Out on the Wild Frontier: Victories Over Our Jerichos
When God Has Already Won: Facing Your Jericho With Faith
There is something deeply human about wanting a pep rally before a battle. We want the fight song, the banner, the crowd noise, the surge of adrenaline that makes us feel like we can do anything. We want the goose bumps before the glory….the hype to give us a hallelujah. We want to feel inspired before we step into the impossible.
But what if you did not need a pep rally? What if the victory was already secured before you ever showed up?
That is the staggering reality sitting at the heart of one of the most unusual military campaigns in all of Scripture. In Joshua 6, God's people stand on the edge of the promised land, staring down a city that has never been defeated. Jericho. Walls thick enough to make you feel safe and cozy. Gates locked tight. A city that has seen every enemy coming and turned them all away.
And God says, simply, "See, I have given Jericho into your hand" (Joshua 6:2).
Not "I will give it." Not "I might give it if you perform well enough." Given. Past tense. Done. The victory had already been declared by the only voice that ultimately matters.
Who Is Defining Your Jericho?
Every person reading this has a Jericho. It may not look like a walled city, but it is something big, something that makes you swallow hard and feel a little weak in the knees. It could be an addiction that has had a grip on your life for years. It could be a broken relationship, a prodigal child, a marriage that feels like it is crumbling. It could be a depression that follows you like a shadow, a financial situation that seems impossible, a wound from the past that you have never fully faced.
The question is not whether you have a Jericho. The question is who or what is defining it for you.
Some people define their Jerichos through past failures. They tried before and it did not work, so they assume it never will. Others define their battles through insecurity and self-doubt, rehearsing all the reasons they are not enough. Some look at their Jerichos through circumstances, waiting for conditions to be just right before they take a single step. And some have let the voice of the enemy do the defining, listening to his lies so long that they have started to believe them.
Here is the truth: only one voice carries the final word on your Jericho. God is the one who defines what is possible. His word is not one opinion among many. It is the verdict of the one who created the walls in the first place. When He says something is done, it is done. He is the final Google in facing your giants.
Seeing What God Has Already Spoken
When God told Joshua that Jericho was already his, He did not just announce a fact. He invited Joshua to see it. "See, I have given Jericho into your hand." That word "see" is an act of faith. The walls were still standing. The gates were still locked. Nothing visible had changed. But God was asking His people to look at the situation through the lens of His word rather than through the lens of their circumstances.
That same invitation stands for every believer today. Can you see the salvation of the spouse you have been praying for? Can you see the return of the child who has walked away? Can you see freedom from the stronghold that has held you captive? Philippians 1:6 assures us that the God who began a good work in us will carry it through to completion.
That is not wishful thinking. That is the word of a God who finishes what He starts.
Seeing by faith is not pretending the walls are not there. It is choosing to trust the word of the one who is greater than any wall ever built.
Walking Out the Word
Knowing that God has secured the victory does not mean sitting down and waiting for it to arrive. Joshua and the Israelites still had to move. God gave them a battle plan, and it was not what any military strategist would have drawn up. March around the city once a day for six days. On the seventh day, march around seven times. Then blow the trumpets and shout.
No battering rams. No siege towers. No conventional warfare at all. Just obedience, carried out step by step, day after day.
Joshua, a warrior who had been itching for a fight for forty years, heard this plan and leaned in anyway. He lined the people up. He got them moving. He walked out the word of the Lord even when it looked nothing like what he expected. James 1:22 calls believers to be doers of the word, not just hearers. The runway is built for takeoff, not for parking.
Living in the Shalls
There is a word that appears repeatedly in God's instructions to Joshua, and it is worth paying close attention to. The word is "shall." You shall march. You shall shout. The walls shall fall flat. Shall is not a suggestion. It is not a maybe or a good intention or a someday. It is a command, a certainty, a directive that demands action.
The walls of Jericho did not fall on day one. They did not fall on day three or after the twelfth lap around the city. They fell when the people completed every single shall. Timid faith falls no walls. The shout had to be a great shout. The blast had to be a long blast. The march had to be completed in full.
Some Jerichos are still standing simply because the shalls have been delayed. The knowledge has been there. The word has been spoken. But the obedience has been put off, traded in for good intentions and comfortable excuses.
The walls fell flat when the people did exactly what God said, exactly when He said to do it, all the way to the finish.
Your Jericho is not there to defeat you. In the hands of God, it is there to define you. See the victory He has already declared. Walk out His word one day at a time. And when the time comes to shout, make it a great one.
There is something deeply human about wanting a pep rally before a battle. We want the fight song, the banner, the crowd noise, the surge of adrenaline that makes us feel like we can do anything. We want the goose bumps before the glory….the hype to give us a hallelujah. We want to feel inspired before we step into the impossible.
But what if you did not need a pep rally? What if the victory was already secured before you ever showed up?
That is the staggering reality sitting at the heart of one of the most unusual military campaigns in all of Scripture. In Joshua 6, God's people stand on the edge of the promised land, staring down a city that has never been defeated. Jericho. Walls thick enough to make you feel safe and cozy. Gates locked tight. A city that has seen every enemy coming and turned them all away.
And God says, simply, "See, I have given Jericho into your hand" (Joshua 6:2).
Not "I will give it." Not "I might give it if you perform well enough." Given. Past tense. Done. The victory had already been declared by the only voice that ultimately matters.
Who Is Defining Your Jericho?
Every person reading this has a Jericho. It may not look like a walled city, but it is something big, something that makes you swallow hard and feel a little weak in the knees. It could be an addiction that has had a grip on your life for years. It could be a broken relationship, a prodigal child, a marriage that feels like it is crumbling. It could be a depression that follows you like a shadow, a financial situation that seems impossible, a wound from the past that you have never fully faced.
The question is not whether you have a Jericho. The question is who or what is defining it for you.
Some people define their Jerichos through past failures. They tried before and it did not work, so they assume it never will. Others define their battles through insecurity and self-doubt, rehearsing all the reasons they are not enough. Some look at their Jerichos through circumstances, waiting for conditions to be just right before they take a single step. And some have let the voice of the enemy do the defining, listening to his lies so long that they have started to believe them.
Here is the truth: only one voice carries the final word on your Jericho. God is the one who defines what is possible. His word is not one opinion among many. It is the verdict of the one who created the walls in the first place. When He says something is done, it is done. He is the final Google in facing your giants.
Seeing What God Has Already Spoken
When God told Joshua that Jericho was already his, He did not just announce a fact. He invited Joshua to see it. "See, I have given Jericho into your hand." That word "see" is an act of faith. The walls were still standing. The gates were still locked. Nothing visible had changed. But God was asking His people to look at the situation through the lens of His word rather than through the lens of their circumstances.
That same invitation stands for every believer today. Can you see the salvation of the spouse you have been praying for? Can you see the return of the child who has walked away? Can you see freedom from the stronghold that has held you captive? Philippians 1:6 assures us that the God who began a good work in us will carry it through to completion.
That is not wishful thinking. That is the word of a God who finishes what He starts.
Seeing by faith is not pretending the walls are not there. It is choosing to trust the word of the one who is greater than any wall ever built.
Walking Out the Word
Knowing that God has secured the victory does not mean sitting down and waiting for it to arrive. Joshua and the Israelites still had to move. God gave them a battle plan, and it was not what any military strategist would have drawn up. March around the city once a day for six days. On the seventh day, march around seven times. Then blow the trumpets and shout.
No battering rams. No siege towers. No conventional warfare at all. Just obedience, carried out step by step, day after day.
Joshua, a warrior who had been itching for a fight for forty years, heard this plan and leaned in anyway. He lined the people up. He got them moving. He walked out the word of the Lord even when it looked nothing like what he expected. James 1:22 calls believers to be doers of the word, not just hearers. The runway is built for takeoff, not for parking.
Living in the Shalls
There is a word that appears repeatedly in God's instructions to Joshua, and it is worth paying close attention to. The word is "shall." You shall march. You shall shout. The walls shall fall flat. Shall is not a suggestion. It is not a maybe or a good intention or a someday. It is a command, a certainty, a directive that demands action.
The walls of Jericho did not fall on day one. They did not fall on day three or after the twelfth lap around the city. They fell when the people completed every single shall. Timid faith falls no walls. The shout had to be a great shout. The blast had to be a long blast. The march had to be completed in full.
Some Jerichos are still standing simply because the shalls have been delayed. The knowledge has been there. The word has been spoken. But the obedience has been put off, traded in for good intentions and comfortable excuses.
The walls fell flat when the people did exactly what God said, exactly when He said to do it, all the way to the finish.
Your Jericho is not there to defeat you. In the hands of God, it is there to define you. See the victory He has already declared. Walk out His word one day at a time. And when the time comes to shout, make it a great one.
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