed the most important Canaanite fortress city in the Jordan valley. Jericho was the city that the Israelites must take in order to conquer Canaan the Promised Land. Jericho was a strong, fortified, walled city, and its king had spared no effort to prepare its defenses against the Israelites who he knew had been camping a few miles east of the Jordan for many months. It would require a miracle of God to take this stronghold. It was a stronghold that found itself directly in the path of the advancing Israelites, who had just miraculously crossed the Jordan River (Joshua 3:1-17). Jericho was eventually destroyed primarily because it stood in the way of what God had promised His people. If it stayed under Canaanite occupation, it would have hindered the people of God to take control of all of the Promised Land that God had deeded to the descendants of Abraham and Jacob long before. Though the Israelites had some previous victories and had defeated the Ammonite kings on the east side of Jordan, for the Battle of Jericho, they needed a bold faith and obedience to win.

"Tumbling' walls" live in the minds of our Sunday school children, but bold obedient and faith are born in the hearts of earnestly seeking believers who study this Battle of Jericho.