Different
September 2012
“But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit, I will bring in to the land…” Numbers 14:24
I watched her. For days. For weeks. For months that turned into years.
This woman was filled with God’s power, overwhelmed with His joy and consumed with His peace. She heard God’s voice – on a regular basis – and was seeing evidence of His Presence in the regular rhythms of her life. She would pray and then believe. Expect and then see. Ask and then receive.
She…was different.
So I watched her. She was a wife, a mom, a daughter, a sister, a regular woman with problems and concerns just like mine, and yet her life was different in so many ways. More than anything I wanted what she had, and I was determined to figure out how to get it. Our first conversation over two piping hot cups of tea began with a shower of questions. I just couldn’t help myself. I was so curious about her relationship with God and how what she learned on the pew had become such a startling reality on the pavement of her life.
That first conversation led to deeper, more intriguing ones that kept me on the edge of my seat. Like a little schoolgirl with my chin in my hands, I soaked in her wisdom and reveled in the times she laid her hands on me and prayed. A refreshing friendship developed, and I was challenged – challenged to be one of the few who would refuse to trust God with an ordinary faith or settle for a complacent walk with Him. I was compelled not just to hear about God on Sunday but to expect to experience what I’d learned about Him throughout every other day of the week. I wanted more…more of Him, more of His Spirit, more of His gifts, more of His fruit, more of His power and His manifest Presence in my life.
I must admit, it’s been quite a surprising journey. But once my appetite had been whet, there was no turning back. I was ruined. Mundane Christian living would no longer suffice. Not then, not now, and by God’s grace, not ever again.
I’m game for the journey.
You coming too?
Let me tell you, not many travelers have chosen to take this route. It’s easier to stay on the main road where there are more people and far less uncertainty. The travel ain’t easy when you’re headed in the direction of abundant living. And not much has changed in two thousand years because centuries ago approximately two million Jews went on a journey with God but only two actually completed. Ancient Israel was freed from Egypt with the opportunity to experience the milk and honey promised by Yahweh. Yet only two of that original multitude of adult slaves would ever walk on Canaan’s soil – Joshua and Caleb.
That’s a startling ratio. Two in two million.
Hmmm…
One in a million.
And God was clear on why they were able to cross over and the others were not. They had…
“…a different spirit.”
They didn’t have to fit in.
They didn’t have to be liked.
They didn’t believe the majority report.
They didn’t need the approval of friends.
They just hit the dirt road to the Promised Land and never looked back. So they got to experience all the benefits of milk and honey that God had intended for them all along.
My bags are packed and abundant life is on my mind. Milk and honey sounds like a feast I just can’t miss out on…even if I have to be different to get it.
So, here’s to being unique, choosing a different path and standing out from among the crowd. Turns out, sameness is overrated after all.
Honor God.
Choose life.
Be different.
*An excerpt from Priscilla’s book and Bible study, “One in a Million.”
