Today’s Reading, Numbers 26-27
Focal Scripture: Numbers 27:18 “The Lord replied to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man who has the Spirit in him, and lay your hands on him.”
How the spirit is working in a persons life demonstrates their relationship with God. I want to be clear here, we get all the Holy Spirit we will ever get at salvation. However, the evidence of that change and reliance on the Holy Spirit comes out in how we live. It is my belief that many professing believers have a head knowledge of God but have never been changed by his spirit. They have a profession of faith not a possession of faith. Those two things are radically different.
In today’s reading we see this in practice. Moses is about to die. The Israelites need a new leader. The obvious selection would be to pick the most popular or gifted. The right decision is to pick a man who has Gods spirit on him. By doing this you are acknowledging that God working in a person is more important than personal talents.
The application for this reading today is in the form of a challenge. Can people tell the spirit of God is upon you? This is obvious by how one lives. It is obvious by a persons faith. It is also demonstrated in how they treat others. When the spirit of God is on an individual and has control you can tell immediately. Joshua was such a man. He relied on God and not himself.
Our desire must be to take away the flesh and be people of the spirit. We need to be a people that lives a changed life. A people that lives, speaks, and acts differently than the world. What I am about to say next is controversial in some circles but it must be addressed. To many people are given free passes on not living a spirit filled life. They demonstrate no evidence of reliance on God. Instead of confronting them with love we allow them to live a life of a possible false conversion.
So I ask this question for you to answer today. Do you have the spirit in you right now? If you don’t you are an unbeliever and need to confess your unbelief. We need more people who understand that salvation changes hearts. It doesn’t leave people the same.
Tomorrow, I plan on reading Numbers 28-30
