Another Spirit-A Different Spirit.
Isaiah 53:1AMP
The question asked throughout scripture is, “Whose report will you believe?”
Our whole basis for Christianity is the faith factor. The just shall live by faith.
Romans 12:3b...God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
Isaiah 53:1 Who has believed [confidently trusted in, relied on, and adhered to] our message [of salvation]? And to whom [if not us] has the arm and infinite power of the Lord been revealed?
And then we can read the verses below, of the suffering Messiah, and His willingness to do all this for me and you.
The question asked is, “Whose report do you believe?” And now I give you another question that answers the first question. -Where Is Your Dwelling place?
Are you camped out/stationed with the Most High? Are you in this for the long-term-effects?.
I am a soldier in the army of my God. The Lord Jesus Christ is my commanding officer. The Holy Bible is my code of conduct, Faith, prayer and the Word are my weapons of warfare. I have been taught by the Holy Spirit--trained by experience, tried by adversity and tested by fire. I am a volunteer in this army, and I am enlisted for eternity. I will either retire in this army at the rapture or die in this army; but I will not get out, sell out, be talked out, or pushed out. I am faithful, reliable, capable, and dependable. If my God needs me, I am there. If He needs me in the Sunday school to teach the children, work with the youth, help adults or just sit and learn I’ll be there. He can use me because I am there!
I am a soldier. I am not a baby. I do not need to be pampered, petted, primed up, pumped up, picked up, or pepped up.
I am a soldier. No one has to call me, remind me, write me, visit me, entice me, or lure me.
I am a soldier. I am not a wimp. I am in place saluting my King, obeying His orders, praising His name, and building His kingdom! No one has to send me flowers gifts, food, cards, candy or give me handouts. I do not need to be cuddled, cradled, cared for, or catered to. I am committed. I cannot have my feelings hurt bad enough to turn me around. I cannot be discouraged enough to turn me aside. I cannot lose enough to cause me to quit. If I end up with nothing, I will still come out ahead. I will win. My God has, and will continue, to supply all of my needs. I am more than a conqueror. I will always triumph. I can do all things through Christ. Devils cannot defeat me. People cannot disillusion me. Weather cannot weary me. Sickness cannot stop me. Battles cannot beat me. Money cannot buy me. Governments cannot silence me and hell cannot handle me. I am a soldier. Even death cannot destroy me. For when my Commander calls me from this battlefield He will promote me to Captain and then allow me to rule with Him.
I am a soldier in the army and I’m marching, claiming victory. I will not give up. I will not turn around.
I am a soldier marching, heaven bound.
Again, I ask, “Where is your dwelling place?”Psalm 91:1-2AMP He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will remain secure and rest in the shadow of the Almighty [whose power no enemy can withstand]. 2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust [with great confidence, and on whom I rely]!”
The influence that comes with dwelling in His presence is all but amazing!
Again, “Whose report do you believe?”
The apostle Paul speaks more about this believing report in, Romans 10:16-17NKJV But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” 17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
You’ve been influenced, so you can influence?
Change can be met with one of two ways:
Fear.
Fear Is A Liar, by by Zach Williams:
Fear he is a liar, He will take your breath, Stop you in your steps, Fear he is a liar, He will rob your rest, Steal your happiness, Cast your fear in the fire, Cause fear he is a liar. Fear Is A Liar.
You probably heard this acronym for fear.
False
Evidence
Appearing
Real.
But what about this one:
Failure
Expected
And
Received
Fear makes us resist change, and keeps things the way they are. Changes are unpredictable, so we tend to stay with what we know.
Fear and unbelief always run parallel. They’re married to each other.
We see a good picture of this, as Moses is commanded by God to choose one key leader from each tribe of Israel. “-Send them out to spy the land- the land of Canaan.”
Fear speaks, Numbers 13:31-33NLT... 31 Joshua and Caleb came back with a good report… But the other men who had explored the land with him disagreed. “We can’t go up against them! They are stronger than we are!” 32 So they spread this bad report about the land among the Israelites: “The land we traveled through and explored will devour anyone who goes to live there. All the people we saw were huge. 33 We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!”
The 10 spies focused on the problem, while Joshua and Caleb focused on the promise. The 10 spies stated things like this:
We’re strangers...
They’re big...
We’re going to pick a fight with that...
The what if’s...
They’re giants in the land...
They won’t give an inch...much less their homes and land!
They got many gods...
The fruit is just to good to be true. There’s got to be a catch!
They are just too many unknowns.
Let's go back to Egypt!
Fear feeds on normal, protocol, just get by. Fear feeds on the problem. Fear, feeds on excuses, and is apathetic to change.
10 of the 12 spies, begin murmuring, “They are stronger than we are. We are like grasshoppers among them.” And then they murmured their anxiety by stating, “and that's how they saw us, as grasshoppers!”
Fear kept the Israelites in the desert for 40- years, even though they could’ve possessed the promised land in, 14 days.
Paul reminds Timothy, 2 Timothy 1:7KJV For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
The change was too much. They even wanted to go back to Egypt, so they got stuck in the middle.
They murmured, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt, Numbers 14:4.”
Egypt spells, bondage, slavery, no freedom and no choices. It's very curious to me, how people can lose their freedom and not even know it.
The apostle Paul tells the church of Galatians: Galatians 3:1-2NIV You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard?
Do you hear the apostle Paul’s cry,“Do you believe what you heard?
Do you hear the prophet Isaiah's cry, “Whose report will you believe?”
That’s where a lot of people are in their lives – somewhere between where they were and where they could be, and should be.
2. Faith. "Faith cannot be intellectually defined; faith is the inborn capacity to see God behind everything, the wonder that keeps you an eternal child.”
1 John 5:4NIV for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.
Again, Psalm 91:2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge, my fortress…”
When you say of the Lord, “You are speaking faith.”
Listen to faith’s report- Numbers 13:27,30NLT This was (Joshua and Caleb’s) report to Moses: “We entered the land you sent us to explore, and it is indeed a bountiful country—a land flowing with milk and honey. Here is the kind of fruit it produces.
28... the people living there are powerful...
30 But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses. “Let’s go at once to take the land,” he said. “We can certainly conquer it!”
We need the spirit of Joshua and Caleb, who wanted to possess the land, when the other 10 spies gave a negative report of fear.
They cried out, “let us go up at once, and possess the land!”
—Numbers 14:24 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.
Other translations interpret the words “different spirit” as different attitude (NLT, GW) or another spirit (KJV).
Caleb and Joshua because of this spirit, or attitude possessed were able to receive the promise of God.
In Numbers 13 and 14, we can learn from Joshua’s and Caleb’s actions what it means to have a different spirit.
Some of the qualities they expressed were:
A Conquering Attitude – These two were courageous warriors. They were willing and ready to fight.
The apostle Paul states, Whatever we go through, suffering, persecution. Romans 8:37KJV “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” ?
2. A Positive Outlook – Caleb and Joshua saw the possibilities, or the opportunities that were ahead of them instead of focusing on the negative.
Again faith’s report say’s, Psalm 91:2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust [with great confidence, and on whom I rely]!”
3. Faith in God – They had complete trust in God to help them succeed. They believed God would do as He had promised.
Numbers 14:8 “If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, ‘a land which flows with milk and honey.’”
4. An Awareness of God’s Presence – Joshua and Caleb knew that the Lord was with them and therefore consider their enemies as already defeated.
They recognized that with the presence of God any battle was already won!
Numbers 14:9KJV Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defense is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not.
That leads me to ask you, “Are you problem focused, or promise focused?”
5. Wholeheartedly Serve the Lord – An attitude, or a spirit such as theirs comes with this very important quality (Numbers 14:24).
No measure of success can be gained without this attribute. It is on account of their different spirit and their full service to God that both Joshua and Caleb not only survived 40 years of wandering in the wilderness but received their inheritance in the Promised Land, Joshua 14:6-15.
The spirit of Joshua and Caleb wasn’t negative in any way. They weren’t fearful of their enemies. They didn’t speak negatively and transfer the spirit of fear to the people of Israel. Instead, they spoke with confidence and tried to encourage others not to fear but to believe they could make it with God’s help. What an attitude!
Their attitude is one to imitate if we want to receive the promises that God has for us. If we want to succeed in our Christian walk and experience God’s best then we must work on our attitude.
Benediction. We must ask God to impart such a spirit in us. This type of spirit has staying power to make it through the tough times. When we carry what God called a different spirit in us, we are likely to overcome all and live victoriously!
