“If the bride is a revelation of the 1st commandment, the Ekklesia is the agency of Christological dominion.”

-Dean Briggs ‘Ekklesia Rising’

“The vocabulary of attack is not popular today. Many of the Lord’s eagles have been influenced by the mood of the world and assumed the character of doves.”

-R. Arthur Matthews ‘Born for Battle’

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ the Son of the living God…and upon this rock, I will build my ecclesia and the Gates of Hades will not prevail against it.

Matt 16:16-18

Yesterday we set out on a 40-day prayer and praise experiment, circling our promises and treading upon our obstacles. I encourage you once again to write down and walkabout the promises you’ve received from God, and the territory you are called to possess. You cannot be vague. God doesn’t answer vague prayers. Your promises must be clear and your territory must have boundaries. Now for the next 40 days, walk around that territory with your feet and your mind, and claim your promises with explosive praise, because you have already received the victory and the answer in Christ.

Now let us go back to the book of Joshua, and examine the kind of person, attitude and lifestyle it will take to possess walled cities and break demonic altars. First of all, the name Joshua is the same as the name Yeshua. Joshua is the old testament picture of the new testament Jesus. Both come out of the wilderness, one from forty years and the other from a forty day fast. Both of them receive a revelation of the God of battles. Joshua before taking Jericho is encountered by the theophany of Jesus, “The Captain of the Angel Armies.” Jesus is revealed to Peter as the Christ, the Son of the living God, who comes to challenge every gate of Hades and manifest His dominion over those gates.

Before God’s armies will ever possess their promised lands, they must have a revelation of the God who is the Lord of angel armies and who comes to take offensive action against the powers of darkness. He comes to knock down city walls and false ideologies. He comes to heal and cast out demons and destroy the works of the devil. Before you will ever take your Jericho, you must have a revelation of not only the GreatGod but last the God who is great in you. He is the one who is more powerful than the demonic strongholds you are going to face. “More are those who are for us than those who are against us”. When we look at the walled cities like Boston and their intractable ideologies that threaten the church, drive them into caves of silence, or delude them into living in peaceful coexistence w compromise, we must know the God of Battles and that He is with us.

The first words that God gives to Joshua are, “Every place on which the sole of your foot treads, I am  giving to you.” He doesn’t say, “Walk” like a stroll in the park. He says, “Tread” which means to walk upon with the purpose of crushing something. Jesus said, “I have given you the authority to tread on serpents and scorpions.”

So as you begin this forty day walk around your promises, you must take the attitude of attack mode. You are coming to face Goliath and you must, like David declare, “You come to me with sword and spear, but I come in the name of the Lord of Hosts.” Today, while you tread, praise the Lord of angel armies and declare, “every promise and every territory I tread You have already given to me.”