22. Then said Joshua, Open the mouth of the cave, and bring out those five kings unto me out of the cave.

23. And they did so, and brought forth those five kings unto him out of the cave, the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon.

24. And it came to pass, when they brought out those kings unto Joshua, that Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said unto the captains of the men of war which went with him, Come near, put your feet upon the necks of these kings. And they came near, and put their feet upon the necks of them.

25. And Joshua said unto them, Fear not, nor be dismayed, be strong and of good courage: for thus shall the LORD do to all your enemies against whom ye fight.

26. And afterward Joshua smote them, and slew them, and hanged them on five trees: and they were hanging upon the trees until the evening.

Let us pray.

Most holy and gracious heavenly Father, we thank You for who You are and for what You do. Father, hide Your son behind the cross, that Your people would see You and not me. And Father, as I decrease, I ask today that You would increase. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, oh Lord, my strength and my Redeemer. And I thank You, Father, for anointing me to preach the Gospel today. In Jesus’ Name, amen.

Just to give you a little bit of history about what was going on, when we look over in chapter nine of the book of Joshua, and looking at verse three, it said,

3. And when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai,

4. They did work wilily, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine bottles, old, and rent, and bound up;

5. And old shoes...

They had heard about the victories that Joshua and the children of Israel had won. So they devised a plan (glory to God) so that they could get in good with Joshua and the children of Israel.

And after Joshua had found out about this plan (glory to God) instead of slaying them Joshua made them servants. Joshua made them (glory to God) to serve them. Glory to God. But one thing about covenant, covenant stands. When he made a covenant with the children of the people of Gibeon, even though they deceived him in the covenant, he had to stand by the covenant.

Gibeon was a big city. And all those five kings heard about their allegiance with Joshua. And they decided to get together and come and slay the people of Gibeon. But Joshua heard about it.

And when you come into covenant with somebody, I don’t care what happens, God honors covenant. Joshua knew that he had to do what the covenant said he had to do. He had to stand with his covenant brothers. Hallelujah. So Joshua stood with them.

And when the five kings came up to Gibeon to fight against the Gibeonites, they were in for a big surprise. Joshua had them on the run.

You see, not only do we have an awesome relationship with Christ. But we also have an awesome partnership with Christ as being the church. When we look at Joshua in these Old Testament Scriptures, he’s an example of the partnership (glory to God) that Christ has with us. Joshua in this instance is a type of Christ. And Israel is a picture of the church.

After Joshua and the army defeated the five Canaanite armies in defense of the Gibeonites, the kings of these armies... The Bible says that they fled. And chapter ten of verse sixteen it said,

16. But these five kings fled, and hid themselves in a cave at Makkedah.

17. And it was told Joshua, saying, The five kings are found hid in a cave at Makkedah.

18. And Joshua said, Roll great stones upon the mouth of the cave, and set men by it for to keep them:

Glory to God. After Joshua and the children of Israel finished slaying the armies, then they came back to slay the kings. Then Joshua said in verse twenty-two to open up the mouth of the cave. Because he had put them in there. And he had barricaded it so that they could not get out.

And when Joshua in verse twenty-six told them to come out, they had to lie down on the ground.

“What are you getting at today, preacher?”

It was a custom for after a king won his victory, after he was victorious, to put your foot upon the head or upon the neck of the one (glory to God) that you had just defeated. But this is what Joshua did. In verse twenty-four it said,

24. And it came to pass, when they brought out those kings unto Joshua, that Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said unto the captains of the men of war which went with him, Come near, put your feet upon the necks of these kings. And they came near, and put their feet upon the necks of them.

In other words, he was saying, “The battle was not only mine. But the battle was yours. And not only am I victorious, but you are victorious.” Christ said the same thing. “Even though everything is under subjection to My feet, the battle’s not only Mine. It’s yours.” Not only do I have my foot on the devil’s head, but you got your foot on the devil’s head.

He was not only telling them that the victory was theirs, but it was up to them to enforce what had been done.

You see, too many times in the body of Christ we don’t enforce what has already been done. We are the ones that are positioned in the army of the Lord to make sure the devil stays where he’s supposed to stay. But we get tired of holding him down. We’ll hold him down for a little while. But then we’ll let him back up again. You see, we make a mistake when we let him up again.

You see, listen at what I’m saying. The Bible says the Kingdom of God suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. You’ve got to have a killer... Oh, my God, my God. You’ve got to have a killer mentality when it comes to the devil. The Bible says the Lord is the Man of War. And the Lord is His Name.

We enforce it for a little while. But every now and then when you got your foot on that devil’s head and he know it, you got to start squishing your foot around, to make sure he can feel where you’re coming from. Do you hear what I’m saying today? You got to let him know where you’re coming from. You’re not no pushover. You’re not no pansy. You ain’t no Ahab. Do you hear what I’m saying today?

Jesus led captivity captive. He went to hell and defeated Satan. He made us the head and not the tail. He made us above and never again beneath. But I can’t just sit back. I’m in the army of the Lord.

And when a soldier is the army, they don’t just train one time. They train over and over and over and over. It’s a continual training. We begin to get the mentality that once I’ve got so far there’s no more to learn. But the Bible says His ways are unsearchable. The more I seek Him the more I’ll learn about Him. The more I’ll understand that He’s a strategic God and that He operates in strategy. Do you hear what I’m saying?

Just like David did when he told the soldiers to put their feet up on their necks, he was doing something unorthodox. I’m sure they got to thinking in their mind, “What’s going on?” Do you hear what I’m saying today?

When you get that devil up under your feet, you better keep him up under your feet. It’s when we let him up for a little breathing room we start to have problems. You see, it’s when the pressure comes off of us a little bit. When the pressure comes off of us, we tend to take the pressure off of him. But even when the pressure begins to come off of me, I’m going to stomp on his head.

Jesus, He didn’t play with the devil. See, if you don’t understand who your real enemy is, you’ll constantly be looking at everybody else as if they’re your enemy. But when you understand who the enemy really is, no matter what’s going on with your brother and sister, you can truly love them with the love of the Lord.

Because if they got something on the inside of them that’s not right (oh, my God, my God) it’s not them. It’s a spirit that’s operating in them. And I love them enough to help them get the devil under their feet. Do you hear what I’m saying?

Joshua, he didn’t want the glory for himself. You see, Jesus... Do you hear me today?

He said, “If you suffer with Me, you’re going to reign with Me.” He said, “You’re seated in heavenly places with Me. What more can I do for you? You’re seated in the heavenly place with Me.” In other words, “I made you royalty just like I’m royalty. And just like principalities and powers and rulers of the darkness of this world are subject to Me, they’re subject to you.”

It’s time for us as the body of Christ to take it up a notch. I know you’re looking for a new car. I know you’re looking for a new house. I know you’re looking for (glory to God) more finances. But look into the Spirit realm, and see what’s going on in the Spirit.

There’s so much going on in the Spirit right now. If we don’t understand it (glory to God), it’s going to overtake us. And we will perish in the midst of trying to get that new car, trying to obtain wealth. In the midst of it.

What else is going on in the Spirit besides money? What about holiness? Is that alright? For the Bible says without holiness no man shall... I don’t care how much money you got. Your money ain’t going to take you to heaven.

He told his men, he said, “We’re in this thing together.” He said, “I couldn’t have won the battle without you. I needed you. And you came through.”

You see, no matter what it looks like with a person, no matter how anointed they seem to be, they can’t win the battle without you. Do you hear what I’m saying? It take some praying saint’s. It takes saint’s that are going to stay on their face. It takes saints that are going to stay before God for you. It takes the ones that are willing to be in the back. Do you hear what I’m saying today? Oh, I feel the Holy Ghost up in here.

Willing to sweat. Willing to strain. When they’re tired they’ll go anyway. When they’re tired they’ll stay anyway. Do you hear what I’m saying? That’s what it takes to truly have the victory in God. Doing whatever it takes.

Sometimes when they would defeat the armies, they would parade all around them to humiliate them. It was like that Colossians two and fifteen when it says that Christ when He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.

Let me tell you something. That devil will make a public display of you. You might as well go ahead and make a public display of him. You might as well. He’ll write shame all over you. He’ll write reproach all over you. Why don’t you write shame on him? Why don’t you write reproach on him? Why not turn the tables around for a while?

You’ll have that devil running. And every time you get ready to walk into the place, he’ll scatter. Folks won’t know why they straighten up when you walk in a place. It’s the Christ in you. They’re not afraid of you. It’s the Christ in you. That’s who they see.

He made an open shame of the devil. You’ve got to make an open shame of the devil.

So many times saints are going through things. And they cannot get delivered on their own. But they are so embarrassed to tell anybody about it, because folks don’t know how to keep their mouth shut.

And one of the main things that I find that people come and talk to me about that they don’t want nobody to know, it’s not drugs. It’s not being broke. It’s homosexuality. Can I talk to you for a little while? Because it’s alright to be a hormonger with the opposite sex in the church, isn’t it? Wait a minute.

In other words what I’m saying is, we don’t try, you know, to make those people feel as bad as we try to make people that do things that are taboo. And that’s why when they can find a church that’s full of homosexuals, that’s why they’ll crowd up in there, because they feel accepted. Do you hear what I’m saying?

Let me tell you something. All of it is nothing but a spirit. And just like we can cast out other devils we can cast out that devil.

But once you get delivered of something, it’s up to you to enforce that the devil will not have an access to that place any more. It’s not up to the person that helped you get delivered. It’s up to you to stay delivered. Enforcing, enforcing the devil to stay in his place, making him stay up under your feet.

“Oh, you make it sound so easy, preacher.” It ain’t easy. But it’s when you know who you are in Christ. Have you ever seen someone that’s supposed to be of high influence in society walk into a place? It’s like E. F. Hutton. Everybody get quiet just in case they got something to say.

You and I have got to make sure that the devil recognizes who we are. We can’t be like Simon the sorcerer, that when he goes to lay hands on somebody, they can say, “Jesus I know and Paul I know, but I don’t know you.”

We’ve got to get to a place where the devil knows us. And not only knows us, but he recognizes the authority that we have.

Don’t take this message today, and let it come in one ear and go out the other, because you’ve already given up. Baby, it ain’t time to give up. It’s time to press on.

Jesus defeated Satan. In Ephesians two and six, that’s where it said he raised us up like Him. In other words, Christ was saying victory was not only His but it’s ours. But he was saying also that we have to enforce that victory.

You’ll never keep him under your feet unless you enforce what this Word of God says. Let me say that one more time. Because sometimes we know it, and we know it too long, and we know it too much, where it don’t mean nothing to us no more. But we have got to get in the place where we enforce this Word against the adversary. Enforce it.

Tell him, “You’re already defeated. I’m already healed. No matter what you’re trying to do to my body, I’m already healed. No matter what my bank account looks like, I’m already rich. Because God said that I am.”

Enforce this Word. Speak it with authority. Speak it with authority. Sometimes we have testimonies after testimonies about how people have gotten delivered or how God has moved. How the devil had a stronghold, but God got the glory. Now don’t let up now. Because soon as you turn your head, soon as you get a little lax, he’s going to come with another stronghold.

Listen. No matter what you are going through right now, put your mind set to the point where you know, not you think, not you heard that the preacher that you got the victory, but that you do have the victory, that you are triumphant in Christ. No matter what is going on, the Bible says He won’t let you be ashamed.

But He also said, “Put Me in remembrance of My Word.” Put Him in remembrance. Say, “Lord, You said You won’t let me be ashamed about this thing. You made an open shame of him, and he’s trying to make an open shame of me. But You said You won’t let it happen.”

Too many times the main thing that he will try to use, one of them, is children. He’ll try to make your children make you an open shame. He will. Because in your presence they’ll be little angels. But let them get outside your presence. It’ll be a whole different story. Do you hear what I’m saying?

That’s why sometime when somebody tell us what our children did, we’ll say, “No, not mine.” But when you know yours... When somebody tells you something, it won’t be out of character. Even if it’s something that they do every now and then, you’ll know that they probably did it.

Enforcing, enforcing this Word on the devil, it takes some effort. It takes effort. It’s not easy. But anything easy ain’t worth having. It don’t mean nothing to you. But when you got to work at it for a little while, it’ll mean more to you. If you got to speak it for yourself and not just the preacher speaking it, it’s going to mean more to you. If you speak it and it causes you to get out of a situation, it’s going to mean more to you.

David had a revelation that we’re in this together, that we got the victory together. And that’s what Christ was saying to us, that we have the victory together. Together. Can you imagine a God saying that we have the victory together? It’s not just His victory, but it’s our victory.

In Luke ten and nineteen He told us, He said,

19. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

You mean I’ve got power to tread upon serpents and scorpions? Yes. And He said nothing shall by any means hurt you. But guess what. It’s up to us to enforce that promise. I can’t be lazy about it. It’s too easy to call somebody and ask them to pray for us, isn’t it? It’s easy, isn’t it? But what about when I get on my face and labor for myself? That labor is going to mean so much more to me. Do you hear what I’m saying?

Nothing shall by any means hurt you. He said nothing. He didn’t say some things. He said nothing. Somebody needs to hear that today. He said nothing is going to help you. Jesus conquered Satan and his kingdom. But it’s up to us to enforce it. It’s not just up to the pastor or the elders. It’s up to all of us to enforce it. Anywhere the devil has tried to build his kingdom back up again, it’s up to us to tear it back down again. It’s up to you and me.

See, when you have a one-sided relationship, somebody going to get tired. Uh oh. When it’s a one-sided relationship, the one that’s putting out is going to get tired. And once they get tired, then the relationship, the partnership is going to have that strength that it used to have. Do you hear what I’m saying today?

I’ve seen people get tired in ministry. Because they feel like it’s one-sided, that people are always pulling, but no one’s ever pouring in. Hello, somebody. Just like when we pull from Jesus in prayer. We pour back in through our praise and our worship. And we keep that relationship strong.

If you are always in a position where you’re always in need, being needy... And I don’t mean that where, you know, you got a problem. I’m talking about being needy. I’m talking about always receiving and never giving anything. Then you’re going to be in for a rude awakening, that one day all of that giving is going to stop. And it’s going to require something. Don’t get tight. It’s going to require something.

Saints of God, He’s saying to us, “I’ve given you My Word. I’ve given you instruction. I told you what to do. There’s the manual. Follow it line upon line, precept upon precept. And that victorious life that I promised you, you’ll begin to walk in it. You’ll begin to dwell in it. You’ll begin to live in it. You’ll begin to abide in it. Because the victory is not only Mine. The victory is all of ours.”

Come on, give God a handclap of praise today.