Faith in Action: Trusting God's Unconventional Plans

Devotional

Day 1: Faith is confident, obedient action that wins battles.

Faith in Scripture is never mere agreement; it is a settled confidence in God’s promise that moves your feet. Israel’s “by faith” at Jericho wasn’t wishful thinking—it was trust translated into laps, silence, trumpet blasts, and a shout because God had already spoken a decisive word of victory. When you face your own “walled city,” act on what God has said rather than what you see, trusting that confidence in His promise and assurance about the unseen is how He topples obstacles and ushers you forward. [12:24]

Hebrews 11:1, 30-31 (NIV)
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.
By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.

Reflection: What promise from Scripture feels most relevant to your current challenge, and what one concrete action will you take before tonight that would only make sense if that promise is true?

Day 2: God’s victory comes through odd obedience, not force.

God often leads with instructions that look strange to us, not because He needs our cleverness but because He wants our trust—step after step, day after day. Israel’s first move into promise was not engineering a siege but embracing a pattern of obedient laps anchored in the certainty, “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands.” When His way seems unconventional, resist the urge to hedge your bets with human back-up plans; keep walking the laps He gave you until He tells you to shout. [09:29]

Joshua 6:1-5, 20 (NIV)
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.”
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.

Reflection: What “odd” but clear act of obedience have you been delaying—what simple “lap” will you repeat daily for the next seven days to trust God’s word over your instincts?

Day 3: Rahab believed God’s supremacy and moved accordingly.

Rahab had limited theology and a messy past, yet she staked her future on what she’d heard and believed: “the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.” Her welcome, hiding, and bargaining were risky acts born from that belief—faith with skin in the game. You may not have all the answers either, but like Rahab you can align your actions with the reality of who God is today, right where you are. [22:11]

Joshua 2:8-11 (NIV)
Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof
and said to them, “I know that the Lord has given you this land and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you.
We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed.
When we heard of it, our hearts melted in fear and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.”

Reflection: Where can you publicly align with God today—one honest conversation, one visible step (like an apology or confession), or one clear symbol in your home—that declares “Jesus is Lord” in your real context?

Day 4: Living faith reveals itself through courageous, costly obedience.

God sees beneath the surface and calls Rahab’s risky hospitality “righteous,” reminding us that real faith breathes—it acts. Faith is not a nod to truth but a trust that compels you to do the right thing at real cost, whether that looks bold or quiet. Ask where your belief needs a body today, and let your deed demonstrate how deeply you trust Him. [25:34]

James 2:25-26 (NIV)
In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?
As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

Reflection: What is one costly act of obedience you will complete within the next 24 hours—make the call, give the gift, serve the person, or walk away from the compromise—that proves your faith is alive?

Day 5: We’re justified by faith in Jesus, not performance.

God did not choose the most “respectable” Jericho resident; He saved the one who trusted Him, echoing the gospel that we are justified by faith in Jesus, not by our moral scorecards. Lay down self-justification and lean entirely on Christ’s finished work; then let that grace propel you into a life of fearless, humble obedience that says, “He saved me—now I’ll move wherever He leads.” [30:36]

Galatians 2:16 (NIV)
know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.

Reflection: If you’ve never trusted Jesus, will you pray now and entrust yourself to Him alone; if you have, what is one place you’ve been “earning”—and how will you practice grace today (confess instead of hiding, rest instead of striving, or receive communion in gratitude)?

Sermon Summary

I walked us back into the moment Israel took its first step into the Promised Land—and straight into a fight that made no earthly sense. God’s battle plan for Jericho wasn’t about siege ramps, weapons, or intimidation. It was about faith. March. Wait. Blow horns. Shout. Right in the middle of those strange instructions came the line that changed everything: “See, I have delivered Jericho into your hands.” The issue shifted from strategy to trust. Would they live as if God had already decided the outcome?

Hebrews says the walls fell “by faith,” not by force. That’s good news for people who feel underprepared or underqualified. The promises of God don’t arrive on the back of our strength or planning; they arrive as we put trust into motion. Faith isn’t a mental nod; it’s belief deep enough to move our feet. I framed it simply: believe God so much that you’re willing to move.

To make sure we don’t miss this, God spotlights one person in that battle: Rahab. A foreign woman, a prostitute—about as low in status as you could be in that culture—yet she becomes the single survivor from Jericho, later named in Jesus’ family line. Why her? Because she believed. With limited knowledge and messy methods, she nevertheless acted from conviction: “The Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below.” God saw beneath the surface and honored her faith. Even the wall section that housed her family stood when everything else collapsed.

This is the scandal and sweetness of grace: faith, not status, not résumé, not moral superiority, is what God is looking for. He is still scanning cities for people willing to move on what He says. So what step is in front of you? For some it’s generosity; for others, building something new, moving somewhere unknown, walking away from comfort, or reconciling with an enemy. I shared a few of my own “by faith” moves—not perfect, not polished, but real. When you believe Him enough to move, you walk with the Lamb who wins. And you become the last one standing.

Key Takeaways

1. Faith begins where sense-making ends. God’s odd instructions for Jericho weren’t about tactics; they were an invitation to live as if His verdict—“I have delivered”—was already true. The test wasn’t day one; it was day seven, lap seven, when hedging with a backup plan felt reasonable. Real faith resists hedging and obeys the whole word, all the way to the shout. [09:29]
2. Faith is not a thumbs-up; it’s motion. The kind God honors turns conviction into concrete steps—small or bold, public or quiet. If it never leaves your head and changes your behavior, the Bible doesn’t call that faith. Believe God so deeply that you move. [14:51]
3. Rahab’s story confronts our addiction to status. God preserves the label “Rahab the prostitute” so we must ask, “Why her?” and land on the only answer: faith. Grace offends our comparisons; God chooses people by trust, not by polish, pedigree, or performance. Let that rewire who you admire and how you see yourself. [30:36]
4. God sees beneath messy methods to motive. Rahab’s deception of the king is not commended for cleverness but for conviction: “The Lord your God is God in heaven above and on earth below.” With limited knowledge and imperfect execution, she acted on what she knew—and God honored it. In ambiguity, move on the clearest obedience you have. [22:11]
5. God is looking for “by faith” stories right now. Hebrews lists people who gave, built, moved, and renounced comfort by faith; I named some of my own recent steps. The invitation is the same for you: pick your next move, not your next excuse. God is scanning for movers; let Him say, “I’ll take that one.” [33:29]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[02:34] - A strange battle plan for Jericho
[05:59] - Marching orders from Joshua 6
[06:30] - Not a normal war: weakness by design
[09:29] - “I have delivered Jericho” changes everything
[12:24] - By faith, not by force
[14:51] - Faith means move
[17:08] - Meet Rahab in Jesus’ family line
[22:11] - Rahab’s confession of faith
[25:34] - Faith that acts: James’ lens
[27:29] - Scarlet cord and the wall that stood
[30:36] - Why her? Faith alone saves
[33:29] - God is looking for movers
[37:02] - Prayer and sending

Sermon Clips

And we keep returning to this same era, I think because yes, there are epic Bible stories there to be told for sure. But I also think it's because that's what we want God to do in our life. That's what we want. We want God to take us out of an old life, get us through the difficulty and dryness of the wilderness and into a better place. And that is what we were going to talk about today. The story that we're going to talk about today is the first step that Israel took into the promised land, into the life that God had for them. [00:01:07] (31 seconds) #FirstStepToPromise

Right in the middle of these instructions, right before they step foot over the promised land, God says, you know what? I've actually already decided what's going to happen in this battle. Well, you win. I've delivered.the city, I've delivered the king, I've delivered all the fighting men into your hands. And what happened with that word is it switched the issue at hand. The issue was less about what God asked them to do and how they felt about that. And it became much more about do they believe God? Do they believe him?Do they believe that he's delivered the city into their hands? [00:09:17] (38 seconds) #BeliefBeforeBattle

The walls of Jericho actually did not fall by force. They fell by faith.They fell as Israel put their faith in that promise into action. As they actually moved into the land of promise, the way that God asked them to do it. The epicness of this battle was about the faith that Israel had in that one little sentence, that one little promise, that no matter how untrained they were, how underprepared they were, no matter how odd they thought his plan was, they actually did what he said. They believed him so much that they moved on it. [00:12:24] (38 seconds) #WallsFallByFaith

And I wanna give you a glimpse to the last part of her story that we get, because when God decides what an action is and means, He's looking not on the surface, or not just on the surface, but all the way down into what motivated it. All the way down underneath the surface. And God has no problem also having that information about you and me. Two people can do the same thing, right, for wildly different reasons.And actions that you or I might misinterpret on the surface, God knows precisely where they have come from. [00:22:11] (36 seconds) #GodReadsMotives

She believed did she have all the information definitely not but her actions were born inside of belief she would have been in a position honestly because of what she did to have a lot of information from travelers and from passers -by and from people that were coming in and out of the city and she had learned at some point about the God of Israel and what he had done and she actually believed it she believed that his power had done those things she believed the story of the miracle of the parting of the sea and that God was behind it she believed that he had given her the land that her people occupied who told her that it was currently a walled protected very established city but she believed it belonged to them she actually believed God [00:23:38] (56 seconds) #FaithWithoutFullInfo

And frankly, God is far, far more interested in that. Far more interested in who is it coming from and what her status is and whether it's fair for her to be the one and how much she knew and when did she know it? And does she understand everything about him? He wants to know, can you take the little bit that you do know about me and actually move on it? Actually do something as a result of your belief. [00:25:37] (26 seconds) #MoveOnWhatYouKnow

And we say we like it, we really do. We say, like, that sounds great. God offers, you know, by his grace, faith. And if I believe that I'm saved, man, what a sweet deal. And it is a sweet deal. But then we give ourselves away because we say things like this. I'm a pretty good guy.I'm better than that guy.At least I didn't do that.I mean, you mean to tell me that God's gonna save that person over me? I don't think so. You know, we talk like that and we give ourselves away that we really, really don't get it. There was probably a super hardworking, keep your nose clean kind of guy in the city of Jericho. How do you think he felt the day the walls fell and God picked the prostitute over him by faith? [00:32:32] (49 seconds) #GraceDefiesMerit

When we get this, when we understand that that's what God wants from our life, it starts to change everything.It starts to change the kind of risks you'll take, the kind of people you value, the kind of places you're willing to let God take you. It makes you less afraid just overall, but it also makes you much more afraid to just live the comfortable American life. And at the end of the day, be left going, at least I'm a little better than that guy, because God is watching and waiting for one thing, and one thing only, and it's faith. [00:33:24] (30 seconds) #FaithTransformsLife

Faith was the first step that Israel took into the life of promise, it was the last step Rahab had left when she was saved. And it's what God is watching for in our life as well. Will we move by faith?will we believe him so much we can't help but act on it [00:34:20] (21 seconds) #MoveByFaith

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