Feed your faith

 Title: Feed your faith

Bible: Numbers 13:17-14:10

Key verse Numbers 14:6-8

 

Hello,

Welcome in the melodious name of Jesus Christ.

It is very good that all of you come to God’s house today, so that His name can be glorified.

I have a question for you.

How do we know when we are hungry?

Our stomachs would start growling.

Our brains send signals that we are craving something, delicious, sweet, or some sort of protein.

How do we know when we are thirsty?

Our mouth gets dry, our tongue becomes pasty, and our heart starts to hurt. And if we have been doing some physical work, then we will be sweating from head to toe, as our bodies lose moisture and need restoration, which will come from water.

But sometimes we fail to recognise when we are hungry and when we are thirsty, and then we misunderstand one for the other.

Sometimes what we perceive as hunger pains are actually signs of dehydration. Instead of replenishing our bodies with water, we fill them with food, which, instead of satisfying our thirst, makes us put more weight to our bodies.

So, it is very important to know whether we are hungry for food or thirsty for water, but both are essential for our physical body; we have to feed it to keep it alive.

One grandfather had two wolves, one good and the other bad. So, his grandson asked his grandfather, father, which one was going to live with me; his grandfather said one whom you would feed.

It is absolutely true that you can either feed your fear or you can feed your faith. If you feed your faith, you will be far from your fears and doubts about your life. But if you feed your fear, you will be far from your faith. In other words, the one you feed more will remain close to you in your life.

To understand this better, I want to draw your attention in number chapter 13-14 to a story of the 12 spies who went to the promised land. 

When the Israelites set up camp in the wilderness of Paran, Then God said to Moses, Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. So, Moses selected the leaders of the Israelites, these men were younger and healthier. They had to be able to walk a long distance.

There were 12 leaders, but 40 years later, only two of these leaders entered the promised land with the Israelites; they were Joshua and Caleb.

They wanted to know several things about the land. They wanted to know if these people were strong or weak. Then they would prepare for battle. Also, they wanted to know about the trees that grew there. Some kinds of trees had wood that they could use to build things and for commercial purposes.

The 12 men travelled through the country called Canaan from the south to the north. They visited a city called Hebron, where the graves of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were. But they did not seem to notice it. Instead, they noticed that the people were very tall. But they did not see or remember God’s promises that he would give this country to them.

The soil in the country was very good for crops, so they cut an enormous bunch of grapes as proof. There was plenty of food and drink for everyone in the promised land.

When these 12 men returned, they gave a report about the promised land to Moses and the Israelites. They started with good news. The soil could produce good crops; for it, they had brought some fruit.

But then they said some bad things about the promised land.

The people who lived there were strong and powerful.

The buildings in their cities were strong.

The men mentioned the different groups of people who lived in the country.

The men were speaking the truth, but their fear disappeared their faith in God.

But Caleb encouraged them to enter the land; this was because he believed God’s promises.

He was humble, and he trusted God completely.

With God, it is possible to do anything, but the people did not listen to Caleb.

Then other men said more bad things about the promised land. They said that the promised land seems to eat its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height.  (V 32).

They meant that it was a difficult and dangerous place to live. They also mentioned the Nephilim, the giant people who lived on earth before the flood (Genesis 6:4).

This would make the people even more afraid, and they felt for themselves like grasshoppers in front of them, but they forgot that God is bigger than all their problems.

If you see in Numbers 14

Everyone in the camp became afraid to enter the country called Canaan. God wanted to give them this land. But they did not want it. They complained again, as they had complained many times before.

They did not trust God’s promise to give them their own land. So, they wanted to choose a new leader who would take them back to Egypt! They were opposing God and his special servant, Moses.

This situation upset Moses and Aaron very much. So, they lay down with their faces on the ground. This showed that they respected God very much. They were praying. They knew that God was angry. They knew that he had to punish the people.

‘Joshua and Caleb tore their clothes’ (verse 6). The Israelites used to tear their own clothes to show that they were very unhappy. Usually, people tore their clothes when someone died. Joshua had not spoken when Caleb gave his report. But God showed that God was on Caleb’s side. Moses, Aaron, Caleb, and Joshua all trusted God to give the promised land to them. The rest of the Israelites did not trust God.

Verses 7-10 But still Joshua and Caleb tried to encourage the people to trust God. They told them that the country was good. The LORD would lead them all into the country called Canaan. But they had to do two things. They should not oppose God. Also, they should not be fear of the people who lived in Canaan, but have faith that God is with us and he would protect us. The people in Canaan had no protection. They would not be able to defend themselves against the Israelites.

But the people did not believe Joshua and Caleb. Instead, they became more angry with them. They wanted to kill Moses, Aaron, Joshua, and Caleb. Then, suddenly, God appeared. All the Israelites saw the cloud.

After hearing this story, I want to encourage you to never let fear decide your future, Never go into the future deciding what you are going to do or what is going to happen based on the fears in your life.

When they came back, ten were full of fear, and their fear infected the entire people of Israel, and from that fear, unbelief developed in them.

When they let fear control the future and made their decision, then they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, and they died in the wilderness.

How did these people feed their fear?

 

1. They feed their fear through forgetting the past. They forget what God has done for them. God did amazing things for them. How could they have forgotten? How could they have forgotten about the fact that they were slaves? They did not have their own lives. How could they have forgotten the words of Moses to Pharaoh: Let my people go? How could they have forgotten the plagues? How could they have forgotten the divided Red Sea? This did not happen 20 years ago, but it happened a few months ago. This is the tendency for people to forget big things first in fear. When fear grips your life, or when fear controls your life, then you will forget the best that God gave you.
2. They feed their fear through satisfied with the present - They brought the big poles back with the grapes, the pomegranates, and the figs, Instead of going into the promised land, the land with milk and honey, they decided they would stay in the wilderness. Many times we feed fear with satisfaction in the present, then we do not move into the future. Because there are challenges waiting for us, there are giants waiting for us, but often we forget that if Goliath cannot stand before God’s servant David, then how can a giant stand before our great God?

God wants to take us higher and higher, but our fears satisfy us. Let us stay. When they feed their fear through satisfaction, and due to their disobedience to God, the 40-day journey became the 40-year journey, and God brought them to the same place of disobedience, and he asked again same question that he asked them 40 years ago. Israel, can I ask you again: would you like to go over the promised land?

 

There were 12 people, ten were came with fear and they were feeding their fear, forgetting the works of the lord and for God work and his greatness. But among of them two were full of faith. 

Joshua and Caleb 

Let us see Numbers 13:30 But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.”

Numbers 14:6. And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes 

7 and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceedingly good land. 

8 If the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey

 

Joshua and Caleb did the opposite of people who feed their fear.

Fear causes us to forgot the good things, but faith causes us to remember the good things God has done for us – Joshua and Caleb were not feeding fear but they were feeding their faith, through remember what God had done for Israel.

We may have two things, negative and positive, but the one we feed more will be always win, if we feed more fear then faith will be disappeared from us but if we will feed more to faith fear will be disappear.

What do you have right now more fear or faith?

You can also know what you have by what you are feeding yourself.

How can you feed our faith? There are several practices.

 

1. Praying feeds your faith: Through prayer, you can feed your faith more. Who do you pray for? The world or just your family. How often do you pray? Without ceasing or just occasionally. How consistent are your prayers? Do you pray once or twice and then give up, or are there things you have been praying for years?

Whenever you, pray, pray like God is in the room, sitting right beside you. Pray without doubt in our hearts, and believe that what we say will happen. Give him every single one of our burdens, worries, and fears, and ask him for the provisions we need. Start your day with prayer, or you can talk with God because he wants to hear from you. Prayer is so essential for our faith, and by doing so, we can feed our faith.

 

2. Reading the Bible feeds your faith: Do you know the thing that Satan hates most in this world? Because if he opens Genesis, he will be a loser, if he opens Exodus, he will be a loser from Moses, if he opens numbers, he will be a loser from Caleb and Joshua, if he opens Joshua, he will see a big wall is falling over him. Wherever he goes in this Bible, he will be a loser. Therefore, he never wants to read it; he tries so hard that we do not read it either. If you are feeling the holy spirit, you will open it, hold it, and carry it, but if you do not feel the holy spirit, you will not feel to open it, carry it, or hold it.  In 2 Samuel 23, David had one man, when he used to go into battle field, his hand stuck to the sword, and his sword could not be taken away by anyone. We may also stick this Bible, every time with us. If we see those who are doing gym, they have some marks in their hands, and those who hold the bible also leave a few marks. If a gym person has a mark in their hand and labour has a mark in their palm,.

So, it is not just the hands of those who read the Bible that are marked. Galatians 5:18 says that their whole body and soul are marked with a mark of love, a mark of joy, a mark of peace, a mark of kindness, a mark of patience, and a and a mark of faithfulness. We may also read it, so the mark of this will come upon us.

Take time to see God, see him at creation, see him with Moses, David, Solomon, and Mary. See him raise the dead, and see Jesus raised from death.

Get into the habit of daily bible reading, How many of us have a daily bible reading habit? I saw people who were challenged to get into the habit of reading the Bible regularly; it has made a big difference for them, and I believe it will for you too. Feed your faith with everyday bible reading, and make some challenge that until I have read for 20–30 minutes a day, no Facebook, no What’s App, and no YouTube. God’s word has to be a priority in our lives if we want to strengthen our faith.

 

3. Living out his word feeds your faith; when you are reading his word, then applying the word of God to the lives we live, will deepen our walk with him and strengthen our faith more. How can you live out his word? putting on Christian songs on your phone or in your car, placing scripture cards or posters throughout your house where you will see them often, and keeping a good Christian book in your place, so you can read it when you have time. This small activity will help you and remind you again and again to live out his word, which will help you feed your faith more.

 

4. Surrounding yourself with a Christian community feeds your faith; when we are surrounded by Christian brothers and sisters through it, we can feed our faith. Surrounding yourself with other strong Christians is so helpful; not only will they encourage you, inspire you, and call you out as needed, but just by simply being around them, it will naturally change what you consider normal and what you focus on. That makes your faith stronger.

 

5. Share your personal faith feeds you faith – share your personal faith more, because when you will share your faith, it will remind you of what God has done in your lives, as you read the book of acts, the disciples went everywhere sharing what God had done in their lives, that make them stronger in Jesus. If we do not share our personal faith, that can disappear the mighty ways God has and his work in our lives.

 

Dear brothers and sisters

Even though we are in this church, we can be very weak in our faith, if we are not feeding it with spiritual practice. If we are not feeding our faith, then the enemy is ready to feed us fear. You will reap what you sow.

Where are you sowing? Are you sowing in your faith? And what are you feeding your faith?

If I do not feed water to my tree, then it will die, but if I feed it it will be green, and later it will give fruit. How my tree looks will show you how I feed it.

If you feed pride in your life, it will get larger, if you feed guilt, it is going to get bigger, if you feed fear, it is going to get larger, but if you spend that same energy feeding your faith, you will be a great example in this church, like Joshua and Caleb.

Dear brothers and sisters

Ask yourself: Am I putting energy into something that is taking me in the wrong direction, or the fear? Am I putting energy into my past incident that has given me the wrong thoughts? Am I putting energy into bitterness, hurting someone that is taking me into fear?

You may have had a disappointing day, but today morning God wants that through these new days we may have fed your faith, then God will open the door that you never dreamed would open.

Now do your part; keep feeding yourself faith; no more doubt or fear.

May the great God bless you all. Amen