About the Saints

Day one hundred eighty-six

I was up early for the first seminary in-service meeting of the summer.  It is always nice to see the seminary teachers in our stake, they are really great people.  So my prayer started out with gratitude for the opportunity I have to work with such amazing people and to serve the youth. I am grateful for the blessings that seminary has brought to my life, especially a greater love for the scriptures. My request this morning was that the Spirit would be with me and those that attended the meeting so that we might know the needs of the seminary youth and plan accordingly.  And a special request for the youth, that they may know that we love them and that the Lord loves them. 

ABOUT THE SAINTS (vv 16-27)
If the first section I talked about was the divine aspect of our battles, then this section portrays the personal aspect of the battles we must fight in life. God gave the Israelites a great victory through His mighty power, but there was still more of the battle to be fought. In these verses, we see Israel, not the Lord, engaged in the battle! There is a lesson here for all saints:

verses 16-18 We Must Control Our Enemy - Notice that these five kings tried to hide themselves in a cave. When they were discovered, Joshua ordered the cave to be sealed up, thus preventing the kings from escaping. This is an example of control.  Whatever it is in our lives that we are battling, it must be controlled, or it will eventually come to control us.

verses 22-25 We Must Confront Our Enemy - Notice that after the battle had been won, Joshua came back to that cave and brought these kings out and had his men place their feet upon their necks. He confronted them openly and publicly pronounced the victory over them.

Spiritually speaking, we need to do the same thing with those things which we try to hide.  If you aren't familiar with the feeling of freedom that comes when you stop hiding things and you confront and deal with them, you are missing out. There is a sense of relief that comes with honesty that seems to give you permission to let go and move on.  We need that in our lives.  As good as those moments feel, take a moment to imagine the feeling that would come when you place your foot on the neck of your enemy (Satan) in the name of Jesus and proclaim the victory!  

V. 26-27 We Must Conquer Our Enemy - In these verses, we see Joshua take a step that ensures the victory over these 5 kings. He puts them to death!

This is another reminder that we need to totally eliminate those things in our lives that lead us away from God.  Notice that the Lord has been giving Israel this message a lot lately.  When you know what is coming up in their history you can see why!  There are events that are coming up in the scriptures that will make you shake your head and ask, "How could they forget so quickly?"  Look back on your own life, you probably have moments like this in your life too. Why do the Israelites keep making the same mistakes?  Why do we?

Remember this is the personal part of the battle.  This is the part where we get to prove that we can control, confront, and conquer the enemy.  The philosopher Ovid said, "We can learn even from our enemies." We may not always be successful in our battles, but each attempt gives us the opportunity to improve our skills.  It is entirely up to us what we take away from the battle!