We Exalt Christ and Praise the Lord, for Spiritual Victory Depends on our Praising!

Praise the Lord, we are learning to exalt Christ, give Him the preeminence, and praise the Lord, for our realization is that spiritual victory depends not on warfare but on our praises!

We need to know the vital factors that enabled the people of Israel to be victorious in their first warfare, realizing that they didn’t have to do anything but believe, trust in God, and listen to the instruction from the Captain of the army, exalting Christ and standing in the victory of God. Hallelujah!

As we look at the matter of spiritual warfare as typified in Joshua, in Josh. 6:1-20 there are some vital factors that enabled the people of Israel to be victorious in their first warfare.

We don’t have to be defeated – we can learn from others, from the history of Israel, from our history, and from others’ mistakes; we can learn these vital factors.

First, the fact that Jericho was shut up, with no traffic coming in or going out, signifies that the power of darkness, the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenlies, were bound (Matt. 12:29; Eph. 6:12).

This is what the Lord spoke of in Matt. 12:29, before we go and plunder the house of the strong man, we need to first bind the strong man; this is what happened at Jericho.

We need to realize that, in spiritual warfare, the first thing we have to do is to bind the strong man by standing in the ground of the church, standing one with the Lord and with the saints, and pray the binding prayers on earth.

The people of Israel did not need to do anything at Jericho – they didn’t need to fight, attack, plan, scheme, or do anything except trust in God, believe in God, and listen to the instruction from the Captain of the army of Israel, and they had to bear the ark (Josh. 6:3-11).

What kind of battle is this, in which we don’t do anything except trust in God, listen to His instructions, and uphold Christ?

This is what Israel did: they marched around the city once every day for six days, and on the seventh day they marched seven times.

We don’t need to engage in battle or attack: we simply need to bind the strong man, stand in the victory of Christ, believe and trust in God, and exalt Christ.

We simply believe in God and we trust in God; we want to listen to the instruction from the Captain of God’s army.

As the Lord emphasized again and again in Rev. 2-3, He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

Our hearing and listening is deeper than seeing, and seeing is based upon hearing.

We need to not only see the victory of Christ and say Amen to it; we also need to listen to His instruction and follow His instructions.

We need to take heed of how we hear; we need to hear the Lord, listen to Him, and not hear the wrong people or follow their instructions.

May we have an ear to hear our Captain so that victory may be assured to us!

In Spiritual Warfare, the First thing we should do is Exalt Christ, Giving Him the Preeminence

In Josh. 6:4-11 we see that the ark took the lead in marching around the city; the priests had to bear the ark, and the people followed.

The bearing of the Ark here by the priests shows that in spiritual warfare the first thing we should do is exalt Christ, giving Him the first place, the preeminence, in all things (Col. 1:18).

We allow Christ to take the lead and we follow His lead. We learn this by doing; we learn to follow Christ and exalt Him by doing this.

When we are about to engage in some kind of battle or prayer about a crucial matter, it is very easy to be focused on the problems, the situations, the things to do, and what we should pray for.

But we need to learn – and we will learn – that the first thing we should do is exalt Christ in everything, giving Him the first place in this matter. We practice this in the prayer meeting; we give the Lord the preeminence, we listen to Him, we praise Him, and we exalt Him.

Christ is our wonderful Captain – He is the all-inclusive Christ, and we give Him the preeminence. It is not the warfare or the battle at hand that has preeminence – Christ has the preeminence!

When the people of Israel attacked Jericho, they did this under the command of Christ typified by the Ark (Josh. 5:14; 6:3-11).

When we do this, when we exalt Christ and give Him the preeminence, we give Him a way to speak, and we respond to Him effortlessly, spontaneously.

The Ark, a type of Christ, who was their Commander in chief, took the lead to attack the enemies (v. 4).

Christ takes the lead. He is the General who puts His boots on the ground first and leaves the battle last.

We just follow Him. We give Him the preeminence. We are one with HIm. We exalt Him. And we know that He fights the battle for us.

We only remain silent until the command is given to us to shout; we listen to the Lord and we carry out the matter in the Lord’s way without expressing any thought, opinion, or feeling.

None of us is an exception to this; we can’t say that, based on our experience and growth in life, we should take the lead in battle because we know what to do and what to pray.

None of us should presume to be the general in God’s army, directing others what to do, where to go, and what to pray. Oh, Lord!

May we realize that we are soldiers in God’s army, and we follow not a man but God Himself, Christ who is the Captain of the army.

We do not follow our own ideas, opinions, or thoughts; we do not express our feelings but rather, we exalt Christ, we are silent until He gives the direction, and when He says that we should shout, we praise the Lord with all our heart!

The victory over Jericho in Israel’s first battle after crossing the river Jordan was won not by Israel’s fighting but by their blowing the trumpets and shouting (vv. 2-5).

This signifies that we need to testify and proclaim God with Christ (the Ark) through faith in God’s word of instruction.

If you look at the way they obtained the victory at Jericho, it may sound quite crazy: the army didn’t shoot one arrow or lift their hand to fight.

They simply listened to the Lord’s word of instruction, and they proclaimed the victory by shouting when Joshua instructed them to.

When the command is given, we sound the trumpet and shout. Hallelujah!

We don’t fight the victory by going head-on to tackle the enemy; we listen to the Lord’s command, we exalt Christ and give Him the preeminence, and we deny and put aside our feelings and thoughts.

Christ has already won the victory, and we stand in His victory; when He gives the command, we shout and proclaim His victory, and the battle is the Lord’s! Hallelujah!

Lord Jesus, we exalt You! We give You the preeminence in all things by faith. We do not focus on the battle at hand nor on the enemy and his attacks; we focus only on You and we give You the first place. You are our wonderful Captain, and You are the all-inclusive Christ as our General leading us into victory and into the enjoyment of Yourself. Amen, Lord, we are listening to You; speak to us, give us a word of instruction, and we will follow Your leading. Have a free way among us. We want to carry out the battle in Your way without expressing any thought, opinion, or feeling. We put ourselves aside, we join ourselves to You, we listen to You, and we give You the preeminence and listen to Your instruction! Amen, Lord Jesus, our wonderful and glorious Captain!

Spiritual Victory does not Depend on Warfare – it Depends on Praise; Praise the Lord!

In 2 Chron. 20:20-22 we see a unique principle regarding spiritual warfare and spiritual victory: spiritual victory doesn’t depend on warfare – it depends on praise.

In this portion we see that the enemies have surrounded Jerusalem and it seemed that there was no way out, neither was there a way to defend against such a great army.

So the king prayed, trusted in God, and arranged that the priests and Levites would praise the Lord and sing praises to Him.

In our Christian life, we may praise the Lord when we feel like it; when there’s a blessing or something positive that has happened in our life, we may spontaneously praise the Lord.

However, we do not praise the Lord when we don’t feel like it, when things are not going our way, or when we feel like we’re being attacked, opposed, and oppressed.

The hardest thing to do in a battle is to praise; when we look at the enemy, the difficulties, and the things happening around us, we don’t feel that Christ is victor, and we tend not to praise the Lord.

But we need to realize that Christ is the Victor, He has already destroyed the devil on the cross, He has conquered death, and He has the keys of death and Hades.

Jesus is the Lord! Christ is the Victor! We are fighting in victory, and we fight for victory by praising His victory.

We all are the same, in the matter of not praising the Lord. We may be in a painful and complicated situation, and many heart-rending things may happen to us; after thousands of prayers, it may seem that nothing is changing or improving. Oh, Lord!

The more we pray, the more we may try to ask the Lord to change the situation, and the more He seems not to do anything.

So we simply need to lift our eyes to Him and praise Him. We need to praise the Lord in the midst of the situation. This terrifies the enemy.

The Lord is worthy of our praise, and when we praise Him, we are joined to Him. We overcome Satan by our praise. We all are learning this – spiritual victory depends on our praises, and not on our fighting or our warfare.

A person who praises God transcends everything and overcomes continually by his praise; this is a principle and a fact (Heb. 11:30, 33-34; 13:15).

We may be conscious of Satan’s ferocity and of our own weaknesses, and we may try to resolve the struggle and pray.

However, we need to realize a unique principle of spiritual victory in spiritual warfare: spiritual victory doesn’t depend on warfare but on praise. We lose many spiritual battles because of our lack of praise.

When we praise God, we transcend everything.

When we exercise our spirit to praise God and stand in the victory of Christ, declaring His victory and His defeating the enemy, we transcend everything.

A person who praises God transcends everything; he overcomes not by his own skills, ability, or merit, but by his praise.

We overcome the enemy by our praise! May we learn to not look at the situation but lift our eyes, set our sight on the Lord, and praise Him for what He has done!

May we realize that spiritual victory depends not on our skills in battle, our fervent prayers, or our struggle; it depends on our praising.

We simply need to praise the Lord, praise His name, declare His victory, and be one with Him by our praises.

Lord Jesus, we do not look at our weaknesses and failures – we look away unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of our faith! We praise You Lord for what You are and for what You have done! We don’t trust in ourselves and we don’t merely rely on our prayers. We praise the Lord! Hallelujah! Lord, we praise Your name. You are higher than everything. You are stronger than anything. Your lovingkindness toward us endures forever. You have overcome the enemy. We stand in Your victory. Amen, Lord, remind us to just praise You! May our life be a life of praising the Lord! Hallelujah, we overcome the enemy by our praising the Lord! Praise the Lord Jesus Christ, our Captain, our General, and our Leader! Jesus is Lord! No matter what we see happening around us, no matter how we feel, and no matter our failures: Jesus is Lord!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Ron Kangas for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Joshua, msgs. 7, 10, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth (2021 summer training), week 2, Possessing the Land of Canaan by Defeating the Satanic Forces.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Who then will forward go / Strong in His mighty power? / Who then will firmly trust the Lord / Until the vict’ry hour; / Till with the conqu’rors blest, / The triumph song’s begun? / That man will then rejoice to hear, / Behold, I quickly come! (Hymns #893)
  – Praise Him! praise Him! Christ is Victor! / He has won the victory! / Sin is judged, old Adam finished, / Full redemption now we see! / Vanquished all the evil powers / Thru the Cross triumphantly! (Hymns #124)
  – The name of Jesus is our stand, / It is our victory; / Not on ourselves do we rely, / But, mighty Lord, on Thee. / Our weapons are not arms of flesh, / But ours the Spirit’s sword, / And God’s whole armor putting on, / We battle in the Lord. (Hymns #887)