Stand Out in the Crowd

“But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it. Numbers 14:24

If you haven’t heard of Caleb, he was one of the two spies who gave a good report to Moses after scouting the Promised Land; the other spy being Joshua, who would later be commissioned to succeed Moses after his passing. During the time that the spies had returned to Moses, there were ten spies who totally disagreed with them. Imagine going through so much opposition as there were only two of them who were firm in their belief -- that although the land was indeed “flowing with milk and honey,” it was also inhabited by giants who were obviously much stronger than they were – this fact did not frighten Joshua and Caleb at all.  

Caleb reasoned with the people, “We are not to fear the enemy nations living there, for that would be to rebel against God. Because God is with us, those people are bread for us. Their protection is removed.”, (Numbers 14:7). For that kind of implicit trust, God said of Caleb… “But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it.”

The ancient meaning of CALEB is “whole hearted,” contrary to what common name books and websites list the meaning of CALEB as “dog.”  When we read the exploits of Caleb in Numbers 13 and 14, you would see that he was not simply faithful, but he served God with his whole heart, thus he was able to “follow God fully.” Kapatid, let me be clear. It was not just the name that made Caleb obedient to God, it was because he had a different spirit or a different attitude (NLT) in him! Caleb was a man like this -- he had a rare spirit because he knew God deeply, and he threw his whole heart at God, and his life followed.

Kapatid, alam mo ba na we are called to BE DIFFERENT? To be different from the rest of the world! Why? Because we are not of this world; dumadaan lamang tayo dito. In Matthew 5, Jesus said that we are to be “salt and light” in this world. In a world full of hate, we are to love; in a world full of anger, we are to forgive; in a world full of selfishness, we are to give. At saan nagmumula ang kakayanan na yan?? It’s from the Holy Spirit, kapatid. Hindi yan galing sa atin dahil kung tayo lang bilang tao, sobrang limitado ang ating kakayanan magmahal, umunawa, magpatawad, at magbigay.  The Holy Spirit in us makes us different from the world because He guides our path, He guards our tongues, our ways, our thoughts towards Christlikeness.

Let us remember that we are only able to obey the Lord because of the Holy Spirit in us. He was given to us to be all that we need to live victorious lives. Kapatid, tayo ay may kapangyarihang taglay dahil ang Holy Spirit ay nasa atin. Kung patuloy tayong magpapasakop at magpapabago sa Kanya, we are destined for breakthrough!