"Give Me This Mountain"
--- Missionary-Evangelist
Esther Thornton ---
1. What is the day in which we are living,
and what does God want from me?
The time of Moses is past and the time of
Joshua is at hand. Moses was a "servant in the wilderness"
but Joshua was a "son in the land". The old ways of
doing things are over. It is a new day for the church. We are to take the
kingdom of God by force. (Matthew. 11:12). It is the day of the harvest. It is
the day to take back from the devil what he has stolen from us. It is time
to lay hold on the promises God has given us.
The old manna is now gone; and we must
eat "the fruit of the land." We have received God's provision
in past days, but now it is time to come into the fullness of blessings that He
has promised us.
At Harvest time, the Jordan was at
flood stage. And, so it is now at the time of harvest. We must go down into the
Jordan to cross over into the promises. And, this means to humble ourselves.
That is always the first step toward receiving anything from God.
In the past we have seen occasional
healing, power, and miracles but we are now moving into the season where we
will be living in it and walking in it. It is the "Day of Elijah".
The day of miracles and preparing the way of the Lord. It is the season of
the midwives and birthing. A midwife is not a doctor but has ability to bring
forth. So, we in the body of Christ don't have to be doctors of theology to
bring forth; but God will give to any of us the ability to bring forth for his
kingdom. We should be at a level spiritually where we can not only hold
ourselves up by our bootstraps spiritually, but be able to mentor and bring
others into a level where they can bring forth. We need to be "spiritual
grandparents". Because grandparents bring forth children, who bring forth
children and so on!
2. Mountains: A challenge to go higher,
or an obstacle in the way?
Mountains can be beautiful or they can
be obstacles. They can be something to ascend unto, or they can stand in the
way. A mountain is a symbol of strength, majesty, stability, a kingdom of God
or of man.
(Isa. 2:2-3) "And
it shall come to pass in the last day, that the mountain of the Lord's house
shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above
the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.. And many people shall go and
say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the
God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in his paths,
for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from
Jerusalem."
(Zech. 4:6) "..Not
by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts." "Lord of Hosts" emphasizes
not only God's supreme personal power, but also His power over everything in
the material and spiritual universe - all is organized and under His command.
The word "Hosts", is associated with warfare. He is Lord of the
armies - the Lord of Hosts.
(Zech. 4:7) "Who
art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerabbabel (the one who rebuilt the temple)
thou shalt become a plain; and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with
shoutings." This
mountain was referring to the king Hytaspes of the Medo Persian Empire, who
made a decree that the work on the temple should cease. (Ezra 4). The
Holy Spirit is saying, "Who do
you think you are, to stop the work of God?"
(Ps. 72:3) "The
mountains shall bring peace to the people and the little hills by
righteousness." Mountains and hills stand for great and small governments. When
righteousness rules, the great and small governments shall bring peace and not
terror to the nations of the earth. (Prov. 14:34) "Righteousness exalteth a
nation, but sin is a reproach to any people."
3. To
inherit the full blessing,
we must
wholly follow the Lord, like Caleb did
Deut. 1:35 "Surely
there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land,
which I sware to give unto your fathers. But, Caleb, the son of Jephanneh, he
shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to
his children, because he hath wholly followed the Lord. And, Joshua the son of
Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him: for he
shall cause Israel to inherit it.”
(Deut. 1:30) "The
Lord your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all
that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes.”
(Deut. 1:25) “And
they took of the fruit of the land in their hands, and brought it down unto us,
and brought us word again, and said, It is a good land which the Lord our God
doth give us.”
(Deut. 1:8) "Behold,
I have set the land before you; go in and posses the land which the Lord sware
unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their
seed after them."
(Deut. 1:6) "The
Lord our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this
mount."
(Deut. 1:1)
"These be the words which Moses spake unto all Israel on the side Jordan
in the wilderness.."
Moses said to
Caleb: (Josh. 14:9) "Surely the land whereon thy feet have trodden shall
be thine inheritance, and thy children's forever, because thou hast wholly
followed the Lord my God."
(Josh. 14:11)
"As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as
my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and
to come in.
Caleb was boasting in what the Lord had
done for him, and after saying he was as strong as in the beginning, it proved
true, as he defeated three giants from his inheritance, after saying this. (Judges
1:20). Caleb's great faith would claim the great mountains for a possession
and expel the giants, even Arba, the greatest of the giants. Then Kirjatharba "the
city of the giants" will become "Hebron" which speaks of
fellowship.
And, so we find that Caleb wholly
followed the Lord.
4. Now, give
me this mountain
“Now therefore, give me this mountain, whereof the
Lord spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakius were
there, and that the cities were great and fenced; if so be the Lord will be
with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the Lord said, Hebron
therefore became the inheritance of Caleb because that he wholly followed the Lord God of
Israel..and the land had rest from war."
(Give me this mountain:
faith is never satisfied. It must claim all the land and expel all the giants). "If the Lord
be with me than I shall be able to drive them out", Caleb said. (Remember Moses had said to God, "If you go not with us, we will not go up.")
Faith sees only what God can do.
Unbelief sees the walled cities, the giants, and the land that eateth up the
inhabitants, and sees themselves as grasshoppers. Faith sees God; unbelief sees
the problems.
§
§ With faith God gets bigger and bigger.
§
§ With unbelief, the problems get bigger and bigger.
§
§ The language of faith says: “We are well able, the Lord will bring us
into the land; the giants are bread for us; they are defenseless, the Lord is
with us; we will not fear; Let us go up at once and posses it, for we are well
able to overcome it".
Josephus (Jewish
historian) speaks
of giants whose bodies were so large and their countenances so entirely
different from other men that they were surprising to the sight and terrible to
the hearing. He declares that their bones were still exhibited in his day,
which was in the time of Christ.
In Deut. 8:7, it says "For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into
a good land; a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out
of valleys and hills; a land of wheat, and barley and vines, and fig trees, and
pomegranates; a land of oil olive and honey.”
The good land: A type of the inheritance that God has
given to us through Jesus Christ.
Ø
Ø
Brooks, water,
fountains, depths that spring out: refer to the living water that Jesus gives.
Ø
Ø
Wheat, barley,
vines, fig trees, pomegranates: refer to the Word of God.
Ø
Ø
Olive oil and honey:
refer to the Holy Spirit, the power and the joy.
God gave Abraham the covenant that he
would be the father of nations and his seed would be as the sand of the
seashore or the stars in the sky. So no Ishmael would be able to steal the
promise and covenant of God to Abraham.
God has impregnated his people with his
covenant of blessing through the New Covenant of Jesus blood. And, the devil
cannot steal away that covenant of blessing. It is only when we let him that he
has any authority in our lives.
But, God told the children of Israel
that the "willing and obedient" would eat the fruit of
the land. Caleb was chosen to enter the Promised Land, though he had been born in
Egypt, and wandered in the wilderness with the children of Israel who had
unbelief in their hearts. Because Caleb followed wholly after the Lord. And,
this is the secret today to entering in and receiving our promises from God.
(Ps. 105:37) "He
brought them forth also with silver and gold; and there was not one feeble
person among their tribes." The silver and gold was God repaying
Israel for the years of slavery in Egypt. He took all sickness from them and
there was not one weak person among them. The Jews left Egypt with more silver
and gold than they had when they arrived; the Egyptians were glad to give them
anything they wanted just to get rid of them.
(Exodus
12:33-36). And in spite of the havoc the plagues had wrought on the Egyptians,
the Israelites were unaffected. They were all in good condition for travel; not
one staggered or fell behind.
At the time of the New Year at our
Impartation meeting, I called our people forward and told them that there was
an imaginary line drawn in front of them. When I spoke forth, those who were
willing to believe God for change in their lives to receive all that God had
for them, were to step over the line! We all did so together and the Holy
Spirit power fell upon us. There has been a moving forward in our lives since
that time.
Conclusion: You are
valuable to God.
In Africa at our evangelistic crusades,
I sometimes take a bill, which is Fifty-schilling, and hold it up and asked who
would like it, and of course hands go up, especially children! Then, I crumple
it and ask the same question. Hands still go up. Finally, I stamp on it, and
still hands go up! Why because just because it is crumbled doesn't mean that it
has lost its value.
So are human lives. God loves everyone
and wants them saved, baptized in the Holy Spirit, and to receive all that He
has for them. He is no respecter of persons. But, we must exercise faith in
order to receive and wholly follow the Lord. How much we yield to Him will
determine how much we receive from Him.
He is putting the old behind us and
leading us into the new. He is willing to remove our mountains that are
obstacles, when we exercise faith, which will cause us to rise to higher
heights. He desires that we follow him wholly, as Caleb did. And lastly, He
wants us to go forth with faith and determination claiming that mountain for
God. He wants us to say, "Give
me that Mountain".
What Does
God Want From Me?
We sometimes feel so insignificant to
God. We feel that we lack so much and wished we could do a better job for Him.
This is a true story of illustration:
Kathryn Kuhlman, who was a great healing evangelist some years ago, told a true
story about when she was a young girl. Her mother was called out of town to
visit a sick friend in the hospital. But, it was "Wash Day" and she
had boiling pots of water ready to put the clothes in to wash. So, she told
Kathryn to stay away from these boiling pots, and she would wash the laundry
when she returned home.
But, Kathryn wanted to surprise her mother
who would be so tired! So, she washed everything in the hot water - colored
clothes, fine fabrics, and everything! She used a big stick so that she
wouldn't get burned. Then, she hung the clothes on the line. When they were
dry, she folded them, and put them in a basket. She put the basket by the door
where Mama would come in. Then, she stayed by the door and waited.
That night when Mama came through that
door she immediately saw the basket of clothes - faded and ruined! She
then looked at Kathryn's face; then at the basket - and then at Kathryn's face.
Finally, she said only one thing to
her, and this is what she said: "You did a good job!"
One of these days soon, Jesus is returning
for us. We want so much to please Him. We even want to do more than we are able
to do. But, as we look into His face, He will say to us: "You did a
good job! Well done, thou good and faithful servant; enter into the joy of thy
Lord!"
What does God want from you and I? He
wants us to wholly follow Him, as Caleb did, and to desire to please Him with
all of our heart. He loves you and I so much! He's coming soon! And, we must
"Occupy 'til He comes!"
"The Lord will fulfill His purpose for
you." (Psalms 138:8)
God Bless You!
Esther
