I recently finished up studying through the book of Joshua. While reading through this book, I found myself spending a little extra time contrasting chapters 9 and 10. I found the words of Joshua 9:14 to be very sad, “but they did not seek the LORD’s counsel.” As a Christ-follower, we should always seek the Lord’s counsel. However, Joshua did not consult the Lord and ended up being tricked into entering an alliance with the Gibeonites, which was something the Lord had forbidden them from doing. If only Joshua had sought the Lord’s counsel, this could have been avoided.

Now let’s contrast Joshua’s lack of prayer in Chapter 9 with what happened in the very next chapter, Joshua 10:12-11,

“At that time Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord gave the Amorites over to the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, ‘Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Ah-ya-loan.’ And the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation took vengeance on their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in the midst of heaven and did not hurry to set for about a whole day.”

This was a big audacious prayer. Joshua boldly asked the Lord to prolong the day for him and the Israelites. Have you ever prayed a prayer this big and bold before?

Yes, this was a big audacious prayer, but the Lord answered this big bold prayer. The Lord’s answer is recorded in Joshua 10:14,

“There has been no day like it before or since, when the Lord heeded the voice of a man, for the Lord fought for Israel.”

What we see here is really no different than how Jesus instructed us to pray. Jesus taught His followers to prayer big audacious prayers.

• Matthew 7:7, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”
• Matthew 21:22, “And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”
• Mark 11:23, “Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.”

What mountains do we have in our lives that need moving? What battles are we facing that we need the Lord to fight on our behalf? In Joshua 10:14 we are told, “The Lord fought for Israel” and He will fight for us too! He will help us if we will seek the Lord’s counsel and be bold enough to pray big audacious prayers.

Here is the bottom line: PRAY FIRST | ACT SECOND

BRIAN ENO has served in the local church as a Youth Pastor and Associate Pastor for 20 years. He currently serves as Director of Next Generation Ministries with the Oregon Ministry Network of the Assemblies of God. Brian resides in Salem, Oregon with his wife Barbara and their son Jonathan. You can follow him on Twitter and Facebook @NEXTGENPASTOR