DCLM Daily Manna 4 November 2021 Devotional By Pastor W. F. Kumuyi — Reward For Unbending Spirit
TOPIC: Reward For Unbending Spirit
TEXT: Numbers 14:11-25
11 And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?
12 I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they.
13 And Moses said unto the Lord, Then the Egyptians shall hear it, (for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them;)
14 And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that thou Lord art among this people, that thou Lord art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night.
15 Now if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying,
16 Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness.
17 And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying,
18 The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.
19 Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.
20 And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word:
21 But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.
22 Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;
23 Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:
24 But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.
25 (Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley.) Tomorrow turn you, and get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea.
KEY VERSE: “But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.” – (Numbers 14:24)
MESSAGE:
An elderly minister was noted for a favourite verse in the Old Testament each time he preached about the believer’s race to heaven. He would read from Genesis 12:5: “And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their substance that they had gathered…and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came”. His message was always that Christians must be like Abraham who set out for Canaan and got there, not elsewhere.
Just as Abraham reached where God appointed for him without losing focus or turning aside, Caleb had that unbending spirit that would strive for a goal and make it to that destination without deviating. When the Israelites complained about the giants in the land the Lord had given them, Caleb had “another spirit” that chose to believe that with the Almighty on their side, they would easily access the territory for their possession, in spite of any giant.
The unbelieving stance of the children of Israel as they neared the Promised Land brought swift divine judgment that made them unqualified for Canaan, the place they set out for from Egypt. They toiled hard for forty years in the wilderness. But alas; it was a wasted effort. On the other hand, the simple faith of Caleb that touched the Lord, earned him entry into the land despite the contrary circumstances that prevailed.
To make heaven, the believer must be armed with a spirit completely dead to what the world offers. We must resist powerful currents that blow on the sidelines of the narrow way as the age witnesses an explosion in seducing religions, philosophies with scientific and technological inventions. We should not allow their tidal waves to drown us and thus, deny us our place in heaven after our long and profitable walk with the Lord.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Resist the three ‘Ds’ on the way to heaven: Despair, distractions and defilement.
THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
Jeremiah 39-42
DCLM Daily Manna was written by Pastor W. F. Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.
