Victory Comes Before The Battle Sermon

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Happy Saturday and welcome back to ICur Let's Pray Ministries. You are in luck today. Today, you get a sermonette from the one and only. I'm super excited. I'm giving a word at church tomorrow. So I wanted to share this word with you on this glorious Saturday. Um, I'm starting a sermon series titled When Walls Fall. Amen. And tomorrow I will be preaching on and teaching on the victory before the battle. I will be coming from the scriptural text of Joshua 6, 1 through 2. And it reads as thus. Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. Then the Lord said to Joshua, See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. Amen. Praise the Lord. I want you to remember this as I preach through this microphone today. God declares victory before we even see it. Amen. It might look dim right now. You might not know how you're going to overcome or get through or get the victory. But I want you to know God declares victory before we even see it. Amen. Let us go to the Lord in prayer. Honey Father, have me behind Calvary's cross. Let your word be within me. Let your word fall fresh upon me. And Honey Father, just have your way in me, around me, and through me, I pray. I come before you not in fear, Henry Father, but I come to you in faith. You already know the battle in front of each and every one of us, every obstacle, every doubt, every unseen challenge. Honey Father, and we know right now you have given us the victory in advance. So we say thank you, Lord, not because of your strength, but because you go before us each and every day, paving the way, getting things out of our way that should not be there, Heavenly Father. Your word says in Exodus 14 and 14, the Lord would fight for you. You need only to be still. Hallelujah. Amen. Thank you, Jesus. So we choose to trust you right now, Heavenly Father. We know that you're fighting our battles. We know that you are doing a great thing right now, Heavenly Father. So help us to be still, Heavenly Father, right now, by the blood of Jesus Christ. Calm our anxious thoughts, strengthen our heart, give us wisdom, oh God, for every step and courage to move forward. Even we can't see the whole path, oh God. Just as you gave victory to David before he faced Goliath, I believe you are already working on our behalf, Henny Father. Thank you, O God, in advance for the victory. Let our faith be bigger than our fears, oh God, I pray. Let our focus stay on you, Honey Father, and not the battle, not the circumstances, not the situations, not the trials and tribulations. But help us to keep our focus on you, oh God, I pray. We surrender the outcome to you right now, oh God. Holy Father, you said in your word in Joshua 6 and 2. I just read it. You said, See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands. Before the walls fell, before the fight was finished, you had already given the victory, oh God. Lord, we stand on that same promise right now, no God, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Even though we may still see the walls in front of us right now, no God, we choose to believe you have already gone ahead of us to prepare the way, to give us the victory in advance. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. Just as you were with Joshua at Jericho, be with us right now, no God, in our situations, whatever mess we might be in, oh God. I'm praying that you cover us by and with the blood of Jesus Christ, oh God. Give us obedience when your instructions don't make sense, faith when we don't see results right away, oh God, and perseverance to keep going until breakthrough comes our way. Lord, Heavenly Father, sweet Jesus, help us to walk in confidence. Help us to walk boldly, oh God. Help us to walk with our heads held high, oh God. Not because of what we see, but because of what you have spoken. Tear down every wall of fear, doubt, delay, and opposition in our lives, oh God. I pray. We thank you in advance. Hallelujah. Glory to your name, O God. Thank you in advance for the victory. Thank you in advance that's already done. You have already decreed and declared, oh God. We will trust in you all the days of our life, Heavenly Father. We will follow you all the days of our life, Heavenly Father. And Lord, we will give you the glory each and every day. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. To the King of Kings, to the Lord of Lords. Amen. Amen. Amen. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. As we begin this sermon series, I want you to reflect on the walls that we all face in life, my brothers and my sisters. Are you staring at the walls or are you listening to what God is saying through his word? Because whatever your focus is right now, it will determine your next steps. If you focus on the walls, you'll hesitate. If you focus on the word, you'll move by faith. And I want to know today, are you moving toward God through his word? Are you moving today by faith? Some of us have been living like the battle determines the victory. But God sent me to remind you today that the victory is not determined by the battle. The battle is simply the process of walking out what God has already decreed and declared. Amen. You are not fighting for victory, you are fighting from victory, and that changes everything. It changes how we pray, it changes how we walk, it changes how we speak, it changes how we endure, it changes how we see things because you're no longer trying to win, you're enforcing what God already has said and has shown you through his word. Before you see the walls fall, before the doors open, before the breakthrough happens, God has already said, I have given it to you. Too often we are approaching our walls with human logic, trying harder, strategizing more. I giving up when nothing changes. Are we tired of waiting? I know there are moments in life when everything feels shut down, doors closed, opportunities blocked, answers delayed. We pray, we pray, we pray, but nothing moves. We believe times a thousand, but nothing changes. We show up when nobody else shows up, but the situation stays the same. This is where Israel finds itself in Joshua 6. Joshua 6 and 1 said, now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. That means it was shut tight, locked down, and sealed up. No way in and no way out. And if we're being honest, some of you probably walked in here or tune in this morning, stirring at something just like that. You staring at a situation that won't move. You're stirring at a struggle that won't break at all. You're stirring at a wall that just won't fall. No matter what you do, no matter how many times you done prayed on your knees, no matter how many times you done gave in the offering, the situation, the struggle in the wall just won't move. But from a human perspective, Jericho looked impossible. Well, from God's perspective, it was already defeated. From a human perspective, the walls represented fear, limitation, and delay. We look at these kind of perspectives each and every day. But from God's perspective, those walls were already defeated. And we have to believe that in our life that God has given us the ability, equipped us through his word, to follow his word to bring down our walls. My brothers, my sisters, we are counter-encounter a lot of personal walls in our life. But they require patience sometimes, obedience, faith over logic, and divine intervention rather than human strength to break through. Joshua 6 reminds us that God doesn't always work through conventional means. Instead, he calls his people to faith when it doesn't make sense, obedience when it feels uncomfortable, and trust in his power rather than our own strength. Let me ask you this right now. What walls are you standing in front of right now that you just wish and hope will fall down? What situation are you afraid to keep walking around to bring it down because you've been walking for a long time? Because marching around Jericho didn't look like a battle plan, it looked like obedience. Are you being obedient? We have to be obedient because obedience positions us for the miracle. Amen. There is always a tension in faith, the space between what God said and what we see, the gap between promise and proof, the place where faith either rises or fear takes over. And most of us don't struggle believing God can give us the victory. We struggle believing He already has when nothing looks different. But this is the scripture right here that I love and I'm shouting already in advance. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Joshua 6 and 2. He said, See, I need you to see, I have delivered Jericho into your hand, along with its king and his spidey men. Amen. I don't know if you caught that, but let me say it again. He said, I have delivered Jericho into your hand. The walls were still up, the gates were still closed, and the enemy was still on the inside. But God said, I have already given it to you. Do you believe that right now? He said, Not I will, not I might, not if you try harder. God said, I have already given you the victory. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. You just got to listen and obey and believe and take heed to what I'm saying and march. Before the battle ever begins, God declared the victory. God does the same thing for us, my brothers and my sisters. God knows the way, God knows the timing. God knows the how. God has already given us the victory. We just got to know how to shout when God tells us to shout. We have to learn how to move when God tells us to move. We have to learn how to be silent when God tells us to be silent. Let me go a little deeper so y'all can understand what I'm trying to get you to see and hear right now. My first point is God speaks from completion and not possibility. God didn't say I'm working on it. God didn't say let's see how it goes. God didn't say if you try harder, maybe you'll win sometimes. He said, I have, I have, I have delivered you. I delivered it into your hand. I came to you personally, opened up your hands and gave it to you. You didn't have to come nowhere to get it. I have given it to you. That is finished language, completed work, past tense, because God does not speak from where you are, he speaks from where he already is. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus. Isaiah 46 and 10 states, declaring the end from the beginning. Declaring the end from the beginning. Amen. Before Joshua marched, before the trumpets ever sounded, before the walls even shook, God had already settled the outcome. You are asking God to do what He has already declared finished. You are waiting for a decision. God has already made known to you. The battle you're anxious about is not confusing to God. The situation keeping you up at night is already written in his outcome of victory. What you are walking into, my brothers, my sisters, God has already settled the score. You just got to be faithful, be obedient, and you got to believe. The only question writing down on the floor should be: Will you believe him before you see it? Do you trust him before you see it? Will you follow him before you see it? You got to show God where your faith lies. You got to show God who team you are on. You on team Jesus, you on team God. Then you're going to show him through obedience, through faith, and through trusting him and his word. Another point I want to make out is faith requires you to see things differently. The first word God gives Joshua is not march, share, or fight. It is see. See. Because Joshua is looking at one thing, but God is calling him to see something greater. We do the same thing. We see the walls, we see the strength, we see the impossibilities, impossibilities. But God sees and says, You got the victory. You will possess the land. It will come into completion. You just got to see things differently. The problem that we have in today's society, in today's world, our eyes says it's not moving. But our faith tells us it's already handled. Our sight tells us it's too big, it's way too big for God. But our faith tells us God already gave it, God already restored it, God already gave the victory. God is already working on my behalf. Sight tells us it's impossible, it can't happen. But the word says, I can do, you can do, all things through Christ who strengthens us. So faith tells us God has already moved and handled it. 2 Corinthians 5 and 7 states, for we walk by faith and not by sight. Faith doesn't deny reality, it refuses to let reality have the final word. Too many of us are making decisions based on what we see instead of what God has already done. Said faith doesn't start with the problem. Faith starts with the promise. Faith doesn't start with the problem. Faith starts with the promise. Do my prophets no harm. I believe in vengeance as man saith the Lord. I believe, I believe, I believe, and I hope you believe right now that God is not shy from his word. If he said it, then he's going to bring it to pass. If he said it, then I believe it. I believe in the Bible. I believe in his word. I believe in what God's put in my spirit, in my soul. I believe that it's coming to pass for you and me. I believe, I believe, I believe that if we would trust in his plan, trust in his battlefield, trust in his word, trust in his sovereignty, I'm telling you, God will bring all things to pass. But it comes with following instructions when he gives them. We have to learn how to march. We have to learn how to be silent. We have to learn how to be on repeat until God says, Now, God ain't gonna give us a weapon to fight our battles, he gives us his word. God doesn't give us a strategy, he gives us his word. God don't give us no explanation, he gives us his word. Why? Because God was not teaching them and us how to fight, God is teaching us how to trust in him. Hallelujah. Proverbs 3 and 5 states, trust in the Lord with all of thy heart and lead not unto thy own understanding. In always acknowledge him, and he shall direct your path. Hallelujah. Amen. Your obedience is not producing victory, it is aligning you with a victory already declared. Amen. Sometimes God will lead you in ways that don't make sense because he is building trust, character, and not comfort. Amen. The real battle is internal before it's external. The walls of Jericho were not the greatest obstacle. The real battle was in Joshua's mind. We always got a battle going on in our mind. We always got something in the back of our heads saying this can't be done. Will this be done? What am I going to do? Will I believe what God said? Will I act when nothing looks different? Will I trust when it makes no sense? Our mind is an enemy to us sometimes. And this is why we got to say, get thee behind me, Satan. I trust and believe in my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I trust and believe that this wall is going to fall. I don't care what kind of wall it is, if it's a wall of depression, a wall of anxiety, a wall of financial strain, a wall of sickness, a wall of despair, a wall of confusion, a wall of stress. God said, if you be obedient to what I'm saying, the walls will come down. Romans 8 and 37 states, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him that loves us. First Corinthians 15 and 57 state, but thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. I want you to know that we are more than conquerors. We will overcome. We will get to the other side. We will bring down our walls of Jericho. We will get the victory. We will overcome. We will bring down our Jericho walls. We have to give God thanks in advance for this victory. He already decreed and declared before the beginning of time. We have to understand that God might not do it, God will do it. We have to trust and believe in him. Stop saying, I hope it works out. I hope I make it. I hope I get healed. I'm trying to get through. Stop saying maybe things will change. You got to start decreeing and declaring, by my God's stripes, I am healed. God has already restored me. God has already delivered me. God is my food. God is my drink. God is the reason why I can overcome. I don't have to settle for less when I know my God got more for me. You guys start decreeing and declaring over your life that you're walking in his promises, that you're walking in his faith. You're walking in his grace and his mercy. You're walking in his favor. I want you to know while they was marching around that wall. It didn't fall on day one. It didn't fall on day two. It didn't fall on day three. I'm telling you, you gotta keep moving. You gotta keep pressing ahead. Even when you feel like you're stuck in a waiting season, keep on walking, keep on praying, keep on fasting, keep on believing. Just because nothing has changed around you doesn't mean nothing has been decided above you. God is working in the heavens. Heaven has already spoken. He said it's already there, it's already done. The victory is already yours. Amen, amen, amen. If God said it, it does not matter how high the wall is. If God declared it, it does not matter how long it takes to receive it. If God promised it to you, to you, you, you, it does not matter how impossible it may look. God is going to give it to you. If he said it, you need to declare it, you need to believe it, and you need to say hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus, in advance. So when you're facing your jerichal walls, I need you to remember when fear speaks, answer with God's word. When doubt arises, stand on the promises of God. When nothing seems like it's changing, remember that God. I already said it is yours. Amen. Amen. Amen. Victory was declared before the battle even began. So I need you to walk today like you got the victory in advance. I don't care what you're going through. Walk by faith. Walk in victory. Walk in God's love and let God have his way in you. Let us go to the Lord in prayer as we close out this episode of I care. Let's pray ministries. Victory shall be yours. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Amen. Honey Father, we thank you so much for your word. Victory is ours, oh God. We decree and declare that the victory is before the battle. And we know that we are going to win every battle that we're in right now, Honey Father. Because you said in your word, you have delivered it into our hands, Honey Father. So no matter what we're going through right now, oh God, we believe in your word. We trust in your word that the victory comes before the battle. And we say, Hallelujah, thank you, Jesus, in advance for the breakthrough, in advance for the healing, in advance for the financial breakthrough. Honey Father, we just thank you so much for every single thing that you're doing in our life. You're building up our hope, you're building up our faith, you're building up our trust in you. And we thank you for that, Henry Father. God, we thank you for being our great provider. We thank you, oh God, for being our great peace. We thank you, oh God, for being the anchor to our soul, Henny Father. God, we thank you so much for being all that we will ever need. Honey Father, we pray that we will become more like you each and every day, Honey Father. Honey Father, help us to love others when it's difficult. Help us to forgive instead of holding grudges. Help us to serve people with humility and kindness, Honey Father. Help us to choose to be obedient to your will and your way over our own desires, Honey Father. God, I pray for everybody that's listening to my voice that you will give them patience, give them humility, and give them self-control in their daily life. Oh God, I pray. God, I know the walls are falling down around us. God, give us the faith to know this. Give us a mind to be obedient and let us see your power fall times a thousand in church tomorrow. God, we're so excited to feel your presence. We're so excited to be in your surroundings, Heavenly Father. God, we're so excited to be in your temple. Have your way throughout our church services tomorrow. Have your way in our homes, Heavenly Father. Have your way in our minds, oh God. God, thank you. Thank you. Thank you, oh God, for the victory in advance. And the people of God said, Amen. Thank you all for tuning in to I Care Let's Pray Ministries. I hope you got something out of that word. I hope you felt the love of God and God nudging you and pushing you to keep on walking, to keep on believing. Because the victory is at hand. The victory is already in your hands. And we praise God for that right now. Until we meet again tomorrow, have a blessed Saturday. And I hope you all have a powerful time at church tomorrow through the Word of God. Till next time. Amen.