TOPIC: The Test of Faith (2)
FIRE SCRIPTURE
Joshua 6:1-5
1 Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in.
2 And the Lord said to Joshua: “See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor.
3 You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days.
4 And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.
5 It shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him.”
MEMORY VERSE
Joshua 6:3 – And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus shalt thou do six days.
MFM Daily Devotional 17 August 2021 OUTLINE
As a believer, your faith is a key ingredient in your walk with God. It determines whether you live as a victor or a loser, a success or a failure, a master or a servant. God tests believers’ faith in various ways. Yesterday, we learnt how He tested Abraham’s faith and the inestimable blessings the patriarch got for passing God’s tests.
God also tested the faith of Joshua and the children of Israel he was ordained to lead to the Promised Land. He tested their faith by introducing to them a strange plan of campaign. The plan was not only strange but laughable, but Joshua understood God’s ways.
The children of Israel were very close to the Promised Land but the walls and gates of Jericho stood between them and their dream as well as inheritance. They needed God’s intervention to surmount the challenge that the impregnable walls proved to be as well as the unyielding army of Jericho. When God spoke to Joshua on what to do, the strategy sounded too simple and ridiculous: “And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once.
Thus shalt thou do six days” (Joshua 6:3). However, the ridiculous sometimes give birth to the miraculous if we exercise faith in God who uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. It was actually a test of faith for Joshua and the children of Israel. If they had rejected God’s prescription for their victory, they would have failed in that campaign and be unable to enter Canaan. Joshua instructed the children to do exactly as the Lord had told them. They and the priests went round the walls thirteen times, gave a shout and the wall of Jericho fell down flat.
MFM Daily Devotional 17 August 2021 Today
Beloved, is the Lord telling you the step of faith to take concerning an issue that has defied all solutions? Does the step God told you to take look too simple or sound unbelievable. If you will believe, you will see the glory of God. Inside the ridiculous is often found the miraculous. God is only testing your faith. Do his bidding even if it doesn’t make sense. Like Joshua, you will testify of His goodness.
MOTIVATIONAL QUOTE
Faith is put to test when the situation is most difficult.
PROPHETIC WORD
I prophesy that the test of your faith shall produce unusual blessings, progress and promotion for you, in the name of Jesus.
HYMN: My hope is built on nothing less
1. My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
Chorus
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.
2. When darkness seems to veil His face
I rest on His unchanging grace;
In ev’ry high and stormy gale
My anchor holds within the veil.
My anchor holds within the veil.
3. His oath, His convenant, and blood,
Support me in the ‘whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way
He then is all my hope and stay.
He then is all my hope and stay.
4. When He shall come with trumpet sound,
Oh, may I then in Him be found;
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.
Faultless to stand before the throne.
MFM Daily Devotional 17 August 2021 PRAYER POINTS
MORNING
1. Let the power that demolished the wall of Jericho destroy the roots of the battle raging against my life, in the name of Jesus.
2. O God of hosts, arise and fight for me today, in the name of Jesus.
3. The Only Wise God, turn the wisdom of my enemies to foolishness, in the name of Jesus.
EVENING
4. Father, make me a teachable Christian, in the name of Jesus.
5. Let the angels of God minister to me and make my journey prosperous, in the name of Jesus.
6. I will trust in the Lord always. I will not lean on my own understanding, in the name of Jesus.
7. O God, let the test of my faith produce testimonies, in the name of Jesus.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR
Jeremiah 41-45
MFM Daily Devotional 17 August 2021. The Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries (MFM) is a Pentecostal denomination founded in Yaba, Lagos, Lagos State, Nigeria in 1989, now with churches in several countries. It was founded by Daniel Kolawole Olukoya
