Let the Weak Speak
Part 17 – Joshua – Knowing God IS (2)
Remember – the purpose of this series is to release the potential that is within us to build successful ministries, kingdom businesses, and to be world changers who really make a difference in this world. That will always involve change but we don’t need to panic because all of the change God requires from us is by way of exchange. And so we simply come to the place of exchange – the Throne of Grace – where we have the opportunity to trade our weakness for his strength!
We are no longer wearing ourselves out chasing signs and wonders – we are signs and wonders and so we are destined to be the most exciting thing that is going on wherever we are…
Isaiah 8: 18
18 Here am I and the children whom the LORD has given me!
We are for signs and wonders in Israel
From the LORD of hosts,
Who dwells in Mount Zion.
Joel 3: 9 – 10
9 Proclaim this among the nations:
“Prepare for war!
Wake up the mighty men,
Let all the men of war draw near,
Let them come up.
10 Beat your plowshares into swords
And your pruning hooks into spears;
Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’”
IT’S TIME TO LET THE WEAK SPEAK! LET THE WEAK SAY, “I AM STRONG!”
We have been looking at Joshua and seen that the weakness he had to overcome was a tendency to think that he was going to be in a supporting role forever and so would never have to assume the responsibility of leadership! When that time came it is obvious that Joshua was aware of his own weakness because God had to repeatedly tell him to BE STRONG!
Joshua had to do what all people of faith have to do which is to come to know the GOD WHO IS! He was I AM to Moses and so he would be I AM to Joshua!
You can never look back – you have to LOOK UP to the ONE WHO IS! The One who is the same yesterday, today, and forever!
1 John 4: 15 – 17
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. 17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.
This is the foundation of our faith! GOD IS LOVE! We have known and believed that GOD IS LOVE! This is what activates, energises, and puts our faith to work! Not that God was love, not that he will be love, but that HE IS love!
LET THE WEAK SAY, “I AM STRONG!”
We are in a war but we are fully equipped with faith that works through love!
1 Peter 5: 8 – 9
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith
1 Peter 5: 8 – 11 (NLT)
8 Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. 9 Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your Christian brothers and sisters all over the world are going through the same kind of suffering you are. 10 In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation. 11 All power to him forever! Amen.
The foundation upon which we build is the revelation that God loved us so much that he went to the Cross and provided everything that we would ever need before any of us had ever repented or was born again. And so the GOD WHO IS LOVE will never fail to fulfil his new covenant promises in our lives if we simply believe!
Remember – we never bring God’s word down to the level of our experience. We always believe in his ability to lift up our experience to the level of his word.
As I was meditating on this I started to think of the “I AM – mutables”!
immutable – unchanging over time or unable to be changed – fixed, set, rigid, inflexible, permanent, established, carved in stone, unchanging, constant, lasting, enduring, steadfast.
When we are steadfast in our faith – simply trusting and believing in his love for us and his ability to be everything we need him to be – then we are positioned to access his steadfastness.
Psalm 89: 34
34 My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips.
He was I AM to Moses, he was I AM to Joshua, and HE IS I AM to us!
LET THE WEAK SAY, “I AM STRONG!”
Hebrews 6: 6 – 18
16 Now when people take an oath, they call on someone greater than themselves to hold them to it. And without any question that oath is an end of all dispute. 17 Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, 18 that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong confidence, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.
God cannot lie! What he has promised he must fulfil! We must exchange our weakness for strong confidence!
What are the “I AM”-mutables?
HE IS our saviour, our healer, and our deliverer!
Romans 10: 6 – 17
6 But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down from above) 7 or, “‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”( that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. 13 For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.” 14 How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? 15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “ How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!”
16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “LORD, who has believed our report?” 17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Whoever calls on the name of the LORD – God’s covenant name in which he reveals himself to be everything we will ever need him to be – will be saved (healed, delivered, and prospered)!
This is the GOOD NEWS that so many of God’s people miss! This is the GOOD NEWS that the enemy wants to talk you out of and rob you of!
We need to exchange the weakness of looking to someone else or wishing that someone who has gone was still around. HE IS as much I AM to us as he was to anyone else whoever lived! As he was to them he will be to us!
So what are the “I AM – mutables” ?
Because HE IS the LORD our RIGHTEOUSNESS we are no longer sinners trying to get righteous – we are the righteous with the power and authority to resist sin in Jesus’ name!
LET THE WEAK SAY, “I AM STRONG!”
Because HE IS the LORD who HEALS US we are no longer the sick trying to get healed – we are the healed with power and authority to resist sickness in Jesus’ name!
LET THE WEAK SAY, “I AM STRONG!”
Because HE IS the LORD our PEACE we are no longer the oppressed trying to get delivered – we are the delivered with power and authority to resist oppression in Jesus’ name!
LET THE WEAK SAY, “I AM STRONG!”
Because HE IS the LORD who PROVIDES we are no longer the poor trying to prosper – we are the prosperous with the power and authority to resist poverty in Jesus’ name!
LET THE WEAK SAY, “I AM STRONG!”
Some of you might be saying, “Do we have to hear that again?” The short answer to that is, “YES!” And we need to go on hearing it until we start believing it and saying it and living it.
Jesus said, “I AM the Way, the Truth, and the LIFE!”
We need to be followers of the Way, believers of the Truth, and livers of the Life! If we follow we will lead others into the knowledge of the Truth that will transform their lives!
Joshua came to know the God WHO IS and so he led the people into the Promised Land in his generation!
If we will come to know the God WHO IS then we too will lead people into the fulfilment of God’s promises and the fullness of God’s provision in our generation!
We will be signs and wonders and initiators of the most exciting thing going on wherever we are!
LET THE WEAK SAY, “I AM STRONG!”