The Hill Country of Hebron, our promised Inheritance.
As I have mentioned before, nothing is free in this world. Especially if we want to have anything “extra.” God provides, yes, but you still need to go to work. That’s how God provides through your diligence.
God’s spiritual gifts are “free,” but you must remain obedient and diligent to maintain and keep them pure.
People generally want things easy. Generally, we love free stuff. People are naturally lazy, greedy, covetous, jealous, and envious. We are born sinners. Therefore, after we become God’s children, He begins to teach us and train us how to kill our sinful characteristics/nature and how to pay the price to achieve, accomplish, receive, and live a blessed and abundant life spiritually and physically. The life of freedom.
In the Bible, there is a story of an 80-year-old man, Caleb, who was a leader of the tribe of Judah, who asked Joshua to grant hill country to Hebron. Caleb was promised to be given this region 40 years before he was 40, so Caleb had to wait 40 years for this particular land.
It is like how we receive a prophecy, promise, or calling and are waiting for it to be granted. While Caleb was waiting for this promised hill country, he had to follow the Lord wholeheartedly. While we wait for the fulfillment of our promise, we must examine our hearts and conduct daily. Please do not just “wait” and pass the time. Use it wisely. Please know that our waiting time is also a testing time. God watches us.
Deuteronomy 1:36 “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 Caleb’s sacrificial devotion, the head of the family followed God wholeheartedly for 40 years. God proved him, not only him but his children also inherited the great hill country. His children got to enjoy an abundant life with him.
Joshua 14:12 “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.”
It is God’s pattern He grants a “final” test right before our big breakthrough or a significant prayer answer. This is where most…I will repeat: most Christians fail.
God will place “Anakites(strongest giants)” and their “large and fortified city” right in front of our faces. Then He will say, “Let see…If you will trust Me or move according to what you see physically? Let’s see if you will still move forward in faith.”
The “final test” comes in many different forms. Through circumstances, some kinds of situations, people, and many more.
Caleb, who had a different spirit from the others, boldly faced the challenging situation, overcame the fear, and conquered the region. He wholeheartedly depended on God, and he said, “The Lord is helping me.”
Numbers 14:24 “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.”
Do not be deceived by what you can see. Fix your eyes on the Lord. He makes all things possible. Impossibility is there to test you. What will you choose? What is coming out of your mouth? We must not complain like Israelis due to doubt and unbelief. Let us not test God. Always thank Him, always repent, and constantly praise Him.
Pastor Steve Kim
Comments:
As pastors, we are there to help and push people since their faith may be weak. When I push you, people do not realize I am trying to help their faith. They tend to take it personally and end up trying to prove themselves right when I am not trying to prove who is right. I am only pushing in God’s will and direction. And many fail to realize they have just been tested.
When u have felt me overbearing and pushy, and you feel like you want to get offended because you think I am being unreasonable to your physical circumstances, do realize you’re lacking faith and you’re moving and making decisions within your limited physical realm. This is why you need to just trust, listen, and follow instructions. But if you do not trust us, then we’re just wasting time anyway.
From the old testament, i have heard a rabbi say the people with Moses were “short in spirit.”
It is not that you are not without the Holy Spirit, but you may fall short of its fullness/overflowing. I thought about that statement. We can say we all have strength, but someone may have little strength to perform the task. The question is not whether we have strength or not but whether we have little or full strength to complete a task. Little strength can still accomplish little things.
Therefore, we can say we need the fullness/overfullness of the Holy Spirit.
We can conclude that through your sin, lack of faith, fear 🐓, unbelief, grieving, and quenching of the Holy Spirit, you are limiting Him to work in u to His fullness and overflowing.
So, for the Jews, this is a legitimate term “short of the Spirit.” But God sees it as a different spirit. God said that Joshua and Caleb have different spirits than the people who had possessed spirits of fear.
Could this mean if u r not full and overflowing of the Holy Spirit, than the deficit creates a vacuum for bad spirits based on what you believe, think, speak, and murmur?
So if we do not fully love, then you are hating and a murderer. But u say you’re loving, but what if God says u took away 10% of the full measure of Love because you’d rather be offended? Then God defines it as hate.
We can then conclude, if u do not fill yourself of the Holy Spirit in fullness and overflowing, does that mean we do not possess the Spirit? But like love, what if we have a deficit in which we have enough spirit to get us to church, pray and read but we do not have the fullness to assault into the promise land? Than God said to those with Moses, they have different spirits.
The Bible says if we are born of God or born of the Spirit, we should overcome. We will no longer have these trivial nagging sins to deal with. The Holy Spirit is there to teach us personally, and we do not have to be like some child who is always asking what to do.
But if we possess spiritual gifts and can speak in tongues, holy dance, have dreams and visions, heal, cast out, and even hear God, does that mean we are still able because we may be “short in spirit,” but not filled to become more than conquerors?
You should give deep thought to what I just wrote.
Pastor Steve Kim