In this 10‑minute devotional episode, host Greg Ryan explores the biblical theme of the power of spoken words versus the power of silence. He begins by recalling the previous episode’s discussion of the Battle of Jericho, then moves to Joshua 6, where Joshua commands the Israelites to march around the city for six days without speaking until a divine signal to shout. Ryan links this command to the earlier narrative in Numbers 13‑14, where the twelve spies sent to scout Canaan return with a negative report; the ten who spread fear cause the people to doubt God, resulting in a 40‑year wilderness punishment. Ryan argues that Joshua’s silence was a strategic use of the “power of the spoken word” – choosing not to voice doubt. He emphasizes that believers should guard their speech, fill their minds with Scripture, and use words of faith to combat Satan. The episode also highlights the miracle of Jericho’s walls falling flat, underscoring that God’s instructions (including silence) lead to victory. Throughout, Ryan encourages listeners to read, meditate on, and speak God‑aligned truth.
Welcome to episode 49. We're going to start in John 1:1.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Spending time in the word of God is the best way to spend time with God. Welcome to No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe podcast, where we will encourage inspire, and empower you to live your best life in Christ. Here's Greg.
Welcome to episode 49. I want to get— jump right in. We were— if you remember back in 48, if you were listening to the previous episode, I was talking about the Battle of Jericho. And God— actually, it was Lord Jesus had come down as the commander of the army of the Lord. He came and spoke directly to Joshua and gave him the battle instructions. So in this episode, we're going to see what Joshua does with that, and then we're going to look back at Numbers, and we're going to see why Joshua said some of the things he said. And, and basically it's based on experience. Joshua experienced something with all of these people, or the people of Israel, prior to this encounter with the Lord, and he used his experience with the people of Israel to then tell them what they needed to do in this battle. So here we go, let's jump right in. We are in Joshua chapter 6, and I want to pick it up in verse 7. And he said to the people, proceed and march around the city, and let him who is armed advance before the ark of the Lord. So it was when Joshua had spoken to the people that the 7 priests bearing the 7 trumpets of ram horns before the Lord advanced and blew the trumpets, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them. The army of men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard came after the ark while the priests continued blowing the trumpets. Now Joshua had commanded the people, saying, 'You shall not shout or make any noise with your voice, nor shall a word proceed out of your mouth until the day I say to you, "Shout!" Then you shall shout.' Now if you remember, God told Joshua to to march around the city 6 days, one time a day, 6 days, and then on the 7th day, march around it 7 times. And he told them about blowing the trumpets, but he didn't say anything about keeping their mouth shut. I believe that this was Joshua using his experience with the people of Israel, that he knew the power of the spoken word. Because I'm going to take you back into Numbers and you're going to see what happened and how the children of Israel got, got to march around the wilderness for 40 years. And it was because of unbelief and the power of the spoken word, but it was to the negative side. And so let's go right now. Let's go to Numbers, and it's chapter 13, and it's verse 1. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel. For each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, everyone a leader among them. Okay, so he's telling Moses— God's telling Moses, look, we're coming into the promised land. I need you to pick a leader, a top dog of each one of these 12 tribes of Israel. I need a leader, and I need— we need to send these, these people into the promised land to scope it out, to spy out the land, and then to bring back the report. And so we're going to pick up the, the children of Israel. They went in, the, the 12 leaders went in to the, to the promised land. And we're going to pick it up in 13:17. Then Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said to them, go up this way into the south, and then go up into the mountain and see what the land is like, whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, few or many. Whether the land they dwell in is good or bad, whether the cities are inhabited or like camps or strongholds, whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are forests there or not. Be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes. So Moses give them their marching orders. Look, we've got the 12 people picked out. He He tells them what to do. He tells them to go look at and then bring the report back. Now I want to pick it back up because that, that did happen. And in Numbers 20:13-25, and they returned from spying out of the land for after 40 days. Now I want to remind you that there was only 12 spies that went out, but there was, there was multiple thousands, maybe millions of Israelis left behind. So all these people, they knew what was going on. They knew that we're sending spies out. To see what kind of— what was going on. There really wasn't. There was no Google, there was no Facebook, there was no Twitter, there wasn't anything else going on. Everybody in this camp, everybody that had been— this was— they were coming to the climax. God said, we're going into this promised land. And then Moses went and sent these people in there to spy it out and to bring back the report. And that's what we're gonna— now, and I just wanted to set the table to show you, look, all these people were sitting around waiting for this report. So we're gonna, we're gonna pick it up when the 12 try— when the 12 spies come back. And that's in 13:27. Then they told him and said, we went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Nevertheless, the people who dwell in the land are strong. The cities are fortified and very large. Moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south, and the Hittites and the Hebusites and the Jebusites and the Amorites dwell in the mountains, and the Canaanites dwell by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan.' Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, 'Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.' Now I want you to think, you know, Caleb and Joshua was part of this 12 that was sent out, and I guarantee you, they, you know, they were the, the other 10 that give the bad report. We're going to find out that they give a bad report. These 12 leaders came in and spied this land. Now Caleb and Joshua, they had to have been listening to these other 10 going, oh my gosh, there's no way we're going to be able to defeat these people. I mean, I— it doesn't— the Bible doesn't say it But these 10 people, they were there with Joshua and with Caleb, and you know they were negative, you know they were unbelieving and all of that stuff because they bring that report to them. And let's pick that up real quick. But the men who had gone up with him said, we are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we. And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, the land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants. The descendants of Anak came from giants, and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, so we were in their sight. Now the reason I bring that up is because Joshua and Caleb were two of the 12 spies, and they were the only two that made it through the wilderness adventure. And I'm putting air quotes up Those 40 years, everybody that was— I think it was over 20 years of age or older— died in the wilderness. And in fact, the 10 spies that went out and gave a bad report died immediately. God, God was not happy with the report. And so for each day that they spied the land out, that was— that, that represented a year. And in one of the previous episodes that I've taught on is that God's You know, God's ways are not our ways, but his time, his calendar, you know, one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is a day. So he just said, look, for every day that you stayed over there, you're going to spend a year. So that was 40 years. That's why the 40 years in the wilderness. But I want to take you, fast forward you back to, uh, the book of Joshua, and in chapter 6, where Joshua had told them, look, you're not going to say a word. Now, if you remember in the previous episode, I read what the commander of the army of the Lord said, which was Jesus. We've already discussed that, but he did not say that they couldn't talk amongst themselves. Joshua told them that. Joshua was their commander, and Joshua said, look, I've been through— I've been down this road before with you people, and we're not going to talk. We're not going to have anything come out of our mouths. And that was the whole reason why I wanted to to tell you about this story is the power of our words. Sometimes the best power is to keep your mouth shut. My mama said, you know, if you don't have nothing nice to say about somebody, don't say anything at all. So I think that that's kind of where Joshua was. He knew this battle plan was from God because he actually saw the commander and, you know, remember he had his sword drawn and all of that stuff. So Joshua knew this was a word from God but he did not want anybody in the army to speak a bad word or a doubt-filled word, you know, doubt and fear. And, and that was what I want to encourage you. If you can't say anything, you know, it's better to not say anything at all than to, than to speak out doubt and unbelief. And that's why I encourage you again, for the probably the 50th time, maybe more, you need to get into the word of God. You need to just continually read it, be meditating on it, run it around in your head, and just think about those, those things which are of good report. And I think that's in Philippians, I think it's chapter 4, somewhere in there. But anyway, I— that, that I digress. But I wanted— I just want to encourage you to read this story. It's a great story. I'm not gonna— I'm not gonna tell— there's one miracle in there that I, I want to tell you. I want you to think about what it is besides, you know, besides the people walking around and shouting, but the miracle, the thing that's incredible that sometimes I, I'm not sure people pick up on, that God told them that the walls would come down flat. And I just want you to think about these walled cities, and you know, and even maybe you might have when you shout and maybe there was a crack in the you know, in the brick or in the walls. And but if it was to come down, they build houses on top. These, these walls fell down flat. And that is a huge miracle because you had the children of Israel on the other side with their swords and, you know, their battle. They're ready to go destroy the people of Jericho. But if they'd had to climb over, you know, rubble and broken down rock, you know, there'd have been a bunch of people get killed. On Israel's side, but God had the walls fall down flat. And so they went straight in front of them, right? I mean, they're looking eyeball— these people were on this big old, big old wall, you know. And, and I— all I can see of the VeggieTales cartoon— and anyway, you got to be careful what you put in your eyes. Those are— that's really good. But I've gone in my mind, the little VeggieTales where they're throwing I'm sorry, that's another rabbit. But the walls came straight down and they went straight forward and took care of business. Well, that's enough for today. I'm looking at the clock and my clock is showing me that I'm past 10 minutes, and I apologize. It's hard to get all this stuff because we've gone to two different stories, but it's hard to get it all in for 10 minutes. But I want to stay on one thought if I can, and that is There's power in your words, but sometimes there's power in not saying anything. And that's where Joshua was. He said, y'all do not say a word, and when, when it's time, I'll tell you when it's time. And he— they did not say a word while they marched around the 6 times, each once each day for 6 days. And then the 7th time, they didn't say anything, and the first thing that came out of their mouth was a shout. And so I want to encourage you with a shout, you got this, that you can just tell Satan he's a punk and then just bind him up and use your words to speak power and your authority. Well, that's enough for today. I will see— we're going to move to the New Testament. I know, I know you're probably not tired of the Old Testament, but we need to move into the New Testament and see, kind of see what's going on over there. So I appreciate you being a part of this, and I look forward to seeing you or talking to you in the next episode.
Thanks for listening to the No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe podcast at www.nodoubtonlybelieve.com.
