This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

Welcome to day two of week four of our look through the book of Joshua. We're
going to look at portions of chapters 10 through 11 today. We're talking about
the strategies that Satan uses against us, using as a backdrop the kinds of
battles and strategies that were used against Joshua as an example to us of how
we fight daily battles.

And yesterday we talked about the strategies of alliances against you and the
need to let the Lord fight for you, the strategies of Satan trying to deceive
you and the need to get God's counsel. Today we begin with the third strategy
that Satan has in our lives and that's the strategy to exhaust you. It's the
strategy of defeat by means of a thousand daily battles.

In chapter 10 verses 29 to 43 you see this series of small battles that Joshua
has to fight. Let's just read portions of that passage of scripture beginning in
verse 29. And they took up positions against it and attacked it.

And then moving on, Joshua and all Israel went from Eglon to Hebron. And then
down in verse 38, Joshua and all Israel turned and attacked Eber. Then down to
verse 40, listen to what happened at the end of this.

So Joshua subdued the whole region, including the hill country, the Negev, the
western foothills and the mountain slopes together with all their kings. He left
no survivors. You look at these battles.

There were a lot of small battles against a lot of small cities. It seems that
they were fairly routine, maybe relatively easy. But don't be fooled into
thinking that they were unimportant.

Same thing can happen in our lives as believers. Many of us win the major
battles, but we find defeat in the minor skirmishes and the minor irritations of
life. So you handle a slanderous attack at work, but you explode when your child
irritates you over some little thing when you get home.

You handle a temptation to adultery, but you're defeated by what you choose to
read and watch. Let me tell you about my greatest faith tester this week. You
think it must be some great battle with demons, right?

No, actually, it was tightening the water supply under a sink. And right where
this sink was, every time I got under to tighten that water supply, I kept
hitting my head on the edge of the cabinet. I felt like I hit my head a thousand
times.

And every time I hit my head, my faith was tested. Let me just tell you, there's
something about those small irritations. There's something about those daily
battles that can get us.

We get our energy up for the big battles, but we have a big letdown for the
small battles. So what's the secret to success? How do you win this?

We follow Joshua's strategy here. Did you see what he did? The counter-strategy
to Satan trying to exhaust you with all the little things of life is you leave
no survivors.

Joshua came through and he left no survivors. He didn't say, "Well, we'll skip
that one or I'm busy today. " He went through and he had victory in every
battle.

If Joshua had looked upon these as insignificant and he'd passed them by, these
minor countries, city-states would have eventually become his defeat. We often
look at the minor, the smaller aspects of our life as they're insignificant and
we pass them by when it comes to our Christian lifestyle. And then these minor
irritations begin to act like a spiritual water torture in our lives.

They drive us to defeat, just drip, drip, drip. So you leave no survivors. What
do I mean by that?

You have no area of your life that's outside of the control of Christ's
lordship. You don't think, "Well, that area I don't have to pray about. That
area I don't have to worry about.

" It's every area. It's everything. The big and the small.

There's importance to it all in our lives. In fact, if you take a close look at
the New Testament, it has a very strong absolute victory message in everything
by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. We're supposed to make our request
to God, not in big things, not in some things or most things, in everything.

We're supposed to bring every thought captive to Christ. Not most thoughts, but
every thought. I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.

This idea of everything, every thought, all things, it's all through the New
Testament. Now I know you're going to struggle to grow to bring everything to
him. But what I'm inviting you to do in this battle is to struggle to grow to
bring everything to him.

Don't leave some small, seemingly small area outside of his control. Don't leave
some seemingly small area outside of your prayers. Don't worry about it all.

Realize God wants to be involved in it all. So when I'm hitting my head on a
cabinet and getting mad about it, God wants to meet me right there and say to
me, "All right, I'll be with you here. Keep your heart with me.

Don't let this infect your relationship with me or with anybody else. I'm with
you even in this. " Whatever you're facing today, God's with you even in that.

The way to make sure life doesn't exhaust you is to realize that Jesus Christ
wants to be a part of every part of your life. Another strategy that Satan has
is to exhaust you. And then there's a fourth one that we see in these chapters,
exemplified in the battles of Joshua.

The fourth strategy is to destroy you. This is defeat by means of one great
blow, the real crisis, the real strong point in your life where it seems like
everything is crumbling, everything is lost. Listen to what happens in chapter
11 to the people of Israel.

When Jabin king of Hazor heard of this, he sent of the victories of Israel, he
sent word to Jobab king of Medan, to the kings of Shimran and Akshaph, and to
the northern kings who were in the mountains, in the Arabah south of Kinnereth,
in the western foothills, in the Nefeth Dor, and to the west, to the Canaanites
in the east and the west, to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, and Jebusites
in the hill country, and to the Hivites below Herman in the region of Mizpah,
and they came out with all their troops and a large number of horses and
chariots, a huge army, as numerous as the sand on the seashore. All these kings
joined forces and made camp together at the waters of Meram to fight against
Israel. Sometimes we have this waters of Meram moment in our lives where it
feels like this isn't just a battle, this is the whole ball of wax, this is
everything, everything is against me.

I'm about to be lost. That picture in verse 4, as many as the sands on the
seashore, they pulled out all the stops. They came at Israel with everything
that they had, and sometimes you feel like that's exactly what's happening to
you in your life.

By the way, this happens to both believer and unbeliever. It doesn't happen just
to believers. It happens to everybody in this world where everything falls apart
all at once.

Sometimes it is our fault, choices we've made, sometimes it's just because we
live in a sinful fallen world. But in the case of a believer, not only are all
the circumstances coming against you, maybe sometimes because of your faith. It
may, as a believer, be because of some faith steps you've taken.

Everything's coming against you, and Satan wants to use it to destroy your
faith, to make you into a person of doubt rather than a person of faith. It's
the sledgehammer. We face this sledgehammer sometimes in our lives, and we often
face it just at the point of victory.

It often happens. You're just getting on top of bitterness in your life, and
then somebody wrongs you horribly, and you're tempted to go back into that well
of bitterness. Or you're just on the edge of victory over lust, and someone
practically throws himself at you.

Or you're just achieving victory over a drug addiction, and suddenly everyone's
clamoring to give you a fix, or there's that bottle right on the shelf where you
could just pick it up. I just want you to take note, this is often Satan's final
strategy. If he can't win any other way, he'd rather deceive you every time.

He'd rather trick you into defeat, because then you don't know he's doing it.
But he's not above using this sledgehammer at the end. Often this strategy
clearly reveals who he is.

He is the evil one. He wants to mess up your life and relationship with God. But
there is a counter-strategy to this.

Assume when it seems like life is falling apart in this world. First of all,
this world isn't all there is. So even when it does fall apart in this world,
Jesus was crucified on a cross, remember.

That's not the end of the story. But even when life is falling apart in this
world, there is a counter-strategy, and it is this. Do not be afraid.

Do not be afraid. Listen to what the Lord said to Joshua when all this army came
against him. In verse 6, the Lord said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid of them,
because by this time tomorrow I will hand all of them over to Israel.

" So down in verse 7, "So Joshua and his whole army came against them suddenly
at the waters of Miram and attacked them, and the Lord gave them into the hand
of Israel. " How do you let go of fear? Because life is scary sometimes.

Circumstances are scary sometimes. How do you let go of fear? You look at God's
love.

The Bible says there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear in 1
John. So the greatest weapon you have in your arsenal, the greatest weapon you
have in the battles of life is the love of God, because it will outlast anything
else in your life, everything else that you're going to face. The
counter-strategy is do not be afraid.

Now there's one final counter-strategy I want to talk about as we end this
couple of days at looking at the kinds of battles we face against Satan, and
that is be willing to wage war a long time. In chapter 11, verse 18, the Bible
says, "Joshua waged war against all these kings for a long time. " That is a
simple statement with deep truth for those of us who are involved in life's
battles.

Be willing to wage war a long time. If you expect to begin applying these
principles completely and immediately in order to achieve some total victory by
this time tomorrow, you are doomed to depression and defeat. Waging war takes a
long time.

Battles can be won daily, but the war will last your lifetime. So how do you
fight a war that lasts a lifetime? You build a relationship with God, because
that's going to last not only a lifetime, but also all the way into eternity.

So how's the battle going in your life? The example of Joshua reminds us that
you do not have to live a defeated life as a believer. Your new life of victory
in Christ, you're going to be learning how to be more victorious in your life,
the rest of your life, but your new life of victory can begin, can begin right
now.

Let's pray together. Lord, I pray for myself, I pray for all of us, each of us,
for help us to choose today your victory. Help us to choose alliance with you,
you're fighting for us.

Help us to choose to seek your counsel. Help us to choose to see every area of
our lives come under your control, your leadership. Help us to choose to not be
afraid as we look at your love.

Help us to choose these things we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.