Still Standing, Still Walking It Out • Ps Scott Thornton

Aug 02, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: When Fear Meets Faith at the Edge of a Swing

The story of a man strapped into a swing high above a valley mirrors our moments of suspended trust. True faith isn’t the absence of fear but choosing obedience when every instinct screams retreat. Like Noel’s reluctant ride, our breakthroughs often come wrapped in discomfort. God’s promises wait beyond what terrifies us most, inviting us to lean into His faithfulness even when our words falter. [02:56]

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
(Joshua 1:9, NIV)

Reflection: What “swing moment” have you been avoiding out of fear? How might surrendering control today position you to experience God’s faithfulness?

Day 2: Twelve Years of Prayers and Unanswered Mondays

A wife’s decade-long prayers for her husband’s salvation reveal the sacred grind of persistent faith. Promises often mature slowly, hidden in ordinary days of showing up. Like Sally’s quiet faithfulness, our endurance becomes worship when we trust God’s timeline over our desperation for resolution. Heaven’s clock ticks differently, refining us as we wait. [05:56]

“You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.”
(Hebrews 10:36, NIV)

Reflection: Where have you been tempted to abandon a long-held prayer? What small act of trust can you choose today to reaffirm your hope?

Day 3: Silent Marches and Unseen Breakthroughs

The Israelites’ wordless circuits around Jericho teach the power of obedient routines. True faith sometimes means circling the same wall daily, trusting God’s plan over visible progress. Their silent obedience became a war cry against doubt, a discipline that prepared hearts for the coming roar of victory. [12:18]

“Joshua commanded the people, ‘Do not give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I tell you to shout.’”
(Joshua 6:10, NIV)

Reflection: What repetitive act of obedience have you dismissed as ineffective? How might quiet consistency be preparing you for a future shout of victory?

Day 4: Bamboo Roots and Hidden Growth

Like the Chinese moso tree’s invisible five-year root system, our deepest growth often happens underground. Seasons that feel stagnant may be God’s cultivation of unshakable foundations. What looks like delay is divine investment—His way of ensuring we can sustain the harvest when it surges upward. [29:14]

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”
(Ecclesiastes 3:11, NIV)

Reflection: What area of your life feels fruitless despite consistent effort? How might this season be strengthening roots you can’t yet see?

Day 5: Shouting at Walls That Still Stand

The Israelites’ triumphant roar before Jericho’s collapse reminds us that faith declares victory before seeing results. Our shouts don’t topple walls—they align our hearts with heaven’s reality. True breakthrough begins when we stop waiting for circumstances to change and start proclaiming Christ’s finished work over them. [33:13]

“For we live by faith, not by sight.”
(2 Corinthians 5:7, NIV)

Reflection: What wall in your life needs a faith-filled declaration today? How can you shift from observing obstacles to proclaiming God’s victory over them?

Sermon Summary

God’s promise often lands in a person’s life long before the possession of that promise shows up in front of their eyes. God gave Israel the land, but Joshua barely got across the Jordan before Jericho stood there, shut up tight, high walls, no one in and no one out. The promise said milk and honey, but the first thing in front of them looked like brick, stone, and impossibility. The gap between what God said and what Joshua saw became the place where faith had to decide what voice would lead.

The commander of the Lord’s army corrected Joshua before Jericho ever fell. God was not there to join Joshua’s side or the enemy’s side. Joshua was there to submit to God’s plan. God’s promise always comes attached to God’s plan, and human nature wants the promise without the complications, without the delay, and without the weird instructions.

Joshua 6 shows that the problem can hide the promise. Jericho was still standing in verse one, but God said in verse two, “I have delivered Jericho into your hands.” Only God can talk like that. The wall may be up on earth, but it is already down in heaven. Faith has to keep asking whether decisions will be made by what is seen or by what God has said.

The Jericho plan also shows that faithfulness can feel unproductive. Israel had no ladders, no battering ram, no siege towers, and no visible progress for six days. Priests led the procession, the ark sat at the center, and worship became the weapon. The people stayed silent so they would not talk themselves out of faith, while the trumpets kept declaring alignment with God’s word.

The story also shows that obedience is hard when there is no visible finish line. Joshua knew about the six days and the seventh day, but the people did not get all the details. Day four could have felt useless. Yet day four was not failure. Day four was simply not day seven yet.

Hebrews makes the whole thing land in Jesus. Joshua could bring Israel to the edge of rest, but only Jesus gives true rest. Endurance is not white knuckling it toward a promise. The gospel says the promise giver has a hold of the person walking. Religion says walk until the walls fall. The gospel says walk because the walls have already fallen.

Key Takeaways

1. Problems can hide God’s promise. Jericho looked like a contradiction to the promised land, but God called it delivered while the walls were still standing. Faith does not deny the wall, but it refuses to let the wall have the final word. The life of faith keeps choosing what God said over what the eyes can measure. [19:36]
2. Faithfulness can feel deeply unproductive. Israel walked, worshiped, returned to camp, and saw no brick move for six days. Obedience often looks like nothing is happening because God is doing the root work before the visible growth. Outcome belongs to God, but obedience remains the place where trust gets formed. [30:35]
3. Silence can protect fragile faith. Joshua told the people not to shout, not to talk, and not to say a word until the appointed moment. Sometimes the mouth can rehearse fear until faith gets talked out of the room. Holy silence can become a discipline of refusing to give the problem more authority than the promise. [27:49]
4. Day four is not defeat. The people did not know how close the finish line was, and that made the middle feel pointless. A hidden timeline does not mean God is absent or late. Endurance keeps walking when the calendar is quiet because the promise giver is still leading. [32:24]
5. Jesus sustains the whole journey. Willpower runs out, especially around lap five, but Jesus does not. The promise is not finally a breakthrough, a result, or a changed circumstance, but a person who walks with his people. The wall may still be up on earth, but the gospel says heaven has already spoken.

## [34:33]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[01:59] - Noel, Heights, and the Swing
[05:13] - Sally’s Twelve Year Promise
[06:56] - Between Promise and Possession
[07:21] - Joshua Meets the Commander
[10:42] - Jericho Shut Tight
[14:13] - Patient Endurance, Not Passive Waiting
[16:40] - When Problems Hide Promises
[20:06] - What Is Seen Versus What God Said
[24:20] - Faithfulness That Feels Unproductive
[27:49] - Silence Around the Walls
[31:21] - Obedience Without a Finish Line
[33:13] - The Shout Before the Collapse
[34:09] - Jesus, the Promise Giver
[36:29] - Prayer for Endurance and Salvation

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Joshua 6:1-20
Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in. And the LORD said to Joshua, "See, I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. And when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat, and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him." So Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, "Take up the ark of the covenant and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the LORD." And he said to the people, "Go forward. March around the city and let the armed men pass on before the ark of the LORD." And just as Joshua had commanded the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the LORD went forward, blowing the trumpets, with the ark of the covenant of the LORD following them. The armed men were walking before the priests who were blowing the trumpets, and the rear guard was walking after the ark, while the trumpets blew continually. But Joshua commanded the people, "You shall not shout or make your voice heard, neither shall any word go out of your mouth, until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout." So he caused the ark of the LORD to circle the city, going about it once. And they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp. Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the LORD. And the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the LORD walked on, and they blew the trumpets continually. And the armed men were walking before them, and the rear guard was walking after the ark of the LORD, while the trumpets blew continually. And the second day they marched around the city once, and returned into the camp. So they did for six days. On the seventh day they rose early, at the dawn of day, and marched around the city in the same manner seven times. It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times. And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, "Shout, for the LORD has given you the city." So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city. [10:42]

Hebrews 10:36
For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. [14:13]

Joshua 5:13-15
When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, "Are you for us, or for our adversaries?" And he said, "No; but I am the commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come." And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, "What does my lord say to his servant?" And the commander of the LORD's army said to Joshua, "Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy." And Joshua did so.

2 Corinthians 5:7
For we walk by faith, not by sight. [21:36]

Observation questions

In Joshua 6, what details show that Jericho was completely shut up, and what does God say about the city while it is still standing? [19:36]
What repeated actions did Israel do for the first six days, and what were they specifically told not to do? [27:49]
In Joshua 5:13-15, how does the commander of the Lord’s army answer Joshua’s question, and how does Joshua respond?
According to Hebrews 10:36, what comes before receiving what is promised, and how is that worded in the verse? [14:13]

Interpretation questions

God says, “I have given Jericho into your hand,” while the wall is still standing. What does that reveal about the difference between what God sees and what people see? [20:06]
The commander of the Lord’s army refuses Joshua’s attempt to sort things into “our side” and “their side.” How does that challenge the way people often want God to fit into their plans? [09:27]
Israel’s battle plan centers on priests, trumpets, silence, and the ark rather than normal weapons. What does that suggest about how God’s people are meant to face spiritual battles? [24:20]
The people shouted before the walls fell. What does that say about the kind of faith God was forming in them? [33:13]

Application questions

What is the “Jericho” in front of you right now—the situation that looks more like a wall than a promise? How has that wall been shaping your emotions, your thinking, or your prayers? [17:50]
When life feels stuck, what do you usually do: keep listening to what God has said, or become consumed by what you can see? What would it look like to respond differently this week? [20:27]
Faithfulness can feel unproductive. Where in your life does obedience currently feel repetitive, quiet, or unnoticed? What helps you keep walking when there is no visible progress? [30:35]
Silence can protect fragile faith. Are there places where too much talking has been feeding fear, frustration, or unbelief in you? What kind of holy restraint might be needed in this season? [27:49]
“Day four” is not defeat. Where are you tempted to assume that nothing is happening simply because the finish line is hidden? How might endurance look in a practical way over the next few days? [32:24]
Outcome belongs to God, but obedience belongs to us. Is there one simple act of obedience you already know to do, even though it does not seem dramatic or powerful? [30:52]
Jesus is not only the promise giver but the one who holds his people as they walk. In what area do you need to stop white-knuckling and lean more honestly on him for strength? [34:33]

Sermon Clips

52s

#KeepWalkingFaith

“So what lap are you tempted to quit on? What lap number are you on? Because the thing is where you've walked, if the wall hasn't come down and nobody even knows that you're walking towards a promise, the promise still stands because he is the promise. Our promise is not a breakthrough. Our promise is a person, and his name Jesus. Friend, keep walking. The wall may be up on earth, but it's down in heaven. An outcome is on God. Obedience is on me. Keep walking.”

41s

#ChooseGodsWordNotSight

“Because what causes people to stop is the problem can often hide the promise. And the gap we will find ourselves in, if we are moving forward into everything God has for us, we will always be in some sort of gap between the promise and the possession. Verse one, Joshua could see. Verse two is what God said, and the whole life of faith is figuring out, am I gonna make decisions on what I see, or am I gonna make decisions on what God said?”

43s

#ObedienceNotOutcome

“I gotta read my bible again tomorrow, and I don't get the promotion Tuesday. I gotta pray over my kid again, this little blessing that you gave me, Lord. I'm gonna declare something over them, their attitude's not fixed. Pray don't work. And we often fall short because faithfulness can feel unproductive. Outcome is on God. Obedience is on me.”

61s

#NoOvernightSuccess

“And we love an overnight success, but I've discovered that an overnight success is always years in the making. Third and final point, we stop short of the promise because obedience is hard when there is no visible finish line. Notice that God told Joshua you're gonna march around the city for six days, and then on the seventh day, you're gonna blow the horns and the trumpets and all that sort of stuff, and then the walls will come down. But if you read it when you go home, read it yourself, Joshua chapter six. Old Josh pulls a sneaky on the people because he doesn't tell them about the six days bit. He just says, we're gonna march around, and then at some point, we're gonna blow a trumpet. They didn't hear six days. So what happens on day four? They're like, this is useless? don't know that it's two more days till the whole thing comes down. There is no visible finish line.”

82s

#WorshipIsWarfare

“We stop short, number one, because the the problem hides the promise. We stop short, number two, because faithfulness can feel unproductive. Here's God's battle plan. March around the city for six days. On the seventh day, March seven times. Let the priests blow their trumpets, the people shout, and the walls will come down. You notice what's missing here? There's no ladders. There's no battering ram. There's no siege towers. The people leading the precession aren't generals. They're priests. The thing at the center isn't the isn't a weapon. It's the ark of the covenant, and it's the presence of God. And friend, in our spiritual life, this is warfare. Warfare is not flesh and blood. Worship is our weapon when it comes to these things. If you find it hard to not be overcome by what you see, that's why we worship because those lyrics help us to have a different confession. We declare the promise. We declare what God is saying.”

56s

#PromiseHiddenByProblem

“God does his best work as we as we endure to receive what he has for us. And I wanna give us three things that I believe causes people to quit before the walls come down out of this story. Number one, we stop short because the problem can hide the promise. Joshua's holding a promise from God. Go over the Jordan, and you'll get into a land. And I've given you all of that land, and he's no more than 10 steps into it. And there is he's barely into possessing the land before they hit their first problem, and their problem was Jericho. It was a walled up city, part of the land that they were called to possess, and they hit Jericho. Side note, I found it nearly always true that there is a problem sitting between the promise and my possession.”

56s

#RootsBeforeFruit

“Five years, nothing. Then a moss mo tree will shoot, and it can grow nine 30 meters in sixty days. Because for five years, this is what's happening under the surface. For five years, roots are going out. For five years, stability is happening. For five years, the source is going out so that I can sustain growth. Have you ever noticed that sometimes something someone always has this amazing breakthrough? You're like, man, what happened to them? They're different. They they've changed. Or or you meet someone like, man, I want a marriage like that or I want faith like that or I want the results. I can guarantee you that a 100% of the time, what you are seeing on the surface happened years before in obscurity and faithfulness.”

73s

#FreshOilForTheJourney

“Father, I pray for those of us who are standing in front of a wall, a wall that looks like it is too big to scale and too big to go round. And, God, it is the thing that stands between our current reality and what you have for us. Father, I pray that today and this coming week, you would quicken a promise, that there would be faith that rises, that, God, the wall is not what you have, but the promise is what you have. And through patient endurance, we will inherit all that you have for us. And, Jesus, today, we stand here and we thank you that you are the one who has already delivered, and you are the one who will sustain. That God, we don't have to rely on our own strength, but when our strength runs out, we can lean into you. You will pour fresh oil and fresh strength as we march and keep on marching to see your promise fulfilled.”

34s

#FueledByWhatGodSays

“Father, we thank you that we are not driven by what we see, but we're driven by what you say. And, God, I pray for those of us who are on lap three, four, five, even lap six. Let endurance not run out. Let us be fueled by not what we see, but by what you say. And, Holy spirit, would you come alongside with your presence, with your fresh oil be the thing that fills us and gives us the strength to move forward into all that you have for us.”

35s

#FaithOnDayFour

“Just sit in that for a second. No visible progress. No permission to process it out loud. Just get up and do it again tomorrow. Get up and do it again the next day. Just just keep walking. Just keep going. Why? Because I've got a promise, and I'm holding onto a promise. I'm not driven by what I see. I'm driven by what God said. So hear this. If you're walking something out right now and you can't see the end of it, you're not behind. You're just on day four.”

55s

#ShoutBeforeBreakthrough

“And on day seven, Joshua says, now shout. And here's the crazy thing. They shout before the walls come down. They don't shout after the walls come down. They shout before the collapse. And the word shout here in the original language is not scream like you're yelling at an enemy. The word shout here is the same word that's used at the coronation of a king. So they are declaring and and worshiping and declaring re talking about what God has already said. Their shout is aligning their heart with the promise of God, and then the walls come down. Six days of silence, one shout of faith, and then the walls come down.”

64s

#WorkFromThePromise

“It doesn't mean we don't pretend. It doesn't mean if you've got problems with your eyesight, you say, I don't have any problems with my eyesight, and you try drive without glasses. Put your glasses on. We've gotta deal with what's in front of us in the natural, but we've gotta hold on to the promise of God. Because here's the trap. When the problem's big enough, we stop listening, and all we do is see. When we face a wall big enough and we're marching around the wall for days, if we don't choose to position ourselves in the problem, then we get begin to be consumed with what I see, not driven by what God said. I have to deal with what I see from a place of what God said. I am working from the promise.”

62s

#WorshipOverWords

“And that matters because an answer to a skewed perspective in the middle of the battle is always worship. The people had to stay silent. The trumpets never did, but they had nothing to say. Joshua's command to them, do do not talk. I'm a verbal processor. I can often do you know the thing that gets me in trouble the most? Come on. I've any friends here? No one. This is awesome. I feel like the only alcoholic confessing at an AA meeting right here. Come on. I I can often talk too much, talk too much about the circumstance, Talk too much about what's going on. Why did God command them not to talk? So they didn't talk themselves out of faith.”

82s

#ActiveEndurance

“That word patient patient endurance is not patient waiting. It's patient endurance. There is a difference between waiting and endurance. Waiting is passive. Waiting is I'm sitting in an armchair with a cranberry juice a vape, just waiting for God to maybe not a vape. Maybe some cashew nuts sitting in the just waiting for the Lord. Like, Lord, when you're ready, you'll turn up. That is waiting. Endurance is an active stance. It's a while I am waiting for you, Lord, I am praying. I am pushing in. I am declaring. I am serving. I am standing on your promise. I am actively engaging with what you wanna do. The Bible says when we endure, then we will receive. After endurance, then we receive. You know what I I believe? Then if if after endurance, then I receive, it's actually possible to start out with a promise but give up halfway. Not because God has changed his mind somewhere, but because somewhere between the promise and the possession, we stopped walking.”

39s

#ObedienceAndLongTrust

“That forces the question, what will I do when God's will doesn't come to me the way I want it to come to me? Because promises don't just require high faith at the beginning. They require high obedience and long trust in the middle, especially when nothing looks different. There is a there is a bamboo tree in China called a mosmo. And you plant a mosmo seed and you water it for five years and nothing happens.”

45s

#WorshipLooksRidiculous

“For six days, Israel didn't attack Jericho. They worshiped their way around it. And from the outside, that looked ridiculous. Can you imagine that? It looked ridiculous. Verse one, Jericho was shut up because they were scared of Israel. That's what verse one says. Imagine the people of Jericho. Oh, this is gonna be easy. They're just like sing singing around the thing. There's little tambourines and sing songs and some drum. We're good. We're sorted. We are sussed here. But all they did was worship, and then you walk around the walls, same time, return to camp, wake up, do it again with nothing visible to show for it.”

41s

#FaithfulnessInTheMiddle

“Because faithfulness can feel un imagine doing that every day for six days, then you get back to that. What'd you do today? Just walk around the wall. How'd it go? Like, same as yesterday. If I was honest, I'd I I would've done it differently. Lucky I'm not God. If I was honest, I would've done it a bit you know Tetris where you drop the bricks and a little brick falls off? Like, every day, I would've just had, like, just just one brick fall out of the wall. Just let me see that I'm making some level of difference. Just a crack in the wall. Just something to happen here. But every day, they marched around and had nothing to show for it.”

51s

#StrengthFromJesus

“So today, I'd love to pray for anyone and everyone who says, you know what? I'm on lap four, and I'm tired. I don't see any progress. I've been walking this out for years. I've been holding on to this promise for years. I've been believing for years. I've been standing on a feet, and I don't see any progress. And you need endurance. Friend, the promise for you is this, those that wait upon the Lord will rise on all eagles' wings. That the joy of the Lord is my strength. Not my ability to push through, not my ability to overcome, not my ability to conjure something up. Our strength is found in the same place the promise comes from, and his name is Jesus.”

62s

#PromiseBeyondTheWall

“But you know what? For some of us, we need a promise. But we're facing a wall, and we don't know what to do with it. We've we we know that God has more, but all we see is the wall in front of us. Can I tell you that on the other side of that wall? That wall may be your past. That wall may be disappointment. That wall may be discouragement. That wall may be an addiction. That wall may be brokenness. That wall may be can could be a whole array of things. But I promise you on the other side of that wall is a promise from your creator. And the way to receive the promise is to open your heart to who he is, not manufacture something. We don't live a blind faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. It's a word from God. So what is it that God has for you? I'm gonna just create a minute for us to sit here.”

61s

#FinishWhatYouStart

“I'm now 50. I used to be really impressed with people who would start things. Man, big vision and big dreams and big goals. I'm now more impressed with people who actually finish things. People who go the distance in marriage, people who go the distance in life, people who have their faith go stronger and stronger and stronger. It's actually the fortitude to finish that that gets us to receive the promise, not the intention to start. I love what pastor Paul says. He says, faith stands on the ground that is yet to be taken. And I wonder what ground is yet to be taken in your in your life and in my life. Because I reckon there's people in this room who are carrying a promise from God that hasn't happened yet. Give me a wave if that's you. I've got my hand up. I'm with you. Has that but but here's the deal. I believe that God has God's promise hasn't eroded. He's just doing something in us between the promise and the possession.”

Ask a question about this sermon

LIFE Melbourne This sermon · AI assistant

How should believers respond to delayed promises?

Why can faithfulness feel unproductive during waiting?

How does worship function as a spiritual weapon?