Read Joshua 7:1-7:26
The two greatest enemies to living a victorious life in Jesus Christ are the world and the flesh. While the world presents itself as an impenetrable walled city, the flesh appears much more subtly: as just a few small jewels, a little temptation here and there surely can’t hurt anything. Our problem as Christians is that we get our game face on to face the world and see the walls come tumbling down by the strength of God, but then miss the subtle and devious enemy that awaits us when we are alone. We see great victories over big enemies only to fall flat on our faces over the little distractions and temptations of the flesh.
That’s what happened to Israel, which made some key mistakes right after the Jericho victory. Israel became instantly arrogant and thought they had won the war and that they were invincible on their own. When they were easily defeated at the city of Ai, they looked to God as if it was his fault, instead of asking what they might have done wrong.
The truth is, we are often our own worst enemy. The real enemy uses our weakness to get us to back off from moving forward in personal sanctification and ministry. The enemy will tempt us in victory to give in to the flesh. Sometimes it is the “balance of the good to the bad.” We think that since we are doing lots of good for God we should get something out of it that we know full well is not what God wants. We also make the mistake of thinking that God won’t sweat the small stuff when it comes to righteousness. It doesn’t matter how small the sin is. If you subjugate your walk with God it will affect your ability to minister and you will experience defeat.
Notice too that one man’s sin leads to the defeat of a whole nation. Achan’s sin is the same as Eve’s: I saw, I coveted, I broke God’s commandment to get. When we cling to the things of the world the enemy gets an advantage over us. There was once again a need for consecration. Setting aside normal things and focusing on what God is doing is important in stepping out for God but also for examining ourselves for sin. Achan had pretended that he obeyed God, but had really lied and stolen from Him. He was a “make believer.” How many times do the shiny things of the world like treasure, fame, physical beauty, and pleasure derail the person who seeks victory in the Lord? “I saw, I wanted, I took.” How shiny did they look when he realized what he had done? Don’t get tripped up by your flesh!
—submitted by Evangelist Calvin Wyatt, Reflections Ministry, US
