The Obstacle Of Fear

Overcoming Obstacles

What are the impossibilities, hindrances, and problems preventing you from taking hold of the promises God has given you? What are the obstacles hindering you from receiving the answers to your prayers, the things you desperately need, and the total victory God has provided for you?

God has shown me seven major obstacles which block the fulfillment of God’s promises and provision for your life. These obstacles are barriers – walls that are standing in your way hindering you from taking possession of God’s promises, just as the walls of Jericho prevented Israel from taking their land.

Like the children of Israel who marched around the Jericho walls seven times, God has directed me during the next few months to lead you in seven marches around seven major walls in your life. Day by day, we are going to identify these seven obstacles – the walls – which block you from receiving the fulfillment of God’s promises and walking in the total victory He has planned for you. Then, using the strategies God has given us, we are going to see these walls come down in Jesus’ Name!

The seven major obstacles God has shown me that are holding you back from taking the victories you need are like the massive walls of Jericho separating the Israelites from taking possession of the Promised Land. These walls separated the children of Israel from the fulfillment of God’s promises. They were a formidable barrier which stood between them and their Promised Land. Behind Israel was the Jordan River and forty years of wandering in the wilderness. Before them was Jericho, the first major stronghold they must conquer before taking possession of the land.

Jericho was a strong, fortified city with two massive walls surrounding it. The outer wall was six feet thick and the inner wall twelve feet thick. Both walls were thirty feet high, fifteen feet apart, and connected together with houses built across them. The total combined distance across the two walls was thirty-three feet. These walls formed a formidable barrier. In the natural, they were impossible to penetrate. Joshua and the children of Israel did not have the weapons nor military might to tear them down and there was absolutely no possible way for them to break through the walls.

God directed Israel to march around the walls of Jericho once a day for six days. The warriors, armed for battle, were to go before the Ark of the Covenant. Seven priests marched in front of the Ark sounding seven trumpets. During this time they were commanded not to speak a word. No sound was to be heard beside the trumpets.

The Ark of the Covenant was the central focus of this entire procession. The outcome of the battle was dependent upon one thing: The God of battles was with them. Without His Presence and divine intervention, there could be no victory. The Ark was the place where God’s manifested presence dwelt above the Mercy Seat. God wanted the people to know it was His divine presence in their midst that would make them victorious.

On the seventh day the people were to march around the city seven times. On the seventh time around, the priests were to sound a long, loud blast of the trumpet. When the people heard this signal, they were to shout and the Lord promised that when they did this, the walls would fall down. The walls of Jericho collapsed exactly as God promised because Joshua and the children of Israel acted upon the strategy God gave them.

During the next few months, you will learn strategies that will break down every wall in your life. As we begin this march, if you act upon each God-given strategy you learn, the “Jericho walls” in your life will fall.

Get ready to see your walls of impossibilities come crashing down!
Get ready to see the walls hindering you from taking hold of the fulfillment of the promises God has given you crumble!
Get ready to see the walls blocking you from receiving the answers you need from God broken down!

This month we are marching against the walls of fear, unbelief, and confusion. In the next few months we will march against disobedience and unforgiveness. We will also learn how to win the battle for the mind and the tongue.

Are you ready for our supernatural march? Then put on your spiritual boots and let’s get going!

Journey Into The Promised Land

Isaiah 43:1–19 (CSB)

RESTORATION OF ISRAEL

43 Now this is what the Lord says—

the one who created you, Jacob,

and the one who formed you, Israel—

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;

I have called you by your name; you are mine.

²When you pass through the waters,

I will be with you

and the rivers will not overwhelm you,

When you walk through the fire,

you will not be scorched

and the flame will not burn you.

³For I am the Lord your God,

the Holy One of Israel, and your Savior.

I have given Egypt as a ransom for you,

Cush and Seba in your place.

⁴Because you are precious in my sight

and honored, and I love you,

I will give people in exchange for you

and nations instead of your life.

⁵Do not fear, for I am with you;

I will bring your descendants from the east,

and gather you from the west.

⁶I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’

and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back!’

Bring my sons from far away,

and my daughters from the ends of the earth—

⁷everyone who bears my name

and is created for my glory.

I have formed them; indeed, I have made them.”

⁸Bring out a people who are blind, yet have eyes,

and are deaf, yet have ears.

⁹All the nations are gathered together,

and the peoples are assembled.

Who among them can declare this,

and tell us the former things?

Let them present their witnesses

to vindicate themselves,

so that people may hear and say, “It is true.”

¹⁰“You are my witnesses”—

this is the Lord’s declaration—

“and my servant whom I have chosen,

so that you may know and believe me

and understand that I am he.

No god was formed before me,

and there will be none after me.

¹¹I—I am the Lord.

Besides me, there is no Savior.

¹²I alone declared, saved, and proclaimed—

and not some foreign god among you.

So you are my witnesses”—

this is the Lord’s declaration—

“and I am God.

¹³Also, from today on I am he alone,

and none can rescue from my power.

I act, and who can reverse it?”

GOD’S DELIVERANCE OF REBELLIOUS ISRAEL

¹⁴This is what the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says:

Because of you, I will send an army to Babylon

and bring all of them as fugitives,

even the Chaldeans in the ships in which they rejoice.

¹⁵I am the Lord, your Holy One,

the Creator of Israel, your King.

¹⁶This is what the Lord says—

who makes a way in the sea,

and a path through raging water,

¹⁷who brings out the chariot and horse,

the army and the mighty one together

(they lie down, they do not rise again;

they are extinguished, put out like a wick)—

¹⁸“Do not remember the past events;

pay no attention to things of old.

¹⁹Look, I am about to do something new;

even now it is coming. Do you not see it?

Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness,

rivers in the desert.

As we begin our march against the obstacles standing in the way of our possessing God’s promises, remember that just as the Ark of the Covenant was with the children of Israel as they marched around Jericho, the presence, power, and anointing of God are with you!

He is with you and will give you total victory!

The number one obstacle blocking Christians today from taking hold of God’s promises and walking in the power He has planned is fear. God’s word to you today, dear friend, is “Fear not!” God is saying:

…Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel… (Isaiah 43:1-3)

The first obstacle the children of Israel faced as they entered the Promised Land was fear. God had promised upon His oath to give them the land, but when the ten men sent to spy out the land saw giants in the land and large, fortified cities, they became fainthearted. A spirit of fear and intimidation gripped their hearts. Instead of rejecting fear and getting their eyes upon God who had rolled back the Red Sea and miraculously delivered them out of Egypt, they allowed their minds to be controlled by a spirit of fear.

When these men returned to give their report, they caused this spirit to spread until all of Israel was fearful. The people heard the bad report and a spirit of fear entered their hearts and minds until they were controlled and dominated by it. None of that fearful, unbelieving generation entered the Promised Land. Only Joshua and Caleb, who focused their faith upon God and His mighty power, were able to enter the Promised Land and take possession of God’s promises. They said, “we are well able to conquer it!” (Numbers 13:30, TAB) and “the Lord is with us; fear them not” (Numbers 14:9, TAB).

There are hundreds of different manifestations of fear. We are living in a day when fear stalks the streets of our cities and people are bound by fear for their safety. Other major fears people face include those of failure, rejection, pain, sickness, danger, want, growing old, man, and death.

Fear and perplexity are part of the signs Jesus said would be upon the earth before His coming. He said men’s hearts would fail them because of fear and of the things which are coming upon the earth (Luke 21:26). As believers, however, we are to look up and rejoice. Our redemption draws nigh!

Make this declaration:

I am beginning my march on fear. I will not fear the circumstances around me. I will look up and rejoice. My redemption draws near!

*Adapted from MCWE email – Journey Into The Promised Land by Morris Cerullo

The Obstacle Of Fear – 2/1

Overcoming Obstacles

Journey Into The Promised Land