Mensa Otabil - Overcoming Resistance
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Day number 29 of our 40 days of power. Deuteronomy chapter 11, verse 25: «No man shall be able to stand against you. The Lord your God shall put the dread of you and the fear of you upon all the land where you tread, just as He has said to you.» Winners win; failures fail. When people see themselves as failures, they fail in life. When people see themselves as winners, they tend to win. The way you see yourself will determine how you approach every situation that confronts you. It determines how you approach your work and how you approach your relationships. If you think nothing is going to work for you, you approach life with a lot of fear. But if you believe that life is going to work out for you, you approach life with a lot of faith.
Now, Israel’s effort to reclaim the land that God promised to Abraham was going to be fierce. It’s been 600 years since God gave the land to Abraham. 600 years later, within that time, Israel has been in captivity in Egypt, and people have taken over their land and built on it, constructing cities for 430 years—a very long time. They come back, and they have been in the wilderness for 40 years. They are now going to possess the land that is in other people’s hands. Sometimes, that’s how our life is; you find that something God wants you to have is not in your hand. Somebody has already taken advantage either of your laziness, your weakness, or your absence and possessed your land. Yet God still wants you to have what He promised you.
You’re not going to just sit down and hope that things will work; you have to trust God to give you the steps to take to possess the land. So God gives two promises to Israel as they start this effort to reclaim the land. The first thing He says to them is, «No one shall be able to stand before you. No one can stand against you.» God wanted Israel to see themselves as winners before they went into battle. God says, «You’ve already won; nobody’s going to stand against you, and you will go in and possess the land.» What is God doing? He’s building their confidence so that they enter the land not as fearful people but as confident individuals because He has told them no one will defeat them.
Remember that these are well-fortified nations, well-fortified cities with armies. Israel doesn’t even have an army; they don’t have weapons of war; they’re just numbers. Yet God says, «No one will be able to stand against you. You’re going to defeat nations that are mightier than you.» And I believe God is telling you that there are people who seem mightier than you, but God will give you the victory over them.
The second thing God says is, «I will put the fear of you on the land.» That means before Israel gets to the Promised Land, people will be afraid of them. People will be scared of them. People hear about them, and they will be intimidated. In fact, when you read the book of Joshua, you realize that is what happened: people were afraid of them as they were coming in, simply because they heard about what God had done for them in Egypt, what God had done through the Red Sea, and what God had done for them in the wilderness.
However, just because people are scared of you doesn’t mean they will simply leave you to conquer; no, they will fight you. The reason they fight is that they are terrified of you; they are scared of you. You know, many times, the reason why people resist you, fight you, and badmouth you, and try to do everything to knock you down is because the fear of you is upon them. When the fear of you is on people, they’re going to fight back. That’s why God says, «Don’t be afraid,» because no one shall be able to stand against you.
So, two promises from God: no one will stand against you, and the fear of you will go ahead of you. May the Lord cause these blessings to be activated in our lives. Let’s pray. Say with me, «Heavenly Father, nothing can resist the power of Your Spirit at work in me. I walk in Your victory. In Jesus' name, Amen.»