“Don’t Let Fear Hold You In Paralysis” Part 6

In the previous post, “Don’t Let Fear Hold You In Paralysis” Part 5, the Lord directed us to the following scripture:

Numbers 13 (NIV)

1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelite’s…

27 They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. 28 BUT the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large….

30 Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”

31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” 32 And they spread among the Israelite’s a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33 We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

Numbers 14 (NIV)
1 That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. 2 All the Israelite’s grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, “If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this wilderness! 3 Why is the Lord bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” 4 And they said to each other, “We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

5 Then Moses and Aaron fell face down in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there. 6 Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes 7 and said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. 8 If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. 9 Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.”

10 But the whole assembly talked about stoning them. Then the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelite’s. 11 The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in me, in spite of all the signs I have performed among them? 12 I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they.”

²⁴ But because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.

Let’s look at the Israelite’s Fear and where they went wrong:

The Fearful:

1. The Israelite’s FOCUSED on the enemy. Once the men explored the land, they paid a nanosecond of attention to what God was trying to give them, but FOCUSED more on the negative of what their eyes saw… their enemies were giants, they felt outnumbered, their cities were fortified, and from that point, because of what they saw, fear captured their hearts and paralyzed them. They lacked proper vision.
2. They compared themselves to the power of the enemy.  They referred to themselves as grasshoppers…they felt powerless and that made them afraid. The Israelite’s saw themselves, never God, and all they could see was who they were and what they couldn’t do and resolved in their mind they were too inadequate to fight their enemy. They lacked proper perspective.
3. They sat in their feelings too long which opened them up to other spirits.  After fear settled in, it brought in other spirits which contaminated and spread throughout the entire camp…fear lead to panic, panic lead to despair, despondency, deception, then to murder etc. Once fear took over, it incited hell to work on their behalf and contaminated the entire camp.
4. They became irrational in their thinking. After the horrible treatment they were delivered from in Egypt, instead of facing their fear, they longed to be back in slavery to avoid it. All those years of bondage, once faced with their ultimate fear, bondage was a more comforting thought compared to fighting off their giants…God wants us to catch that…bondage was more comforting than facing their giants. The thought of having to face their giants put them in so much distress that they were even willing to kill the people faith that dared to even suggest they’d face those giants…Wow!
5. At the end of the day, their hearts were calloused, they were soul driven and they refused to believe God.   Over and over God proved himself, and over and over, they chose to whine, complain and become fearful over everything they were confronted with. God understood their fear, ministered to them repeatedly that He was for them and with them, but they were slave and fear-minded, stubborn and stiff-necked people who was ruled by self-pity and despair, they just refused to believe…they refused to change…they refused to look up…overtime, their refusal was disobedience and it cost them everything.

In Essence, they didn’t trust God because they didn’t really know God…not because God wasn’t revealing himself, but because they refused to look up. They knew His hand, but not His face…and because they didn’t know the character of God, they had a false perception of Who God was, hence, a false perception of who God made them, which lead them to be self-reliant and fear driven about everything. Their bitter past caused them to be hard-harded, callous, unrepentant and slave-minded knowing nothing but fear and intimidation…but God was trying to liberate them and set them fear spiritually and physically.

God understood their fears…He was patient with them…and over time…challenge after challenge, He came through for them to build their faith…He was training their eyes to look up…each challenge was every opportunity for them to rely on Him, but they refused to change their ways, look up and exercise faith. Their refusal to change, their attitude in their storms, their lack of faith and trust in God lead to the forfeiture of their God-ordained promise and purpose and brought about their demise.

God doesn’t want us to make the same mistakes His people did that cost them His promises and more importantly, their lives. He wants us to examine a few things in moving us past fear in our own lives:

1. What do you see first when fear strikes? Do you see Christ or satan? Do you see your problem or the faithfulness of God?
2. What is your first response to fear? What goes through your mind? How do you react when you become afraid? What comes out of your mouth?
3. How do you regain control over yourself once afraid, your mind, will and emotions?
4. When confronted with a challenge, at that moment, do you instantly recall the faithfulness of God?
5. How do you approach something that’s bigger than you?
6. Worst case scenario, Do You Really Trust God…No Matter What? How Do You Know You Truly Trust Him?

The Lord is saying the first line of defense to overcome fear:

Don’t gaze or look at the problem, but LOOK UP! LOOK UP! LOOK UP!…Then CHOOSE & SPEAK FAITH and Don’t Be Moved, Trust Him!

Continue to join me for “Don’t Let Fear Hold You In Paralysis” Part 7 where we’ll take a look at the rewards of choosing faith over fear. God is not finished with this series, He’s wants to break that spirit of fear off our lives.

As always, be encouraged, stay connected, fight and Let’s Become Free Together.

What Are You Paying Attention To? Streams Ministries

In His Name,

Ke’Shawn Adamson

B.O.O.M!

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