By Johnny Lee Clary
Has God ever helped you win a battle you may have been going through and you got so caught up in your victory that you forgot to seek Him in prayer in your next battle of life? My pastor, Jimmy Swaggart gives a good example about this. The Children of Israel had won a great victory regarding Jericho but the victory belonged to the Lord. Sometimes people win a victory and get caught up in the win, becoming overconfident and forgetting to pray about the next battle. Had Joshua remembered to pray, he would have discovered sin in the camp that ended up costing them defeat. God ordered them not to keep any of the treasures of Jericho as it was to be dedicated to the Lord. Achan, who was of the Tribe Of Judah, ignored God’s orders and kept some of the treasure for himself. (Joshua 7:21)
The only strength we have as believers is God, and there is no other source of strength. God cannot give us the strength we need when we are participating in sin, because it is against His nature which is holiness. God acts in harmony with His own nature so He must judge sin in Israel with the same anger that He judged the sin in the city of Jericho. He never changes. (Malachi 3:6) He does not show favoritism. (Acts 10:34) The result was death in both cases.
The Expositors Study Bible explains the following: Babylon and money have a hateful attraction for the Christian. He finds these things among the unconverted around him, as Achon found them in Jericho, and his heart covets them. This explains the weakness of the modern church. These sins are indulged instead of being confessed and forsaken. God has therefore withdrawn His power, and there is universal weakness and defeat. Fellowship with God can only be enjoyed if resolute separation from all evil be observed. I say it is a serious misinterpretation of scripture when there are those that say God blesses those who indulge in a sinful lifestyle by misquoting the scripture that God ‘rains on the just and unjust.’ ( Matthew 5:45) That scripture is talking about how we as Christians should treat those who are mean to us, by returning kindness for hate. The ‘blessings’ the evil are getting is when God’s grace is protecting them from death and destruction because of the prayers of others in an effort to save their soul. It is an abomination for people to teach that God walks alongside of sinners when they go into casino’s to gamble, bars to indulge in drunkenness, hippie communes to smoke dope, and whorehouse to indulge in sex. Psalm 34:16 “the face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.”
Pastor Swaggart goes on to say that judgment and the discovery of sin is painful, but if you are faithful in dealing with it then God’s Grace gives both blessing and victory and your valley of Achor becomes a “Door of Hope!” (Hosea 2:15) The valley of Achor was where Achan was executed for his sin because he refused to repent until forced by Joshua. He died a horrible death, as he was stoned to death. God turned from his anger once he seen that the children of Israel dealt with sin instead of ignoring it. Yes you should fear sin but the punishment that goes along with it need not be feared if it is dealt with correctly by confessing it to the Lord. (Notice I said the Lord and not some man! Too many priests and pastors try to play God when they demand that you sit before them and confess your sins. Only God has the power to forgive you of sin; they don’t) Then and only then does the valley of Achor become your door of hope! ( 1John 1:9)
Pastor Swaggart points out that the Christian fails when he takes his eyes off Christ and the cross and puts them on himself. When this happens it denies one the help of the Holy Spirit. “For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) See, in order for this person to be restored, he needs to know why he failed and how to get back on the road to victory, that is Christ and the cross! Galatians 6:1 says when your brother is caught up in sin, you who are spiritual, go restore him! You don’t gossip and talk about them over lunch, ring up other Christians and slam that person. Remember the prodigal son’s brother? He was all ticked off because his brother left home after demanding his share of the farm. He had spent his inheritance foolishly on wild women and drunkenness. He lost all of his money and dignity and ended up in the pig pen with a bunch of pigs. He then came to his senses and came home and his daddy welcomed him back but the brother didn’t. His brother would not even acknowledge him as his own brother and said to his daddy, “This son of yours has spent all his money on whores while I stayed loyal to you working on the farm and you never even gave me a goat to barbeque with my pals! But this vagabond comes home and you kill the fattest prize calf and throw a party! Thanks a lot Daddy!” ( Ok this is my Southern Bible Translation)
The father said to that son “Boy all I have is yours and it always has been! Y’all didn’t need permission to barbeque a goat. You could have done that anytime you wanted.” The father then reminded his son that this was his was his own brother he was talking about that this brother was dead but is now alive again. The story stops there and does not say what happened to the son that would not welcome his brother home. One thing is for sure though. That prodigal son who had returned home, was restored and no longer in the pig pen feeling dead and useless.
Have you ever felt dead and useless? Come on home. God is waiting to turn your valley of Achor into a door of hope!
© 2012 Johnny Lee Clary, Jimmy Swaggart Expositor’s Study Bible, The Expositor’s Word For Every Day by Jimmy Swaggart
