Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit. Proverbs 18:21
Have you heard some fear-filled discouraging words lately? Are these words circling around in your mind one more time, dominating your thoughts? Are these words making their way out of your mouth, affecting you and the world around you? Are these words determining your destiny?
Several million Israelites failed to enter into the Promised Land, because they could not get the fear-filled discouraging words out of their minds or their mouths. The negative hopeless reports given to them sparked a picturesque video within their imagination, where they saw themselves as grasshoppers and the giants picking them up off the ground and popping them into their mouths like a midday snack. As they watched this video over and over again in the theater of their mind, they began to weep and cry.
Soon, the scenes in the video worsened. The giants lost their taste for eating grasshoppers. Instead, they took their giant swords from their sheaths and just started slaughtering the men, women, and the children by the thousands. Blood was everywhere.
As these videos played in their imaginations, they became outraged at their leaders – Moses and Aaron. They seriously questioned the sanity of their leaders for bringing them out of Egyptian bondage only to suffer at the hands of these ruthless giants!As you stand at the brink of your Promised Land, believe the report of the Lord, the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Live courageously! Arise and cross over from living in the wilderness of unbelief into living in the Promises of God.
As you stand at the brink of your Promised Land, believe the report of the Lord, the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Live courageously! Arise and cross over from living in the wilderness of unbelief into living in the Promises of God.
They began to spread rumors among themselves saying that surely it would be better if they could just return to Egypt, where they could engage themselves once again in their daily predictable routines of slavery rather than facing the unknown dangers of what God was getting them into in the Promised Land? This is what they discussed among themselves so often that they truly believed what they were saying.
James 3:6 says “The tongue…sets on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire by hell”. For those of us living in California this past year, we understand how fast and furious wildfires can spread through an area causing mass destruction and great loss of lives.
Joshua and Caleb, two of the twelve sent to spy out the Promised Land, tried to quench hell’s wildfire spreading rapidly among those they loved. They courageously stood up in the midst of this outrageous assembly of crying, weeping, and complaining and gave the Report of the Lord – the good report about the Promised Land. Caleb says “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.” Numbers 13:30
Joshua and Caleb exemplify what “Courageous Living” is all about! As you stand at the brink of your Promised Land, believe the Report of the Lord, the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Live courageously! Arise and cross over from living in the wilderness of unbelief into living in the Promises of God.
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Choices Determine Destiny teaching series – audio, video, PDF notes.