Scripture tells us that life and death are in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21). But one thing people do all the time is that they start speaking the right things; they speak words of faith and life, but then they turn around and speak the exact opposite of what they just said! They’ll declare a promise and then start talking about how bad everything is. They’ll say, “God is my provider!” Then they’ll say, “Look how bad the economy is. I don’t think I’ll ever get out of debt.” That’s just like planting a seed in the ground and then digging it right back up again before it ever has a chance to take root and blossom.
If you and I are going to see the harvest of blessing God has for our futures, we can’t “dig up” our seeds of faith by allowing words of defeat or negativity to come out of our mouths. Instead, we have to water the seeds of faith by continuing to declare His Word. When you wake up every morning, start thanking Him that His promises are coming to pass in your life. All throughout the day, focus on keeping an attitude of faith and expectancy.
This is what Joshua and Caleb did in the Old Testament. They declared what God was able to do even when everyone else around them shrunk back in fear. Because of their faith, they were able to possess their Promised Land.
At the time, Moses had led the children of Israel out of captivity, and they were on the verge of possessing the land that God had promised. This Promised Land was already inhabited, so Moses sent twelve men—including Joshua and Caleb—to spy it out and report back to him. The inhabitants of the land were huge people—giants—strong and powerful. Certainly, when the twelve Hebrew spies saw the giants, they were awestruck. I can imagine that over the many days they observed these giants, they saw things that invoked fear in their hearts. They may have seen the giants practicing their fighting skills or workers carrying huge boulders larger than what most humans could carry. Scripture doesn’t really tell us what they saw, but apparently, whatever it was terrified almost all the spies.
I would imagine that Joshua and Caleb were also impressed by what they saw. No doubt they, too, were tempted to fear the giants. But Joshua and Caleb had a different spirit than their companions. They knew what God had promised, and they chose to trust God over what they saw with their eyes in the natural realm. The other spies spoke out of their fear, saying to Moses, “We are but grasshoppers compared to the giants” while Joshua and Caleb chose to speak faith and declared, “We are well able to overcome! Let us go at once and possess the land!
Because Joshua and Caleb stood strong in their position of faith, out of that entire generation, they were the only two who ever made it into the Promised Land.
We all have giants or obstacles that try to keep us from possessing what God has promised. We have two choices: we can quit and live in mediocrity, or we can fight and take hold of the victory. Today, don’t let your circumstances dictate what’s coming out of your mouth; instead, let what comes out of your mouth dictate your circumstances. And most importantly—don’t dig up your seed! Give your faith a voice and let God will bless you and promote you. Before long, you will be entering your promised land!
“Since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, ‘I believed and therefore I spoke,’ we also believe and therefore speak.” (2 Corinthians 4:13, NKJV)