Today’s Podcast
Today’s Bible reading plan:
Read it in a year – Acts 13-14
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Luke 11:21-23
Jesus: When a man of power with his full array of weapons guards his own palace, everything inside is secure. But when a new man who is stronger and better armed attacks the palace, the old ruler will be overcome, his weapons and trusted defenses will be removed, and his treasures will be plundered. Can you see that I’m asking you to choose whose side you’re on—working with Me or fighting against Me?
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
A couple of weeks ago, a pastor friend asked me to hold a weekend renewal series of services for his church here in San Antonio. We had a great time as God moved in the services. His church had been doing a series of Jericho walks around their property, claiming the community for God and as it turned out, the last Sunday of the renewal weekend coincided with the last Jericho walk. So I used several chapters of Joshua for the background of the services that weekend.
Jesus’ words reminded me of that great battle and some of the events leading up to it. Jericho was a fortress. Built with an impenetrable defense. Walls that had never been breached. Many of the citizens lived with their houses built into the walls, in fact, so they had a vested interest in keeping that seven foot thick wall repaired and secured. Their guards were good. The citizens knew they were secure. Jericho was the place to live if you wanted security. Well, almost.
Rahab, one of the prostitutes in Jericho, listened to the stories coming from the men in the city. They told about the other nations that had fallen to the Israelites as they came across the wilderness. She heard about those who tried to stand up against this band of nomads and suffered incredible defeat at their hands. These armies should have been able to easily defeat these wanderers or at least hold their own against the Israelites, but God’s people defeated them every time. But those armies didn’t have the walls of Jericho protecting them. Surely, Jericho would stand, right?
Rahab, met the two spies. She believed God would had the city over to the Israelites. She did her part to save the spies and sent them back safely to Joshua. Rahab understood that despite what the leaders of Jericho thought Jericho was vulnerable. No matter what rhetoric the leaders of Jericho might tell her citizens, the walls might not keep out that rag-tag band of Israelites. No matter how strong or high or thick those walls were, Jericho just might not stand up to the power of the God these wanderers served. He had already shown His power too many times to be ignored. The plagues in Egypt 40 years ago. The stories of the path across the Red Sea and destruction of Pharaoh’s army. The rumors about the God whose voice called from the mountain and gave food and water to this nation of three million people every day.
This army might not look like much, but Rahab knew in her heart there was something different about them and that something was the God they believed in. The walls and the soldiers and the leadership and the gods of Jericho might have looked impressive and held the city safe for all those years, but a new man had arrived on the scene. Joshua was just across the Jordan River and his God did things for His people that no other god could do.
Rahab made a decision when the spies came to see her that she lived on the wrong side and wanted to be on Joshua’s side, on Jehovah’s side. So she told those two spies everything she knew about Jericho. She hid them on her roof and protected them from the soldiers that came to her house to find them. She gave the spies the information they needed to get back to their own people on the other side of the Jordan and share their information with Joshua. Rahab got on the side of the man she knew was stronger and would win the final battle.
Jesus asks the same question with His metaphor. “When a man of power with his full array of weapons guards his own palace, everything inside is secure. But when a new man who is stronger and better armed attacks the palace, the old ruler will be overcome, his weapons and trusted defenses will be removed, and his treasures will be plundered.”
He is that stronger man. Satan wants you to think he is. He wants you to think maybe you are and that you can stand up to everything the world throws at you by yourself, but you can’t. You need God to stand against the tide of evil that we face every day. So Jesus still asks the same question He asked those gathered around Him that day 2,000 years ago. Whose side are you on? Are you working for Him or against Him? Those are your only choices and depending on which side you’re on will make a huge difference as to whether you survive the fall of the wall of Jericho so to speak. Make sure you make the right choice.
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