Who’s bright idea was this?
Numbers 14:44, “But they went up heedlessly to the ridge of the hill country ; neither the ark of the covenant of the LORD nor Moses left the camp. 45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down, and struck them and beat them down as far as Hormah.”
The Israelites had come to the Promised Land that God had sworn to give them, but when the spies who were sent out ny Moses came back and gave a bad report to the people of Israel then they were afraid to go in and take control of the land that God had given. These men saw the size and the numbers of people that were against them and they got scared. They forgot in that time that God had already promised to give them the land. He told them, Leviticus 20:24, “‘Hence I have said to you, “You are to possess their land, and I Myself will give it to you to possess it, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am the LORD your God, who has separated you from the peoples.”
Many times we see the opposition in front of us, and we neglect to remember the power that is in us. God has given each and every Christian the power of His Holy Spirit, but sometimes we forget about what we have in us when we see what’s in front of us.
Allow me to use an analogy. It’s like we are standing in front of a person with a 9 Milimeter pistol pointed directly at us; anyone would be scared in that situation. But, we are not just standing there alone to face the gun wielding person we have on a bulletproof vest that will deflect the bullet. Now, we are still scared, but we know that no matter what happens we are going to be safe because of what we have on.
The Israelites forgot they had on the protection of God, and nothing in this world could hurt them; so they cowered away, and in doing so they made God furious. It is possible for us to make God mad, or to grieve His Spirit. If we do not trust God then He will get angry, or become upset with us. He may even remove His Spirit from us temporarily to remind us that we can do nothing without Him.
The Israelites were warned by Moses that they should not try to take the land because God was not with them, but they thought that God would rescue them if they got into trouble. They began taking the grace of God for granted, and that is ALWAYS a mistake. The grace of God is always there for us, but when we abuse that grace we may find ourselves in undesirable situations.
Anything that we try to do without the power of God is destined to fail; even if God has previously called you to it, and you resisted. If we ever grieve the Spirit, and feel as if God has temporarily removed the power of His Spirit from us; then the best thing for us to do is pray for forgiveness, and wait until we once again feel the power of God. Believe me if the Spirit of God ever leaves you will know it! Just like you will know it when He returns!
__________________________
Father, I thank You for giving me Your Spirit to empower, and I ask that You would keep me sensitive to Your leading that I would not cause You grief. In Jesus’ name, Amen
________________________
The image above can be found at:http://blog.morningcoach.com/2010/03/10/change-your-question/
Yes, You Can Ministry 