while I am soooOO free, I will write a sermon on JosHua and the battles for the Promise Land.

Lesson learned from the battles...

1) It's always God that brings about every victory... and defeat too! No wonder they say, the battle belongs to the Lord...

If you notice, I think, every battle that the Israelites won, it says, and the Lord handed over _____ to the Israelites, or the Lord has given you victory over _____ ....

But in chapter 7, when Israel experienced their first defeat against Ai...

This is what Happened,

Chapter 7:

From the previous battle, a victory over Jericho... Achan, one of the Israelites, disobeyed God took the plunder, and hid it for himself. He took 200 silver coins, a beautiful robe, a bar of gold. These were supposed to be given to God, dedicated to Him, and put into His treasury. So God was angry... Israel sent 3000 warriors to attack Ai... Just 3000 men to attack Ai! and with 3000 men, Israel was defeated... So God told Joshua what had happened, and mete out the punishment against Achan. After that, God was no longer angry...

Chapter 8:

So this is the part that really told me something about how God really works, and how we still need to have faith to believe that the Victory was from God, no matter how the victory was brought about.

You see, now instead of sending 3000 warriors, God told Joshua to send all his fighting men, and they ammounted to to 35,000 people. That's 11 times of what had been before... and you know? By human strenght, maybe they could have won the battle... Ai only had 12,000 people altogether, including women and children.

You see, it seems to be a logical victory! 35,000 Warriors men against 12,000 women, children and Men from Ai... How could the Israelites have lost anyway?

So this is what we must all know, that every victory belongs to God... You see, no matter how God does it, He brings about victory. Know that before this, God used a miracle, to bring about the fall of Jericho... and for the battle against the southern armies, the Sun and the Moon stood still over the earth (which meant the earth stopped spinning), and God gave the Israelites a miracle victory... and when the Israelites fough the northern armies, it was against a vast horde, that covered the landscape like the sand of the seashore... and God gave Israelites the victory.

Logical ones, and seemingly miraculous ones, all these victories belong to God...

so give thanks to God in everything that you do. Be it you studied very hard, and prepared very well for your exams, and so you scored well for your Exams, or your mind was blank in fear, but God gave you words to write in your History test. All good things come from God.

And all battles belong to God, victory or defeat, God remains sovereign.

You know what sums it up? The last Chapter of Joshua, chapter 24v12b, "It was not your swords or bows that brought you victory. I gave you towns you did not build and land you had not worked on. I gave you vineyards and olive groves for food, though you did not plant them."


2) Miracle Provisions to Practical Promises... Miracles are more practical than we think...

In Joshua 6v12: "No manna appeared on the day they first ate from the crops of the land, and it was never seen again. So from that time on, the Israelites ate from the crops of Canaan." You see, God provides miracles when needed...

How were the Israelites expected to find crops in a desert... So God was there to perfom that miracle. But you see, when they entered the Promises of God, where they could get food from the land itself, God didn't have to thrown Mana from heaven.

Miracles are actually sometimes very practical... God gives Mana not for the sake of showing that He can throw bread from heaven, but to provide food for the people... So its the same, when God heals, it's for a practical purpose... maybe to allow the person to function a new life, to ease the pain... it's not just to show that God can heal...

God's very practical too you know... sometimes we ask for Miracles, like "God take this headache away from me", when all we have to do is take a panadol. You know? I kinda like that story where there was a flood. And this person rejected all the rescuers offer for help, becasue He believed that God would perform a miracle... it works the same way. and Just like the battles, it doesn't always have to be of a miraculous nature, cos in the Bible it said, by His stripes we are still healed, with panadol or not.

and yup... so I used to struggle about whether God actually needs me to be a doctor... You see, He can just heal people like that... *snaps finger. And they always say, Luke was a doctor too, and encouraged the people to take wine, to relieve illnesses... and that God uses medicine too... but that never really convinced me that God actually needed doctors around too... but after reading this, I know that I'm still part of God's plan. =D

God can still use me to bring about healing in people... in more "practical" ways that some may say... but it doesn't always have to be a miracle... cos like Canaan, when the people could feed on its' crops for food, there was no need for Mana anymore. same thing, When people can see doctors to get healed, sometimes there would not be a need for that miracle... (blessed is the man who does not see, yet believe =>Faith :D)

still, it is God that brings about the healing =D I mean, we call God, "Jehovah Rapha" our Healer... not just a "miraculous" Healer... a practical one too =D *yup

3) Preparation and Testing...

Why doesn't God answer all our prayers sometimes?
Or give us everything that He promises to give us immediately?

God did not give all the land that He promised the Israelites immediately for 2 reasons:

Read Judges chapter 3 verse 1, "These are the nations that the Lord left in the land to test those Israelites who had not experienced the wars of Canaan. He did this to teach warfare to the generationsof Israelites who had no experience in battle... ... these people were left to test the Israelites - to see whether they would obey the commands the Lord had given to their ancestors through Moses"

Just 2 reasons:

1. Preparation
"to teach warfare to the generationsof Israelites who had no experience in battle"
2. Testing
"to test the Israelites - to see whether they would obey the commands the Lord"

Isaiah 55:9 says
"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts."

Ok... i was just kidding...this is not a sermon. this is just Quiet time.haha =D