FAILURE AT AI
Spiritual wisdom is essential in our warfare today. The Christian soldier must not only understand the nature of warfare in the spirit, but must also be wise to the laws of spiritual warfare. Joshua’s failure at AI in marks a very vital turning point that all of us must accept as vital truth in order fight tactically and win against Satan and his footsoldiers.
The battle of AI reveals a truth that all of us must grasp. Let’s examine this battle and see what took place and why. We will start from the result, and then afterward see the cause.
The End Result
Joshual 7:2 And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Beth-aven, on the east side of Bethel, and spake unto them, saying, Go up and view the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai. 7:3 And they returned to Joshua, and said unto him, Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; and make not all the people to labour thither; for they are but few. 7:4 So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai. 7:5 And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down: wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water.
Although God’s Army is mighty, there will be times of great difficulty and even defeats. There will be times when despite your best efforts, you will get knocked down. There is a huge difference between defeat and retreat. If God hadn’t already promised the land of Canaan to Israel then they should have had reason to doubt if victory would come, but God did promise that land to them. If God promised the land of Canaan to them, then why did failure still come at AI? Failure does not mean defeat. It just simply causes us to examine ourselves to determine why the failure occurred.
The modern believer falsely thinks failure and defeat is simply part of the Christian life. Since we believe this in our hearts, we often fail to look further to seek that there may have been a reason of our failure. If you interpret failure as simply a wrong direction or decision you made that was not in God’s will then you are missing the greater wisdom. This seemed to be the interpretation in the heart of Joshua.
Joshual 7:6 And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the LORD until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads. 7:7 And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord GOD, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan! 7:8 O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies! 7:9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name?
Joshua viewed the AI battle failure in two ways; first, he clearly laid the blame on God. Secondly, he viewed taking AI as greediness on his part. He should have been content. He shouldn’t have sought for too much ground. But this wasn’t the will of God at all.
First of all, looking at the scriptures, after Joshua sent the men to spy AI, it was the men who influenced Joshua. Joshua did not seek the Lord for orders. This is where we get into trouble. I would dare to say if Joshua would have inquired of the Lord, then God would have revealed Achan to him then. Lack of prayer leads to lack of revelation, understanding and direction. Defeat in your battle is not God’s plan, it’s your decision.
However, there may be times of retreat.
The Root Cause
Joshua 7:10 And the LORD said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? 7:11 Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff. 7:12 Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you.
Defeat in battle is not an easy thing to swallow, but it can be a good teacher. What exactly did the failure at AI teach Joshua and the Armies of Israel?? There is a very discreet deep spiritual truth being revealed here.
First of all, the lack of victory in our lives is a result of failure somewhere else. If you don’t have victory in your life’s battles, it is evidence of a lack of victory somewhere else.
Before there was ever a failure in the city of AI, there was a failure in the heart of Achan.
The army of Israel had to retreat from AI because one single person failed to retreat in the spoils of the previous battle and victory.
Do you realize that your sin effects more than just you? In a corporate setting regarding the church, sin entering the camp will effect the church as a whole. The sin of one individual will negatively effect the entire church. This is why some people can’t stay in your church. This is why God moves some people out and you can’t understand why. You beg them to come back, but if they fail to move up or fail to remove the sin in their heart, then they simply cannot stay. Nothing personal, they just can’t stay. Trust the Lord to let them go.
Satan’s discreet strategy for failure is to get you open the gates of your heart and allow the devil or his ways to be welcomed into your hearts. Once Satan’s ways are welcomed into your life in any way, then your subsequent battles will reflect it. The simple truth that was revealed at AI was this: if you can’t win the battle of guarding your own individual heart in purity toward God, then you can’t win in any other spiritual battles. If you can’t stand against and win the inner temptations in your individual life, then you can’t stand and win against the external battles.
Victory in your christian life as a soldier is a direct result of purity in your heart. If sin has entered your life then Satan has already won the greatest ground in your spiritual warfare. Get Satan, sin and his ways out of your heart and all your battles will be fought and won.
James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God; Resist the Devil and he will flee from you.
If you can’t resist the devil from his ways entering your heart, then you won’t be able to win against him in other battles.
Your Ammunition for Today:
KEEP YOUR HEART PURE AND YOU WILL WIN EVERY BATTLE
If you will make sure your heart is clean and your eye is single then no battle you face in this spiritual warfare will end in failure or defeat.
GOD'S MARINES 
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