The Grasshopper Mentality

Since the month of January began, I have heard at least 4 sermons preached on Numbers 13 by different people! I think God may be trying to get a message across to me! So, let's look at it starting in verse 17:

 ¹⁷ When Moses sent them to explore Canaan, he said, “Go up through the Negev and on into the hill country. ¹⁸ See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. ¹⁹ What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? ²⁰ How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees in it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.” (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)
 ²¹ So they went up and explored the land from the Desert of Zin as far as Rehob, toward Lebo Hamath. ²² They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, lived. (Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) ²³ When they reached the Valley of Eshkol,^[a] they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates and figs. ²⁴ That place was called the Valley of Eshkol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut off there. ²⁵ At the end of forty days they returned from exploring the land.

Report on the Exploration

 ²⁶ They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land. ²⁷ They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. ²⁸ But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. ²⁹ The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.”
 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.”
 ³¹ But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” ³² And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. ³³ We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”


Now, since I have heard this message repeatedly, I have a few thoughts that I will share from those that shared originally and then my processing.

This land, Canaan, was the land that in Numbers 13:1 God, tells Moses that he is GIVING or bestowing upon the Israelites as we see here:¹ The LORD said to Moses, ² “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am GIVING to the Israelites. From each ancestral tribe send one of its leaders.” In other words, the land, the promised land, already belonged to the children of Israel but God was allowing them to inspect it and overtake it in order to inhabit it, if they would so choose.

The spies, 12 of them, go check out this Canaan land and recognize that it is a fortified city, which was truth. But the bad report that comes from 10 of the 12 is that "But the people who live there are powerful". This was a judgment that the 10 spies made rather than truth. They started comparing themselves to the people of the land and therein lied the bad report.

But Caleb and Joshua, saw things differently and we hear that when Caleb proclaims that they should go up and take possession of the land. Caleb was not hindered by his size but rather he remembered the size of his God that had rescued them from their slave masters in Egypt. He remembered how God had provided for them with gold and treasure from the slave masters themselves. He remembered what it felt like to walk on the dry ground of the Red Sea with walls of water on both sides. He remembered the manna that fell from heaven and the water that came from the rock. Caleb remembered God's past performance and knew that God could show up and help them defeat the Canaanites.

However, the other 10 spies, could only see their smallness as we see in verse 33: We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” The spies had a "Grasshopper Mentality". They saw the circumstances that surrounded them with the same physical eyes that Caleb and Joshua had however they looked through natural eyes instead of eyes of faith. As a result, they thought of themselves as small as well as God. They had forgotten all that God had done in the past, how He had provided and led them. They forgot it all. They saw themselves as mere grasshoppers, able to be crushed with one step of a good shoe. They saw themselves as defeated before a battle even took place. They saw Canaan as a big boogie man, unable to  be defeated. And as a result, it cost them.

We see in Numbers 14 the result of their lack of faith and their insistence on their smallness:²⁰ The LORD replied, “I have forgiven them, as you asked. ²¹ Nevertheless, as surely as I live and as surely as the glory of the LORD fills the whole earth, ²² not one of those who saw my glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness but who disobeyed me and tested me ten times— ²³ not one of them will ever see the land I promised on oath to their ancestors. No one who has treated me with contempt will ever see it. ²⁴ 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.

Their "Grasshopper Mentality" cost them the promised land!! But Caleb, who had a "different spirit" was able to enter and dwell there. What made Caleb different? I think it was a few things. He saw through the eyes of faith and not through natural eyes. I think He also remembered what God had done for him as well as for His people. And, I know that Caleb knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God was on His side and that He was bigger than the Canaanite boogie men.

Now, for my transparency, I have had a "Grasshopper Mentality" for far too long, thus 4 messages in a 3 week period! I see God as I see myself and I forget what He has done for me and for those I love. However, I refuse to stay there. I can't afford to stay there and neither can you! The promised land is at stake!

Lord, help me to break through this grasshopper mentality. Help me to see you as you really are. Help me to recognize your bigness and to walk in the authority you have given me to possess the land!

I know this was more of an intense blog and it needed to be however, I can't not leave you with a little bit of fun. So, as we are fighting off this grasshopper mentality, we can look to the great vegetables of our day that have proudly proclaimed, "God is bigger than the boogie man. He's bigger than Godzilla and the monsters on TV. Oh, God is bigger than the boogie man, And he's watching out for you and me." Thank you Veggie Tales for this reminder!

She Tackles, She Conquers

If you haven't noticed by now, God speaks to me in weird ways and not so weird ways too, I guess. Anyway, yesterday I was watching one of my all time favorite shows, Gilmore Girls (I have all 7 seasons and I watch them continuously). The things I love most about the show are their quick wit, humor and the fact that they talk fast too! This show also produces a lot of great one-liners which I also immsensly enjoy but I digress.

On the episode I watched yesterday, Rory, one of the main characters was put in charge of overseeing an event for the first time.  Her grandmother was worried about how well she would do especially considering the fact that she was making all sorts of changes and doing things differently than had ever been done before. While, Rory's grandmother was expressing her concern to Rory's grandfather, he stops her mid-sentence and says, in regards to Rory, "Everything she tackles she conquers!" WOW!

As I heard that phrase last night my heart leaped at the amount of faith her grandfather had in her abilities. He wasn't worried a bit about her performance because he had true faith in her and his love of her was not based on her performance anyway!  Not only that but what a thing for Rory to be known for, as a woman who conquers everything she tackles! Talk about a great label to have!

The awesome thing is that I have that label too! And so do you! Romans 8:37 says, "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." Sadly, I often forget that this label is mine as well as my identity. On those days, all I can really conquer is a pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream!! Even today, as I am frustrated by circumstances/situations and I don't feel like a conqueror that doesn't negate the fact that at my core, I am.

To wind down last night, I watched the first few minutes of Princess Diaries 2. The opening scenes of that movie point to the first movie in which Mia Thermopolis finds out that she is a princess. At first Mia doesn't believe that she is a princess. Then once she acknowledges that she comes from royal blood, she tells Joseph, her driver and protector that she doesn't want to BE a princess. Joseph tells her essentially that she can decline the throne but can never cease being what she truly is, a princess!

I can never cease being a conqueror. I can stop acting liking it but I can not stop being it because it is in my DNA in Christ. I may feel defeated by life and I may have a rough couple of days, but in time, my conquering spirit will come forth because I can't cease being what I truly am, a conqueror! And of course, the same goes for you!

Lord, help us to recognize, realize, and remember who we are in You! Thank you for making us more than conquerors in You!

The Weight of the Potter's Hand

Jeremiah 18:2 -6 "Arise and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause you to hear My words." Then I went down to the potter's house, and there he was, making something at the wheel. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter; so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.

Not only do I write a daily blog/devo, I also get a few that I have subscribed to as well and the Scripture in one of them was this passage from Jeremiah 18. As I read it, I realized I am back on the potter's wheel and I'm starting to get dizzy! The verse that sticks out to me are "And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter;so he made it again into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to make.

A "mar" is a disfiguring mark; a blemish. "Marred" is to inflict damage, especially disfiguring damage on; to impair the soundness, perfection, or integrity of; spoil. Now, I am not a Bible scholar, so when some verse sticks out to me, I do the only thing I know to do and that is read it in several versions of the Bible. So, here we go!

⁴And the vessel that he was making from clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he made it over, reworking it into another vessel as it seemed good to the potter to make it. (Amplified Bible)

⁴ But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over. (New Living Translation)

⁴ His hands were shaping a pot out of clay. But he saw that something was wrong with it. So he formed it into another pot. He shaped it in the way that seemed best to him.  (New International Reader's Version)

Whenever the pot the potter was working on turned out badly, as sometimes happens when you are working with clay, the potter would simply start over and use the same clay to make another pot. (The Message)

Life causes "marring". Our choices cause "marring". And it would seem that God causes "marring" but it is "marring" with a purpose. When He sees those blemishes and imperfections in us, He chooses to not let them stay there but rather remove them by starting over. Theologically for me, it may not make a whole lot of sense but spiritually, I feel the weight of the potter's hand on my life, even as I type this, re-forming my life and my dreams and re-working my thoughts and my ideas. I'm not gonna lie, it's a painful process and everything within you wants to scream out in pain but graciously, the potter's hand never leaves the wheel! As we go round and round, as he molds and forms us, His hand never leaves the wheel!! That is good news friend!

Ultimately, the Potter will make me into the vessel that He wants me to be, blemish free in eternity. But on this side of heaven, I think me and the potter's wheel will become really good friends! I am feeling the weight of the potter's hands today and you may be as well. While it may be tough, His eyes are always on us and His hands are always near!

This is an awesome demo of clay being molded into something great and it has Darlene Zschech singing Potter's Hand as well! Enjoy!

What Love Really Means

I love this song! I have been singing it repeatedly for quite some time. I think it describes so well what we all want. We want someone to love us for who we are, not for what we have done or what we will become. We long for this kind of love. We lust after this kind of love. We search everywhere for this kind of love. We attempt to change our behaviors to earn this kind of love. We go to great lengths to be loved.

But the only place we can locate this love is in the arms of God. He is the only one who can love us in this manner. The Bible says in John 3:16 "For God sooooo loved the world, that He gave His only son, that whoever believes in Him shall have everlasting life." (Emphasis on the "so" mine) He loved us when we were unlovable, unlovely, and in sin. He loved us when we could care less about Him and knowing Him. He loved us when we doubted and hated Him. The cool thing is that just as He LOVED us, He still LOVES us and He WILL forever LOVE us! Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8) and so that means His love remains the same!!

Even though I know these truths that I am sharing with you today, God is teaching me more about His love and what it means in my life. He's changing my thinking and revealing lies I have believed about Him in my heart and mind. He is showing me His love in fresh new ways and I pray He will do the same for you! This is my prayer over us, just as Paul prayed it over the Ephesians many moons ago, "And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." (Ephesians 3:18-19)

Crazy Ol' Loon!

For those of you looking for posts over the weekend, sorry! I have decided that weekday posts will be a regular thing but I need some grace for weekends and so you may or may not have weekend posts, just fyi.

So, last night, after the crazy busy weekend I mentioned above, I curled up in bed and started watching Beauty and the Beast, the ultimate Disney classic. As I was laying there, drifting off to sleep, Gaston and Le Fou (Gaston's partner in crime) encounter Belle as she is heading home to her father, Maurice. Le Fou says in relation to Maurice, "That crazy ol' loon! He needs all the help he can get!" Just then an explosion happens in the distance and Belle runs off to check on her father.

When I heard that line, which I have heard a thousand times before, it resonated in such a clear way last night. I'm Maurice! I'm that crazy ol loon! For those of you that know me, I know you just said a loud "Amen!" But that's not really the part I want to focus in on. The piece of that line that stood out was "HE NEEDS ALL THE HELP HE CAN GET!" Yes, that's me!! I am realizing more and more that I can't do this thing called life alone. And honestly, I don't want to. Often times, I sway back and forth on this pendulum as I try to be self sufficient depending only on myself to take care of life and then to the other side where I really need to stay. Let's talk about the other side for a little.

The other side is the side in which I am completely dependent on the Lord to supply everything that I need, physically, emotionally, spiritually, relationally. He's promised he will do it in Phillipians 4:19: "But my God shall supply ALL your needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus." It's amazing how often I see all but hear some or I know He says all but I think He only means some. In correlation to needing the Lord, we need each other as God has created us for relationships. So much of the Bible is written to us as to how to properly be in relationship with others, how to handle conflict, how to love, etc. We can't look at Scripture and think that we are to go this journey alone. We need help, all of us. When we deny this fact, we limit God, we limit our relationships and we limit ourselves.

I need all the help I can get! I will shout it from the rooftops! I am not ashamed to let people know that I need them. I may be humbled in the process to ask for help but that is only because asking for help is contrary to culture. We see those that ask for help as needy or less than. But why would God tell us to ask, seek and knock (Matthew 7:6-8)??

God, I am asking, seeking and knocking for your help! I need it! I need all of it! Yes, the world may call me crazy for relying on You and trusting You but I would rather be a crazy ol' loon any day!

Just Call Me Israel

I am a facebook junkie as most of you know. I spend a lot of time on there as I am such a people person and it's pretty much the easiest way for me to keep up with my friends that are all over the state and country and even in other countries. Anyway, yesterday this is what I wrote on my facebook status: doesn't really like grappling with faith issues but I am definitely willing to do it to find truth! I am definitely in the throes of a wrestling match as I am seeking God's truth about a situation in my life. Thankfully, I am not the first and I am sure I won't be the last!

In Genesis 32: 24-28 we read the story of Jacob wrestling with God. Here it is for your convenience:
^24-25 But Jacob stayed behind by himself, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak. When the man saw that he couldn't get the best of Jacob as they wrestled, he deliberately threw Jacob's hip out of joint.

 ²⁶ The man said, "Let me go; it's daybreak."
   Jacob said, "I'm not letting you go 'til you bless me."
 ²⁷ The man said, "What's your name?"
   He answered, "Jacob."
 ²⁸ The man said, "But no longer. Your name is no longer Jacob. From now on it's Israel (God-Wrestler); you've wrestled with God and you've come through."

I love verse 28! God changes Jacob's name which meant "deceiver" to Israel which means "God wrestler". It is my experience with decievers that they themselevs are deceived or they deceive so much that they no longer know truth or remember truth. Right now, I can relate. Not that I have been deceiving others but that I have been deceived myself and I am fighting for truth. Fighting to find God in my circumstances and situations. Just like Jacob, I am wrestling with God, not in the physical sense but in the mental and spiritual recesses of my soul. While I am still in the throes of this match, I love the hope that I find at the end of verse 28: "you've wrestled with God and you've come through!" I will come through and I'll get a new name in the process!

What do you need to wrestle with God about? What have you wrestled with God about? What is God wrestling with you about? Keep fighting for truth friends as truth has the ability to set us free!!

Onion Healing: Level #432

Weird title. I know.

What in the world is onion healing?! Well, in my world, it's how I like to refer to another level of healing. I once heard emotional/spiritual healing referred to like an onion, from who, I don't remember but the illustration stuck! An onion has many layers, just how many depends on the onion. When we deal with healing we are very similar to this vegetable. The kicker is that just like an onion we have no idea how many layers we really have. Every time we deal with the issues in our lives and seek healing, we deal with another layer of our onion. This doesn't necessarily mean we have digressed or regressed but it's just another level or progress of healing on this journey we call life. With all of that said, I feel like I am somewhere on level #432! :) Really! I have done two stints of intense counseling so far and I am positive that we have at least gotten to level #431 so this would make level #432! (Besides, 432 IS my favorite number..so, go with it!)

Anyway, last night, I felt God directing me to re-read a book called Crucified by Christians by Gene Edwards. (Truth be told, I think we all have felt like that at some point in our lives.) I started reading it this morning since I was up with the chickens but had to stop and process, thus you hearing/reading about it now. When I wrote Converted by Cookies, Healed by Grace, I had already undergone healing for that chapter of my life and the book was able to be written in only a week and a half, aka "warp speed". However, as I am trying to write book #2, I am realizing just how much healing needs to come as the subject of book #2 is directly related to the book God is having me read right now.

All of that to say, another level of healing is taking place. It's just really started in the last couple of months so it could be awhile. But my hope is in the Lord! Psalm 147:3 says "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." I am so grateful that I love and serve the God of Restoration. The lyrics below are to a song that was sang at a conference that really got this healing process going. I tried to enclose the link for you to hear it as well but if that doesn't work you can look it up on using this link. http://youtu.be/7LcyQOLVS_U

Restoration-David Brymer

You bring restoration

You bring restoration

To my soul

You’ve taken my pain

You call me by a new name

You’ve taken my shame

And in its place

You give me joy

You take my mourning

Turn it into dancing

You take my weeping

Turn it into laughing

You take my mourning

Turn it into dancing

You take my sadness

Turn it into joy

You bring restoration

You bring restoration

You bring restoration

To my soul

I hope these lyrics minister to you as well! I hope you are ever willing to allow God to heal the broken and wounded places of your life. Healing is hard work but it's a work well worth it. Besides, you never know who your healing and testimony can help! Allow God to bring restoration today!