Numbers 13:1-2 – “And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel; from each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a leader among them.”  NKJV

The Land of Promise – Canaan.  What does Canaan represent?  It is far more than just some plot of ground in the Middle-East.  Remember Abraham’s promise according to Romans 4:13 was THE WORLD.  Therefore this is about more than just the Jews in Canaan.  What took place for them in the natural is to instruct us in the spiritual and God desires that we ‘take’ and ‘possess’ the Land or Place of Promise.

REMEMBER:

• God gave Adam RULE over the Earth – – (Genesis 1:26,28)
• He repeated the Promise to Noah – – (Genesis 9:1-2)
• God gave man RULE of the earth – – (Psalm 8:6)
• God’s Kingdom is Everlasting and His Dominion endures for all generations – – (Psalm 145:13)
• God Promises to subdue people and nations under our feet – – (Psalm 47:3)
• God has given Authority (Dominion) over all the Power of the Enemy to us. (Luke 10:19) 

Those are Facts!  God’s Promise!  However, although the Promise has been issued there are occupants on our Place of Promise who do not want to cede ground.  We have the Promise and often will have to ‘dispossess’ before we can ‘possess.’  We are charged with ‘reclaiming’ the land, ‘appropriating’ the promise and ‘enforcing’ the victory won for us through our Lord Jesus Christ.

           Canaan represents ‘The Place of Promise’.  It represents the Abundant Life and Victory but cannot be taken without war.  The war for them was waged in the natural but for us it is waged in the spirit.  So how do we dispossess the enemy and possess the promise?  Simply, follow Biblical patterns and revelation and Numbers 13 is the beginning point.  God has an order He operates in and we must learn His order.

We, as they, must develop a strategy for taking the city and occupying our place of promise.  Let me give you an illustration that will help:  How do you get rid of thistles, crab grass, weeds, etc.?  Do you clip them off at the ground or go for the roots?  One way will give temporary relief but the process will have to be repeated ad nauseam and will be perpetual. The other will solve the problem permanently.  One is more difficult and involved but gives the desired result so which is better?

The devil cannot operate unless he has ‘legal ground’ or we are ‘ignorant’ of our position, condition, place and authority.  We need a strategy to determine if there is ‘legal ground’ through which the devil is operating on our place of promise.  It is as we know who we are and who we are fighting that the battle plan comes into focus and victory realized.

Part of learning how to fight is to understand our weapons and our authority in God.  It is to understand our condition and His redemption.  We learn the power and importance of praise in the process and enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.  From the attacks of the devil God will build character in us, expose and defeat the enemy and teach us how to occupy and possess the Promises.  I believe that as we realize who we are and whose we are we develop an incredible sense of destiny and our faith begins to soar.  The visible evidences include a radical spirit of generosity, eradication of apathy, eliminating spiritual pride and become one rather than isolated individualist and we become people of prayer.  There are times we must travail until birth to possess the promise.

We have a choice to make.  We can take the path much of Christendom has taken for generations and accomplished little or we can move with the cloud and learn to wield our spiritual weapons and drive the enemy from our Promise.  It will not necessarily be easy but to possess we will first dispossess.  What will we have?  God bless you as you go through this day and move into your place of promise and possess it!