The Seven Enemies of the Joshua Generation, Part 2

Let us continue our look at the seven enemies of the Joshua Generation that we must overcome:

4.Immorality (Perizzites)

The Hebrew word Perizzite means “open, unwalled.” This tribe was a roaming tribe that never bothered to secure its dwelling by building walls and cities. This open, unprotected existence is a type of what the spirit of immorality produces in people’s lives. We live in a society that rejected God’s Word concerning the sacredness and sanctity of sex, and because they have broken His law, they are reaping the consequences. There are more brokenhearted people in our society right now than any other time in history.

1 Corinthians 6:15-20 says: 

“Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? Certainly not! Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For ‘the two,’ He says, ‘shall become one flesh.’ But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.

    “Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

When you have sexual relations with someone, you are spiritually joined to that person. You become “one flesh.” This union causes the walls of your soul to be battered down, and it opens your life up to demonic oppression. God has reserved sex for marriage alone. The plague of incurable and deadly sexually transmitted diseases is a physical manifestation of the spiritual destruction that immorality brings to a person’s life.

The Bible says that this sin is a “sin against your own body.” We read in Proverbs 6:26-29, 32-33: “For by means of a harlot a man is reduced to a crust of bread; and an adulteress will prey upon his precious life. Can a man take fire to his bosom, and his clothes not be burned? Can one walk on hot coals, and his feet not be seared? So is he who goes in to his neighbor’s wife; whoever touches her shall not be innocent…Whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding; he who does so destroys his own soul. Wounds and dishonor he will get, and his reproach will not be wiped away.”

According to verse 32, he that commits adultery “destroys his own soul.” This “soul destruction” is caused by our rejecting the instruction of God by defiling our bodies in sexual impurity.

There is a plague of immorality sweeping our nation, and it is also sweeping much of the Church. This sin will stop you from becoming what God has called you to be, and it will stop you from fulfilling all that God has called you to do. You can overcome the spirit of lust and the spirit of immorality. God can deliver you from past sexual relationships. God wants you to be an undefiled vessel that is sexually clean and pure.

Understand something very important, dear believer: GOD invented sex. It was His idea. He has given us the boundaries of marriage for sex to be enjoyed and practiced in. Satan has corrupted and counterfeited God’s great idea. Sex will destroy you outside of marriage!

You cannot fill your mind with “R” rated and “X” rated movies, or pornographic magazines, and be “okay” with God. That filthy garbage will defile you and open your life to demonic influence. Remember this: garbage in . . . garbage out! Don’t let your heart and eyes be filled with garbage and immoral materials. Flee those temptations, and live as a pure, powerful vessel for God.

5. Compromise (Girgashites)

The Girgashites were “dwellers of the clay or marsh.” They speak to us of compromised living. They were a type of living in “gray areas.” Satan couldn’t stop you from being saved. He couldn’t stop you from getting baptized in water and filled with the Spirit. In fact, he really isn’t that upset about “losing you,” unless you decide to live as an uncompromising Christian. Then, believe me, you will get his attention! Most of your friends and family members aren’t real upset that you “got saved,” as long as you don’t become a “fanatic.” The greatest enemy to true revival in our land is compromising Christians and compromising Christianity. Jesus said, “‘I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.’” (Revelation 3:15, 16)

We are to be hot and on fire for God! And yes, we may offend some people, especially “religious people,” but it is better to offend people than to offend God! “But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: ‘We ought to obey God rather than men.’” (Acts 5:29)

Compromise produces confusion in the life of the believer. Compromise brings frustration in the life of the people of God, because you will eventually lose whatever you’ve compromised to keep. The pressure to “conform to the norm” must be countered by our bold witness and example. God is looking for champions! The Joshua Generation is an uncompromising generation that refuses to settle for anything but God’s best.

In Romans l2:2 we read: “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” The Church should not look like, act like or think like the lost, dying world. We are to be light to the darkness around us. The darkness cannot put out the light. In Matthew 5:13-16 Jesus said: “‘You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.’”

King Saul’s anointing as king was stripped from him because he was a compromising leader. The sin of compromise brought demonic oppression, and eventually death, into his life. God wants us to obey all of His Word, and to conquer compromise. Saul rebelled against God by only doing part of His commandment. This opens the door to demonic activity, and it brings the judgment of God.

Our witness (light) must be seen and heard. God hasn’t called you to be a “secret saint” anymore. It is time to awaken, O army of God, and be all that God has called us to be! We are living in the time of the “arise and shine” of the Body of Christ. God has stirred up and strengthened us for the greatest decade of victory and witness the Church has ever seen!

“Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you.” (Isaiah 60:1, 2)

6.Rebellion/Pride (Amorites)

The Hebrew meaning of the tribe Amorites is “proud, boasting, bitter rebels, mountaineers.” This sixth enemy of the Joshua Generation is a type of the spirit of rebellion or pride. The Amorites made their home in the thin air of the mountains. They were a nation of “bitter rebels.” The only thing that holds together a group of bitter rebels is their common ground of pride and rebellion.

The spirit of pride is what caused Lucifer to sin in his heart and try to exalt himself above God. God hates pride. James 4:6-10 says that “He gives more grace. Therefore He says: ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”

In these verses, the Holy Spirit is correcting an attitude problem in our lives. Our approach to God must be with a humble and meek spirit. The pride of life is not from God. “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2:15-17)

By humbling ourselves before God, we can conquer the spirit of pride. According to 1 Peter 5:5-7: “Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time….”

God resists the proud. Pride “shuts you out” of God’s presence and provision. Pride will bring a fall in your life. “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.” (Proverbs 16:18) “A man’s pride will bring him low, but the humble in spirit will retain honor.” (Proverbs 29:23)

7. Discouragement/Condemnation (Jebusites)

The literal meaning of Jebusite is “trodden down.” This is a picture of Satan’s strategy to discourage and condemn God’s people. There has been a great attack of discouragement and weariness against the Body of Christ in this time. Satan has sought to afflict God’s people with “battle fatigue” to try and stop what he knows God is about to do.

Every Christian faces the battle against being discouraged and giving up. As God’s people, God has given us a resilient spirit that refuses to let Satan keep us down. Micah7:7-8 tells us: “Therefore I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; My God will hear me. Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; when I fall, I will arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me; when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me.”

Satan is not only the Tempter and Deceiver; he is also the Accuser of the Church. God doesn’t expect you never to fall. In fact, He knows you will. But God does expect you to get up after you’ve fallen. Satan is the one who tempts and deceives us into sin, and then he condemns us. The purpose of condemnation is to discourage us from going on in God. “For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity.” (Proverbs 24:16)

A champion is not someone who has never, or will never, fall, but a champion of God is someone who refuses to stay down! Paul tells us that “there is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.” (Romans 8:1, 2)

Resist and rebuke the condemner when he brings his discouraging voice around you. Don’t let the mistakes of the past rob you from the victory for today and the future!

King David was out to war with his mighty men. When he came home, he found that his village was burned, and his family was taken hostage by the Amalekites. His first response was to cry for the loss he and his men had suffered. However, then he did something that enabled him not only to receive back all that was stolen, but also to plunder his enemy. “Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.” (1 Samuel 30:6)

David encouraged himself in the Lord. The Hebrew word for “encourage” means “to seize, conquer, be strong, repair, bind.” David conquered discouragement, and then all that was lost was restored back to him. Believer, if you can conquer discouragement, you can then retrieve what Satan stole. Galatians 6:9 tells us to “not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”

You shall reap if you don’t quit! How many times have God’s people given up the battle right before they would have reaped a tremendous victory? Satan can’t win, unless he can so discourage you that you quit.

The Joshua Generation has the spirit of a champion! They refuse to stay down when they are knocked down. They refuse to let their hearts grow weary in well-doing. They press on for the prize of the high calling. They cannot be defeated!