As believers, what we do with the walls of hostility is critical to our spiritual well-being and those around us. People need to see individuals who are willing to break down those walls and shift the atmosphere around them. How are we going to demonstrate the heart of God to a lost world if we continue to have walls of hostility in our lives!? …
Most of us have erected walls of hostility at some point in our lives and have kept others at a distance. We may have erected those walls to keep family members, friends, co-workers, neighbors, or church members at a distance. Some of us may still have walls of hostility against some people. For many years, Esau and Jacob had a wall of hostility between them, but there came a time that they had to deal with it and tear down the wall. …
Living in a world full of selfishness and sin creates many opportunities for hostility towards others to develop. People can’t get along with others and create a wall of separation between them and others. If we are going to have an authentic walk with the Lord, we need to identify and address the walls of hostility in our lives. …
Although Joshua had been courageous in the wilderness years, the Lord still had to command him not to be afraid as they were about to enter the land of promise. Transitioning from one season to another can make one uneasy and uncomfortable. We can’t rely entirely on our past successes to handle the new situations. We need to trust the Lord and depend on Him for the new unknowns. Joshua had to be strong and courageous in the new season as they were about to cross the Jordan river and enter the land of promise. …
The Israelites who came out of Egypt desired to see the land of promise, but only Joshua and Caleb made it from that generation. What was different about these two? What was about Joshua and Caleb that gave them success!? What allowed them to have a sustaining faith in the face of the same trying circumstances that the others experienced!? …
The Israelites learned the hard way that unbelief and listening to the voice of majority has major consequences. Many times, the voice of the majority is not correct, and it requires courage and discernment to hear God amid all the unbelief around us.
Then the Lord said: “I have pardoned, according to your word; but truly, as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord— because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not heeded My voice, they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it. But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it. Numbers 14:20-24
Only two out of twelve spies came back with a good report. The ten spies exaggerated the problem to the point that they convinced themselves and others that they were not capable of fighting those men. On the other hand, Joshua and Caleb’s report was faith-filled. They saw the size of their enemies, but they resolved that God is greater than any giants in the land.
Faith is a decision to believe God and to trust Him when we don’t have all the facts. Genuine and bold faith is not easily found. The voice of the majority generally is the voice of unbelief and relying on it is bound to cause problems and lead people the wrong way.
While we should count the cost before we make a major decision, there are times that we cannot figure out God’s direction, but we know it is from Him. If we are going to walk by faith, we have to accept the fact that the Lord may not provide step-by-step instructions nor does He give details in advance. All we know is that He is guiding us in a certain direction.
When you read the entire passage in Numbers 14, you find that Moses interceded on behalf of the Israelites and God forgave them. However, they still had to experience the consequences of their unbelief and disobedience. God punished the Israelites by keeping them in the wilderness one year for every day that they spent scouting out the land and bringing the unfavorable report to the people. That meant they were going to spend forty years in the wilderness. The only two from their generation who were going to make it to the Land of promise were Joshua and Caleb!
The Israelites’ unbelief and disobedience were very costly. Our unbelief and its associated disobedience can also be very costly, and it may lead us to going around the mountain over and over again.
Interestingly, we don’t find Joshua and Caleb complaining about the Israelites’ unbelief and the fact that they also had to remain in the wilderness for forty years before they could enter the land of promise. These two individuals were courageous in the true sense of the word. They were not just warriors confident in their ability to fight the enemies, but they were also humble men who accepted the consequence of Israelites’ disobedience and went around the mountain right along with them.
Knowing God was displeased with them, the Israelites decided to go up and fight the Amalekites after all. Moses told them that they were being presumptuous. God had given them a window of grace and the opportunity to fight the “giants’ in the land, but they had refused to accept it at the right time. Surprisingly, they did not feel like grasshoppers anymore and they thought they could fight them this time! In reality, the Israelites were operating in carnality both times. At first, they did not want to go because they focused on themselves and didn’t think they had what it took to conquer the land. Now, they felt bad about God’s punishment and displeasure, so they decided to fix it on their own. They were not looking to the Lord to help, and they ended up not succeeding in their own efforts.
Sometimes, we get emotional and make rash decisions. We can vacillate back and forth based on how we feel at the moment about a decision. It is better to seek the Lord and allow our emotions of fear, guilt, frustration, or pride to subside, so we can hear God clearly rather than jumping into or out of a decision based on momentary emotions.
Caleb and Joshua remained steady and were able to successfully reach the Promised Land. Our walk with the Lord will continue to require faith, patience, obedience, and humility to have the longevity and the success that Caleb and Joshua experienced.
Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay
Many people like and enjoy the warmth of God’s presence, but they don’t know how to see God’s promises fulfilled in their lives. Some used to get excited about personal prophesies, but now they wonder when and how they are going to come to pass. The truth is that God’s promises will continue to require His children to engage with them in faith and not doubting what the Lord has spoken. The Israelites struggled with this in the wilderness when they doubted God helping them to get to the Promised Land. They focused on their inadequacies rather than God’s miraculous work on their behalf. …
Many times God’s promises have conditions of faith, obedience, and waiting. On the way to the land of promise, the Israelites struggled with them all, and we have similar struggles. …
Our walk with the Lord is meant to be simple and organic. God uses us by placing his supernatural power and anointing upon our natural abilities. He chooses to use what is in our hands to be a blessing to others. We get to participate in the work of the Kingdom with what has been deposited in us spiritually as well as naturally. …
Sometimes we make our walk with the Lord complicated and wonder if we have what it takes to do what the Lord is asking us to do. Jesus told His disciples that the Kingdom belongs to those who are child-like. When we are child-like, we have less awareness of what we don’t know or what we don’t have. The Lord has placed something in our all hands that is valuable that we can use it to glorify Him and to bless others.
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