ESOCS Devotional 15 July 2023
MEMORY VERSE: “… and it came to pass when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat…” Joshua 6:20
TEXT: JOSHUA 6:1–23 (KJV)
Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in.
2 And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour.
3 And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days.
4 And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams’ horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall blow with the trumpets.
5 And it shall come to pass, that when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.
6 And Joshua the son of Nun called the priests, and said unto them, Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord.
7 And he said unto the people, Pass on, and compass the city, and let him that is armed pass on before the ark of the Lord.
8 And it came to pass, when Joshua had spoken unto the people, that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns passed on before the Lord, and blew with the trumpets: and the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them.
9 And the armed men went before the priests that blew with the trumpets, and the rereward came after the ark, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets.
10 And Joshua had commanded the people, saying, Ye shall not shout, nor make any noise with your voice, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I bid you shout; then shall ye shout.
11 So the ark of the Lord compassed the city, going about it once: and they came into the camp, and lodged in the camp.
12 And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord.
13 And seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord went on continually, and blew with the trumpets: and the armed men went before them; but the rereward came after the ark of the Lord, the priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets.
14 And the second day they compassed the city once, and returned into the camp: so they did six days.
15 And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they rose early about the dawning of the day, and compassed the city after the same manner seven times: only on that day they compassed the city seven times.
16 And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the Lord hath given you the city.
17 And the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein, to the Lord: only Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, because she hid the messengers that we sent.
18 And ye, in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make yourselves accursed, when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it.
19 But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto the Lord: they shall come into the treasury of the Lord.
20 So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.
21 And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword.
22 But Joshua had said unto the two men that had spied out the country, Go into the harlot’s house, and bring out thence the woman, and all that she hath, as ye sware unto her.
23 And the young men that were spies went in, and brought out Rahab, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had; and they brought out all her kindred, and left them without the camp of Israel.
Read Yesterday’s ESOCS Devotional here
There are several reasons people shout, but until you maximize the usefulness of the shout and properly channel it, you may just have had an exercise in futility. In order to outsmart the people of Jericho who punished themselves by the kind of wall they built around the city, God recommended a very unusual victory strategy that is beyond human imagination – THE SHOUT.
Interestingly, this was not a shout of fear but a victory shout. “O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumphs” (Ps. 47:1).
Here are some of the implications of the Shout Strategy:
- PRAISES UNTO GOD: When you shout, you render praise unto God and in the strength of that praise the one who is the Almighty, the Lion of the Tribe of Judah roars: “The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war; he shall cry, Yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies.” (Isaiah 42:13). It is not possible for the one whose Presence shakes the earth (Ps. 68:8), melts the hills like wax (Ps. 97:5) and cause mountains to flow (Isaiah 64:1-3) to show up in your shout of Praise and the wall of Jericho is still standing. We decree today that every Jericho wall around your life and destiny, may God’s Presence bring them down in Jesus Name.
- INTIMIDATION: Wherever there is a shout people are intimidated. In fact, that is why it is called Victory Strategy. In order to intimidate your enemy, you shout down on them. ‘Hell’s foundation quiver, at the shout of praise…’ (C & S Hymn 81 stanza 2). As you lift your voices high today in a shout, may your enemies never recover in the Name of Jesus. May the Lord fill them with fear and terror, in Jesus Name, Amen.
- WAR WEAPON: The shout is thunder oriented, so any time it goes out thunder is released which is a war weapon: “… The God of glory thundereth…” (Ps. 29:3). “…but the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were smitten before Israel” (1 Sam. 7:10).
- RESTORATION: The takeover of Jericho happened at the frequency of the shout. Your shout has the capacity to bring back what was stolen from you. Your shout is a shout of victory and not of fear.
- Let your shout be led by the spirit. Let God command you to shout as he did with the Israelites, so you don’t shout carnally.
- Father, thank you for the victory and total takeover of territory, give us the voice to shout as we open our mouth wide on daily basis.
FURTHER READING: Daniel 6:15-end; Luke 5:27-end; Acts 17:16–end
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ESOCS Devotional 15 July 2023
