Thursday, April 14, 2022

The Winning Strategy

"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.
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.

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."
Joshua 6:3-5 (NKJV)

Having a good plan is necessary for being successful in things like a business, a military operation, or a personal goal.  But having a good plan is only a part of what is needed.  Along with the right plan, having a good strategy, and then executing the plan according to that strategy is also necessary.  A good plan alone is not enough, because with the wrong strategy a plan may not succeed.  And if no one implements the plan according to the strategy, success is not guaranteed.

When Israel went into the Promised Land, they faced challenges from their enemies.  And in every situation, in every battle, God gave Israel the winning strategy.  What is really interesting to see, is how the strategy that God gave Israel did not always make a lot of sense naturally, like when Israel came to the city of Jericho.  God told Israel to march around the city and blow trumpets, which sounds foolish if you are trying to conquer a city.  But, as Israel followed God's strategy, Jericho was conquered.

In life, we will all deal with challenges.  As Christians, we have a great advantage, because we have the Holy Spirit as our Helper.  The Holy Spirit will guide us and direct us in life, in the big and small decisions we need to make, and He will give us the winning strategy in every situation.  Sometimes the winning strategy may not look reasonable to us, but if we learn to listen to and follow the direction of the Holy Spirit, we will be victorious in every situation.

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