Only two of the scouts (Joshua & Caleb) came back with a positive report. Yes, there are giants in the land, but our God is with us & Greater is He... "Two out of Eleven!! I guess that proves the 80/20 rule!!
In Numbers 13:25-33 we read that spies were sent by the Jews into the land of Canaan to see if the land truly was as they had been told. What they found was, not only was it everything they had been told, but so much more! Grape clusters took two strong men to carry, Olives were rich & abundant, the land had trees & water, & all that a family could need. But, there were giants in the land (The Son's of Anak)! These guys were huge & very skilled in the art of war! With them were the rites, tites, nites, & sites (Amorites, Hittites, ETC...) but they were called the IsraeLITES! The people trembled at the thought of having to go to war against such odds. Only two of the scouts (Joshua & Caleb) came back with a positive report. Yes, there are giants in the land, but our God is with us & Greater is He... "Two out of Eleven!! I guess that proves the 80/20 rule!! The crazy part is that the others (The Congregation) after hearing this, were trying to incite the people to kill them! This is ridiculous, we say, but wait there's more! Had it not been for the Lord appearing before them all, these two guys would have been stoned (& not like some of you are thinking!) It's at this point that God says "Thats it, I have had enough of you people. Your children will go into this beautiful land, but you older ones, who think you have it all together, will die in the desert." That's some tough Words!
It such a shame that they didn't believe! They had their chance at Peace & Prosperity! Only to throw it away out of fear!!
And what does fear do, but feed the enemies ego & make him that much stronger in his mind! Ego is important in battle, because if you don't think you can beat your opponent, chances are you won't! Giving this kind of advantage to the enemy (Had they gone into battle scared) they would have retreat on their minds & most probably would have been defeated. God said "Trust Me & I will see you through", but they could only see the size of their enemy. We do this everyday in our struggles to please God. We love you Lord with all our hearts & want only to please you, therefore we will never do the things that you say not to. We all know how that turns out because we are incapable of doing the very thing that we believe we should do to please God. John 15:5 "Without Me, you can do NOTHING" I will come back to this shortly!
When we are conscious of our sin or when we walk right into it knowing exactly what we are doing, we are feeding our enemy! Our Giant becomes bigger! Let me illustrate: If I suffer from lusts, & the use of pornography & I am trying to please God, then I should never look at nude pictures, stare at half clothed women on TV, think thoughts about women I see on the streets, in my work place, anywhere I go, shouldn't think about them in my mind, dream about them when I sleep, always have my head down so I don't look where I shouldn't, etc.. If you are doing this, tell me how it's going! Every time you fail in any of these areas you feed your enemy. It gets stronger & stronger. Just try & not think about something you shouldn't be doing when you become conscious of the fact you are doing it! You guys have heard of the cookie jar effect, I'm sure. Take a jar of freshly baked cookies & set them in a room of people (I didn't even say children) & tell these people that they are for the next people coming in & see what happens in the minds these people. You know kids would throw a fit & the longer you stay in that room with the kids, the harder it would be to keep them from talking about the cookies & how much they want them! Us adults can be just as bad. The longer we have to stay in that room, the more we want those cookies, even those of us (like me) that don't normally eat cookies! It's crazy!
The more we are told we can't have something, the more we want it! We do it in dating. I don't know how many women have told me "All the good men are taken or married" Take somebody who is single, good guy, good job, descent looking, just can't seem to find someone to go out with. Some of you guys need to fess up, this is you now! I have been around & now live in between 2 college towns! If someone would just take a chance, you know it would work out. Take that same guy, & have him go out with a beautiful women & all of a sudden, he has just become more attractive to those same women who wouldn't even look at him before. I have heard the statements "Well, if he's not dating, there must be something wrong with him", no it's just now you can't have him & that makes him more attractive! Now the women who are saying this isn't me, it may be because you are focusing on your life, school, hobbies, work, family etc.. Because of this you truly may not have complete awareness of this. It doesn't fit into the goals in your life! This is what moves me onto the next thing.
When our focus is on something else that is very important to us, we are aware of our surroundings, just not affected as much by them. So when it comes down to this whole, gotta be righteous & not sin thing, we are not really conscious of it, because we have our mind on better things. Phil 4:8 When we realize the it is Christ in us that makes us Holy, His Blood, His Sacrifice! When we realize that we can do nothing righteous outside of what He does in us. When we realize that We don't have to try to be Righteous, we ARE Righteous Rom 3:22, Rom 5:1 & 1 Cor 1:30 Then & only then will we pull down the stronghold of sin consciousness. We are a very sin conscious church, sometimes out of fear, other times out of pride & I am sure there are other reasons, but We need to change our focus!
What would happen if we stopped thinking about what we should not do & started thinking about what we can do! What if we started asking our neighbor if there was something we could help them with instead of pointing out the things that they might already (& Probably do) know about! And maybe if we took time out to do this, they could trust us enough to share some things that they need help on tearing down. Maybe we could show them the God of Love that us Christians talk so much about to get them to come to church (Then we hit them with all their faults). We need to stop being so sin conscious & focus on being God conscious! Then we could show them the Peace, Mercy, Grace & Freedom that we have in Christ! And when we stop focusing on our own sin, we give no power to the very giants that are coming against us. Stop feeding your giant & start strengthening yourself for battle!
Yes there are giants in the land, but when God is FOR US, who can be against us!!
For those of you that have signed up for the newsletter, it is being completely revamped & will be way better than I had initially thought & will be coming to a theatre near... no wait, I mean will be coming to your in box soon!! Please don't give up on me, I have a major flaw..... I am Human!
Why would anyone take 2 1/2 weeks off to hear music?
We made it! Atwood Lake here we are! Stew with 37 hours and only 2 short cat naps & me, 34 hours no sleep, we are ready to check this place out. We had arrived 2 days before any concerts would begin, so we could relax & enjoy the area. Little did we know that we would spend a good part of the week at Walmart & a gas station names Sheetz.
What Is Cornerstone Festival?
This is my 15th year going to a well known Festival, well known to the Christian Underground that is! If you listen to bands like Underoath, Demon Hunter, Haste The Day, Devil Wears Prada, then you would know. After reading this don't be surprised if you feel the urge to go get your ticket!
Getting Paid To Workout!
My life will never be the same! Imagine doing the very thing you enjoy & getting paid for it! Come into the "Mind of Bill" and see a different way of looking at weight loss & nutrition.
