What Do You See? | The Worshipper's Thought of the Day

While reading a good friend and fellow Kingdom laborer's blog ("The Slow and Painful Death Caused By Lack of Faith"), I was reminded of the importance of HOW we see ourselves.  Ten of the twelve Israelite spies came back from their 40-day mission of surveying the Promised Land and its inhabitants with a NEGATIVE report (Numbers 13:30-32).  One of the reasons given for their poor outlook on the situation was that the Israelite spies saw themselves as grasshoppers amidst the giants of the land (Numbers 13:33).  Nevermind that the same GOD, who delivered them mightily from the hand of the Egyptians, expressed that He'd given them this territory and they only had to enter in to possess it.  Well, the majority had spoken: we are inadequate to seize what GOD has promised us.  (My heart literally fell after typing that last sentence because it represents the reality of so many people who have placed their faith in GOD for eternal salvation but can't trust Him for today.  My goodness...)

Even though Israel saw themselves as being too small and weak in stature to take on the inhabitants, herein lies the irony: Egypt enslaved the Hebrews because their growth posed a threat to the security of its own kingdom (Exodus 1:8-10).  Now isn't THAT something?!  Why YES, it most certainly is!  The Israelites were oppressed because their wiser, yet frightened enemy saw how POTENTIALLY powerful they were when they were too busy to even realize it for themselves.  Even after GOD's deliverance of His people involved plagues of mass murder and destruction, the crippling of Egypt's military and significantly spoiling the empire of its wealth, the Israelites STILL saw themselves as being inadequate.  (GOD help us TODAY!)

You know what?  I heard my pastor say something that bears repeating: "It's hard being big when little's got you."  It is IMPOSSIBLE to see oneself as a king and a priest when all one sees is a slave and a sinner.  A person can NEVER see him/herself as healthy and wealthy as long as he/she sees sickness and poverty in the mirror.  Answer me this: why is it that we ARE SEEING ourselves as inadequate when our own enemy has ALREADY SEEN us as a threat?

We're suffering from a severe identity crisis in the Body of Christ because we don't even know our own worth.  We constantly shoot ourselves in the foot and want to blame the enemy, but let's face it: we're our own worst enemy.  If anyone reading this falls into this category, then I beg you to PLEASE--if you don't do anything else this year--learn to see yourself as your Father does and get to know yourself as such.  Begin to make strides towards living and operating as the person GOD sees you as being so you can possess the land the LORD your GOD has given to you as an inheritance. HALLELUJAH!