From:  Mary Padgett Ministries, Inc.

A Word In Due Season

DECEPTION IN THE WILDERNESS

Scripture:  Numbers 13:33  "... And we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight."

God led His people out of Egypt with great signs and wonders but when the journey became long and things became difficult, they allowed a spirit of deception to defeat them and lead them astray from their destiny and God's best for their lives.  They were deceived about their provisions and murmured about not having flesh to eat even though God was faithfully raining down fresh bread from Heaven every day to satisfy their hunger. When they complained about the lack of water, God supplied it from a rock, but they were still deceived about God's presence with them.  They said, "Is the Lord among us or not?"  They even thought that God had lured them into the wilderness to kill them.  They were in deception about who they really were and what God really wanted to do for them.

They limited the Holy of Israel because they were caught up in deception in their own minds.  They did not see themselves as God saw them or believe that He could do what He promised to do.  They had no faith that He was able to bring them into the Promised Land.  When they finally saw the fruit of the land, they believed an another evil report.  Deception told them that they could not penetrate the walled cities and possess the inheritance that God had given them because there were giants in the land, and that they, themselves, were as grasshoppers in the sight of these giants.  They were so deceived that they also saw themselves as grasshoppers even in their own sight.  Deception spoke again to their hearts and caused them to want to return to Egypt and the bondage from which they had been delivered.

You may be experiencing a wilderness in your present walk with the Lord, but God doesn't want you to be deceived.  He wants you to see yourself as you really are and to know that you can have all the things that He has promised to you.  He doesn't want you to view yourself as a grasshopper in the midst of your giant enemies.  You were created in God's image and He wants you to see yourself in that light.  One of Satan's greatest fears is that you will see yourself as God sees you.  God sees you forgiven and washed in the blood of Jesus.  He sees you healed by the stripes of Jesus.  He sees you prospering as your soul prospers.  He sees you delivered and set free because Jesus paid the price on the cross of Calvary.  Don't allow deception to steal your inheritance.  God's promises belong to you and they are yours to possess. +++

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