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The Corner
Dear Friends, The Lord recently impressed upon me the story of Joshua and the Israelites taking the city of Jericho with its impressive walls. God had given Joshua specific directions of how to go about taking the city. It involved a total reliance upon the Lord to show them that it wasn’t by their strength or ingenuity that they would take Jericho. There was just one stipulation when it came to spoils: all the silver, gold, brass and iron would go to the Lord. Except for Rahab and her family, every human and animal was to be killed and the city burned to the ground. This was an instance where God didn’t want them to keep any spoils, and if someone did, they and the whole camp would be cursed. Dwell on that for a minute. God said He would hold the entire camp responsible for the sin of one person! (Joshua 6:1-27) Achan was one of the men who fought at Jericho, but unlike the others, he was not able to resist temptation and took of the spoils. He carefully smuggled it out of the city and brought it back to the camp where he dug a hole and hid it beneath his tent. He must have been pleased, thinking that he had gotten away with this deed but God had seen it all. The Israelites moved on and came to a small city of Ai where they were repeatedly trounced. When Joshua asked the Lord why this was happening, God replied that there was sin in the camp and the entire camp would suffer until it was dealt with. Up to this point, Achan had the chance to voluntarily come forward and admit his sin but he chose to remain silent. God then supernaturally narrowed down the guilty person by tribe, family and household until Achan was revealed to be the guilty one and confessed. Sadly, his whole family and every animal they owned died as a result of his sinful craving. (Joshua 7:1-26) Achan is a good example of what many Christians try to do today. How many times has the Holy Spirit prompted you to confess your sins but you chose not to and hardened your heart? How long do you think He will allow this to continue? Many sinners operate under a false sense of comfort because their sins are not revealed. One of the gifts of the Spirit is the word of knowledge where you supernaturally know something about someone or something. Any Christian operating with this gift scares the daylights out of sinful people because they know that the Holy Spirit can reveal their hidden secrets. The Bible says, “…behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out.” (Numbers 32:23) God will reveal our sins; it might take a while but it will happen. Jesus hates sin and doesn't want it in His redeemed church. Sin hinders the Holy Spirit from moving in your life and also affects your church. One of the marks of revival is repentance where people become painfully aware of their sins and cry out to the Lord. Sin is always ugly and hurts our pride but there is such freedom and joy when you are delivered from it. Then the Holy Spirit can begin to operate in your life like He wants to. Without repentance there is no powerful move of God. Ask the Lord to reveal the hindrance; God is faithful and will reveal the sin in the camp. May God richly bless you today,
Charles Thorell |
