ICS Daily Devotions
How to Enjoy the Abundant Life？
Numbers 14: 24 (NKJV) 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.
We need to learn from Caleb who had the spirit of faith in him. He followed the Lord fully and always believed that He was able to drive out all the inhabitants of the land.
At age 85, 45 years after entering the Promised Land, he was still ready to conquer the Anakim, the giants in the land.
Faith is very different from physical strength. While our flesh is getting old each day, our faith is renewed daily, growing from strength to strength. Caleb asked Joshua to give him Hebron and he conquered it even though the cities were great and fortified. Although it wasn’t easy, the Lord was with him. Therefore, there is nothing unconquerable if we allow our faith to be anchored in God, whether it is a tribulation or in the area of dealing with our flesh. Caleb had the “can do spirit” with the Lord that set him apart from the rest of the people.
Numbers 33:55 (NKJV) But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall be that those whom you let remain shall be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall harass you in the land where you dwell.
Similarly, it is our choice to deal with that issues that pertain to our lives. The parallel between the Promised Land and the abundant life is that there are certain things both the Israelites and we have to deal with if we want to have peace, love and joy in our lives. God’s instructions to the Israelites was to completely drive out all the inhabitants of the land. Otherwise, they would constantly harass them in the land where they dwelt, and be an irritants in their eyes and thorns in their sides. Therefore, the Israelites had to be decisive to drive them out, so that they would not inter-marry with them and be led astray by them to worship idols.
Likewise, if we want to enjoy the abundant life and claim this promise, we have to deal with the flesh because we have been given the ability to overcome temptation and sin that come from the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh. Every one of us has to deal with the flesh and bring it into subjection daily, and the Lord has empowered us to bring the flesh into subjection so that we will enjoy the abundant life.
Sermon Series: You Are in the Hall of Faith! (Part 4)
