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Joshua’s Prayer for the Sun and Moon to Stand Still

The Prayer

“Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day.” Joshua 10:12-13

What was Joshua Praying for?

Joshua was pursuing a coalition of enemy kings who had attacked their Gibeonite allies which were under their protection. Because he didn’t want the enemy to get away and have to fight them again, Joshua prayed so that he could continue pursuing his enemies.

Background information about Joshua

Joshua left Egypt with Moses and the rest of the Israelites. Slowly, over the years, Joshua rose to become Moses’ minister. Joshua and Caleb were the only two out of twelve men who had spied out the Promised Land. They believed that God could deliver the land to them, but the others didn’t believe. Because only two out of the twelve spies believed that the Lord could deliver the Promised Land to Israelites, they all had to wait forty years to enter the land of Promise and begin the conquest of the land that would one day be theirs. By the time this battle had come, Joshua was a hardened man of war and intent on finishing the conquest he had begun years earlier. Joshua had waited forty years to enter the Promised Land. He had fought numerous battles against walled cities like Jericho. He had battled giants like Og of Sihon, and constantly being outnumbered and outmatched, yet God still gave them victory. By this time in his life, Joshua was too eager to conquer the land to let the enemy slip away. Its one thing to declare war against an enemy and attack but when one is attacked by and enemy, there is a righteous anger and spirit of revenge that comes over a person when they strike back. This is what happened when Joshua prayed this prayer.

Key Elements of Joshua’s Prayer

1. Joshua understood what God’s desires for his people were at that time. It was at this particular time that God promised the Israelites they would inherit the land of Canaan and that he would drive out the people who currently lived there. The promise had been made to Abraham almost five hundred years earlier (See Genesis 15:13-21) and to Moses more than forty years earlier. (Exodus 3:8) It was again confirmed to Joshua,--as seen in Joshua 1:1-7. Now the time was at hand and God instructed Joshua to conquer the land and not to leave anyone alive. This was a harsh thing to do and other Jewish leaders like Saul could not bring themselves to do it and would be punished for it, (1 Samuel 15) but Joshua had set in his heart to do everything that the Lord had told him to do. He also did not want to have to fight the same enemy again later. This is why he asked for God’s help to finish what he had started. By praying this prayer, Joshua was practically guaranteed success, even though it seemed near impossible because it was directly in line with what God needed to be done.

2. Joshua believed God could answer his prayer, even though it seemed impossible. We should understand that even though something may seem impossible for God to perform and beyond the realms of natural science, if it is in line with God’s promise and we need it done to complete God’s will it indeed becomes possible for God to do. As humans, we sometimes limit God’s abilities in that we think that he can’t perform or is in the realm of our limited understanding of nature and science. What we have to understand is that God created the science that we understand and can supersede anytime he pleases. God caused the earth to rotate on its axis and he can cause it to stop at any time with no ill effects. It was God who mandated the earth to revolve around the sun and the moon around the earth, so he can cause any of these things to cease at his divine pleasure. The scriptures consistently tell us that nothing is impossible with God:

“But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible,” Matthew 19:26

“Jesus said unto him,’ If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.’” Mark 9:23

“For with God nothing shall be impossible.” Luke 1:37

We should never limit God because he does not limit himself. God loves to confound those who believe that there are things that he cannot do. Why? To show that he indeed is God.

“But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence."1 Corinthians 1:27-29

By the time God was finished answering Joshua’s prayers, the writer says that there had never been a day like it before, not until this day.. This means that it superseded all the prayers of Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and even Moses. Joshua dared to pray the greatest prayer ever and God met and answered him according to his faith. As the scriptures says:

“Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.” Matthew 9:29

If we dare to stretch our faith and pray great prayers, then God will dare to answer them. I can personally testify to God’s power in this way. When I was sick in the hospital and began bleeding and losing so much blood from ulcerative colitis, the alarms on the monitor sounded and the nurse came running into the room because she thought I was dying. She took my blood pressure and said that it was physically impossible for me to be alive because the pressure was so low that there was no natural way that my heart could be still pumping blood throughout my body. I looked at the nurse and smiled because I felt the warm anointing presence of God all over me and knew God had gone beyond science to keep me alive. I can tell you there is nothing impossible with God if you only believe.

Result of the Prayer

As a result of his prayer, the sun remained in the same place for the entire day and the Israelites were able to defeat the armies that had come out to fight against them. Joshua had also captured and killed the five kings who were the leaders of the enemy armies. Because of this great victory the children of Israel removed a major obstacle to achieving their goal of conquering the Promised Land and fulfilling their destiny. Joshua 10:14 gives us more information about the impressive results of Joshua's prayer:

“And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the LORD hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the LORD fought for Israel.” Joshua 10:14

One of the reasons why this prayer was selected as one of the ten greatest prayers of the Bible is because it was said that there was never a day before or after when God listened to one man's prayer and fought for him. This shows the power that just one praying person can have. It also validates the power in James 5:16 statement: "the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." Never underestimate the power that one righteous person has with God!

Effectual Prayer

"Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." - James 5:16

It is my belief that great prayers achieve the desired results. They don't have to be long and drawn out. They don't have to be elaborate or fancy, they just need to get results. Never be discouraged when you pray and don't see immediate results. They key to having "effectual" prayer is to be fervent and righteous. If we are cooking meat in the oven and it is still raw after a while, we check the temperature and turn up the heat right? Why not do the same with prayer? If you aren't getting results when we pray, then TURN UP THE HEAT! Get fervent in prayer! Don't be afraid to cry out to God. Make some noise and make sure your cause is heard. Jesus prayed in Gethsemane until sweat poured from his face. Jacob wrestled with and angel at Peniel until he was blessed. Abraham refused to let the Lord go towards Sodom until he agreed to his bargain. We have to keep praying until weget what we need!

My pastor always told me, "the best ability is stick ability." If we want to make great prayers, then we have to learn how stick with prayer until we get results. Having righteousness means that we are continuing to live for God the right way because we believe that he is going to reward us. Don't ever give up on God because you feel that your prayers are not being answered. A few years ago, I was in the hospital dying from Ulcerative Colitis. I was bleeding everyday for more than 30 days and the doctors had no idea what was wrong or how to stop it. They gave me every kind of medication, every kind of test and nothing seemed to help. I was in and out of ICU, being transfused with blood (more than 27 bags) and the doctors told my family that I was probably not going to make it. At times I felt like giving up, but I remembered how God heard king Hezekiah's prayers on his deathbed and healed him. (2 Kings 20:1) Even though I was sick, I prayed with everything I had for God to heal and save me. Most days that meant just turning on my side reading a Psalm or two and believing in God to heal me. Although I was discouraged at times, I never gave up on God and just kept praying.

Then, something strange happened. The nurses and patients were watching. They saw who saw everyone coming to pray with me and watching me pray and read my bible and some soon began to asking me to pray with them. I thought, "Lord, I'm sick and dying and they want me to pray with them?" Some asked for healing themselves, but what really touched me was that some of the nurses told me that they felt the presence of God when they came into my room and wanted to feel more of it. I realized what happening.

"And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." -2 Corinthians 12:9

God used my sickness to touch and bless others. Because I never gave up believing that God would save my life and heal me other people were being touched  and blessed in the process...and they wanted more! Throughout it all, I was being strengthened not just by my prayers, but from the effectual and fervent prayer of ministers and saints from all around the world. The annointing of those prayers was spilling over from life into the lives of others. Eventually, I had a total of four surgeries since then and two of those times, my life was in serious jeopardy, but the Lord stepped in and healed me each time. To this day, many people still cannot believe that I am alive. I let them know, that it was and still is the power of God through prayer that has kept, strengthened and healed not just me, but many others. Your prayer will be great and effectual if you just keep praying and believe that God will answer it one day.

God Bless and keep praying!

Great Prayers: An Examination of Jesus' Prayer in Gethsemane

(39)  And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him.

(40)  And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation.

 (41)  And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,

(42)  Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.

(43)  And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him.

(44)  And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Luke 22:41-44

What was Jesus Praying for?

The cause of Jesus’ prayer is illustrated in the words that he spoke to his disciples. Jesus spoke to them as a father giving a lesson to his children, telling them that prayer is necessary so one does not enter into temptation. It was the eve of the greatest event in human history and Jesus was praying so that he himself would not “enter into temptation.” Jesus needed to pray in order to ensure that no aspect of his humanity would cause the deity inside of him to avoid going to the cross and dying for the sins of mankind. Matthew 26:41 gives a similar account of this prayer and adds, “the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” The spirit inside of Jesus had perfect intentions of going to the cross, but the flesh did not want to. How do we know this? Because in Luke 24:42, Jesus asks the Father if it is possible to take the burden of having to go the cross away from him. We see just how important this prayer really was because Jesus chooses to do the will of God rather than his own personal will by saying, “nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done.” From this, we clearly see the power of prayer to bring the necessary submission to accomplish God’s will in our life when we take the time to bring our burdens to the Father as Jesus did.

Background information about Jesus Prayer in Gethsemane

The prayer in Gethsemane followed the last meal that Jesus was going to have with his disciples. Although they were unaware of what was going to unfold in the next few hours, Jesus was not. He knew that very shortly he would be betrayed by Judas Iscariot, turned over to the Jewish leaders and crucified the next day. The emotional pain of betrayal, the physical agony of the cross and the crushing burden of all of mankind’s sins would certainly have been weighing heavily on his mind at this time. Without prayer, no one could imagine, much less actually go through with the events that were soon to proceed. Matthew 26:37 tells us that Jesus was sorrowful and his soul was very heavy.  And who wouldn’t be at a time like this? This was his moment and he was not going to disappoint the Father, himself, or mankind. In order for him to go to the cross, he had to go to Gethsemane first and make this prayer.

John the Baptist called him the Lamb of God who was come to take away the sin of the world and Jesus knew that the one purpose that he had come into the world for was now at hand. (John 1:29) Like us, Jesus had friends, loved ones and acquaintances that he had grown to love. It would not have been natural for anyone to for him to know that he was going to die and willingly go forward with it. This is why he needed something supernatural. For him, prayer was not just an option at this time, it was a necessity. This prayer at Gethsemane propelled him toward the cross, rather than away from it. From his prayer, we learn that prayer is the necessary component to compel us to go forward towards God’s will, especially when we are resisting it. Prayer is necessary at those key, defining moments when we are trying to decide to accept or reject God’s plan for us. It changes our heart from being tempted to giving in to the weakness of flesh to following the desire of the willing spirit.

Key Elements of Jesus’ Prayer

1. Jesus withdrew from others to make his prayer

There is a time and a place to pray with others and there is a time when you must petition God for your needs alone. Jesus brought several disciples along not to help him, but to watch him pray so that they would learn what he was doing. After arriving at Gethsemane, he intentionally withdrew a stone’s throw away to be by himself. He understood that this prayer was to be about his humanity wrestling with the deity inside of him and the deity could not lose. At this point, there was too much at stake for him to be distracted by late night weariness and complaints. Everyone, including Jesus, was tired but Jesus had to somehow summon supernatural strength to pray. To endure the cross, he would need to be at his strongest even though he was now at his weakest. His decision to pray alone is reminiscent of what he taught the disciples during the Sermon on the Mount:

(6)  But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

Mathewt 6:6

Like Jacob wresting at Peniel, humanity had to once again wrestle with deity for a people to survive. Because he had not intention of losing this showdown, could not afford distractions and needed the sure reward that only solitary prayer brings, Jesus chose to pray alone.

2.   Jesus admitted his weaknesses

While it may be hard to imagine Jesus as having any weaknesses, the human side of him did. However, the wisdom of Christ was to acknowledge, admit and deal with it head on rather than ignore it. Pride would have overlooked the weakness of his flesh and could have quite possibly caused him to overlook the cross. Rather than overlooking the weakness of his human flesh, Jesus wisely leaned on the strength of his divine spirit and brought himself to a place of prayer where the weakness could be dealt with properly. It is extremely important to deal with any weaknesses that we may have by presenting it to God to deal with.

 (16)  Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

James 5:16

The only way to deal with our faults is to acknowledge them and not try to cover them up. Acknowledging and dealing with fault allows them to be healed and allows our prayers both effectual and prevailing. Many people see acknowledging weaknesses as a fault but the only true fault is in not admitting them so that God can heal and deal with them. A weakness that is not acknowledged can never be dealt with and will always be a hindrance to prayer, which leads to a hindrance in getting God’s will done. As a result of admitting his desire to not got to the cross, Jesus was persuaded let God’s will be done and go forward to the cross. His decision to follow God’s will was a direct result of prayer. I shudder to imagine what would have happened if our Lord had not made this prayer.

3.   Jesus prayed with everything that he had

Many people fear getting to emotional when they pray, but prayer is all about emotion. Prayer is not a time to be reserved. It is a time to bare everything inside our body, mind, soul and spirit before our Creator. The scriptures tell us this:

 (4)  Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:

(5)  And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

Deuteronomy 6:4-5

Jesus reiterated this commandment in the New Testament, saying that it was the greatest commandment.

(36)  Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

(37)  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

(38)  This is the first and great commandment.

Matthew 22:36-38

If the greatest commandment is to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength, then why don’t we open up and show our affection with everything that we have? The prayer that Jesus made in Gethsemane was emotional, visceral and physical. The Greek meaning of the word Gethsemane means “oil press.” Gethsemane was an emotional place of crushing and grinding physically for olives and emotionally for Christ. There some prayers that will only come forth when our body and spirit has been crushed so that that the sweet oil of prayer can be released. Every prayer does not have to be like this, but great prayers do. With the sin of mankind on his shoulders and the outcome of eternity depending on this prayer, Jesus gave needed to summon every ounce of physical and emotional strength that he could muster in that late night.

So important was the success of his prayer, that Luke 22:43 tells us that angel appeared to strengthen him as he was praying. While he did not specifically ask for angelic help, God saw the effort that was being put forth and gave him help. We should understand that when God sees us giving everything we have in prayer, he will match our efforts and give us his best. If we pray mundane prayers, then we should expect mundane results. If we pray exceptional prayers, then we should expect exceptional results. Having received supernatural help, Luke 22:44 goes on to say that Jesus prayed even more earnestly. He did not allow himself the comfort of believing that his prayer had been answered just because and angel had appeared. No, he turned up the intensity and became even more determined when he saw that he now had God’s attention. Most of us would have stopped praying the moment an angel appeared, but not Christ. He ignored the angel because he was so focused on his goal receiving the necessary strength to go the cross for us. His intensity increased until sweat poured down from his face as blood falling to the ground. For him, this was more than prayer…more than communication with the Father…it was a wrestling match for the souls of mankind…and he was not going to lose. Jesus was wrestling with Satan to free mankind’s souls from the burden of sin and to bring us back into fellowship with the Creator.

When serious issues are on the line, such as the burden of souls, we have to be ready for the physical and emotional exertion that this kind of prayer brings. To deliver souls from Satan, we often have to break strongholds and chains of sin that are binding them. Jesus tells us that in order to save and heal those hindered by Satan, we must first bind the enemy:

(28)  But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.

(29)  Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.

Mat 12:28-29

If you want to save one person, let alone the entire world, you have to prepare to fight the one that has control over them. Jesus understood this and wrestled to bind Satan and free our souls.

4. Jesus was praying for others and not himself

Arguably the greatest prayers in the bible are those that have been prayed for someone else. Why? Because they include the act of selflessness. It is very easy to pray for ourselves, especially when we are in need or greatly desire something. It is an entirely different matter to pray for the needs of someone else. The unique aspect of Jesus’ prayer was that not only was he praying for others, but he was praying for others that had no concern for him. In fact, many of those for whom he was praying sought his harm and wanted to see him tortured and crucified. This did not faze Jesus. He had taught his disciples to pray for those who disliked them.

 (44)  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

Matthew 5:44

Not only is this difficult for most people, but I would even dare to say it is downright unnatural! Despite the difficulty, Matthew 5:45 goes on to say that this is the type of prayer that impresses God the most.

 (45)  That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

(46)  For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?

Matthew 5:45-46

If we want to pray great prayers, we must learn great forgiveness and great selflessness.

God Bless

How this blog came into being

The idea for this blog came about as I was in prayer wondering about what it took to pray great prayers. “Why settle for praying average prayers if we could find the formula to pray great prayers?” I thought. I have prayed many prayers, been to a lot of prayer services and read many books about prayer, but I wondered what it took to really have the power of God move behind my prayers on a regular basis. This led me to think, “Why not look at all the prayers made by people in the bible and their results?” After studying this list, I noticed that there were certain characteristics about the people and circumstances that made certain prayers “great.” What I considered great prayers were those that brought healing, deliverance o many people, supernatural occurrences or changed the course of history. I found that most great prayers were also the result of people praying in great circumstances.

While the bible is a great book and just about everything in it is fantastic and miraculous, most everyone will admit that there are some prayers that just stand apart from others. There are those prayers keep you up at night wondering what it must have been like to have been actually been there when a particular prayer was being answered. If God could do such miraculous wonders for those who prayed great prayers in the bible, then why can’t he do it for us today? By creating this blog, I hope that people from around the world can bring their prayers, testimonials and insights here to examine and pray the Greatest Prayers of the Bible in hopes seeing great and miraculous works done in our lives!

God Bless!