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How to Turn Your Enemies into Your Servants

The Herald
Aug 16, 2007

Moses had died. It was the end of an era and the baton had been passed on to a man who obeyed God and served Moses faithfully for years; who had been in the tent when God spoke face to face with Moses and loved the presence of God so much he stayed behind after Moses left (see Exodus 33).

We have entered into a new era when the baton is being passed on yet again. God is looking for champions who enjoy his presence and his word; who will remain behind in the Tent of Meeting even if no one else is there; who will be faithful servants to their mentors and people of vision, often anonymous in the eyes of man. God desires obedience, commitment, dedication, separation from the world and a willing heart in someone who is just there.

[The text for our story is taken from Joshua chapters 6 to 9.]

Moses had led the nation out of Egypt by opening the Red Sea and their reputation preceded them as they moved closer to their Promised Land. Joshua led the nation into the position whereby they could inherit their promises, but the people had to go in and take possession. They had to go through a process that meant death, burial and resurrection to the old life symbolised by crossing the River Jordan. They came to Jericho which had been classed as an impossible place to conquer, but God was with them and Jericho fell. The fame of Joshua now preceded him as it had with Moses.

Their next conquest was to be what could have been a minor skirmish at Ai, but it proved to be a disaster because of one man! All it took was one man to wreck the nation’s plans because of greed, theft, lying and blatant disregard for God’s command. He saw some of the things that were to be destroyed, craved them, lusted after it and stole, lying about it in the process.

We know of this situation at first hand. Someone’s disobedience to God has hindered our own work quite often. As one example of several, we had packed our bags, arranged hotel accommodation, hire cars and people at the other end and went to our International Airport. The Spirit of God told us to do this, so we did. Everything was arranged and confirmed, so we were not being rash and foolish. The only thing God told us not to do was buy our tickets, so I went to the counter and asked for our tickets. They were there! Everything God told us would happen was in place and those tickets were there as he said, but not paid for! We had enough money for everything but that flight!

We watched the plane take off and, wondering if we had missed it, asked the Lord about it and he told us to go to a hotel to stay the night and return the next day. We did. The tickets were there again. At midnight, our tickets were deleted from their computers, but they were there again the next day, same time, same destination, but unpaid. We watched that aircraft taxi out and take off and went home, again wondering about the whole thing. We discovered later that one person had been instructed by the Lord to pay for our tickets but he refused. I do not know what would have happened if he did that, but it is quite possible someone went to hell because we were not there to minister God’s word! I sure hope that is not the case.

The only way to remedy Joshua’s situation required drastic action. God revealed the truth. God is truth and is revealing truth today. We will all stand one day before him, saved or not, Spirit filled or not, to give account of our lives, including what we did not do! Think of that for a moment. It is no game. When I went to hell several years ago (I was there for 45 minutes), I saw a group of men and women huddled together, each dressed in a grey hooded outfit reminiscent of a monk’s garb. You know the sort. Go to a monkery (well you can go to a nunnery and see nuns, so why not a monkery to see monks) and you will see what I mean. I asked him later who those people were and he told me that they were preachers!

Yes, my sins are forgiven and I am the recipient of God’s amazing and all encompassing grace, but my liberty does not give me license to live as I please. Sin is sin and God is unchanging! God told Joshua what to do and a man called Achan (the name means trouble), his wife and family and his livestock were put to death. That is drastic stuff, but so is radical surgery to remove a cancer from someone’s body! The problem was not what they did, but what motivated them. God wants us to look very closely at our hearts, our attitudes, our thoughts and our motives. What we DO is important, but what we ARE is more important.

Now that the sin problem had been addressed, they could get on with it and God immediately reassured Joshua I am with you. Do not be afraid! He gave Joshua his strategy... a plan of attack for that situation and they won. The neighbouring kingdoms were next and they all prepared for war. Joshua had such a reputation, that the Gibeonites sure did not want to face him in battle, so they formulated a clever plan. They were a little bit sneaky and pretended to be ambassadors, coming from a distant country to avoid a fight (a battle they were sure to lose) and their pretence was so good they fooled the Israelites... including Joshua. This is the problem. Joshua should have known better and, instead of seeking the mind and will of God first... he barged in and said OK to their proposal.

Verse eleven says that they took of their victuals and did not ask counsel of the Lord. They fellowshipped together whereas they were supposed to be separated from the Goyim! Even today, the church should be separated, but we compromise, sometimes with the pretence of reaching the lost, or building a bridge to them (all of this is good mind you) or what is in essence a watering down of the Gospel so people can understand it. They understand it alright... better than we think at times and know we are conning them. They are not dumb. Friends, always stop first before making decisions. Check to see if God is in it. See how it measures up to his word. Take him into your confidence. Ask him, What do you think Lord? first and see what he says about it before doing anything.

These supposed ambassadors knew their stuff. They knew that they didn’t stand a chance against God and those in covenant relationship with him. They knew that they were already defeated before the first punch was thrown, so the enemies of God’s people bowed in subservience to them. Joshua turned his enemies into his servants long before he even saw them.

Now this is the thing that excites me. Jesus, our champion, has already won the victory. There are numerous scriptures such as 1 John 3:8 that tell me he destroyed the works of the devil and if they are destroyed then they should not have any effect on our lives. It is evident that they do however, so the question remains, “Why”? We could go off onto all sorts of directions here, but I am going to focus on the enemy. Like the Gibeonites who conned Joshua, the enemy of our souls is doing a good job in conning many believers.

In Joshua 9 and verse 27 we see that Joshua made them his servants. Do you know how to make your enemies turn into your servants? It is simple. Let God be God. When it is evident that you are not like everyone else; that you are walking in victory; that you have more than merely getting by and have surplus; when sickness rages through your community but you are untouched; when a terrorist plants a bomb that kills people everywhere but you never turned up because you were forewarned by God; when your neighbours are in drought and famine around you but your lawn is green and fruit is falling off your fruit trees because there is too much and you have to give it away (as it is with me)... sinners know it. Yes, they might laugh at you or ignore you, but when the crunch comes, who do they turn to (or do they?)?

Joshua’s reputation in God caused those who his enemies to become his servants and they entered into a covenant that even God honoured. In chapter 10, five kings came to attack his newfound covenant partners and he came to their rescue. I believe in covenant relationship. It is not just getting other people to throw money your way (and I need bucketfuls of it now), but you have someone who will stand with you where it matters most... in the throne room. People write to me asking for prayer and they get it! We might not always be able to physically support others, but we sure know how to get God’s attention on their behalf.

Joshua’s new partners called for help and he came to their aid and suddenly God came with him. Hey, Joshua, I am with you! We see in verse 10 that God, not Joshua discomforted the enemy. That is one of the benefits of partnership. I guess I must be a bloodthirsty individual because I like the next bit. God threw hailstones down on top of them and killed more of them than Joshua did. Can you imagine getting hit on the head with a lump of ice as big as a football coming straight down on you from 50000 feet? No wonder they perished.

Although Joshua initially erred to a certain degree, he was able to turn his enemies into his servants. Perhaps you have some enemies. I sure do and most of them are in churches! I am not asking God to hit them on the head with hail, but I am praying for them to be blessed... to be enriched... to walk in revelation light... to get favour in their lives and in so doing, I have seen some of them repent, ask for forgiveness, get blessed, come on board with me and we are now working together as we should so we can all get Jesus’ Gospel out there. Why not try turning your enemies into servants like they did?

Bashan Ministries
PO Box 152 Mount Tamborine Qld 4272 Australia
Telephone 61 7 5545 4544 :: Facsimile 61 7 5545 0837 http://bashanministries.org/

The Herald © Copyright 2007 Bashan Ministries

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May we be strengthened with the ability, willingness and capabilities to be good ambassadors of Nigeria contributing to its uplifting, rather than its detriment. - Cxsm