Today's Life Strategy: Ask Holy Spirit

I’ve heard that the Bible is full of strategies for life. Recently, though, God has shown me some specific strategies for my life in the book of Joshua. I’d like to share one with you today.

Disclaimer: After reading this, I encourage you to sit with God and ask if this is the strategy He wants you to employ in your situation.

In Joshua 7, we see the Israelites go to battle for land (Ai) that God already promised them. They had just come from an amazing victory over the city of Jericho and were so confident that they’d win Ai, that

they didn't take all of their soldiers to the battle. However, they were soundly defeated (Joshua 7:3-4).

Has this happened to you? You move forward with something after being confident that the Lord has blessed this process. When things start to go wrong, we tend to question if we’ve heard right. Instead of questioning yourself, employ this strategy: 

Ask Holy Spirit!

I know. It sounds so simple. But if God did it for Joshua, He can do it for you. Here’s how it went down...

After the defeat, Joshua and the elders of Israel bowed down before God all night. Joshua cried out to the Lord for help. Asking “why did you bring us across the Jordan River if you are going to let the Amorites kill us?” (Joshua 7:7 NLT). The Lord told him to:

1. Get up and stop being dramatic (emphasis mine. He actually said, “Why are you lying on your face like this?”)

2. That Israel had broken the covenant and sinned. 

   
   

God told Joshua how to identify the guilty man by following His step-by-step instructions. 

Let’s insert ourselves here. Oftentimes we want the whole picture instead of trusting God every step of the way.

Back to the story, God didn’t tell him who broke the covenant. He told Joshua that the next morning, he was to gather all of the tribes together. God would point out the offending tribe to Joshua. Then the clan within the tribe. Then the family within the clan. And as each member of that family came forward, God would reveal who the guilty man was. While this was before the Holy Spirit’s “time” on Earth (which didn’t happen until Acts 2:1-4), it still points to God’s character. And how much he loves you. He has never, and will never, leave His people without specific, direct guidance for their situation.

In the Old Testament, people had to DO something to make things right with God. Sometimes that included a sacrifice. In this case, they stoned Achan and his family. Today, the only thing that you and I need to do is repent and ask the Holy Spirit to guide us in all truth (John 16:13). 

So, when you have heard from God, and things still aren’t working out, ask God to reveal the next step to you and repent for sins known and unknown. Then trust that God will do it, because that is the God we serve.