Take your time to read Joshua 5:13 to 6:20 (niv)

This particular portion of the Bible tells us the story of The Fall of Jericho. It revealed to us how the Lord commanded Joshua (Commander in Chief over the Israelites army) to position the Israelites to conquer the Promised Land that God had promised to Moses, within 7 days.

It's astounding how God had used such a non-conventional way to aid the Israelites to conquer Jericho. From (Joshua 6:3-17), we witnessed that the Lord commanded Joshua to position 7 priests carrying trumpets of rams' horns in front of the ark and to march round the city with the armed men once for the first six days. Joshua instructed armed guard to march ahead of the ark, and rear guard to follow the ark, I presume this is done in order to protect the priest & the ark of the covenant. On the 7th day the Lord specifically commanded them to circle the city 7 times.

Side-track:
Did you see the special reference to the number 7 here? God commanded;
7 priest to carry
7 trumpets of rams' horns to march round city of Jericho
7 times and on the 7th day the are further instructed to march
7 times.
I once heard a Pastor sharing that that the number 7 in the Bible signifies completeness, just like how God created earth in 7 days.

During National Service how many army men dreaded out-field training? Especially the tiring process of filling & carrying sandbags, cordoning the so-called “battle-ground” with con-wires, and how many of us hated digging trenches. I believe all these serve one purpose, ie to worn us out. After all the activities everyone of us will be tired. We are then “forced” to take up position in the trenches, and await for the “enemy” to strike. After hours of waiting when tiredness & sleeplessness slips in,wondering when will it all going to end. It is during such moments, the officers who acted as the “enemy” will come attacking, and all of us under-paid (and over-worked) calefares will shout; “ENEMY AHEAD, CHARGE !!!” Strange as it may be, but in that instant all of us will be awaken of our senses and make sure the “show” ends well so that all of us can return to our bunk to sleep. What a memory to some, right?

Can you associate how Joshua's army would have felt? All the while only Joshua knew the plan of the Lord (ie to command the priest & his men to march round Jericho 7 times etc), all of the other priests & men just had to follow his instructions. For the first SIX days they have to wake up early carrying the ark, rams horn, armour & swords etc and march around the city once. I believe Joshua's men would be wondering why were they doing all that? Isn't it obvious? Not only they would be tired & worn out, it also openly revealed to the soldiers of Jericho how many fighting men are in the army of Joshua. That will give the enemy ample time to plan/launch a return attack. To add to this “madness”, on the 7th day they were asked to circle Jericho 7 times.

One day as I re-called this particular portion of the Bible, God began to reveal to me why He had instructed Joshua & his army to position & moved in such a non-conventional military tactic. God simply wanted to empty Joshua & his men in and of themselves. God wanted to paint clear picture that the victory of Jericho was not based on the strength of men, but it was all on God. I used to think that it was the SHOUT of Joshua & his men that had move God to bring the wall down for them to conquer Jericho. Yet if you would to re-look at the Bible, on the 7th day they were instructed to march 7 times. Marching 7 times in the heat of the day, even the strongest man will be tired somehow. You see in Joshua 6:2-5, which is Day 0, God has had already revealed to Joshua that the Wall of Jericho would fall. That means to say victory has had already been won.

In that case what is the purpose of SHOUTing? Definitely it was not the shout that cause the wall to fall, nothing more than a tree-cutter shouting; “TIM...BER... !!!” that caused the tree to fell, it was actually a means to warn others around. Likewise I believe God wanted Joshua & his men to shout to serve a purpose to awake one another and to raise up (and also built up faith) to charge forth to conquer Jericho.

Something natural in our body reacts when we shout. I do not have time to google to see if it can be medically proven, but this is what I have realised over the years. In the army, we shout; “CHARGE”, it somehow releases a sense of courage. When running in a race, as we approach the finishing line some of us like to shout; “arhhh !!!”. Do you feel that this somehow gives us the additional strength to propels us forwards? I hope my examples can well illustrate my point on shouting. No matter how tired & worn one may be, additional boost can be ushered by shouting.

In our walk with Father, there will be a lot of “walls', that we need to constantly surrender and trust Him to bring it down and help us to walk in to claim that victory. Father has told us in the Bible that He gave us Jesus, and His death & resurrection has won all the victories for us. The wall had already fallen. Now it's time for us to SHOUT, awake our spirit-man and raise our faith level knowing that we can walk in and claim our victory, knowing the fact that Jesus is our King victor.

So does SHOUTing means praying loudly. Well, yes & no. It's is definitely not about praying loudly; “Father pls help me in this ! Father pls heal me of this ! pls deliver me from this ! etc”. When we shout we pray “loud” prayers like; “Father we thank you for your great love & grace, Father we proclaim victory by the resurrection of Jesus, Father we proclaim healing through the stripes of Jesus (Isa53:5) etc.” In other words we should not be trying to “gain favor” from God, we must release faith knowing that Jesus is our victory. Amen !

Why wait till you are in and out of yourself? When you and I know full well that Father should be our first resort. When we know that by our own strength we will never do a complete work, many a times even fail. When in the valley, tired and worn out, guess it's best time we need to 'shout' and let there be a proclamation of faith that Father will bring the 'wall' in front of us down, allowing us to move forth and claim the victory.

All in all we should all learnt that from the start we need to empty of ourselves and place our complete trust unto the Father's hands, knowing and giving thanks that He will bring it to completion in His due time.

On the other hand even when you are on victory ground, we still need to constantly 'shout' to stand in faith, to ward off the devil from wavering our faith. Of course knowing that Father will always be there to love us and uphold in His hands of victory.

In conclusion;
Shout !
For the Lord has given you the city !
(Joshua 6:16)
Mon 11-May-2009

P.S:
Father showed me children are the ones that prays the “loudest” prayer.
Simple and untainted with human desires.
Just a simple complete child-like faith in their Heavenly Father.