As we have stated previously, if we continue in the works of the flesh we will slay our own resurrection. It is time now to put our sins to death by the wisdom and power of the Spirit of God.

We are to put to death the appetites of our flesh and soul without any compromise whatever. We are to totally destroy the enemy in our flesh as the Spirit leads us from "city to city."

Our willingness to depend on our own judgment instead of the Lord. Joshua made one mistake in his career and it plagued Israel for hundreds of years.

The Gibeonites, the inhabitants of the next city the Israelites were to attack, came into the camp and told Joshua they had journeyed from a distant country. Instead of asking the Lord, Joshua made a treaty with them supposing they were telling the truth. This single act of carelessness caused trouble for the nation of Israel just as carelessness causes trouble for us. The Gibeonites, who were Amorites, were a source of agitation for many years to come.

And Joshua made peace with them, and made a league with them, to let them live: and the princes of the congregation sware unto them. (Joshua 9:15)

Hundreds of years later King Saul in his zeal killed the Gibeonites and brought a famine on the land of Israel.

Then there was a famine in the days of David three years, year after year; and David inquired of the Lord. And the Lord answered, It is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the Gibeonites. (II Samuel 21:1)

If we are to overcome the enemy and enter the land of promise we must learn to look to the Lord for every detail of life.

There are many things a Christian can plan and do that are not sinful as such, but neither are they necessarily the plan of God for the individual's life.

For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. (James 4:15)

To be consecrated to the Lord Jesus is to seek Him day and night for every detail of life. Nothing that we think, say, or do is excepted. All must be given to the Lord each moment of each day so we know what we ought to think, what we ought to say, what we ought to do. If Joshua had done this the Lord would have exposed the trick the Gibeonites played on him.

It appears that the Christian churches have never really understood the third death the Christian must die, the death to self-will. It is not enough to leave the world and accept the Lord Jesus. It is not enough to overcome sin through the Holy Spirit. In addition we must take up our cross and follow the Lord. We must count ourselves as dead to the world and alive to God. We must obey the Father sternly in every detail of living.

To be continued.