Spying Out the Land of Floripa

This morning as I contemplated the thought of taking the Gospel to this city of Florianopolis, I felt overwhelmed. I felt incapable of such a great task. God, in His sovereign wisdom, led me to read Numbers 13, on spying out the land of Canaan. The story is well known. 10 spies come back saying that it is a good land, but there are giants in the land. 2 spies, Joshua and Caleb, agree to these facts but have more to say. Notice the difference in what these 2 groups actually said.

The 10 spies said, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are." (v.31)

Caleb said, "Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it." (v.30)

So, what is the big difference between Caleb's response and the other men's? At first, it may seem like Caleb had more self-confidence than the 10 men. Maybe they had low self-esteem. I don't believe that is the case though. I believe that Caleb's confidence came from knowing who God is and believing in Him. The other men's lack of confidence came from ignoring who God is and not believing Him. The spies were right in saying that the giants in the land were stronger than they, but they were focusing on the wrong thing--themselves. Here are 3 things the Lord impressed upon my heart today from this story:

1. There is a self confidence in doing a BIG JOB which amounts to pride.
I need to be aware of this and careful not have this attitude. I have noticed many times in ministry how I seem to trust in my ability to get things done.

2. There is a lack of confidence in God which leads to a lack of action.
Many people are so afraid of BIG JOBS (like evangelism or missions), they never try anything for God and His glory. They are missing out on great blessings, I believe.

3. There is a right sense of confidence which says, "We are well able to do this in the ability of God."

I don't know about my brother David, but there are many times in my life when I do not feel "able" to do the task that God has called me to do here in Brazil, and possibly in Florianopolis someday. I am encouraged today by this story to be confident that I am "well able" in the ability of my Omnipotent God.

I look forward to "spying out the land" of Florianopolis with David next month. Pray for us that we would "be of good courage".

JT

Preaching in the Spirit

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says this in Preaching and Preachers: "There is but one thing that gives a preacher authority, and that is that he be 'filled with the Holy Spirit'."

I read Numbers 11 today and noticed a strong contrast between the Spirit resting on certain individuals and the people of Israel giving in to their "strong craving" of the flesh. The main truth that God has shown me in this text is that you cannot have the strong cravings of the flesh and also have the Spirit of God resting on you at the same time. Galatians 5:16 is very clear on this:

"But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh."

One great reason why one would want to have the Spirit of God resting on him is to be able to bear one another's burdens. Galatians 6:1 states that only those who are spiritual, meaning who walk in the Spirit, should restore a brother. I believe that there are many blessings to be had when we are walking in the Spirit, and many pains to be had when we are seeking to satisfy the cravings of our flesh. Let us look at Numbers 11 more closely.

In Numbers 11:17, God says: "I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them." The "them" here is the 70 elders which God chose to help Moses to bear the burden of the people of Israel. Right away I see that having the Spirit to help with others' burdens is a must. Now I realize that God's giving of His Spirit in the OT is a bit different than it is today. I still believe that the principle of needing the Spirit to rest on us is valid today. We call that the "filling of the Spirit".

We are told in Numbers 11:25 that "as soon as the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied." Now I realize again that prophesying in the OT was a little different. As I remember in college, it involved foretelling and forthtelling God's message, or in other words, giving prophecy of future events and simply preaching God's already revealed Word. What strikes me here as important is that the Spirit resting on these elders enabled them to preach. Sometimes we preachers forget about the absolute necessity of having the Spirit rest on us as we preach.

Later in Numbers 11:29, Joshua tells Moses to stop the elders from continuing to prophesy and Moses says, "Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put His Spirit on them!" This expresses how good it would be if all God's people had the Spirit. In a sense they do, if they have believed in Jesus as their Savior. They are now indwelt by the Spirit. But the filling of the Spirit, being controlled by the Spirit, is another thing. Would that all God's people, who are indwelt by the Spirit, also be controlled daily by His Spirit!

On the flip side of all this, we see in Numbers 11 that the people of Israel are giving in to their "strong craving" for meat and the foods of Egypt that they complain to Moses. God then tells Moses that He would give them meat till it came out of their nostrils and it became loathsome to them. (v.18,20) God then sheds some light on their real problem: "because you have rejected the Lord who is among you." (v.20) They were not satisfied with God's presence and wanted the inferior pleasures of their flesh.

In the end, we see the true end of choosing the strong craving of the flesh. God struck them down in His anger while the meat was yet between their teeth. (v.33) The place was called Kibroth-hattaavah which means "graves of craving". So, in the end, their craving killed them. Is that not the truth of what our flesh will do to us? Sure, the pleasures of our flesh are enjoyable to some degree, but in the end they kill us in many ways. And at the same time, we miss the blessings that God wants to give us if we allow His Spirit to rest on us. We cannot have both the Spirit resting on us and be feeding the "strong cravings" of the flesh.

I want more than anything to be effective when I preach and teach God's Word. I also want to help people in their Christian walk and lead other to Christ. God has made me realize the importance of walking in the Spirit moment by moment if I am going to have this kind of eternal effect on people for God's glory.

JT