Series: What You Started
Message: Divide and Conquer
REVIEW:
In Joshua chapter 8 we saw Israel going up against the nation of Ai. Ai had just defeated Israel soundly in chapter 7 because of sin in the camp. One of the Israelites had broken God's command and the whole nation suffered because of it.
When was the first time that you learned your decisions truly affected the people around you?
When have you had the poor choices of someone else dramatically affect your life?
After Joshua had reconciled Israel's sin, it was time to go back into battle. However, God asked Joshua to organize the battle in the strangest way! A part of the army was to break off from the rest of the group and travel around to the other side of Ai. This would have seemed crazy! Splitting up your fighting force would weaken your defense and make you more susceptible to danger.
In the end, this strategy led Israel to a dominating victory. It was a reminder that God's plans are better than ours, even when it doesn't seem to make sense.
What area of your life is not going according to plan?
What about where you are in life is not how you imagined it would be?
APPLY:
Faith often means trusting and following God even when it doesn't make sense. It is easy to have faith when things are going exactly the way you have planned them. When life detours into a place you had not expected, it becomes much harder to trust that God still can use your situation for good.
What is one way that you will try to trust God with the parts of your life that are not going the way that you planned them?
PRAY:
Take some time to pray that you and your team would have faith in the difficult seasons of life. God knows everything about you already, even your thoughts! He wants us to come to Him and be brutally honest. God wants to show you that He does have a plan and if we walk in faith it will turn out better than we could have ever even hoped!
