Whatever your interior reality is will determine what you release into the reality that is your life! Whatever is closed to you will only be opened to you as you open up to the possibility that its reality is not yours!

Joshua 6

“1 Now Jericho was tightly shut because of the sons of Israel; no one went out and no one came in. 2 The Lord said to Joshua, See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and the valiant warriors.'”

Have you ever noticed that the very thing that God says is yours becomes ‘tightly shut’ when you show up to possess it?

Jericho was closed! Jericho was not going to open up simply because those who were given it showed up to receive it!

Jericho was a city that was the initial city the children of Israel were to conquer in order for them to conquer the land God promised Abram and his Seed.

The physical land of promise was not the entire land that was promised. We learn this from Paul in Romans 4:13. “For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.”

So, just like Jericho was not the extent of Abraham’s physical seed’s inheritance, neither was Canaan land the extent of what God promised and showed Abraham He was giving to him.

Seeing is believing!

The faith teachers teach that faith believes before you see.

Yet, when God was promising Abram and Joshua what was theirs by a gift He showed them limited natural things to reveal the scope of His promises to them.

Genesis 13

“14 The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, ‘Now lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; 15 for all the land which you see, I will give it to you and to your descendants forever.'”

God then instructed Abram to put feet to his faith. “‘Arise, walk about the land through its length and breadth; for I will give it to you.'” [Verse 17]

In my upcoming Book, Who Is The Israel of God, And What Does That Have To Do With Me, I talk about how Abram had an encounter with the Lord on the Cross.

God told Abram to look north, south, east and west for all the land that he could “see” would be given to him and to his Seed forever. He then told Abram to “Arise and walk across the land, or carry the cross he saw on the land of promise.”

That gifted land represented the entire planet. But Abram had to obey God’s command to see it and walk across what he could see in the natural.

God will give a glimpse of what He is giving and commands us to see to the farthest regions of what He calls us to reach and realize.

Seeing is believing!

Joshua saw a walled city tightly secured and impenetrable in the natural!

What has God shown you that looks impossible from your vantage point?

What has God given you that you know there is no way in the natural you can take [receive] what God has promised you?

What do you see when you look at the very place, thing, or people that God says is yours?

Seeing is believing!

I believe this is one reason Jesus would later say, “According to your faith will it be done to [for] you.”

Faith does not deny what is naturally confronting you. Faith sees beyond any impossibility to what God says is true, and then it motivates you to move forward with confidence that every challenge will be overcome.

Faith comes [is revealed and received] by hearing what God says is the truth. Faith is  activated when we move out from where we are to where God says we are supposed to be, and into what we are supposed to be doing.

Jericho was tightly shut! Its walls were so huge they could not be penetrated naturally!

How was Joshua and the children of Israel supposed to take it? First they had to face the obvious which was what they saw in the natural. Second, they had to believe God by believing that God knew how to overcome the challenges posed in the natural. Third, they had to hear what God commanded them to do. Fourth, they had to obey all that God said for them to do. And lastly, they had to begin walking!

That last step is usually the hardest step. I know I listed it last but the first step forward is always the hardest step you will take. Talking yourself into starting begins with changing your self talk!

“I can’t!” “I’m not!” “It won’t!” “It can’t!” These are not the motivating messages that inspire an invasion into the impossible!

Now to the title Within! With Out?

Jesus said, “The kingdom is within you.” He also said, “You must be born again in order to see the kingdom.” He also said, You must be born of the Spirit and water to enter the kingdom.” [Luke 17:21; John 3:3, 5]

You will never enter what you cannot, or will not see!

If you do not win the war within you will never win the war around you!

You will do without until you overcome what is within you that contradicts what God says to you!

If you can not see the possibilities arise within you ,you will never see the impossibilities fall around you!

The kingdom of God within you is given to you to see what God has given to you that does not yet have His kingdom within it!

Getting you to heaven is not God’s goal! Getting heaven in you so you can reveal and release heaven here on earth is God’s goal! That is why Jesus said to pray, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done IN earth as it IS IN heaven.” [Matthew 6:10 KJVB]

Why do you think God commanded Joshua and the children of Israel to walk around Jericho one time for six straight days?

Why do you think God commanded Joshua and the children of Israel to walk around Jericho seven times on the seventh day?

Remember, God told Moses no work was to be done on the seventh day as it was a day of rest. Yet, on this seventh day they were to work [walk] more than on the first six days of work. To me this proves once and for all and beyond any shadow of a doubt that Sabbath rest has nothing to do with a specific day. Sabbath rest has always been about obeying God. The writer of Hebrews makes this abundantly clear to those who have the ability to see what God had revealed.

Hebrew’s says to labor to enter God’s rest! What does labor and rest have in common? Do you see the conundrum?

God commanded Joshua and the children of Israel to walk around Jericho a total of 13 times before the miracle would happen. Why thirteen? Well six is the number of fallen man and seven is the number of God’s perfection. So we could say God one upped fallen man!

Thirteen is also a number that represents rebellion! For instance:

• Nimrod was the 13th in Ham’s lineage. Nimrod tried to replace God!
• The valley of Hinnom or its variation occurs 13 times in Scripture! Hinnom is the place rebellious Jews burned their children to the false god Molech!
• In the first century Gehenna, the Greek equivalent of Hinnom, represented the place of future punishment for rebelliousness!
• In Romans chapter 1 Paul lists 23 characteristics of sinful people. Hater’s of God is number 13!
• The dragon of Revelation is mentioned 13 times!

You should get the picture [pun intended]! So God commanded the war against rebellion to begin with extreme obedience. Everything to be overcome must be overtaken by the opposite spirit the spiritual war involves!

Joshua:

• Don’t look at those walls!
• Don’t look at those gates!
• Don’t look at those warriors!
• Don’t look at that king!

Joshua:

• See the city that I have given to you!

If you pass this test then every test after that will not seem so terrible!

See, I believe that each time Joshua and the children of Israel walked around that city they saw something they did not see the previous times they walked it.

I believe each time they walked around that city they began to see what God was saying they were receiving.

I believe as they saw less of what was in their way they began to believe that what was beyond what they were seeing was within their reach!

What is within your reach that you still don’t see because what you are focusing on is keeping you from seeing what God has given you?

Seeing is believing!

Dr. Kevin M. Drury, DMin

A Hisstorymaker