We Were In Our Own Sight

In the book of Numbers, Chapter 13, the nation of Israel had come out of Egypt, and was walking through the desert, on their way to Canaan. The Lord spoke to Moses:

1)    AND The Lord said to Moses,

2)    Send men to explore and scout out [for yourselves] the land of Canaan, which I give to the Israelites. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, everyone a leader or head among them.

3)    So Moses by the command of the Lord sent scouts from the Wilderness of Paran, all of them men who were heads of the Israelites…

17) Moses sent them to scout out the land of Canaan, and said to them, Get up this way by the South (the Negeb) and go up into the hill country,

When they returned to the report what they had discovered, even though they saw the land was fertile with milk and honey, and even brought back a cluster of grapes so big that two men had to carry it on a stick between them.

Yet, the inhabitants of the land were their problem, as so it seemed.

28) But the people who dwell there are strong, and the cities are [a]fortified and very large; moreover, there we saw the sons of Anak [of great stature and courage].

29) Amalek dwells in the land of the South (the Negeb); the Hittite, the Jebusite, and the Amorite dwell in the hill country; and the Canaanite dwells by the sea and along by the side of the Jordan [River].

30) Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once and possess it; we are well able to conquer it.

31) But his fellow scouts said, We are not able to go up against the people [of Canaan], for they are stronger than we are.

32) So they brought the Israelites an evil report of the land which they had scouted out, saying, The land through which we went to spy it out is a land that devours its inhabitants. And all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature.

33) There we saw the Nephilim [or giants], the sons of Anak, who come from the giants; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

How many times have you come across a problem (giants) in your own life? In your family; at work; suppose that “giant” has many accomplices. What do you do then? How do you see yourself? Does fear come in? Do you go directly into reason?

Sometimes we seek advice from others, and their advice or counsel is usually based on their view of their own “giants”.

The Spies

 Many today think that God told Moses to send these men out to scout the land without provision for their victory. However, this is not quite true. God had already told them that the land was theirs, yet they had to go in and possess the land. The people were afraid of the unknown inhabitants of Canaan, so they asked Moses to send out spies to see if it was as God had told them. (unbelief). Moses took their request to God and so it was to be as they requested.

So it is with many of us today. We seek the advice of friends, Christian leaders, worldly advisors (doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists, pharmacists), authors, and the list goes on. We pray, yet do not believe… The answers come and they seem too difficult to achieve, so we, look for a proxy or a go between. We look for “inside information”, or anything that we think will give us an advantage, not truly understanding that anything the world brings to us is inferior to what God brings, or what he already has in store for us.

Actually, God has told us that “He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus”. (Ephesians 1:3)  So, that means that anything and everything we could ever want or need, God has already given it to us, placed it at our disposal in Christ.

So then, why do we hesitate? What is it that keeps us wandering around in the desert places of the world? Why do we have to send out spies to investigate? Are we looking for a sure thing? Confirmation? What actually holds us back? Is hearing from God so foreign to us that we are not sure of His Word or direction?

Recently, I put this idea in another blog (I think). This came to me while out walking, that this is the order Christians should live. Since we are “spirit”, we have a soul, and we live in a body, then the order of how we live should be: Think from the sprit, speak from the spirit, act from the spirit.  (Walk by faith and not by sight) It is never wrong!!! Try it. It is more difficult than you think. Actually, most of us don’t even know the difference between thinking from the spirit and thinking from the soul (worldly), let alone speaking and acting from the spirit. Where would we start? Oh, yes the Bible! But do you understand the mystery of the Jesus? Faith? Kingdom of God? Your position in Christ? What Jesus did for mankind? The “new creation”? The Holy Spirit?” Acting on the Word of God?

Our spirit, being born again, “a new creation”, “the righteousness of God in Christ”, has access to all the power of the Holy Spirit; all the knowledge we could ever need, and all the resources of God to fulfill His purposes for us.

Why do we hesitate then? Jesus said it best in Matthew 17:20 “ So Jesus said to them, Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”

In Your Own Sight

We send all types of spies out, instead of trusting in God. We see so much fear, crime, mistrust, anger, and corruption in the world that it is difficult to believe that a place exists that is free of worldly influences. A very strange thing happens. We see all these things happening every day, yet we turn to that same world to find answers or comfort in times of distress. Our lives are shaped from the news, television shows, movies, and music, all designed to get you feel something, and it is usually detrimental to our true spiritual nature. As a college professor once told me, “we want them to think, fell, and know” whatever we want them to know. And I add, whether it is true or not, this is the objective.

So immersed in this life of worldly indoctrination from birth we grow into thinking that our physical being is who we are. We become grasshoppers in our own sight to this massive and frightening (illusionary) world. We have been told and shown that we can’t fight “the system”, “the government”, “evil” and everything else the world tells us. We have been fed the lie that we are powerless against the “world’s systems”.

2 Corinthians 4:4

“For the god of this world has blinded the unbelievers' minds [that they should not discern the truth], preventing them from seeing the illuminating light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ (the Messiah), Who is the Image and Likeness of God.”

Yet, God tells us that He has given us, through Jesus, power over that all the power of the enemy (the god of this world who has blinded). To add insult to injury, they are the ones who have been feeding us this worldly garbage, that we’re are helpless victims of a world filled with all those horrible human conditions, and we are powerless to do anything about it. All lies!! Jesus says that this “little god” is the father of lies. You can be assured that if Jesus said it, it is true, and if the world says it, the likelihood of it being true is on shaky ground to say the least. This is in regards to who you really are in Christ Jesus!!

Don’t let the father of lies shape your self-image! If he has, it is time to look into the mirror of who you really are (the Bible) and find the real you. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind, by hearing the Word of God. Study the Word of God. Build your faith by acting on the Word. Think, speak, and act from the spirit. Learn to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit. He knows all things and He lives in you!!

Your re-created (by God) spirit is perfect. Period! It does not need improvement! It has the love, power, wisdom, and knowledge of God inherent in its being. What it needs is a renewed mind with whom it can communicate; That will “take the lid off” off and release the light of God, so that your “joy will be made full”. What is stopping you?

Come, Follow Me

In the 19th chapter of Matthew and the 18th chapter of Luke, the authors relate the story of the rich man who came to Jesus seeking eternal life (or the Kingdom of God), saying that he had kept all the commandments since he was a young man. Who knows what the man's true thoughts were, but the suggestion is that he hoped that wealth might play a part in gaining eternal life. Jesus answers;

Matt 19:23  "If you want to be perfect, go sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."
Luke 18:22  "You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."

These words from the master's own mouth, if adhered to, and followed, could turn every church and/or religion upside down in these United States. What would happen if your church would "sell all its possessions" or "distribute its wealth" from its bank accounts, to the poor, and truly followed Jesus?  To make it more personal, what would happen if you or I would sell all our possessions and followed Jesus?  

Could this be a metaphor? Perhaps Jesus was strongly suggesting (spiritually) that if we want to follow Him, we should “seek first the Kingdom of God”, and put worldly or earthly possessions behind us. His Kingdom would supply all our needs if we put our faith in Him, for He is the Son of God.

Maybe the “church” today should take note and begin to focus on giving more to the poor and needy. Instead of lofty programs, mega-conferences, tele-evangelism, and huge church domes and campuses, lend their spiritual and material wealth to taking the message of Jesus “on the road” or out into the communities”. Some churches have “outreach programs”, however they are designed to bring people into the church building, not to disciple and minister to them. They have all sorts of social events, and great children’s programs, which is good, yet there is no or very little spiritual development. Instead, the program is to get plugged into the church body, while being fed milk (sometimes strained milk).

What do you think Jesus meant by “sell all your possessions"? I believe Jesus saw the heart of this young man, and could see pride in him… his wealth, his accomplishments in the natural realm. There was nothing of eternal value, only works and religious law.

So then, to make it more palatable, what would happen if we took these words, "come, follow me", to heart and followed Jesus?

Acts 10: 38 tells us:
".....how God  anointed Jesus of Nazareth with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him."

The first inclination is to feel inadequate, which is true (in the flesh or sense realm). You think to yourself, “there is no way I feel anointed with power, and I have never even thought about (actually) healing the sick”! We would not accomplish anything close to what Jesus did, healing the sick, feeding five thousand plus with bread and fish, and the many other miracles Jesus performed. Second, our minds cannot comprehend the reality of Jesus’ worldly experience. Somehow the idea of, defying gravity, healing sickness and disease, and commanding demons to vacate human bodies is far beyond our normal thinking. It all seems just a little farfetched to the natural mind. Yet, he tells us to, “come, follow me”.

What is it about following Jesus that really makes us so uneasy? To many it is downright frightening to accept what He says about us as truth:

John 14:12 (Amplified)

“I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, if anyone steadfastly believes in Me, he will himself be able to do the things that I do; and he will do even greater things than these, because I go to the Father.”

It may not be the natural miracles that makes us hesitate, could it be the giving of oneself to the spiritual life? Or could it be that going into the unknown territory of God produces fear? After all, maybe one could lose himself/herself; or maybe a person could make a fool of himself/herself. Or, just suppose it doesn’t work, then where will you be? Maybe you see yourself as losing your friends and family, or losing your “mind” or going off the “deep end”. I have heard all of these things before!

Since “God so greatly loved and dearly prized the world that He [even] gave up His only begotten ( unique) Son, so that whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on) Him shall not perish (come to destruction, be lost) but have eternal (everlasting) life.”,  And, He went to such great care, to do this miraculous thing, then what would make a person think that God would say or do anything to have you, or anyone else in the world lose his/mind? This is a lie from the author lies, satan himself!

We, in general, spend 98-99% of our waking lives, thinking, speaking, and acting in the sense realm, or the natural, or “the world”. So, it is understandable that one would actually think that moving into the spiritual realm would be somewhat fearful. But, it is God Himself that says to you and me, “come, follow me”. Would we think that He who loves us so much would lead us into the very place He rescued us from? In my early years, this really crossed my mind!!

However, since you know that God is a loving God, and He is always with you; He forever loves you; He forever intercedes on your behalf; He gave His life for you; He conquered the devil for you; He saved you; He took the sins of the world upon Himself; and rose from the dead, all so you could have eternal life, then you just might be follow Him. Maybe one day you will tell someone else what a wonderful thing He did for all them, and all mankind, even the worst of the worst. Maybe, you will be able to tell someone who doesn’t know Jesus how you heard Him say, “come, follow me”, and you did follow and are still following Him today.

Again, as I write this, I sense a stirring in my heart that draws me to the place of unselfish caring for the lost. Have you been stirred by the Holy Spirit lately? If the Father is drawing you to follow Jesus, then He will put the field to be harvested in your path. Sometimes we get winning souls for the Kingdom and "doing good" confused. It's all about showing Jesus to the lost world; we present Jesus; He draws all men unto Him.

Matt 9:37-38 "The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. (38) Therefore pray the Lord of harvest will send out laborers into His harvest."