Heralds Digest

  “ And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land: ” Joshua 8 : 1 KJV Ignorance of God’s gifts in life and ministry can readily turn owners to negotiators, beggars and slaves on their birthrights. Israel’s forfeiture of her rights to Ai had previously turned them to victims, until Joshua dealt with the root of discredit, disappointment and destruction. Notwithstanding, Joshua still needed a recovery of confidence to believe that Ai has been restored as one of the gifts from the Lord.  To the New Testament saints, the gifts of the Spirit for accessing possessions include the words of wisdom, knowledge and the discerning of spirit. Unfortunately, ignorance of God’s gifts in life emboldened believers’ enemies to sell the gifts of fear and intimidation freely on their lots. And as long as the hearts are crip...

  ” For they will come out after us till we have drawn them from the city, for they will say, ‘They are fleeing before us as at the first.’ Therefore we will flee before them. Then you shall rise from the ambush and seize the city, for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand.“ Joshua ­8:6-­7 NKJV In spite of a personal struggle for the relevance of a Yoruba  adage, paraphrased as “Whoever has witnessed the striking of Shango’s thunder bolt does not corroborate the story of Oba koso (meaning ‘the king doesn’t hang’ )”, the psychology of the assurances from both Israel and Ai going into this instance of battle is clear. From Israel’s perspective, the psychology was based on the Almighty assurance; while that of Ai was merely based on an artificial assurance, evidenced by their previous conquest of Israel. Obviously, Joshua played along the psychology of artificial assurance in the king of Ai without a doubt in the Almighty assurance: “ for the Lord your God will deli...