Power Of Shouting

Key Scripture:  "You shall not shout or make any noise with your voice nor shall a word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I say to you, "Shout!"  Joshua 6:10

Power Point:

Usually God is going to stretch us in the process of answering our prayers.  We ask for wisdom and sometimes some very strange ideas pop into our heads. Events change so that what we asked for becomes “unseeable” and seemingly impossible.

     Years ago, my husband and I had been Christians for only a few months.  We were basking in the glow of that new relationship and one night my husband said, " I haven't offered God my job for His blessing." We did that.  Two weeks later, he was getting ready to go to work the next morning and his company called him and told him that they were downsizing and his services would no longer be required.  Dennis was their top salesman.  Because of the recession, they could not afford to pay him what he was worth. Following the shock, and the fear, and obvious confusion, we began to dig into the Word with greater intensity, especially in the area of faith. For the next three months, Dennis found employment at an Exon Car Care Center.  They loved him.  He was in line to become manager, even though they knew he was looking for other

employment. When we offered God that job, we were sure he was just going to increase Dennis's sales, but God had a better idea!  The day we "lost" our job,

we "found" out how to walk in faith. It wasn't what we "saw" that mattered. It was WHO we saw that mattered. That was one of the most extraordinary times of our spiritual lives.  We asked for increase and we were literally taken down to nothing. Eventually, God led us to start our own company, which led to that increase which was above and beyond what we ever could have envisioned. You see, our eyes were still trained to look around us, and God knew that we needed to learn to live life by looking to the kingdom within us. 

     One of the chief failings of the children of Israel was that they always looked around them, not above them.  They looked at their circumstances. They looked at the giants. They looked at each other.  On their first battle into the Promised Land,  God gave them a very strange strategy for war.  Shut up and march.  Can you imagine the cat-calls from the enemy on the walls of Jericho?  Seven days.  Seven silent marches.  Really?  God knew He would have no problem in taking the city with brute strength.  He'd done it before and He'd do it again. The key thing here was to get His children to listen to Him, to stop complaining about His methods, and to walk by faith. 

He gave them a very strange battle plan. Wait on His direction. Walk.  And don’t say a word!

The result?

"And it happened that when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the walls fell down flat…and they took the city. "

     You may be marching around some walls today, wondering why God's strategy is so strange.  Could I give you some advice?  Wait.  Walk.  And unless your mouth is filled with praise and thanksgiving, Shut up! God has the perfect plan.  At the exact right moment, at the exact right time you will hear His voice telling you the way He needs you to walk. He'll tell you when to shout.  And you will see the walls that barricaded your promises fall down flat. God is working ALL things for your good in this process. He's got a better idea. 

Wait.

Walk.

And if your mouth is not filled with praise and thanksgiving...well, you know.

Power Thought:

"This peculiar march, day after day, with no apparent result, was a test of their obedience and trust."  NSFB.

Wait expectantly.
Walk by faith.
It’s all over but the shouting!

Copyright (c) 2014, Suzanne Roberts, Unpublished Work