Jericho Power

// Andy Thompson

MANY OF US in the Church are looking for Jericho power. It's part of why we praise and worship God. Jericho power is praise with an expectation. It releases power for God to do what only He can do in our lives. It causes the walls that are keeping us from our blessings to come down.

We learn about Jericho power in Joshua 6:5–20. The Lord tells Joshua that He will deliver the fortified city of Jericho into the hands of the Israelites. He orders Joshua to have the people march around the city once a day for six days. On the seventh day, the Israelites are to march around Jericho seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets the whole time. Then they are to shout.

So the Israelites carry out these instructions. And on the seventh day, when they hear the sound of the trumpets, they shout, the walls collapse, and they capture the city. The way through Jericho was the way to their blessing—Canaan.

Jericho power helps us understand that if we can shout, we can take the city—our personal Jericho. Praising God causes Him to move on our behalf. It causes Him to show up and change things.
To give a shout of praise, we don't have to have all the college degrees. We don't have to have it all together and be perfect. All we have to do is know how to holler.

We ought to be shouting because we know that when we worship and praise God, He shows up! Praise pays! I know we like to say, "I did not come to ask for anything, but just for the privilege of glorifying Your Name." But sometimes when we're praising and worshipping God, I can't help but say, "Lord, I want You to know that this is a Jericho shout. I'm shouting because I believe that as I praise You, walls around my personal Jericho are coming down." I shout because I need something that only God can do for me.

I find that when we really need God, we live better—we're more holy. When we really need God, nobody has to tell us to have a prayer life. When we really need God—when we need a miracle—we don't cuss folks out. We forgive them real easily.

Even if God has met every need in our lives, we ought to be believing Him for somebody else's miracle. Doing this keeps us from just "kind of" worshipping. We shut our eyes and concentrate on Him because we need this praise to mean something! We're not just playing church games. We need that wall to come down!

WHAT KIND OF "HALLELUJAH!" WOULD YOU GIVE IF YOU WERE ONE SHOUT AWAY FROM EVERYTHING YOU'VE BEEN BELIEVING GOD FOR? How would you praise Him if you were one shout away from receiving your healing or breakthrough, or from your business going to the next level? If your praise was the answer, would you praise differently?

We praise God not because we feel His presence or when everything is going our way. We praise Him as an act of our will. This means that we can praise Him in the good times and the bad. The scripture says, "I can do all things through Christ" (Phil. 4:13).

When the Israelites gave a shout, they saw the walls of the city of Jericho crumble. In the same way, our shout of praise will cause God to change our situation.

[Editor's Note: This article was adapted from Andy Thompson's Tuesday evening message at Campmeeting 2015.]