Expect Favor

I prayed for the breakthrough for so long, but when it arrived, I found myself unable to celebrate it. It’s almost like I was waiting for the other shoe to drop…like it was too good to be true. And I wondered why I couldn’t just be happy in the moment. What was wrong with me? And then I thought about it. I had been in a season of waiting on God for so long, that it became my way of life. My mind had been transformed in a way…conditioned to believe that my place of waiting was my new normal. It was all I had known. I wasn’t in the mind state to receive anything else.

Just the other day, as I sat and thought about the situation, the Holy Spirit spoke to me. He told me that this was how the Israelites felt when God wanted to lead them into the promised land. And immediately, the details of their story ran through my mind. They had been in bondage, praying and waiting for God to free them. And He did. He sent Moses to lead them out of Egypt…to lead them into the promised land, but most of them never made it. Why? Because although they were physically free, their minds were very much still in bondage. They had been enslaved for generations. They were conditioned to believe that they were inferior to their masters. This is all that they knew. And now, God was trying to lead them into a land that they would have to fight for.

According to scripture, the Lord instructed Moses to send twelve scouts into the promised land. But when the scouts returned, they reported that the occupants of the promised land were too strong for them to defeat.

But the other men who had explored the land with him disagreed. “We can’t go up against them! They are stronger than we are!” So they spread this bad report about the land among the Israelites: “The land we traveled through and explored will devour anyone who goes to live there. All the people we saw were huge. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!” (Numbers 13:31‭-‬33 NLT)‬‬

Unfortunately, most of the Israelites agreed with the report.

Then the whole community began weeping aloud, and they cried all night. Their voices rose in a great chorus of protest against Moses and Aaron. “If only we had died in Egypt, or even here in the wilderness!” they complained. “Why is the Lord taking us to this country only to have us die in battle? Our wives and our little ones will be carried off as plunder! Wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt?” Then they plotted among themselves, “Let’s choose a new leader and go back to Egypt!” (Numbers 14:1‭-‬4 NLT)

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I’ve never really understood the Israelite’s position until now. In the past, I looked at their story and concluded that they had a lack of faith in God. But now, I think it’s much deeper than that. It was less about God, and more about themselves. Yes, they were finally free, but they couldn’t see themselves as anything else but slaves…people that were weak…people that were unable to defend themselves. This, was the problem. And this is what God was trying to rectify in the wilderness.

When Pharaoh finally let the people go, God did not lead them along the main road that runs through Philistine territory, even though that was the shortest route to the Promised Land. God said, “If the people are faced with a battle, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” So God led them in a roundabout way through the wilderness toward the Red Sea. Thus the Israelites left Egypt like an army ready for battle. (Exodus 13:17‭-‬18 NLT)‬

The wilderness is for healing and transformation.

This is the place that God brings us to when He wants to heal us from the things that we’ve been through. This is the place where He transforms our minds, so that we are able to walk into the blessings that He has for us. And although we hate this place…it is necessary.

Through the wilderness God healed me from some of my deepest pains. He transformed my mind…He showed me who He called me to be. He gave me a new name, a new purpose. But does that mean that my past has somehow been erased from my mind? Absolutely not. Every day I have a choice to make. Will I accept the bad report of what seems impossible? Will I agree with my past? Or will I have the faith to become who God has called me to be? Will I have the courage to go where He has called me to go?

This was the same choice that God gave the Israelites. He took them the long way…to heal their pain…to transform their minds. But at the end of the day, most of them didn’t have the faith to step into the promise that God had given him. Although, there were a few exceptions.

Two of the men who had explored the land, Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, tore their clothing. They said to all the people of Israel, “The land we traveled through and explored is a wonderful land! And if the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us safely into that land and give it to us. It is a rich land flowing with milk and honey. Do not rebel against the Lord, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land. They are only helpless prey to us! They have no protection, but the Lord is with us! Don’t be afraid of them!” (Numbers 14:6‭-‬9 NLT)‬

Joshua and Caleb saw the situation completely different than the rest of the Israelites. Yes, they had been slaves. Yes, they were used to being inferior. But they allowed God to heal their hearts and transform their minds. They allowed Him to speak their destiny over them. They choose to agree with His assessment of their lives, instead of agreeing with the bad report.

It’s not enough to believe that God will lead you out of one season. You must also believe that He will lead you into the next season.

This may sound like common sense, but having the faith to leave one season is completely different than having the faith to walk into another. And this is because God never leads us into places that we can sustain on our own. He wants us to lean on Him. He wants us to draw our strength from Him. We can’t do it on our own. But we don’t have to. We have a God that goes before us. He fights for us. He prepares the way for us. We are not alone.

I promise you what I promised Moses: ‘Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you— from the Negev wilderness in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north, from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, including all the land of the Hittites.’ No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you. (Joshua 1:3‭-‬5 NLT)‬‬

If we want to see the promise, we have to expect favor from the Lord.

We have to walk into this new season as Joshua and Caleb did. They expected that God would go before them. They expected that He would give them the ability to be victorious. They expected that He would deliver the promise into their hands. If we want to see our promise, we must do the same.

Our expectation determines what we say, and what we say determines what manifests in our lives.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits. (Proverbs 18:21 ESV)

We have the power to speak life into our promise, but we also have the power to speak death into our promise. This is what we’ve seen through the Israelites story. One group spoke death over their promise, and the other group spoke life over their promise. Each group received what they had the faith to declare.

Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “How long must I put up with this wicked community and its complaints about me? Yes, I have heard the complaints the Israelites are making against me. Now tell them this: ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord, I will do to you the very things I heard you say. You will all drop dead in this wilderness! Because you complained against me, every one of you who is twenty years old or older and was included in the registration will die. You will not enter and occupy the land I swore to give you. The only exceptions will be Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. (Numbers 14:26‭-‬30 NLT)‬

We’ve all been through something...some things that have scarred us…situations that have changed how we view ourselves and what we are capable of. But we don’t have to allow our past to dictate our future. We can allow our Savior to lead us to a place of healing and transformation. We can allow Him to give us a new name, a new identity, new purpose. We can allow Him to give us an expectation for the future. If we want to see our promise, we have to expect our promise. We have to expect the favor that God has placed over our lives. He has graced each of us to walk in purpose…in spite of knowing what we’d go through. But we have to be willing to agree with His word, by faith. And we must be willing to walk into purpose, by faith. When we have faith in Him, He fights our battles for us…making the impossible, possible. He will never fail us. This is why we can walk in expectation. When we expect Him to show up in our lives, He always comes through for us. We can trust in Him.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, thank you for redeeming me through the blood of Jesus. Thank you for saving me, and thank you for the call that you’ve placed on my life. I believe that you are working in my situation right now. I believe that you are working to free me from anything that is preventing me from walking in the purpose that you have for me. And I trust that you are working everything out for my good. Father, thank you for healing me from my past. Thank you for transforming my mind, and for enabling me to be who you have called me to be. Today, I declare that I will agree with what your word says about me. I am a child of God. I was created for a purpose, and I believe that you are leading me towards that purpose. So I will live with an expectation of your faithfulness. I will walk with an expectation of your favor. And I expect to receive everything you have for me. I declare that I will be victorious. In Jesus’ name, amen.