Lately, I’ve been pretty overwhelmed…there’s so much to do and so little time. At times, with all the demands on my life, I feel stretched and pulled in a thousand directions. One day this week while at the gym, all I could think about is all I had on my plate…how inadequate I felt about getting everything done…I kept wrestling with some issues that was stressing me out and all of a sudden, I can feel my emotions unraveling and I can feel the enemy working on me, I was praying for help, but could still feel my emotions spiraling…but I heard that small still voice….
“Look Up!” He said, “Look Up!” I immediately looked up while in the middle of my exercise routine and said, “Lord, I’m inadequate to achieve or get anything done, but you will help me, you are with me, I don’t need to be afraid, in my weakness, I am made strong, I can do all things in Christ that strengthens me, God is within me, I will not fall, You will help me at the break of day…” and a wave of peace settled my soul…just like that, I looked up and my help came.
God is saying looking up in essence is really changing your perspective, changing your direction of thought, changing your focus and what you’re choosing to see and FOCUSING AND FIXING YOUR EYES ON JESUS!
John Paul Jackson says in “Unlocking Heaven’s Power,”
“He’s waiting for us to think Kingdom thoughts…He is waiting for us to have Kingdom faith…He is waiting for us to understand that we make choices and then those choices make us…He is waiting for us to understand that a tainted lens will always produce a tainted perspective…
“Anytime we choose Jesus, any time we stop what we are doing and turn our thoughts toward Him, any time we glance in His direction, it will always result in more of the Kingdom in our lives. We have a God who is so great…yet how we think can limit Him to small things.”
Let’s revisit Numbers 13:
1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelite’s…“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.”
Numbers 14 (NIV)
1 That night all the members of the community raised their voices and wept aloud… 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…Then the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelite’s. 11 …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 take a look at what the men of Israel did to exercise their faith and conquer their fears in order to retain the promise:
The Faithful
- Caleb silenced the voice of the enemy by speaking faith. While the enemy was speaking fear, Caleb took authority, silenced the enemy and spoke faith.
- Joshua and Caleb had confident trust that they could overcome and win. They’d seen God work on their behalf before, so they had confident, rest assured trust He would do it again…God promised it and they believed He’d come through for them.
- Both Joshua and Caleb looked at what was good…they looked at God’s ability and not their own. The camp looked at the enemy and immediately became afraid, Joshua and Caleb kept their eyes on what was true, good, noble, and of a good report and focused intently on the Lord and what He promised them…they didn’t waver nor was easily influenced by the majority.
- They were obedient to the call God had on their lives to take possession of the Land no matter what they faced. At the end of the day, although the enemy could have frightened them half to death, God over time through every trial, was building their faith. This was the moment of truth, this was their “moment of choice,” will they obey God no matter what? He told them to possess the land, they had a charge to keep.
- They had vision and proper perspective of God and who God made them. He was bigger, stronger, wise, all-powerful…they saw who God truly was and wasn’t afraid…they also saw who God had made them and this made them want to run to take hold of the promise.
- They trusted that as they were obedient, God would come through for them. They believed what He had promised them in Leviticus 26:
“If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands…You will eat your fill and live securely in your own land. 6 “I will give you peace in the land, and you will be able to sleep with no cause for fear. I will rid the land of wild animals and keep your enemies out of your land. 7 In fact, you will chase down your enemies and slaughter them with your swords. 8 Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand! All your enemies will fall beneath your sword.9 “I will look favorably upon you, making you fertile and multiplying your people. And I will fulfill my covenant with you…11 I will live among you, and I will not despise you. 12 I will walk among you; I will be your God, and you will be my people. 13 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so you would no longer be their slaves. I broke the yoke of slavery from your neck so you can walk with your heads held high.”
The faithful had a promise they leaned on…they knew Him and saw His Wondrous Power and Authority over everything that came their way…they understood God was for them…He proved Himself faithful and strong over and over again…they ALLOWED every trial to increase their faith and trust in Him.
We too have the promises of God…we’ve seen His hand over our lives…We know Him…We know in our hearts He is all powerful…We have testimonies of how He came through for us…We’ve experienced His Wondrous Power in many areas of our lives…most importantly, we have the Promise Keeper…Jesus Christ…SO…
WHY DO WE FEAR?
We don’t look up immediately…we gaze too long at the enemy…we converse too long with the enemy…we don’t speak faith immediately…we allow our soul to dictate what we believe…we have poor vision of who God is and who He made us…we don’t see for ourselves what He put in us…we don’t exercise authority over our soul and the enemy…we give our ears to the enemy…we miss our “moment of choice” to exercise our faith…we don’t spend enough time renewing our mind in the word.
In our “moment of choice,” we have to look up, speak faith and don’t stop looking at Jesus not for one moment…we have to speak the Word of Life over that enemy and watch our help come. This is where I went wrong when the enemy threatened to steal my identity, I looked at what he could do and took my eyes off of God…taking my eyes off of Jesus for that split moment could have cost me everything had God not had mercy on me…powerful lesson for me.
Like the Israelite’s, we too have a charge to keep as well. Fear is normal…it’s apart of our human experience, but we allow it to RULE us when we have the keys to overcome it. Let’s not forfeit what Christ is trying to give us, we’ll lose it all if we’re not obedient in moving forward in our faith. Each challenge is a stepping stone to go higher in Christ, let’s move on in Faith and go higher…there’s something Jesus is trying to give us.
We don’t know what’s coming our way, so we have to have our eyes FIXED on Jesus.
You may ask me “what does this have to do with overcoming obesity? Everything! As I overcome my stronghold and break the enemies hold over my life, he’ll rear his ugly head, not speaking that up, but it’s true, he already has, but I better learn how to war in the spirit so when he does, I’ll be armed and prepared for battle…so no matter what comes…he cannot thwart off my efforts to gaining health and wholeness over my life…so I have to learn to stop fearing and activate my faith. God is telling me, telling us:
We Are Warriors…We are Valiant…Steadfast and Immovable…He is With Us, He Is For Us…We Don’t Have To Fear, Just Look Up…In our “Moment of Choice,” Trust Him…Keeping Your Eyes Stayed On Him…Look Up!
I’ve learned a ton writing this series, I hope you did too. If you were blessed by it, leave a comment or a note, would love to hear from you.
Continue to join me for upcoming post, God has more to say to us. As always, be encouraged, stay connected, fight and Let’s Become Free Together.
John Paul Jackson:Dreams & Mysteries – The Mystery of Faith
In His Name,
Ke’Shawn Adamson
B.O.O.M!
[wpdevart_like_box profile_id=”1664390230504472″ connections=”show” width=”300″ height=”150″ header=”small” cover_photo=”show” locale=”en_US”]
