Fresh Manna
by Pastor Tim Burt

If you love reading your Bible, then I’d imagine you have your favorite Bible characters like I do. I have a list of them—each one’s story and faith helping strengthen me in my faith! Each of them have helped me better know and understand the Lord as well as help strengthen my relationship and faith with Him. One of those near the top of my list is Caleb—especially as I get older in years!

In Numbers 14:24 NIV, God said that Caleb had a different spirit. “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.”

The Lord said this 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 Promised 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, power, and provision, they would not put faith in Him. They were like spoiled little children, only interesting in getting something from God, but never appreciating or trusting in His love and plan for them, but instead rejecting it because of their fears and unbelief.

Caleb and Joshua were not faithless but faith-filled! And because of that God would bring them into the land of promise when the rest of the people would receive judgment. And it was in this time that God 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. This term is used far too 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. And 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.

What I just described is the birth of a believer—what Jesus called being born again. Your faith in that truth is the birth and reconciliation of your relationship with God. And it’s the gift that provides your entrance into Heaven. But do you think God meant for that to be the all-in-all of your relationship with Him? Not a chance! He wanted you to experience His love and power touching your life daily through your faith in His promises. God wants you to experience the depth of His love. He wants your faith in Him to mature into a trusting faith that leads you confidently through life. His desire for us when we come to places of pressure is not to panic or freak out, but to instead pause, look toward Heaven, take a deep breath, pray asking 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 could be any believer’s dilemma.

The Lord 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. And like Caleb, 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 me 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. He would give it to them and help them and bless them 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 to enter into the promised land of God.

How do I know that? Moses in pronouncing judgment on God’s people testified of Caleb. In Deuteronomy 1:35-36 NIV 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.”

Am I a tenacious 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. I desire to walk in and receive every promise of God. I desire to be fully equipped to help others know the gospel of Jesus Christ and be like Caleb—one who has unshakeable faith in God’s promises. Be blessed as you become a Caleb believer—one whom God would say has a “different spirit!”

Romans 5:1 (TLB) “So now,since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith in His promises, we can have real peace with Him because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.”  

In His Love,
Pastor Tim Burt

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