"A Different Spirit"

Fresh Manna© by Pastor Tim Burt
http://readfreshmanna.blogspot.com/

Num 14:24 NIV “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.”

If you are anything like me, you probably have many characters from the Bible that you admire that have helped you in your faith. I know I do. Each of them have helped me know and understand the Lord as well as help strengthen my relationship with Him in different ways. One of those is Caleb. In today’s Fresh Manna verse, God said that Caleb had a “different spirit.” He had said that to Moses at a time when He was pronouncing judgment on His people for casting all trust and faith in Him aside. What would become their destiny would not become Caleb’s. They would become a people that would never enter into the promise land or experience the manifestation of God’s promises in their lives. Why? Because despite how powerfully God would show them and demonstrate His presence and provision in their lives, they would not put faith in Him. They didn’t realize it but they were rejecting His love.

God was withholding judgment from Caleb (and Joshua). He proclaimed to Moses that Caleb had a different spirit. Why did God say that about Caleb? He said it because Caleb is the role model of a believer. Caleb was a BELIEVER. We use the term just a hair loosely. We say you are a believer of Jesus Christ if you understand that He lived and died and took the punishment that you and I deserve for our sins. If you renounce sin and Satan in your life and you repent for the life of sin you have led. If you do this and receive Jesus as your personal Savior, then you are a believer.

God meant for us as those that would become believers, to let that belief and trust permeate every fiber of our being. His desire for us when we would come to a place of pressure, nor would it be to panic or “freak out.” No, He wants us to pause, look toward Heaven, take a deep breath, ask the Lord for help based on His promises, and then absolutely trust Him. Everyone comes to places of pressure but many never come to a place of absolute trust in the Lord. Why not? Because people don’t know God well enough to trust Him. That is our dilemma, not God’s. He has said to us, “…those that seek Me will find Me.” The burden to know God is upon us. He is more than willing to reveal Himself and His love to those that will seek Him with all their heart. Once you really know God, then you really do move over to a place of trust and your faith becomes active and powerful – like Caleb’s. You develop that “different spirit.”

That is what made Caleb different. Nothing in scripture leads us to believe that Caleb was any different from you or I in gifting or ability. What made him different was that he based his entire life upon what God said and promised. Then he acted upon it. He held nothing back. God said He would help them conquer this new land of promise – that He would give it to them, help him conquer it, and bless they and their future generations in it. Caleb took Him at His Word. He believed it. It became settled in his heart. He didn’t spend a lot of mental anguish wondering, will God do this or won’t he. Instead he spent all his time believing and preparing himself and those in his sphere of influence that they were going to enter into the promise of God.

How do I know that? Moses in pronouncing judgment on God’s people testified of Caleb. In Deu 1:35 & 36 we hear Moses speaking God’s words: “Not a man of this evil generation shall see the good land I swore to give your forefathers, except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land he set his feet on, because he followed the LORD wholeheartedly.”

Because of their unbelief, Caleb was delayed from his inheritance for 45 years. Was that unfair? Caleb didn’t dwell on that. He knew God was just and fair. He trusted God’s plan. He kept faith and a right heart. No wonder God said he had a different spirit! He didn’t let himself suffer disappointment. He still believed and still knew that what God said would indeed be his. He continued to believe, keeping himself strong through preparation and living out each day in faith knowing that one day, his day would come.

In Josh 14:10-13 we finally see Caleb’s day arrive. Caleb was enabled to collect the reward of his faith. He said to Joshua, “Now then, just as the LORD promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the desert. So here I am today, eighty-five years old! I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I’m just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then. Now give me this hill country that the LORD promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the LORD helping me, I will drive them out just as he said.” Then Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as his inheritance.”

Am I a bulldog when I write Fresh Manna and speak to you about faith and the promises of God? You better believe it! I am not moved by the unbelief of others. I am not moved by circumstances. I am moved by what God has promised you and me. It shapes my heart, my thoughts, who I am, what I believe and what I pursue so that I may receive every promise of God and be fully equipped to help others in every way I can to know the gospel of Jesus Christ and walk in all that God has promised. Be blessed as you become a Caleb believer!

In His Love,
Pastor Tim Burt
http://readfreshmanna.blogspot.com/