Focus: A Beautiful Spirit

Text: Num.14:24

"But my servant Caleb, because he had ANOTHER SPIRIT with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it."

We live in a world of spirits. All kinds of spirits live and operate within our space. John says that there are many spirits operating in the world. The atmosphere is saturated with them. Paul mentions the prince of the power of the air, "the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience." The Lord was refused access into a certain village of the Samaritans, but two brothers, James and John, could not tolerate such outright rejection, and so they tried to persuade the Master Jesus to retaliate against them by calling down fire from heaven like Elijah did, but He would not succumb to their whims and caprices. Luke reports, "But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of" (Lk.9:55). They were ignorant of the kind of spirit that controlled them, and it was certainly not a good spirit. Can the spirit that wished lives destroyed for lack of a passage permit be a good spirit? That is the spirit of retaliation over nothing.

It is so sad that in the church of Jesus Christ, God's people are under the influence of all kinds of spirits, namely:

*Spirit of envy and jealousy

*Spirit of hypocrisy

*Spirit of malice

*Spirit of unfriendliness

*Spirit of competition and rivalry

*Spirit of bitterness

*Spirit of unforgiveness

*Spirit of fear

*Spirit of retaliation or vengeance

*Spirit of bondage

*Spirit of slumber

*Spirit of selfishness

*Spirit of deception and lies

*Spirit of familiarity

*Spirit of filthiness

*Spirit of haughtiness

*Spirit of domination

Do you know there is a vast difference between being 'poor in spirit' and being 'poor of spirit'? 'Poor in spirit' is a virtue, but 'poor of spirit' is a vice. What are you: poor in spirit or poor of spirit? People who lack character and good behavior are poor of spirit. There's so much selfishness in the church and in the ministry. Everyone is after his own thing. A project of God can only succeed only if 'they' are the ones in charge or they will attack it from every angle to ensure that it doesn't succeed. That's an ugly spirit. 'They' only support what 'they' are involved in or what 'they' are in the forefront of. We keep forgetting that we are God's community and that we belong to one big family of God.

I prophesy that a global revival is coming that will destroy denominational walls and roofs. There's no denomination in the kingdom of Christ. We need God's Spirit, not any other spirits. We must reject the spirit of falsehood. Let us check that we are not giving room to any of the spirits mentioned above. No church, ministry or relationships can survive these unclean spirits if they are left unchecked or if they are indifferently allowed to foster and fester.

God singled out Caleb for recognition and praise as someone whose spirit was different from the rest of the spies. He possessed a beautiful soul and a different spirit. God is still looking for Christians who have a different or unique spirit and a beautiful attitude from the rest of us. Someone once asked, "If every member were like you, what would the church be like?" It's a question that we all must honestly ask ourselves. Daniel was said to be a man who possessed an excellent spirit. We need clean spirits, pure motives, and excellent spirits in the church of Christ. God desires for believers with the spirits of contentment and joy, of a broken heart and a contrite spirit, of the spirit of love and of a sound mind, and of a fervent and diligent spirit.

Can we be people of a different spirit like Caleb? People who are fully yielded to the Lord and who are zealous for the word, worship, work and witness of Christ. O Lord, let the Calebs and the Joshuas arise among us!

There's urgent need for a different spirit in our midst. Self-focused people destroy the testimony of the church. Christ-centered people advance only eternal values, virtues and causes. With a different spirit, like that of Joshua and Caleb, we can successfully bulldoze our way into our promise land. Be another beautiful spirit today as Caleb was yesterday.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter