Do You Sill Want It!
Minister Tawaunna L. Jones
Our text is dealing with the dividing of the land God promised to the children of Israel. God promised it to them when they were still in bondage. God said “He would take them to a land that was flowing with milk and honey. It would have cities that they did not build, vineyards that they did not plant and they would eat the abundance.” God now has them in the land that He promised, while they are still in bondage! God made them a promise of their inheritance while they were still in captivity, in captivity, making bricks without straw. Although they were not in what God had for them, they were still people of promise. This implies that God can give you a promise of what you are going to have and you may not be delivered from your problems!
God tells you His promise for you, to make you sick of what you are in. Sometimes, the only thing that makes you turn from what you are in is the desire for something better. You can be standing in what God promised you and not know what part is yours. Unless God shows you, you may find yourself, making your self comfortable in something that was not intended for you. Making yourself at ease, telling yourself this is all that I am suppose to have. You may start to believe that God never intended to give you what He shared with you. This may be the reason why many of us are experiencing such discomfort. We have made our selves comfortable in something that was not designed for us. As long as you are comfortable, you will never push yourself or go after what God has promised for you! You will find yourself cheer leading everybody else as they move toward their destiny. God wants to know do you still want the blessings He has promised you. Do you still want it!
In our text we have God’s people standing in the land of promise but they have not taken possession of the property. They are in the place of their inheritance but all of the land is not yet conquered. Joshua is giving them what belongs to them, but there is still some land available to who ever is willing to fight for it. You can settle for what is yours, but there is also more if you want it. There is more that you can have if you are willing to fight for it. Some of us want more than just what has our name on it. If there is more available God, I want it! You can mark it as mine! I want it!
Joshua is dividing the land between ten tribes. There are only ten tribes because two of them decided to stay on the other side before they crossed over the Jordan River. Moses agreed for them to stay only if they would fight to help their brothers to cross over into the Promised Land. It is a bad thing when you have the tendency to like the first thing you see and settle too soon. One of the tribes that stayed on the other side was the tribe of Gad. Gad was the tribe of troops. They were warriors. They were the ones that fought to keep up the Holy standard of God. Yet, they stopped short of the Promised Land. They decided that coming out of bondage was enough for them.
There are some people who are only shouting because God brought them out of bondage. Real deliverance is when you are walking in, what God brought you out for. If you are not in what He brought you out for, than you are not completely delivered. Deliverance is a complete package. Deliverance is that I am now walking in the promise that God brought me out to accomplish. If you shouted just because you came out, how much more will you shout when you are walking in the promises of God?
Gad stopped short. Gad stopping short means a lot when you turn over to the book of Mark and read chapter five. In Mark chapter five it says that there was a man who was out among the tombs. He was out among the tombs, among the dead, cutting himself with stones and chains could not hold him. He was out of control. Jesus removed the demons out of that man. The people ran Jesus from the city because he allowed the demons from the man, to enter into the swine. Swine was the people way of livelihood. The children of Israel never dealt with anything as dirty as swine. The city where the man had the demons was called Gagara. The descendants of Gad formed that city. Because the tribe of Gad stopped short of the promise, stuff that they should never had to deal with, now that had to deal with. It was a city that became full of people with demons and swine was their livelihood.
Whenever you stop short of what God has promised, you will have to deal with spirits and demons that should have never been in your life. You have to deal with mess that goes against the covenant blood relationship that you have with Jesus Christ. Do not stop short of what God has for you! Never get satisfied because of how good the immediate thing looks. If it is not what God told you, if it is not what God showed you, no matter how good it feels, no matter how good he or she looks, no matter how good the money is, turn your back on it. If it is not what God said, turn away and move toward what God says is yours.
The children of Judah came to Joshua and Caleb came with them. Caleb is bringing with him the leaders of Judah. Judah is his own tribe, his family; Judah is the people of praise. You have to learn how to praise God, even before you see the manifestation of his promise. You have to have a determine praise! Sometimes you have to praise yourself into the promises of God! Even though Caleb has a portion that has been allotted to him, he now makes demands concerning a particular piece of land. He does not want it included in what everybody else is getting. Caleb is determined to get the mountain that he spied out.
In the book of Numbers chapter fourteen it says that Caleb spied out the land with eleven others. There were a total of twelve, one from each tribe. Caleb and Joshua were the only two that came back with a favorable report. Even though the land had great potential, great fruits with cluster of grapes that had to be carried on the shoulders of men, ten came back and gave a negative report. They frightened the Israelites with reports of fortified cities and gigantic people. Caleb and Joshua said that we are able to take the land. The others said that there were giants in the land. We were in our own eyes as grasshoppers, so were we in their eyes also.
Compared to the giants in the land they saw themselves as grasshoppers. They had a negative opinion of themselves. When you have a negative opinion of yourself, you think others view you the same way. Regardless of all the wonderful plans God may have for your life, none of them will come to pass without your cooperation. We need to see ourselves the way God sees us. The Word of God says that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.
The bible says that Caleb had a different spirit and it was with that spirit that he and Joshua gave a favorable report. God said that every one above the age of twenty was going to die wandering in the wilderness. Joshua and Caleb were the exception to this rule. God allowed them to go in and see the land because He wanted to give it to them. Just because God let them see it and wanted to give it to them, does not mean that they were going to slide into their blessing. I understand what God has for me is for me, but it is your attitude towards what God has for you that will determine whether you get or not. If you can’t believe it, you will not receive it!
The attitude of the ten others prevented them from receiving their promise. They were suppose to get the same blessings that Joshua and Caleb received, but they could not believe what they saw could be theirs. Therefore they were unable to receive their inheritance. God allowed them to see the land, walk in it, took them back out, and said, “Now fight for it.” I want you to fight for it because I told you that it was yours. I know that there are some giants in the land but fight for it. Whenever you are afraid of a thing, you always make it larger than it actually is. Get your eyes off your fear and focus them on the vision that God has for you.
There is somebody in here that the Lord has allowed to catch a glimpse of what He is going to give you. God allowed you to catch a glimpse of your vision to help you to hold on to the promise. Your dreams were as real as if they were actually happening. You saw people who were working for you and you have yet to start the business. God allowed you to see it, because He wants to give it to you. He allowed you to see it, so when you feel like backing up, you will say wait a minute that is not a part of the vision. Any time you feel like backsliding, turning your back on God, you will say that is not a part of the vision. God wants to know, do you still want it!
Caleb and the other scouts all went out together but they did not want the same thing. Have you ever walked with some one and suddenly you realized that you did not want the same thing? That is a messy situation! When God gives you revelation, sometimes it brings separation! There are people that you have to separate yourself from! You have to separate from them, other wise they will become tics and parasites that will drain your anointing when you move closer to your destiny.
Caleb, Joshua and the other ten scouts came back to give their report. Because the majority ruled and only two out of twelve said that they could take the land; they had to deal with wandering around in the wilderness. Caleb had to deal with wandering in the wilderness after he saw his vision because somebody else said I could not see it. It is a bad thing when you do not have what is yours because of who you are tied into! It is a mess when you are tied to some one who does not want a thing. They don’t want anything and you can’t break free so you wind up not getting anything. You have to be careful of whom you tie into and who you let into your life. If they are not there to enhance you, they have to bounce. If they are not going where you are going, want what you want, then you go by yourself. Do not miss the move of God because of who you are tied too!
Caleb had to wander in the wilderness because the people that he was tied to could not see the promise of God. Anything that is not a part of the vision; God allows it, because it is part of the process. It is part of the process to make you into who you need to become to bring the vision to pass. God used the wilderness as a process for Caleb to get to know him better. Coming out of Egypt, Caleb knew God as a deliverer. In the wilderness he got to know God as a healer and a provider. Coming out of Egypt He was the God of Moses, in the wilderness He became the God of Caleb. The only one worthy of all praises!
In our text, Joshua is dividing the land and Caleb is watching. Suddenly Caleb says, “This is not working for me”! I could take what everybody else is getting but I have a specific desire. I want something specific. Our problem is that we are too general. We say, Lord any way you want to bless me. If you say anyway you bless me, than when He wake you up in the morning but does not give you the job, you are still blessed. Therefore, you should not be mad if you did not get a job. We need to pray and ask God for specific blessings. God does deal in generalities, but every now and then, you should say “God, bless me with my own business on the street called Success intersecting at Prosperity Boulevard”! Father God, I pray that you bless me with a new car, a black Lexis with leather seats! Tell God what you want and be specific!
Caleb says “I just cannot be happy with getting what every one else has”. I might sound ungrateful, but I will not be satisfied with what every one else have. Many of us get satisfied too easy with what every one else has. Moses already said that Caleb was to inherit this particular property. Several years had passed when that prophecy was spoken into his life. Now he is reminding Joshua to recall what was spoken. Because some time may have passed between what God promised and when He performed it; we have the tendency to forget what the Lord told us.
Caleb was forty years old when God told him the promise and now he is eighty-five but he has not forgotten. Can you recall what God promised you. It may be that you have been through so much over the past years that you forgot what God promised. You have to develop the ability to hold on to it, even when things come against you. Is the vision still vivid even though you had times of doubt? Do you still have the desire even though you had days of desperation? Have the years of frustration and the days of doubt made you forget the promise. Did you write the vision and make it plain, so that every time you read it you start to run. Do you still have the vision? Without the vision you are going to perish. Do you still want it!
Caleb remembered what the Lord told him. It has been forty-five years but it is as fresh as when God first told him. In verse eight, it says my brothers went up with me and they made the heart of the people melt, but I wholly followed the Lord. In other words, I not only have to remember what the Lord told me but I have to separate my desires from what my peers feel. I cannot go after my dreams based on what my girl friends are feeling. I cannot go after the promises of God based on what the people around me are feeling.
Caleb said “behold the Lord has kept me alive these forty-five years”. He was kept alive in the wilderness! Alive, through the plagues of the desert and the perils of war. If you still want it, you must out live your adversities. The Lord has kept me alive for forty-five years. In other words, I have out live the stuff that was trying to kill me. I have out lived every thing that came after me. Praise God over the stuff that could have killed you that you out lived. Things that were design to take you out you have already out run them. Many people that said you would not amount to anything, are now asking how did she do it? How did he make it? I out lived my depression. I out lived my bad marriage. I out lived the abuse, being broke and being ostracized. The Lord kept me alive! God is a keeper! He kept me alive in situations that other people died in. Situations that other people never got them selves together in, you still have your right mind! God has kept you!
Not only did I out live my adversities, but also I am as strong as I was the day He told me the promise. Do not think that those battles I went through took something from me, they made me stronger. I have learned to fight. I feel like I can take it! I am just as strong as I was the day that God blessed me. My desire has not failed. The bible says that it will come a time when men desires fail. Caleb said I am eighty-five years old and it has not happen yet. I still want it! Do you still want it! Does it still make you feel good on the inside the way it did when the Lord first told you? Do you jump and shout when you think about it? Do you still want it!
Caleb said I am strong and I have the strength for war. In other words, I feel like fighting. The old man still has some fight left in him. I still want to fight and conquer some things. Please note, the closer you get to getting what God promised, you have to be willing to fight. You have to fight for the next level because your promise will encounter opposition. There will be people and things that will try to make you stop short. So make up your mind if you want it bad enough to fight for the promises of God. Whatever I have to do Lord, I still want it! If I have to pull out some hair weaves, if I have to take off some fake nails and take off the make-up, I still want it! If I have to put a do rag on, take off my tie and roll up my sleeves, I still want it! I still feel like fighting for what God said was mine. Is there anybody in here who can say, “Whatever I have to do Lord, I still want it”!
Caleb said, give me this mountain! After Caleb pleaded, give me this mountain. God said, “You ask for a hard thing”. Do not ask God for something you can do for yourself. God told me to tell you to ask Him for a hard thing. Your petitions have been too small. You have been asking for things that with a little discipline and self-control you could get them yourself. The Lord told me to tell you, He is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that you ask or think, according to the power that is working in you. Get it down in your spirit and say “God I want a hard thing”. I want that which I cannot get on my own. Lord use me to do what has never been done before. I still want it!
Caleb not only asked for the mountain but he asked for Mt Hebron. Mt Hebron was important because it was there that they spied out the giants. It was there that the giants intimidated them and made them stop short of the promise of God. Caleb said, Lord I have waited forty-five years, I have held on to the promise so that I could go back and fight the giants. God has kept you around for the thing that tripped you up back then; you are now able to conquer it! Look at it, look at your Mt Hebron and say I am ready now to take you on! Look at your giants and say I will conquer you! I am ready to take what the Lord says is mine. I want that which I have not been able to get my hands on. The thing that has been getting away from me. I want everything that God say is mine. I still want it!
I still want it! Though the vision may tarry, you wait on it. It is for an appointed time. It will speak and not lie. Do not get discouraged; do not allow the flip of a calendar, the changing of a season to make you think that God is not going to do it. He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not, with Jesus also freely give us all things? For God is not slack in his promises, as some men count slack. He is long-suffering and kind, not willing to let any perish. That all men will come to repentance. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. What ever the Lord says is yours, it is going to happen. Beloved I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. God want to know, do you still want it! Do you still want it!
Father God, thank you for what I since that you have set forth in the atmosphere. Thank you for what you have started and stirred up in us. We still want the blessings that you have for us. Father God, whatever we have to let go of, whoever we have to release, whatever we have to put down, help us to do that so we will not loose our blessings. Lord God, we do still want the promises that you have for us and all the blessing of being a child of yours. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
