Adopting a Mindset of Abundance

Let us turn to the book of Numbers, chapter 13, beginning with verse 17, and I am going to skip to some other verses as well. The word of the Lord says: “So Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, saying to them, ‘Go up from here into the Negev and go up into the hill country, and see what the land is like and whether the people who inhabit it are strong or weak,

whether they are few or numerous; what the inhabited land is like, whether it is good or bad; and what the inhabited cities are like, whether they are camps or fortified strongholds; and what the soil is like, whether it is fertile or barren, whether there are trees in it or not. And be courageous and bring back some of the fruit of the land.’ Now it was the season of the first grapes…”

Let us go to verse 25 now: “…and they returned from spying out the land after 40 days…” In other words, Moses sent them to go and look at the land they were going to enter. God had promised them the land of Canaan, and he sent them to observe it, spy it out, survey the land, and bring back a report about what that land was like, the land into which God was going to bring them.

Then, “…they returned from spying out the land after 40 days. And they went and came to Moses and Aaron and the entire congregation of the children of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh, and gave the information to them and to the entire congregation…”

When it says congregation, it means all the people, the entire nation. “…and they showed them the fruit of the land. And they told them, saying, ‘We came to the land to which you sent us, the land that certainly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit…’” They had brought back some very large clusters of grapes; they realized that, yes, the land was indeed very fertile. But look at what they said: “…nevertheless”—and that is a very big “nevertheless,” as we are going to see in a moment—“…but the people who inhabit that land are strong, and the cities are very large and fortified, and we also saw the sons of Anak there…” They were very tall people; they were huge giants. Nowadays, they would be basketball players and would be in great demand because they were very tall people, of quite considerable height. “…Amalek dwells in the Negev, and the Hittite, the Jebusite, and the Amorite dwell in the hill country, and the Canaanite dwells by the sea and along the banks of the Jordan…”

In other words, that land God had promised them was full of very strong, very large people who were not going to give up their land so easily, and they were highly capable in warfare, while these Hebrews had no experience whatsoever in war. So they are saying, look, we went there; yes, it is true, the land is tremendously fertile and there is plenty of food, but the people who are there, who have said, “No one is driving us out of here,” are very powerful, very strong people.

Now, Caleb—among the 12 whom Moses sent to survey the land to which God had promised to bring them, 10 are the ones who give this negative report, but there are 2 among those 12 spies who were sent, Joshua and Caleb, who have a different attitude. “…One of them, Caleb, quieted the people before Moses…” He told them, “Shh, wait a moment, wait a moment. Let us go up at once and take possession of it, because we are more than able to overcome them.” But the men who had gone up with him said, “We cannot go up against those people because they are stronger than we are.” And they spoke badly among the children of Israel about the land they had surveyed, saying, “The land through which we passed to survey it is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people we saw within it are men of great stature. We also saw giants there, the sons of Anak, descendants of the giants. And in our own sight we were like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them…”

The giants were saying, “Hey, who are these little runts who are going to drive us out of this land? Come here and you will see what we are going to do to you.”

Let us go to chapter 14, beginning with verse 4, and what happens? What is the people’s reaction? When they hear their soldiers, who were sent to survey that land God had called them to inhabit, they hear this and lose heart; they feel let down; they feel completely discouraged. Their spirits sink completely:

“…and they said to one another, ‘Let us appoint a captain and return to Egypt…’”

Egypt, in case you do not know, is where God had originally brought them out from. They had been slaves there; they had been oppressed there; they had been forced to work hard in Egypt, and God brought them out of there in his mercy. But now they are saying, “You know what? Let us go back, find a different leader, and return to Egypt.”

“…Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown before the whole multitude of the congregation of the children of Israel. And Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had surveyed the land, tore their clothes…”

This was a sign of mourning, of spiritual outrage, of feeling that something spiritually terrible had been done by these people who were saying, “Let us return to Egypt.” They are appalled to hear that, and the Hebrews had a sign of extreme mourning: when they felt very great sorrow, when someone dearly loved died, they tore their clothes. You can still see that a little in Palestine and Lebanon: when there is a terrorist attack or someone dies, the women scream, throw themselves to the ground, and tear their clothes. It is a way of displaying a great sense of outrage. They feel that God has been offended by these people’s negative attitude.

“…they tore their clothes and spoke to the entire congregation of the children of Israel, saying, ‘The land through which we passed to survey it is an exceedingly good land. If Jehovah delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land flowing with milk and honey. Therefore, do not rebel against Jehovah, nor fear the people of this land, for we will devour them like bread. Their protection has departed from them, and Jehovah is with us. Do not fear them; do not fear them; Jehovah is with us…’”

Why don’t you say with me right now, “Jehovah is with us”? Once again: “Jehovah is with us.” Glory to the name of the Lord. Look, if you can understand that and receive it, you can stand up right now—and I will not be offended—and go home, because you no longer need a sermon, because that is the very essence of a believer’s life. That is where we always stand. That is why the psalmist declares, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you will be with me.” That sense of God’s abiding presence in our lives, God’s companionship. God wants us to know that he is with us.

And when we know that he is with us, that should inspire confidence, faith, and calm in us. That is why, before leaving and ascending to heaven after his resurrection, the Lord Jesus Christ told the disciples, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations,” et cetera. And he says, “Behold, I am with you.” When? On Sunday at noon, when the service ends? “Behold, I am with you always.” Until when? Until I get tired and no longer want anything to do with you? “Until the end of the world.”

That sense of God’s abiding presence with us is the essence of the posture of a daughter of God, a son of God, and it should continually fill our vision, even amid trials, tribulations, difficult times, storm clouds around us, and announcements of disaster. We have to say, “The Lord is with me; the Lord is with us.”

And that is what should govern our sense of life in every situation we go through. As children of God, we have two options, two attitudes—what I call two possible mindsets by which to live life. We can live life with a mindset of scarcity, timidity, and inadequacy. That is one alternative, and many human beings live life that way; even many Christians live life from a perspective of scarcity. There is another alternative, however, for the child of God, which I believe is the only possible one if you are going to live your life biblically: a posture of abundance and sufficiency in the Lord, because God is with you.

And those are the only two possibilities: a posture of timidity and faintheartedness, or a posture of faith and trust in the Lord, making that posture like a magnet that attracts blessing. And the Bible is very clear that your life will be according to the way you think. Your life will be according to what you believe. The Lord told—I do not remember whether it was the Syrophoenician woman—“Let it be done for you according to your faith.” And several times we see the Lord say, “Let it be done according to your faith; let it be done according to what you believe.”

Because one’s faith, confidence, and mind—brothers and sisters, we must always be examining our minds; we must always be examining them and making sure that our minds are correctly tuned, because it is in the mind—or, I might say, in the heart—where the essence of our personality lies. Your life will proceed according to the climate, according to the atmosphere within you, within your inner being. That is why you must always be examining yourself: “Okay, how is my mind today? And what is my attitude this morning as I am getting up? Is my mind like a sponge ready to receive God’s blessing, or is it a dry, hard sponge that cannot absorb the rain God is going to send into my life?” And you have to check that. And if your mind is not completely attuned to the word of God, to what God has declared, then you have to realign your mind; you have to recondition it. How is the mind reconditioned? Well, the only thing that helps me is to begin the day in prayer, before doing anything else, because when I speak to the Lord and place my needs and struggles within a spiritual context, that forces me to recondition my mind and causes my thoughts to be directed once again toward the spiritual reality in which I dwell.

And you have to do that continually. Let me ask you—you do not have to answer me—but how many times a week do you bathe? Most of us bathe every day, I hope. And if not, at least we give ourselves a quick wash, but something has to be done. How many times do we brush our teeth? How many times do we comb our hair? Why? Because the natural order of the world is chaos: you put things in order, and you always have to put them in order again. You swept the house, and 3 or 4 days later, or a week later, you have to sweep it again because dust comes in, the chairs get moved out of place, the dishes get dirty—everything does. The world, human life, is a continual struggle against chaos. Chaos is always there, just around the corner, waiting to take possession of human life again. And the same thing happens with the mind.

No matter how much we confess God’s truths, the mind’s natural tendency is to return once again to doubt, distrust, and fear. And then one has to go back and tie up that wild cow again, pull it back again, and bring it back once more to God’s truth. It has to be tied up again, because the mind is always wandering. And the only thing that helps me is when I pray. You know, yes, I pray to present my specific needs to the Lord, but I also pray to realign my mind with the mind of God. And as I confess God’s truth, as I say to him, “Father, I know there is need, but I believe that you are faithful, and I need you, so provide and bless, and I thank you,” and this and that—as I say these things in an atmosphere of faith, my mind returns once again. It is as though something happens, as though syrup pours over my inner being, and I once again remember, “Hey, God is in control.” And that orients me, prepares me for my day, blesses me, and my mind is realigned once again. Because the mind is always doubting, and so I believe our posture should always be this: that my mind is centered on what God has said, that my mind is focused on the principles of Scripture, because, as I say, many things will depend on that.

And in this passage I see two mindsets, two attitudes, two types of mentality that govern and determine what will happen in your life as a result: whether God’s blessing will flow through your life; whether you will cross the mountains that rise before you; whether you will cross the raging rivers that may come in life; whether you will destroy the giants that will stand in your way to keep you from reaching the blessing God has appointed for you; or whether you will succumb and slink away into a little corner to complain, living a life of defeat without having attained the fullness God needs you to attain.

The destiny of these two mindsets is very clear in Scripture. Those 12 spies went to see the land God had promised them on the other side of the Jordan River, and then returned. What would happen to them was determined by the attitudes they displayed. Of those 12 people who entered the Promised Land to see it, only 2 ultimately managed to enter it. Do you know who they were? Joshua and Caleb. The other 10—do you know where they ended up? Their bodies ended up in the wilderness. They could not cross into the Promised Land.

What is more, look at the power of faith: not even Moses had the privilege of setting foot in the Promised Land—only Joshua and Caleb—because the Bible says there was a different spirit in them. What they believed, what they confessed, and what they held fast to determined their ultimate destiny.

And I want to tell you, my brother, my sisters, that when times of trial and difficulty come, the mindset you adopt—a mindset of scarcity, inadequacy, and timidity, or a mindset of abundance and power that enables you to say, as the Apostle Paul said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”—will make all the difference. Indeed, in all these things we are more than conquerors.

It says, therefore, that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities nor powers, neither the future nor things to come, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.

That is the kind of confession that we must continually rehearse in our minds and use to keep our minds anchored in times of trial and difficulty, in times of gathering storm clouds, in times when destruction is being announced. That mindset of sufficiency in Christ Jesus is so important, because otherwise we are going to remain in the wilderness. And in these times of great uncertainty among the nations—not only in the United States, but among the nations—as I was also saying last Sunday, more than ever we are going to have to nourish ourselves with a very strong, very powerful spiritual diet. These are times to return to the truths of God and live the Christian life at a very, very mature level.

Now, these two mindsets—the mindset of Joshua and Caleb, or the mindset of the ten spies—are reflected in the way they confront the situation before them. When they enter the land that still—picture this, picture the Hebrews: they have spent almost forty years practically wandering around in a wilderness, and God has not given them permission to enter. There is a river, the Jordan River, which acts as a dividing line between the place where they have been all this time and a place called Canaan, which is a large, fertile, beautiful region. And decades earlier, God brought them out of Egypt, where they were slaves, and told them, “I am going to take you to that land.” That land is occupied by strong people who have inhabited it for a long time, but those people have become corrupt; those people have sinned against me; those people have committed atrocities. And I have been waiting until their wickedness and sin reach their peak, so that I can then feel that I can remove them without any sense that I am committing an injustice. That is how God works. And God waited until the cup of the wickedness of that people in Canaan was full before saying, “Okay, now I can legitimately remove them, and I am going to bring my people in to create for myself a new and different nation.”

And God brings them out of Egypt, and we now enter the story when Moses is close to entering and tells them, “Go and look at the land, and tell us what you see there.” When these men return, they come with a negative report. “Oh yes, the land is very fertile,” they say. “It is tremendous, but there is one tiny problem: there are giants living there who say they are going to cut off our heads if we go in there to take their land away.” And that is where everything gets stuck. In other words, what happens, brothers and sisters, when the going gets tough for you? What do you do? That is the question. So the way these two groups of people respond to a challenge, to a negative situation that comes unexpectedly into their lives, will determine their ultimate destiny.

The way we face the situations that come into our lives—perhaps one of you has lost a job, for example; perhaps some of you may be facing the possibility of losing your home or your job; or perhaps there is illness in your life, or you are going through a difficult family or health situation; perhaps you are going through a stormy time in your life, and there are difficult situations you are dealing with right now—we always have the option of confronting life’s situations according to one of these two mindsets. There is the mindset that says, “Look, I did not sign up for this. This was not in the contract. When I got into this evangelical thing, they did not tell me it would be like this and that. They told me to pray and God would give me a Cadillac, a big house, and a pretty girlfriend, but it has been exactly the opposite.”

Or you can say, “You know what? I believe God said he is going to bless me, and even if I go through difficult times, I believe that when the evil day has passed, God will give me blessing; that after the storm comes the calm, comes peace; that God’s prosperity and God’s blessing are coming. I believe that, and I am going to stand my ground. I am going to tie myself to a tree so that, even if the storm rages, I will hold on tightly.” And what is that tree? The Word of God. Everything God has spoken with his own mouth, brothers and sisters.

God has not promised you or me a bed of roses. But God has promised us the grace and power to make it through anything that comes into our lives. That I can say with certainty. And he has told me, and he has also told you, that no matter what trial comes into your life, no matter what times of difficulty come, God will bring you through. The Lord says, “Though you pass through the fire, you will not be burned, and though you pass through the flame, it will not set you ablaze; though you pass through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you.” In other words, sometimes we are going to pass through the rivers; sometimes we are going to pass through the fire. We may even smell a little smoky at the end, but you know what? The Lord says, “But I will be with you, and I will bring you through; I will bring you safely out.” Glory to the Lord.

And you know what? The people who have experienced those times and emerged from those trials are the ones who can later testify to others about God’s faithfulness. They are the people who, once they reach adulthood or old age, can counsel the young and those who are new to the faith and remind them that yes, God is faithful. And they will say, “Oh yes, I remember back in 2008… but God brought us through and blessed us,” and so on. And you will be able to speak with assurance and confidence, because that is the God in whom I have believed. First, we have to earn the blessings that we will later use to keep moving forward.

And I am thinking here, I am looking because—yes, here is the message. As I was saying this, what the Apostle Peter says in his First Epistle came to mind. And perhaps I am going to digress a little, but it is all the same thing: it is the Word of God calling us to hold fast to our confession.

Here in 1 Peter, chapter 1, the Apostle Peter says that God has called us—verse 4—“...to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, reserved in heaven for us, who are kept by the power of God through faith....”

We are kept by the power of God through what? Through faith. “...To attain the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time....”

What he says there is a precious blessing: a promise. God is going to keep you; God is going to strengthen you; God has an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. And someone might say, “Well, how wonderful. Glory to God. That is great. Everything is going to turn out fine.” But look at what he adds. It says:

“...In this you rejoice, though now...” —there is the other part of the process—“...though now for a little while....” That little while could be a week; it could be a year; it could be three years. Brothers and sisters, I cannot tell you how long, because all of us have gone through situations and trials in life and have spent some time there in the pressure cooker, often simmering in our own juices. And you say, “Lord, listen to me; look, the water is already up to my neck, Lord. There is not much room left before it reaches my nose.” And you are wondering when the cavalry is going to arrive to rescue you, and still the Lord... That “little while”—you never know how long it will be.

In Ephesians, chapter 6, the Apostle Paul speaks about the evil day. It is not a twenty-four-hour day; it is a season, a period of time. We do not know. But it says:

“...Though now for a little while, if necessary....” Let me tell you: I believe that whatever we are going through at this time is necessary. This nation and the nations have been living ungodly lives, believing that they have now grown up and can detach themselves from God and his grace. There is much injustice in society; there is much ungodliness, much corruption. And many times God sees that, in order to preserve lives, it is necessary to slap man—humanity—in the face and leave him breathless, so that when he is on the ground, he will look up and look to God.

For what does it profit a man, the Word says—or a woman—if he gains the whole world and loses his soul? What matters most to God is the soul; remember that. And many people are going to go to hell wearing diamond rings and three-piece suits, with cars that will be of no use to them whatsoever when they arrive there in hell. And God wants to give life to humanity, and God also wants to purify his church, and sometimes it is necessary to go through all these things.

It says, “...So that the tested genuineness of your faith, much more precious than gold—which, though perishable, is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed....”

In other words, brothers and sisters, God may often take you through a time of trial. And what are you going to do during that time? You need to determine: How am I going to go through the trial in my life? How am I going to make it through? Am I going to go through it with a mindset of scarcity or with a mindset of abundance?

Let me quickly give you some very basic principles, and with that I will finish:

1. How does this difference in mindsets manifest itself? Notice the following. First, these ten spies—the first ten spies—look at and fix their gaze on the enemy, on the adversary, while Joshua and Caleb fix their gaze—and I am going to explain this—they, Joshua and Caleb, look at themselves. Not in the sense that they think they are something great, but they look at what they have within them. They look at who they are in God. They fix their gaze on their identity as children of God, while the ten spies fix their gaze on the enemy.

Where do I see this? Look at chapter 3, verses 28 and 29. The spies say, “But the people who inhabit that land are strong; the cities are very large and fortified; and we also saw the sons of Anak there,” and so on. And it mentions all the tribes waiting for them there to beat them up. They look at the enemy. However, as for Joshua and Caleb, look at what it says in verse 30 of chapter 13: “...Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, ‘Let us go up at once and take possession of it, for we are more than able to overcome them....’”

Caleb and Joshua focus on us: “We are going to go up.” No, “We are going to go up; we are going to take the land; we are more powerful.” In other words, they look toward... Why did they look at themselves? Because they knew that God was with them.

And it is important, brother, for you to understand that you have something very powerful in your life. You walk with the full presence of God within you. The Holy Spirit of God dwells within you. The resources of heaven go wherever you go. The power of God can change circumstances in your life. God can turn difficult things into things that are entirely positive and prosperous.

In 2 Timothy—let us go first to Ephesians, chapter 1—the Apostle Paul prays, in a passage I always quote. In chapter 1, verse 17, Paul prays that the Lord will give the Ephesians a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of God, enlightening the eyes of the Ephesians’ understanding. Why? So that they may know the hope to which God has called them, the riches of the glory of the inheritance they possess, and the surpassing greatness of God’s power toward those who believe. In other words, Paul is saying, “Brothers and sisters, I am praying that you will realize how great the inheritance and the power you have in God are.” The same power that raised Christ from the dead, Paul tells the Ephesians, is within you, and I pray that you will be conscious of that.

Brother, when there are difficult situations in your life, do not look so much at the giants. Look at the power of God within you; look at the endowment you have received; look at the grace God has caused to dwell in your life.

In 2 Timothy, chapter 1, verses 6 and 7, the Apostle Paul tells Timothy—I think it is 1 Timothy. I always get one confused with the other. Chapter 1, verses 6 and 7. Someone help me there.

“...Therefore I advise you to fan into flame the gift of God that is in you, because God has not given us a spirit of cowardice, but of power, love, and self-control....”

In other words, brothers and sisters, do not shrink back; do not lose heart; do not look so much at the negative things in life; do not look at the enemy. Look at the power of God within you, let that power guide you, and use that power. Use the power of God—the power of praise, prayer, and crying out to God—to destroy the giants. That will then enable you, as in this case, to say, “You know what? I am going to possess that land. That job I am looking for—I lost my job, but that is all right; there are others. Or God wants to give me a different blessing in a different way. God wants to strengthen me, because God is with me, and I know that I am going to make it through.” That is different. You are looking at God’s endowment within you, and you are going to seek an alternative, a way out, a different way to act, instead of simply throwing yourself on the bed and becoming depressed because God has abandoned you.

2. The 10 spies look at the dangers and look at the obstacles. What happens? They say, there are giants, they are going to kill us, they are going to destroy us, there are very strong people trained in warfare, and their cities are very strong, very large, very heavily fortified. They look at the dangers.

Joshua and Caleb look at the potential blessing, the promise, what that land offers. Look at Chapter 14, verse 7:

“…Joshua and Caleb spoke to the whole congregation, saying, ‘The land through which we passed to spy it out is an exceedingly good land…’”

In other words, let us not dwell so much on the giants and the fortified cities and the number of warriors they have; look, this is a tremendous opportunity. Look at what a blessing it is; look at what a beautiful, fertile land it is.

Brothers and sisters, likewise, we must always look at the blessings, always look at God’s promise for our lives. God has called us. Christ says, I have come so that you may have life and have it abundantly. Focus on the blessing God has promised you. Focus on the fact that God has something good for you. If you remain firm in the Lord’s promises, the blessing will come. Do not worry about these times you are going through; do not worry about the difficulties. Many people sometimes think only about the negative, and that is why they never reach the blessing God has for them.

In the book of Ecclesiastes, in Chapter 11, verses 4 and 6, the writer says, “…he who observes the wind will not sow, and he who watches the clouds will not reap…”

In other words, look, if you start thinking about all the obstacles and why something will not succeed or work out, you will find 27 reasons not to do it. The people who never get anywhere and never do anything in life are those who are always thinking about why something cannot be done. Focus on how great and important this blessing is; that is what will make the difference.

An illustration comes to mind about two shoe salesmen who were sent to a distant country—I am not going to say which one; put whichever country you want there. Their company sent them to open up a market for shoes, and one of them sent a report to the company saying, no one in this country wears shoes, so there are no possibilities here; we are going to close up shop, because it is not worth our staying here.

The other sent a letter saying, no one here wears shoes; it is a tremendous opportunity to sell shoes to everyone and make millions. One saw the negative; the other saw the positive. And that is often what happens in our lives: if we focus only on the reasons why not, on the obstacles, and on what will happen if this or that occurs, we will never do anything. Focus on the positive, and God will use that to help you move forward.

I ask the Lord, Father, always help me to think about the blessing that may come. I think about that sanctuary God wants us to build, and I think, look, Father, at the lives that could enter the Kingdom of God. This morning, at the service we held there, look, I had twenty thousand reasons not to do it. I do not have much time to explain them to you, but right up until the last moment, when I arrived there and we began, I was wondering, what is going to happen? It is a service in English, because I feel that the Lord—I believe there is a great blessing in an English-language ministry here, and I believe God wants that and that it can have a great impact on the city. And I see the potential blessing, but look, I think, I do not have time, the resources are not there, we do not have the pastoral resources, where is the space, this and that, and you become a sea of negativity.

I say, no, I feel that God has told me to do this; it can be a great blessing. I am going to focus on that, and even if I have some scares and not everything turns out well, I am going to keep moving forward because this is a blessing and God wants it.

Think positively, and I can tell you that it was a tremendous blessing, far more than I expected—I sincerely tell you that. People left there joyful and happy, and I say, I have spent so many months telling many people, go to the English services; we suspended them for a while. And you know what? Sometimes it is hard for people to see what you see. And I can see that if people dare to do it—but then someone starts saying, no, what if we now start at 9 in the morning? Oh, I need to sleep a little longer, this and that. Look, a sleepyhead never gets anywhere. The blessing comes when you wake up in the morning and go to the house of God. Seek the Lord; “Early will I seek You,” that chorus says. Seek the Lord early.

And young people, adults, and others—people complain, oh, there is nothing in English. Well, the church is offering something; seek the blessing, and God will give it to you. Dare to seek the blessing; do not look for the obstacle, look for the blessing.

3. A positive mindset. The 10 spies confess one negative thing after another with their mouths. Look at verse 31 of that same Chapter 13:

“…but the men who went up with him said, ‘We will not be able to go up…’—Do you see that? Their first mistake. They are already condemning themselves to failure.—‘…we will not be able to go up against them, against those people, because they are stronger than we are,’ and they gave the children of Israel a bad report… And it says, ‘…the land devours its inhabitants; all the people we saw in it are men of great stature…’ And they reel off a long list of negative reasons why they cannot enter.

And I have said, brothers and sisters, that what we confess with our mouths has great power. The mouth is a source of life or death. I tell people, for example, look, if you are going through a time of depression, perhaps you cannot change the emotions you have inside, but you can change what you say with your mouth, and you can change your behavior as well; you can change your outward actions. Outward actions are easier to control than inward feelings. And you know what? Many times, when we change our confession, our emotions adjust to that confession. That is one of life’s mysteries.

I refer you to Isaiah 54, where it says to the barren woman, “…Raise your voice, burst into song, you who were barren, who have no children…”

Why is a barren woman told to raise her voice and sing to the Lord? Because, you know what? When you sing to the Lord in your barrenness, fruitfulness often comes, fruit comes, the blessing comes.

“…because you changed your confession…”

When you are going through a trial, praise the Lord; when you are facing difficulties, glorify the name of the Lord; when you feel bad, put on a chorus, fill your house with music, put on the best outfit you have in the house, go out, have a coffee or a cappuccino somewhere, and celebrate.

Declare the goodness of the Lord; do not lose heart, as we say; do not just give up and die; confess the positive with your mouth. God creates with His mouth, and the people of God, made in the image and likeness of God, also create with their mouths.

These are not times to be confessing, oh, may God have mercy on us, the world, and so on. No, it is fine if you say that, but also say, but God is going to keep us, God is powerful, God is going to bring us through, God has good purposes. Make positive confessions with your mouth. Brothers and sisters, change your confession and you will change your situation. Write that down somewhere. Change your confession and you will change your situation. That is the word of the Lord for this people. Declare that God has good things for you. In your life, get used to speaking positively, and whenever you make a negative confession, at least neutralize it with one of hope and positivity. That is a habit you can develop. And that gradually reconfigures what is inside you. Little by little, you will discover that your mind and your emotions adjust to your confessions.

4. The 10 spies made a mistake, and it was that they trusted in their own strength. That is, they focused on their own strength and also on the rational principles dictated by their own strength. They looked at their ability versus the situation they were in. And of course, there was a very large deficit.

Chapter 13, the second part of verse 32: “…the land through which we passed is a land that devours its inhabitants; the men there are of great stature, and in our own sight, it says, we were like grasshoppers…” We were like tiny little insects, “…and so we also seemed to them…”

That is, of course, they looked at it this way: the Hebrews, the Jews, are not a very tall people ethnically, and they had no training in warfare. These people were genetically very tall, and I imagine they were big-boned, strong, and long-limbed, and there was an incredible disparity. There still is in Israel. If you look at a map of Israel, Israel is a tiny dot. And that always makes an impression on me when I look at a map of the world and see what it is. Do you know, brothers and sisters, that Israel is the size of Rhode Island? People hear so much about Israel’s power to determine the state of the nations and the world that they think Israel is an immense land. Israel is a tiny dot on the earth, brothers and sisters, wedged in there and surrounded by immense nations—Iraq, Iran. Look, Iran is an incredibly large nation compared with that little patch of earth called Israel. And the Jews are not very tall or very strong either; nevertheless, they have everyone around them in checkmate. They have the entire Arab world in their grip, and it has not been able to destroy that nation—quite the opposite. That nation has prospered. Why? Because of the Lord’s grace; in His mercy, God has mercy on the Hebrews, because they are hardhearted people, but He has a purpose for that people.

And brothers and sisters, when you often look at your negative circumstances, your life—I always tell the brothers and sisters, look, do not look at your past situation, do not look at your academic pedigree, do not look at your family heritage; look at what God has said: that if you are in Christ, you are a new creation. Everything from the past must be erased; now it is simply God and you moving forward with the full endowment of God’s power within your life. And look, do not look at the deficit, because if you look at the deficit, you will never do anything. Young people need to be told that: do not look at the fact that your studies are difficult and that you are not getting ahead, or whatever it may be. Begin to believe by confessing positivity with your mouth, working hard and diligently, doing your part, and not looking at your own strength.

What did Joshua and Caleb look at? Where did they place their focus? They placed it on the Lord. The others focused on their lack of strength. Joshua and Caleb focused on the Lord and on the principles of the Spirit.

Look at Chapter 14, verses 8 and 9. What did they say? That land is good, and if Jehovah—this is the first time they mention Jehovah in this entire assessment that has been made—“…if Jehovah delights in us, He will bring us into this land and give it to us…”

They set a spiritual principle against the rational principle, and that is what we must do in our lives. Seek the spiritual principle, seek God’s promise, seek the principle that applies to your situation, and like a lawyer, use that principle to bring your case before the Lord and say, Father, You told me in Your Word that You had an answer for such-and-such a situation. Now, according to Your Word, here it is; do what You have promised. You know what? That is a very powerful way to pray: using the Word of God. That is why it is important to know the Word, because then you know which principle applies to your situation, and you can remind the Lord of it—“remind” Him, in quotation marks.

Do you remember the story of the Syrophoenician woman? She came to Jesus and said to Him, my daughter is oppressed by a demon. Heal her. The Lord gave her a dismissive answer and sought to send her away, saying, you know what? It is not right to give—even insultingly—the children’s food to the little dogs. That woman could have gone away completely upset, cursing, ranting about Jesus and how badly He had treated her, this and that. But you know what? She said, ah, yes, You said that food should not be given to the little dogs, but You know what, Lord? Even the little dogs can eat the crumbs that fall from the table. And there she caught the Lord; she got Him. She told Him, all right, Lord, but at least give me a little piece, a little something. And the Lord said, woman, great is your faith; let it be done according to your faith.

And the Word says that at that very moment, her daughter, who was some distance away, was healed of the demonic contamination; she was healed. Why? Because this woman found the principle and used the principle like a wrench on Jesus, saying, yes, but—and she took hold of the Lord, and the Lord laughed. You know what? Sometimes God likes us to catch Him in His own Word and to invoke the spiritual principle that applies to our situation.

And that is what Joshua and Caleb did. They said, if the Lord delights in us, no matter what happens, we are going to enter that land; He is going to give it to us. “…Therefore,” it says, “do not rebel against Jehovah, nor fear the people of that land; we will devour them like bread…”

Look at the positive confession: “…their protection has departed from them…” They are encouraging themselves; they are confessing. God has abandoned them; they are no longer with the Lord, nor is the Lord with them, but He is with us, so we have every reason to overcome.

“…and Jehovah is with us…” Three times: Jehovah, Jehovah, Jehovah. The others: us, us, us. We cannot do it, the situation is not good, the city is large, this and that.

Brother, live by the principles of the Word of God. Do not be guided by what you see around you. What is around you is useful for guiding you, orienting you, and giving you some coordinates, but the principle that must guide your life is the spiritual principle. What does God say? The doctors say this, the economists say that, but what does God say? Until God has handed down His verdict, do not give up. It is very important.

5. And the final principle is that these men, the 10 Israelites, focused on what I call the disorder of the process, the confusion, the complicated nature of God's processes. And they focused on how long it was taking, on the difficulty of things, on the unexpected factors, on the wilderness, and on this new information that there were strong people and a powerful army. And they focused on that, and what happens as a result? Once again, they confess: Let us get out of here. How do they put it?

“… Why is the LORD bringing us to this land to fall by the sword, and for our wives and our children to be taken as plunder? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?…”

When things became difficult and complicated, when things did not happen as quickly as they had expected and confusion and complexity came, they gave up. But what do Joshua and Caleb do? They reduce it all—they reduce all that confusion to one central principle: if God is with us, if the Lord is pleased with us.

Brothers and sisters, look, life is complicated, God's processes are complicated, and God's promises sometimes take years to be fulfilled. Sometimes you will not see the blessing God has declared over your life until 20, 25, or 15 years later. How long has humanity been waiting for the second coming of Christ? And how many things have happened in the meantime? Many difficulties, but that is precisely why we cannot focus on the fluctuations of life. The needle of human life rises and falls mercurially. Today you may be experiencing victory and prosperity; tomorrow a difficult time may come. Today your home may be a model of virtue and blessing; tomorrow everything may be turned upside down and difficulty may come. If you focus on the fluctuations, on the vicissitudes, on the changes of life, and when things are going well you are happy, but when they are going badly you sink into depression; when a cloud comes, you panic, and when the sun is shining brightly, then you are completely encouraged, happy, and positive—you will never accomplish anything. The son of God, the daughter of God, focuses on what God has declared, focuses on God's faithfulness, focuses on the fact that God has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you,” and holds on to that, come what may, regardless of what they see or hear. They remain focused on one thing alone: if God is with me, no one can stand against me. If God is with me, I will move forward. If God's promise is with me, I will not be brought down. You remain there, grounded in that, and you keep moving forward, and you tell your emotions, “Submit”; you tell your mind, “Submit”; you tell the circumstances, “Submit.” And you remain centered on what God has said. Those are the people who move forward; those are the people who are blessed.

Here, brothers and sisters, are some of the elements that make up that abundance mindset, and that is the mindset that will carry you and me through these times and lead you to a fruitful, blessed life.

I ask the musicians to come up here, please. I repeat: do not look at the enemy; look at the God who is within you. Number two: do not look at the obstacles and dangers; look at the blessing God has promised you. Do not speak negativity; instead, speak positively. Do not focus your mind on your own strength; focus it on the Lord and on spiritual principles. And finally, do not allow yourself to be overwhelmed by the complexity of the process; instead, simplify things and focus on what God has said, on His presence in your life, and on His faithfulness.

How many can say amen to these principles? Stand with me. Glory to the Lord. And let us live that positive life; let us believe that the Lord is with us, that the Lord will bring us through. I encourage you to set your eyes on that positive outlook. Ask the Lord to transform your mind. Do not conform to the mindset of this age, of this world; be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

I ask the Lord to give this people a different understanding. As I was saying last Sunday, God is calling us to take seriously what we read in the Word and to live consistent lives. These are times when either we believe or we do not believe, when either we live or we do not live out what we have confessed. These are times for you to live the Christian life in every respect. Do not let your guard down; put on the armor, says the Lord; gird up your loins. Do not be led by your mind; do not be led by your emotions; do not be led by circumstances; do not be led by what others say. If necessary, look, do not even watch the news; forget about it. If it is going to depress you, do not read it; focus on the Lord. Read your Bible more than the news.

Something occurs to me here. Look at this, brothers and sisters; it is important. People talk about the difference between a thermostat and a thermometer: the thermometer merely reads and records what is outside. If it is hot, the thermometer rises; if it is cold, it falls. It controls nothing; the thermostat controls the temperature, right? The Bible is the thermostat; the news is the thermometer. Which of those two instruments would you rather cling to, and what do you want to fill your mind with: that which can change the circumstances, or that which merely records them?

Surrender your mind; fill yourself with the Word of the Lord; fill yourself with God's principles. Strengthen yourself with the Word of God. Focus your mind on what God has declared. These are times when the valiant take it by force. Those who have the strength of the Lord will survive and even triumph. I thank God for being able to live in times like these, because here we can see the glory of the Lord manifested.

May the Lord renew your mind and renew your spirit this afternoon. Leave here strengthened; leave here confident. Come what may, the Lord is with us, and He is faithful. Father, we thank You because You are not a thermometer; You are a thermostat. Lord, You control even the temperature of the universe. Father, You determine the events of history. You are not frightened by anything; nothing catches You by surprise; nothing is beyond Your control; our lives are in Your hands. The hearts of kings are like water in Your hands; You direct them wherever You wish. And we thank You because we serve that almighty God, and our life is secure in Him. And we bless Your people, Lord. I ask You to renew the spirit and the minds of Your people. May they be an all-powerful people because they have an almighty God; may they be a victorious people because they have a victorious God; may they be a people full of faith because their God has all the faith in the universe; may they be a people who overcome circumstances because God controls circumstances; may they be a prosperous people because God is the owner of the gold and the silver. Hallelujah!