What Joshua’s Sun Stand Still Prayer Means For You
Through God, All Things Are Possible
Is fear holding you back from accomplishing the calling God has on your life?
Are you cowering in the face of giants?
Are you feeling weak or helpless or powerless to take the next step?
Maybe it is time to revisit the inspiration provided to us by Joshua.
Have not I commanded you? Be strong, vigorous, and very courageous. Be not afraid, neither be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. — Joshua 1:9
Okay, we are commanded to be strong, vigorous and very courageous.
How does that help when we feel weak and powerless?
Feeling weak and powerless may be a reasonable response to what you are facing.
David had every reason to feel weak and powerless when he first laid eyes on Goliath. And Joshua’s army was way outnumbered by the 5 Kings of the Amorites.
But here is the crucial point to keep in mind.
It is not your strength that is needed.
It is not your power that you are depending on.
The whole key to our relationship with God is for us to allow God’s power to flow through us and use us to accomplish His aims.
This is why Joshua’s Sun Stand Still Prayer can be an encouragement to you.
When Joshua and his army had marched through the night, and done all they could do to prepare for battle, and were acting in obedience to what God had called them to do, their faith was not in their own strength, but in God’s strength. Their courage came not from their own power, but from God’s power.
God does not send us into battle for his causes alone.
God has promised us that He will always be with us, and never forsake us.
Then Moses called for Joshua, and as all Israel watched, he said to him, “Be strong and courageous! For you will lead these people into the land that the Lord swore to their ancestors he would give them. You are the one who will divide it among them as their grants of land. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.” — Deuteronomy 31: 7–8
So when the day came for the fearsome battle, Joshua’s men had marched all though the night to arrive in time. The battle was on and it was a fierce contest. The armies clashed all day, and Joshua’s men were winning. But the job was not done. Joshua needed more daylight to finish the contest. So Joshua asked God to make the sun stand still. And God did.
On the day the Lord gave the Israelites victory over the Amorites, Joshua prayed to the Lord in front of all the people of Israel. He said, “Let the sun stand still over Gibeon, and the moon over the valley of Aijalon.”
So the sun stood still and the moon stayed in place until the nation of Israel had defeated its enemies. — Joshua 10: 12–13
We come upon many huge obstacles and challenges in our journey through life.
Sometimes we feel set upon from all sides. We might have a health challenge, and that is stressing our marriage. That stress is impacting your children and they may be uncooperative or unruly. All that may cause you to sleep poorly, and get to work late, which upsets your relationship with your boss.
What to do in such a dark hour?
Faith is a choice.
When times are challenging and there are obstacles all around, we get to choose.
Am I going to face these calamities in my own strength? Am I going to figure this out and try to make this work on my own?
or
Am I going to choose faith? Am I going to acknowledge that the strength and power and the wisdom and the LOVE needed to move through these challenges and obstacles belongs to God, and take my needs to him? Will I allow the fullness of God: His power, His strength, His Wisdom, and His LOVE to flow through me into this situation?
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. — Hebrews 11:1 (KJV)
We humans are confronted by this choice over and over again.
We are called into action by life, and yet, we are always choosing whether to move into action on our own initiative, or acting out of the fullness of God.
There are circumstances where it is not so easy to tell the difference.
I think the best guidepost is in the certainty that moving in the fullness of God results in a peace that surpasses our human understanding. This peace is our indicator that we have surrendered the outcome to God’s will.
God can do anything, even the seeming impossible. By faith we trust that God is acting through us to achieve the outcome He deems best for all concerned. When we have faith in that, we live in peace and joy.
When we try to control the outcome of a situation and “make something happen” that is a sure sign we are moving in our own strength rather than in the fullness of God.
“Maybe you’ve settled into spiritual survival mode and the sun’s going down and the opportunities are getting away. God brought me here today to tell you that our God is still able to make the sun stand still.” — Paster Steven Furtick, Elevation Church, http://elevationchurch.org/
Joshua knew he couldn’t make the sun stand still in his own strength. He was already moving in obedience to God. His request was based in his desire to serve God and be the instrument through which God’s will was accomplished. He prayed his audacious prayer in faith.
So know that when you face obstacles and seek God’s will rather than your own, serving His will with a peaceful heart, unattached to the outcome, you can pray audacious Sun Stand Still prayers of your own, in faith that God hears and responds in His own way and in His own time.
God has always chosen very human, very fallible people as his instruments. All humans fail God. And yet He delights in us.
He doesn’t require perfect people to accomplish his will. He requires humble and obedient people who are willing to ask God to reveal his strength and power through them.
The more we trust God, the more we are willing to believe God with an audacious faith. When we are willing to believe God and be used by God for that which the unbeliever might call “impossible,” we honor God and demonstrate our openness to receiving results that glorify Jesus.
“Anytime our Heavenly Father intersects our earthly lives, and answers our prayers by any means He chooses, it is a miraculous occurrence. And I believe He desires to do this in a bigger way in our lives — here and now — than most of us have ever imagined.” — Pastor Steven Furtick, Elevation Church, http://elevationchurch.online/sermons/
Choose faith. Choose to believe that God wants to do a great work in you and through you. Trust Him. Turn to Him and allow Him to guide your steps.
