*Claiming Victory!*

So the book of Joshua ends with God so faithfully fighting for and bringing rest to His people. Joshua 21:43-45 says, "So the LORD gave Israel all the land which He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they possessed it and lived in it. And the LORD gave them rest on every side, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers, and no one of all their enemies stood before them; the LORD gave all their enemies into their hand. Not one of the good promises which the LORD had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass." What a beautiful picture of God fighting for His people and bringing them victory!

And yet after this magnificent, God-given victory, Judges chapter 1 is filled with these statements: "But Manasseh did not take possession..." "...so the Canaanites persisted in living in that land..." "...but they did not drive them out completely..." "...Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites..." "...so the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them..." "...Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants..." "...so the Canaanites lived among them..." "...Asher did not drive out the inhabitants..." "...So the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they did not drive them out..." "Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants..." "...but lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land..." "Then the Amorites forced the sons of Dan into the hill country, for they did not allow them to come down to the valley..." I pondered the meaning of all of this as I read it and then read this note at the bottom of the page: "Like all other tribes, Dan had a territory given them, but they failed to claim the power of God to conquer that territory. Later they capitulated even more by accepting defeat and migrating to another territory in the N. becoming idolatrous (Jdg 18)." How tragic. What happened to the mind-boggling, other-nation-terrifying victory God had been giving to His people? What happened to the people of whom it was spoken, "One of your men puts to flight a thousand, for the LORD your God is He who fights for you, just as He promised you" (Joshua 23:10)? What happened to the miracles such as when God "sent the hornet before you and it drove out the two kings of the Amorites from before you, but not by your sword or your bow" (Joshua 24:12)? Did God stop fighting for His people?

Heck no.

God's people "failed to claim the power of God to conquer"! They stopped claiming His power, and they stopped claiming His victory; and I have only read through the first two chapters in Judges, but believe me... it gets bad real quick. In chapter 2, Israel already faces defeat before their enemies. How quickly can the enemy bring defeat when we stop claiming the power of God in our lives...

Man, friends, as crazy as the past few weeks has been, how beautiful it is to walk through these early books of the Bible and see the Bible absolutely come to life in my own journey. Yesterday, along with several other days in the past week or two, I stopped claiming the power of God in my life. I may have used the excuse that I had no strength left, and God needed to fight for me. But really, I gave up and stopped claiming His power and gave into defeat. I guess I decided I would let the Canaanites keep living in the land and would just live amongst them. I gave up on victory. Why why WHY would I give up on the victory that God wants to give me? I can so clearly see how ridiculous it was for the Israelites--when God gave them a territory--to give up on claiming victory over that territory. But how much harder is it to see in my own life how absolutely ridiculous it is to give up on claiming the victory that God wants to bring over the territory He has given to me?! Yesterday I realized that I have to do this China thing. I know that there is no way in my life I could decide not to go to China right now, because I know more clearly than probably anything else I've ever known in my life that I'm supposed to do this. BUT I do not want to go through this only because I know I have to... I do not want to go kicking and screaming. Man, I want to enjoy the ride... enJOY it! My dad reminded me the other day that God calls us to "Rejoice ALWAYS!" (1 Thess. 5:16). I need and want to have joy on this journey. I want to have victory on this journey... on the journey... not just at the end of the journey. I don't want to force my way through the next months and year in fear, struggling to get through it, clinging on for dear life. I want to soar on the wings of the ONE who's called me here and wants to give me the ride of a lifetime as I keep running His race! So I can accept defeat in my heart and go through the motions of doing what I know God has called me to do. OR I can claim the victory that is already mine in my Jesus and enjoy the crazy ride that God wants to take me on. Oooo what a difficult choice, eh? Man, I'm so ready to claim the power of God in my life... I'm so ready to claim the victory He wants to give me... I'm so ready to claim the territory He's bringing me to...

It's all so clear right now. I'm practically blinded by the brightness of the truth God is shining in my eyes. And I am absolutely joy-filled on this journey. Aaaand I am writing this down, because I don't know when the enemy will try to drown me in his lies again. The past few weeks, I have faced a spiritual battle that I've never encountered before. Maybe people think I'm being dramatic, but it has been more real to me than you can even imagine. And when the enemy starts hounding me, I slide pretty quickly back into a pit deeper than I know how to get out of. I'm blinded by lies instead of truth, and I literally cannot see past those lies, no matter what anybody says or what I tell myself. I get stuck. It's been an ugly cycle, and I'm ready to break that cycle... or let God break that cycle. It's only by His grace that I'm writing this post tonight. He has so faithfully picked me up every... single... time... that I've pitifully fallen and started drowning again. There's nothing I or anybody around me can do or say to pick me up from that spot... but somehow He does. And I want to claim the truth that He will either keep me up this time... or that He will pick me up yet again when I slip back down. I'm all about doing some claiming right about now. The enemy makes me think that there is nothing to claim. But God has shown me that there is oh so much He is just longing for me to claim--His power, His victory, and His JOY for starters.

I think I could go on forever at this point. But there it is... man, people, let's just stop failing to claim the power of God to conquer! He is just itching to do some conquering for us, so why on earth would we stop Him from doing that conquering?!