Enter In

On May 12, 2022   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Deuteronomy 1: 21

See, the Lord your God has placed the land before you; go up, take possession, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you. Do not fear or be dismayed.

This is the word of the Lord for you today. Earlier this week we saw how Joshua and Caleb looked through the eyes of faith and saw the land flowing with milk and honey while the other 10 spies came back with a negative report. They didn’t deny that the land was every bit as sweet as the Lord promised. They denied their ability to take the land. However, God promised them the land and led them to it. He took them to the land of promise and told them the land was theirs and that they should take possession of it. Unfortunately, the ten spies had a self-image problem. They admitted that the land was fruitful saying, “We came into the land where you sent us, and it certainly does flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit,” and they demonstrated the bountiful fruit the land produced, (Numbers 13: 27). They should have stopped right there but there were some negative Nellies in the group and, so, here is what they said, “We also saw the Nephilim there (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight,” (Numbers 13: 33).

“We were like grasshoppers in our own sight.” Their defeat was on their lips. They couldn’t take the land and it wasn’t because of the people there, but because of their self-image. That, and they didn’t believe God. He had already promised them the land. They just needed to enter into the promise.

Oh, what a lesson this is for all of us. Enter into the promise. We, like the Israelites, have many promises from God. We need to learn to enter in. We need to learn how to receive all that He has already given us. This has been a burden on my heart recently. The truth is, we don’t really know how to receive. We pray, but then sometimes the answer to our prayer never quite reaches us. I mentioned in a recent Word of the Day that I am working on a new series for us. It is my prayer that through the new series, we all (including me) will become better receivers. Then we will live in the will of the Lord continually. Amen!

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Grasshopper Epidemic

On March 16, 2017   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Numbers 13: 33

There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.

However we perceive ourselves is how we truly are. We create our own reality. “For as he thinks within himself, so he is” (Proverb 23: 7). In this case the Israelites perceived themselves as grasshoppers so that is what they became in their eyes and the eyes of their enemies. We talk ourselves into being that which we hold to be true in our hearts. Do you think yourself smart? Then you are. Do you think yourself healed? You are. What if you think of yourself as some negative as the Israelites did? Then that becomes the truth too. How long have you called yourself overweight? Let’s change your perspective and thus your truth.

Do you believe the Israelites would have fared better if they had perceived themselves differently? Couldn’t they have just as easily confessed that they were the heirs of a promise and that the Lord their God goes before them? Wasn’t that the truth? God showed His hand all along the way from Egypt to Canaan. He performed miracles and ran enemies out before them. They could have just as easily perceived themselves as the highly valued and protected children of God. Instead, they chose to think of themselves as grasshoppers. Honestly, this sounds a lot like modern Christianity.

Of course, we have the same record of witness as they. We have read about the miracles. We have seen the promises of God but still we too choose to think of ourselves as grasshoppers instead of mighty in Christ. We can be who we choose to be. In truth, we are who we choose to be. Do want to be healthy, wealthy, wise and have abundant friends? Then choose to be a giant instead of a grasshopper. Change your self-image to that of an anointed and appointed child of the king. Get a revelation of the deep love of God for you. He wants to magnify and exalt you so stop thinking of yourself in negative terms. Let God minister truth to your bones and to your heart. You are God’s greatest miracle and highly esteemed. Let it go to your head.

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I Spy . . .

On May 22, 2015   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Judges 6: 9

And I delivered you from the hands of the Egyptians and from the hands of all your oppressors, and dispossessed them before you and gave you their land.

You know the story of the Israelites. God freed them from Egyptian slavery and led them through the desert to the Promised Land. He was with them at all times. He routed their enemies and gave them the chosen land. And yet, most of the people who journeyed through the desert never entered the Promised Land. They died in the desert because of their unbelief. How tragic! God defeated the enemy. He led them, fed them and gave them water. He emptied the land for them and yet they failed to enter in.

Even as I lament those Israelites who stopped short of receiving the promise I am brought up short by the reality of present day faith. How many of us are failing to enter into the Promised Land? God has made us many promises. He has provided food and drink, dispossessed the land of our enemies, prepared a table before us and all we have to do is follow him obediently and faithfully. But so often we look at the land and see the giants instead of the promise. We look at the enemy or the desert and focus our full attention on those things when we should be filling our vision with the land which is flowing with milk and honey. 

Only two of the original twelve Israelite spies were able to move into the land God had given the Israelites (Numbers 14: 22 – 24). The others were too busy talking about the giants even though they admitted that the land was everything God promised. I read recently, “You become what you behold,” (Richards, Moving Your Invisible Boundaries, P. 141). Ten of those spies saw themselves as grasshoppers and so they were. Two of them saw the promise of God and that was all they needed. They believed God and applied their faith to what He said and they got the Promised Land.

God has driven out the enemy before us too. Jesus did that for us. We didn’t even have to use our faith for that. But now in order to receive all that Jesus has won for us we must believe with our hearts. Your heart is your faith center, not your brain. We can have everything God promised us but we must put our believers in gear. We have to decide that we are going to believe our Father and trust Him. If we will do that, we can have the Promised Land. I want that for us. Then all people will see how mighty is our God.

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