“But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land which he entered, and his descendants shall take `possession of it.” --- NASB Numbers 14:24
With the large numbers of mankind who profess to know Christ personally, you would hope that they have been trained and are prepared to enter the field of battle against Satan—and come out a conqueror. Any soldier who enters boot camp desires to be a good solider. It seems that many of today’s Christian soldiers missed the class on difficulties and suffering. Few have been trained to deal with issues of determination and courage. Moses had a faithful and joyful following until their stomachs began to ache with hunger. As their dreams seem to vanish, they were ready to retreat. At that point, they would rather enjoy garlic and onions than the blessings of God.
One thing is for certain today, spiritual growth is an uphill battle for Christians. It’s more than our fetish with leisure time, it’s more than the time we spend hauling the kids around. The enemy seeks to defeat us on every side. He laughs at our laziness and smiles at our good intentions but he seeks to defeat us every step of the way. Don’t even mention suffering or hardship. At the first sign of either, we kiss and leave the Savior, “reluctant to lose heaven, but even more unwilling to buy it at such a dear price” (William Gurnall).
We are content with our own “stagnant cisterns” and leave the Water of Life for those who are willing to pay a bigger price and venture further into God for it. It does require another Spirit to follow Christ fully. Caleb had that spirit and today we can receive the same fullness simply by asking God for it. If you want to be a Christian that is described as “fully following God,” petition God for the holy bravery and determination that is required to be like Caleb. Cowards never won heaven. Ask God to give you “another spirit.”
