ICS Daily Devotions
Have A Spirit Of Faith

Num 13:1-2,26-28,30 (NKJV) And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a leader among them…. Now they departed and came back to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the children of Israel in the Wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; they brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. Then they told him, and said: “We went to the land where you sent us. It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong; the cities are fortified and very large; moreover we saw the descendants of Anak there. Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.”

What we need to do is to be grounded in the word, have the spirit of faith and work out the conviction of our faith. We will need to have all these three elements if we want to do great exploits for God regardless whether it is in the church or the market place.

It was very wise of God to ask Moses to send out the twelve spies into the Promised Land. It was an opportunity for the people to check it out for themselves. It is like a feasibility study for a project. There will always be advantages and disadvantages of every project. It was a test of faith for the twelve spies because it would be revealed who would take God’s word for it and who would walk by sight!

Beware of the crab mentality. A single crab is able to escape from a shallow bucket if you were to put him there. However, none of the crabs will be able to crawl out of the bucket if you were to put fifteen to twenty crabs there. The reason is that whenever one crab attempts to crawl out, the other crabs will find way to put him back into the bucket. It’s a crab mentality that nobody gets out. Similarly, there is a tendency for a group of people who will always discourage someone from doing greater things or have a breakthrough mentality.

There will be more negative and pessimistic people who will attempt to discourage us. We need to shut these people off if we really want to do something great and truly believe in it. Thank God that Joshua and Caleb did not listen to the other ten spies. They chose to be different and had a different spirit. The spirit of faith! By faith, they were taking God’s word for it and had a complete trust in God to help them succeed. They believed God would do as He had promised.

Numbers 14:8(NKJV)  “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.’”

If you were to read the Bible and also talk to those who have done great exploits for the Lord then they will always tell you that the task given by God is always beyond what they are able to do. We will need to have faith in Him when the task is beyond us and He will get all the glory and praise.

There will always be an element of faith required whenever the Lord instructs us to do something for Him. Faith will cause us to lean on Him in everything. Many of us would rather choose the easy way out or something that will not cause us to leave our comfort zone. We are fearful of losing control over our lives. Remember the whole generation of Israelites including the ten spies perished in the wilderness and did not get to enter into the Promised Land. It is always a fight between believing what God has promised and what the circumstances are telling you. This fight won’t stop until the promise comes to pass.

The devil will not make it easy for us to walk in faith and carry out what God has called us to do. It is always a fight of faith to either believe the word or the circumstances, facts or reports. We will not achieve much if we constantly talk about the problem rather than focusing on God and what He has spoken to us. Therefore, let us be different and imitate Joshua and Caleb in their trust in God’s plan, manifesting the same spirit of faith!

Sermon Series: Having a Spirit of Faith