While it is God’s mercy that saves us at the beginning of our life of faith, something else happens when our faith matures. In that place of mature faith, our obedience to the voice of the Lord is an act of trust. Trust allows the Lord to come and accomplish remarkable things.

As Joshua led Israel through several military campaigns, many of those victories made no sense from a military perspective. What became evident was a single factor, “For the Lord, the God of Israel, was fighting for His people” (Joshua 10:42). None of what Joshua commanded the people of Israel to do could have been accomplished without the Lord fighting for His people.

It was Joshua’s obedience to the word of the Lord that positioned him to see God fight for Israel. “As the Lord had commanded his servant Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua. And Joshua did as he was told, carefully obeying all the commands that the Lord had given to Moses” (Joshua 11:15). Joshua did what he was told and he carefully obeyed each battle plan the Lord gave him. Joshua positioned himself to see victory through his obedience. 

As a result of Joshua’s obedience and where his obedience placed him, “Joshua conquered the entire region” (vs. 16). These victories would have been impossible considering the embedded and secure nature of the cities Joshua was assigned to conquer. The walls of Jericho collapsed because the Lord told Joshua to have the Israelites shout at the city on the seventh day.

Jesus gave us an important understanding of how God’s Kingdom functions. Jesus said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). As we seek intimacy with God, we will live in oneness with the Father and the Son. In that union, the Lord will give us commands to obey, sometimes against all odds of success. Obeying the instructions of the Lord and carefully obeying each detail of those instructions opens the door for the Lord to do what seems impossible. Our obedience allows the Lord to fight for us in unusual ways to receive or take back what the enemy holds in his possession.