With God on Our Side We Can Afford to be Gutsy!
Numbers 13:30: "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.' "
And the winner is…! Every person with a living, personal relationship with Jesus Christ can fill in his or her name here. When Jesus died on the cross and rose again, He overcame the power of death and of Satan, our enemy. Through faith in Jesus Christ, we become partners in His victory and winners for all eternity.
This victory is not something we earn but a gift to be received by faith (For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is a gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. -- Ephesians 2:8-9). God's "divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness" (2 Peter 1:3).
Therefore, experiencing victorious Christian living is a by-product of walking more closely with God. As we discover anew God's character and commandments, w will see areas in our lives that need his transforming love and power. As we allow Him access into those areas, we are changed. God works from the inside out! When God;s truth, power, and love are at the core of our own spirit, we can begin to experience consistent victory in our life circumstances.
Why then do so many Christians live defeated, broken lives? Many times it's because we let outward circumstances cause us to doubt His promises. We forget who we are - children of the living God - and who God is - a God of unwavering faithfulness to us. Take the Israelites as a classic example. God dlivered them from slavery through awesome miracles, but when Moses sent the 12 men (one representative from each tribe) to spy out the land God had promised them, the majority came back full of fear and doubt.
The story of Caleb - one of just two spies who believed God for victory - teaches four important principles for victorious living: Submission to God, confidence in what God has promised, boldness to stand against popular opinion, and unswerving faith to GO FOR IT!
While other spies were describing how impossible it was to conquer the giants in the land, Claeb challenged the people to rise up in faith. "The Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them," he declared (Numbers 14:9). The Lord commended Caleb for his solid faith, and He assured Caleb of an inheritance in the land (verse 24).
Caleb was successful because he did not allow fear to control him. If we want to live victoriously, we need to control our fears, too, instead of letting them control us. The phrase "do not be afraid" appears repeatedly in the Bible. When we're tempted to doubt God's Word or give up in the face of difficulty, it's critical that we ask God to increase our faith. Even if we only have faith the size of a mustard seed, God can move mountains through us ("...I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard see, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." -- Matthew 17:20).
The more we trust in God's character, obey His commandments, and allow His love and power to transform us, the more we will experience His victory. The Holy Spirit will show us how to respond in each trial and temptation of life. That doesn't mean that we'll win every battle. Even the greatest men and women of faith had terrible setbacks, but as they continued to hope in God, those defeats became character-building stepping-stones to victory. No situation is too hopeless for God. The battle is His, and the final outcome is assured!
