February Newsletter – Prevailing Strategies

What is Strategy?

Strategy /ˈstratɪdʒi/

noun: strategy; plural noun: strategies

  1. a plan of action designed to achieve a long-term or overall aim. “Time to develop a coherent economic strategy”

master plan, grand design, game plan, plan of action, plan, policy, proposed action, scheme

blueprint, program, procedure, approach, schedule, tactics, set of tactics

  1. the art of planning and directing overall military operations and movements in a war or battle. “He was a genius when it came to military strategy, the art of war, military science, Military tactics, generalship
  • a plan for directing overall military operations and movements. “non-provocative defense strategies”

When Joshua and the children of Israel approached Jericho, they knew they needed a winning strategy to take the city. The key to a winning strategy, however, involves having the right ammunition to put up a fight. When you don’t have the right ammunition or where you have inferior ammunition, you will lose. Jericho as a city had invested in defensive structures which could only be breeched by superior offensive weapons.

Israel could not afford to lose any soldier. Offensive strategies require that some soldiers would die while trying to breach the defense of the enemy. Joshua had no missile launchers, no bulwark, no catapults, no mortar, no horses and chariots. Jericho could afford to lock her gates and watch the Israelites camp around them for several weeks until they are low on supplies like food and water. Then Jericho would open her gates and attack.

We saw a similar situation when King Ben Hadad attacked Samaria in the days of Elisha. In this case the army came prepared with all their soldiers and their supply of food and water to last several months. Samaria also had a strong wall, and they shut it but the food storage in the city was limited and soon the people within the city began to starve. The more people starved the weaker they became. They could not go to the farm or engage in any form of commercial activity because of the siege. The price of everything went extremely high and people began to eat their children. The morale of the people was low, and the King realized they would have no option but to surrender to their enemy or die of hunger within their own walls.

At this point the King decided he needed divine help, and he sent his soldiers to bring him Elisha the prophet. Elisha realized the King was angry and wanted to take the anger out on him, so he didn’t go with the servants of the king. He, however, issued a divine resolution to the siege, which required a divine strategy which I have stated in quote below.

“For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: and they said one to another, lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us. Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life.”

As a result of this strategy, the siege was broken, and the Samaritans had more than enough to eat and drink the following day.

Sometime later King Benhadad of Syria led his entire army against Israel and laid siege to the city of Samaria. As a result of the siege the food shortage in the city was so severe that a donkey’s head cost eighty pieces of silver, and 200 grammes of dove’s dung cost five pieces of silver. The king of Israel was walking by on the city wall when a woman cried out, “Help me, Your Majesty!” He replied, “If the LORD won’t help you, what help can I provide? Have I got any wheat or wine? What’s your trouble?” She answered, “The other day this woman here suggested that we eat my child and then eat her child the next day. So, we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I told her that we would eat her son, but she had hidden him!” Hearing this, the king tore his clothes in dismay, and the people who were close to the wall could see that he was wearing sackcloth under his clothes. He exclaimed, “May God strike me dead if Elisha is not beheaded before the day is over!” And he sent a messenger to get Elisha. Meanwhile, Elisha was at home with some elders who were visiting him. Before the king’s messenger arrived, Elisha said to the elders, “That murderer is sending someone to kill me! Now, when he gets here, shut the door and don’t let him come in. The king himself will be just behind him.” He had hardly finished saying this, when the king arrived and said, “It’s the LORD who has brought this trouble on us! Why should I wait any longer for him to do something?”

Then Elisha said, hear ye the word of the Lord; Thus, saith the Lord, Tomorrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria. Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof.

And there were four leprous men at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, why sit we here until we die? If we say, we will enter into the city, then the famine is in the city, and we shall die there: and if we sit still here, we die also. Now therefore come and let us fall unto the host of the Syrians: if they save us alive, we shall live; and if they kill us, we shall but die. And they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the camp of the Syrians: and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there. For the Lord had made the host of the Syrians to hear a noise of chariots, and a noise of horses, even the noise of a great host: and they said one to another, lo, the king of Israel hath hired against us the kings of the Hittites, and the kings of the Egyptians, to come upon us.

Wherefore they arose and fled in the twilight, and left their tents, and their horses, and their asses, even the camp as it was, and fled for their life. And when these lepers came to the uttermost part of the camp, they went into one tent, and did ate and drank, and carried thence silver, and gold, and raiment, and went and hid it; and came again, and entered into another tent, and carried thence also, and went and hid it.

Then they said to one another, we do not do well: This day is a day of good tiding, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king’s household. So, they came and called unto the porter of the city: and they told them, saying, we came to the camp of the Syrians, and behold, there was no man there, neither voice of man, but horses tied, and asses tied, and the tents as they were. And he called the porters; and they told it to the king’s house within. And the king arose in the night, and said unto his servants, I will now shew you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we be hungry; therefore, are they gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the field, saying, When they come out of the city, we shall catch them alive, and get into the city. And one of his servants answered and said, Let some take, I pray thee, five of the horses that remain, which are left in the city, (behold, they are as all the multitude of Israel that are left in it: behold, I say, they are even as all the multitude of the Israelites that are consumed:) and let us send and see. They took therefore two chariot horses; and the king sent after the host of the Syrians, saying, Go and see.

15 And they went after them unto Jordan: and, lo, all the way was full of garments and vessels, which the Syrians had cast away in their haste. And the messengers returned and told the king.

And the people went out and spoiled the tents of the Syrians. So, a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, according to the word of the Lord.

And the king appointed the lord on whose hand he leaned to have the charge of the gate: and the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died, as the man of God had said, who spake when the king came down to him. And it came to pass as the man of God had spoken to the king, saying, Two measures of barley for a shekel, and a measure of fine flour for a shekel, shall be tomorrow about this time in the gate of Samaria: And that lord answered the man of God, and said, Now, behold, if the Lord should make windows in heaven, might such a thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof. And so, it fell out unto him: for the people trode upon him in the gate, and he died.

In the case of Joshua, the coin would have to be flipped. Joshua and the children of Israel were the aggressors in this battle and the citizens of Jericho were the ones on the defense. However, Jericho had an adequate supply of food, and the children of Israel did not have adequate weapons of war

How did Joshua win the battle?

“Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”

“Neither” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord[a] have for his servant?” The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.”

God sent a divine strategist to Jericho ahead of Joshua and this “man” told Joshua what he and the children of Israel must do for Jericho to fall.

JOSHUA 5: The Fall of Jericho

Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”

“Neither” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord[a] have for his servant?” The commander of the Lord’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

Now the gates of Jericho were securely barred because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. Then the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands, along with its king and its fighting men. March around the city once with all the armed men. Do this for six days. Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets.

When you hear them sound a long blast on the trumpets, have the whole army give a loud shout; then the wall of the city will collapse and the army will go up, everyone straight in.”

Joshua, son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant of the Lord and have seven priests carry trumpets in front of it.”

And he ordered the army, “Advance! March around the city, with an armed guard going ahead of the ark of the Lord.”

When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets before the Lord went forward, blowing their trumpets, and the ark of the Lord’s covenant followed them.

The armed guard marched ahead of the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard followed the ark. All this time the trumpets were sounding. But Joshua had commanded the army, “Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout. Then shout!”

So, he had the ark of the Lord carried around the city, circling it once. Then the army returned to camp and spent the night there.

Joshua got up early the next morning and the priests took up the ark of the Lord.

The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forward, marching before the ark of the Lord and blowing the trumpets. The armed men went ahead of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the Lord, while the trumpets kept sounding.

So, on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days.

On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven times.

The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast, Joshua commanded the army, “Shout! For the Lord has given you the city!

The city and all that is in it are to be devoted[b] to the Lord. Only Rahab, the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because she hid the spies we sent.

But keep away from the devoted things, so that you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise, you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on it.

All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred to the Lord and must go into his treasury.”

When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so, everyone charged straight in, and they took the city. They devoted the city to the Lord and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.

Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her.”

So, the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother, her brothers and sisters and all who belonged to her. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel.

Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the Lord’s house.

But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho—and she lives among the Israelites to this day.

At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: “Cursed before the Lord is the one who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho:

“At the cost of his firstborn son he will lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest he will set up its gates.” So, the Lord was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land.

 

Joshua was one of such characters in the Bible who was guided to victory by divine revelation. As he prepared to lead Israel in one of her defining battles, the angel of the Lord appeared to him and gave him the strategy by which he should defeat the enemy. Even though the city, Jericho, was greatly fortified against aggression, God’s Word to him at that moment assured him of victory. The Holy Spirit gave Joshua the winning strategy. He said, “And ye shall compass the city, all ye men of war, and go round about the city once. Thus, shalt thou do six days. And seven priests shall bear before the ark seven trumpets of rams’ horns: and the seventh day ye shall compass the city seven times, …and when ye hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him”

Those walls weren’t ordinary walls; they were fortifications of massive proportions. However, when the Israelites shouted according to the Lord’s instruction, the walls came crumbling down (Read Joshua 6).

Aside from that day, never in the history of mankind has it ever happened that people shouted, and great walls fell down flats. I believe that when they shouted, every one of them released a sound code that caused the walls to come down: the energy of words! If releasing the right words or sound could bring down physical barriers, it’ll also remove financial barriers or any other kind of barrier.

Perhaps you’re in a financial strait; no money is coming in and none is going out; things are extremely hard. It’s time for you to get a hold of God’s Word for that situation and release it. Keep speaking until there’s a change. The same Holy Spirit that gave Joshua the strategy to take Jericho has given you, His Word. He said in 1 Corinthians 3:21, “…all things are yours.” In Romans 8:17, He said you’re an heir of God, and a joint heir with Christ.

Keep His Word in your heart and in your mouth in meditation. Keep pondering, muttering and shouting the Word until the situation you’re dealing with crumbles before you. Hallelujah!

 

The month of February is the month of Prevailing Strategies

  • The Lord said he would teach citizens of the Kingdom of His own dear son winning strategies by which they would conquer and dominate their territories (both spiritual and material, proxemics and chronemics).
  • This month the wise will be quick to invest but not in get-rich-quick schemes peddled by desperate people masquerading as well-meaning hustlers hanging around believers in order to take advantage of their good hearts and goodwill towards all men.
  • Hearts that had once been hardened against positive influence and approaches will be soft this season.
  • Many who are members of our families but have refused to come into the light of the gospel will do so joyfully in the coming days.
  • The plans to own properties and start new companies and ventures will get divine assistance in this season.
  • Priority is on ownership that will make believers become independent of the social and economic powers of this world.
  • The believer must be assertive, dominating, domineering, ruling and reigning unencumbered in the spaces the Lord has given unto them.
  • Marriages suffering under the influence of third parties and strange thirds sharing the affection of either the husband or the wife will suddenly occupy the whole space, and the strangers will be thrown out.
  • The Lord said to congratulate those who have for long been fighting against internal strife from in-laws and unfriendly friends because this month there will be a shaking and the unwholesome shall be shaken off.
  • I saw a tree full of fruits; The fruits varied in their condition. Some were very ripe; some were very unripe while some were ripe in varying degrees. I heard the word “Shake that tree”. A wind came out of nowhere and shook the tree vigorously just once. Many fruits fell off, some even after the shaking still remained. The ones that fell off and the ones that remained were very similar in their making. Some were very ripe, some a bit ripe and some unripe. The Lord said I am sorting out those who will bear forth the seeds of what is to come from those who will carry on the work that I have set at hand. Do not mourn departures and do not celebrate arrivals, I have affected transfers for effective functionality in this season says the Lord.
  • The Lord said to fear not the raging news or inordinate fear being spread by some. He said “Fear that comes from the fear of others or the fearmongering of others, or the projection of others, or the weaponization of information must have no place in your heart. Garrison your hearts with my peace, I am the Lord, your god and your redeemer”. The earth is yielding to the wind of peace.
  • A lot of changes in the political and administrative space, always remember, I have better plans for you than your current state and I am bringing all hidden things into the open.
  • You are receiving the wisdom to take full advantage of the merry season I have ushered forth for you and all that I have brought into your space. Build silos, keep the harvest, remember, there is a plan, and the goal is to buy the desolate places for cheap and turn them into the flourishing gardens and estates of the Lord.

Blessed be God

 -GSW-

Announcement:

  1. Prevailing Prayers for February will hold 24 Hours a day on GSWMI platforms
  2. General Teachings will hold at 6pm WAT daily

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