Today's Passage - Joshua 10:12-14

River of Life Christian Church ︳www.rolcc.net/english Joshua 10:12-14   On the day the Lord gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the Lord in the presence of Israel: "Sun, stand still over Gibeon, and you, moon, over the Valley of Aijalon." So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the nation avenged itself on its enemies, as it is written in the Book of Jashar.  The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day.  There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the Lord listened to a human being. Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel!   Not only is God the one who fights on behalf of Israel, He's also God who listens to prayer.  Instead of having the Israelites do anything themselves, He "gave Amorites over to Israel."  This is a truth that pleases us!  God will fight for those of us who belong to Him, and He will give the enemy to us.  Not because we are strong, but it's because we depend on Him.  It doesn't mean that we don't need to do anything; we still have to offer ourselves and work with God's promises.   When God gave the Amorites to the Israelites, Joshua found one problem: They were supposed to launch attack from the hills of Gilgal going downhill, which marches towards west.  The morning sun projects from east to west, so sun light was supposed to shine into the eyes of the enemy and dazzle them to confusion.  But time passed and it was almost noon; if they kept on fighting, sun light would shine from west to east, and thus dazzle the eyes of the Israelites.  Therefore, Joshua prayed to God, and the Lord made the sun stopped at noon instead of continuing to move west, until the Israelites achieved complete victory.  This prayer didn't make sense at all - The evolution of sun, moon and planets is supposed to be orderly, how could the sun be stopped?   We thank God, for Joshua didn't have any knowledge of modern astronomy; therefore, his rationale wasn't bound by scientific thinking at all.  He had a simple faith in God, believing that God has promise to help him, so he boldly asked God to stop the evolution of the sun and moon.  Actually, there are scientific studies now that showed the evolution of sun and moon had indeed missed a day!  It was God who answered the prayed of Joshua, but why was his prayer so effective?  It was because Joshua was simple.  If it was up to us, we would first analyze the situation, and probably would have even prayed.  Joshua, however, would have prayed no matter what the circumstance was, and the Lord listened to His prayer.  In your life, are there things that you think would be impossible to accomplish?  You must continue to pray, ask God to remove the factors that made them impossible, and let God's grace quickly come upon you!   Pray with Pastor Tong       Lord, we thank you because you are the God who alone does marvelous things.  You parted the Red Sea and stopped the sun.  May you hear our prayers and put our enemy under your feet, so that you may receive the greatest glory.  I thank you and I pray in the victorious name of Jesus, amen!