Promise 20 from Numbers 17:5

Numbers 17:5 - "It will come about that the rod of the man whom I choose will sprout, thus I will lessen from upon Myself the grumblings of the sons of Israel, who are grumbling against you." - It sees that in every group where conflict exists, in some form or another, among believers there always seems to be one person who is the silent observer. They are the ones who are slow to speak, hold back engaging in the emotional flavour of the rest of the group and sits in quiet assessment over the situation. When he or she does speak, they are usually heard and their words are respected by others. This person is the "Aaron" of the group. I must confess that my rod doesn't bud very often in circumstances such as this, but I do recognise those whose rods are blooming. They bring fruit into the situation and God's favour is clearly upon them. I praise God for the "Aaron" who is on my current team. She inspires me to look at difficult situations with kingdom eyes instead of out of my own will and desires. If  we struggle to be "Aarons" ourselves, the we need to pray them into our circles. God will grant that prayer, that is the promise.

Promise 19 from Numbers 15:26

Numbers 15:26 - "So all the congregation of the sons of Israel will be forgiven, with the alien who sojourns among them, for it happened to all the people through error." - The whole congregation made a mistake, the whole people group. I can totally see how this can be a real scenario, however in these cases everyone truly believes that they are doing nothing wrong. People in many lands are quick to be conformists to the majority so as to not "make waves" or to not draw unwanted attention to themselves. They may recognise their wrong, yet this is not a strong motivator to stand up for what is right or to make any effort to draw everyone else's attention to the right, which is opposite of their wrong. Many lands miss out on the blessings of forgiveness by God, simply because they don't ask for it. So God allows them to continue on in their corruption and suffering the consequences of their wrongness. The promise however is that God will forgive the whole people, if only they confess their wrong and ask for it.

Promise 18 from Numbers 14:31

Numbers 14:31 - "'Your children however, whom you said would become a prey - I will bring them in, and they will know the land which you have rejected.'" - God is telling Moses to tell the people, who had little faith in Him, that they will not enter the promised land, yet their children, for whom the Israelites feared would fall to the hands of the enemy, will be allowed to enter the land and they will be the reapers of the promised land. Fear can cause harsh consequences. The Israelites automatically assumed, without giving God a single thought, that they would be overtaken by the Amelekites and their children would become their slaves or killed. They automatically threw away all that they know about God, all that they've seen and heard from Him and let fear of what "possibly could happen", in their own minds, guide their thoughts and actions. This happens so very much in the lives of people. It is one of the strongest tools of the enemy; he temporarily wipes the memory of what God has done in our lives and what He has promised so that the door is opened to fear. So many blessings have been missed out on because of fear. God always keeps His promises, but people don't always receive them. Can you imagine what this world would look like if believers simply trusted in God, in His promises and that He is who He says He is?

Promise 17 from Numbers 14:27

Numbers 14:27 - "'But My servant Caleb, because he has had a different sprit and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land which he entered, and his descendants shall take possession of it.'" - The Lord was telling Moses how all the people who refused to hear His voice will be denied access to the promised land. Then He said it is Caleb who will go into the promised land. The difference between Caleb and the others is their spirits. Caleb's spirit was different from the others. The others only thought about themselves, whereas Caleb kept his focus on the Lord. God said that Caleb followed Him fully. Which means, he never took his eyes off the Lord, he never put his own desires and his own agenda ahead of the Lord's. He didn't just watch the Lord or listen to Him from a distance but He stayed close to Him, He went where God went. Because God had already gone before them into the promised land and had already told them what it was like; flowing with milk and honey, and had already promised that He would be there with them, in Caleb's mind there was nothing more to question. It was a done deal and his spirit knew it. He had a spirit that believes in and trusts that what His God says, He will do, and that's final! Oh to have a spirit like Caleb's, to follow the Lord fully, to see what God sees and to go only where God goes!

Promise 16 from Numbers 14:19-20

Numbers 14: 19-20 - "'Pardon I pray, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of Your loving kindness. Just as you also have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.' So the Lord said, 'I have pardoned them according to your word.'" - Moses is an amazing man. Just at the time he is on his face in despair because the people of Israel were ready to call forth a new leader and head back to Egypt, out of fear that they would be slaughtered in the promised land, God showed up. God wanted to smite them all down and just raise up a nation from Moses' line. You would think in his despair, Moses would say, "Please smite them all, get rid of my pain." But he doesn't, God's honour and reputation was much more important to him. So, for the sake of defending God's name, he asks for the people to be forgiven. I don't think God pardoned the people out of fear of what the Egyptians and Amaleks would say about Him, but out of His love and respect for Moses, the one He talks to face to face as a friend. Moses draws upon God's loving-kindness in his plea; not to use it as a pawn, but because he knows it is the character of God, more so than the character to destroy the people. He knows his God, he knows His love and His compassion, he knows God's true heart for His people, so that is what he calls down into the situation and the people are pardoned. When we pray for others, we need to call down the character of God into the situation; verbalising kingdom truth and God's character into it. We need to call out what we know about God, not just what we "hope" to see from Him. God responds to those who stand in faith and believe in what they 'know' is true of Him.

Promise 15 from Numbers 13:2

Numbers 13:2 - "'Send out for yourself men so that they may spy out  the land of Canaan, which I am going to give to the sons of Israel; you shall send a man from  each of their father's tribes, everyone a leader among them.'" - It is interesting that God decides to send out spies into the land that He already knows He will give them. Was this a test of their faith? Why did the Lord not just send them into the land and let them have the faith to believe that He would be with them in the land, no matter what the land holds? Well, this is my hypothesis. God sent the leaders of the sons of Israel to see what was in store for them. The good and the challenging, so that they could make the choice whether or not to receive what God was freely giving them. After all the difficulties crossing the wilderness to reach this point, you would think the Israelites would jump at the chance to settle down in the promised land. Later on we find that it isn't so easy. It wasn't so easy because the Israelites allowed fear to rob them of the blessing that God had for them. I think we would be amazed at all the opportunities for blessing we pass up on because of fear of both the known and the unknown. All the Israelites had to do was step in and trust that God was going to continue to be the God they have seen Him to be. What blessings are you missing out on because of fear? God's hands are always extended toward us, filled with great blessings, We just need to receive all that He is freely offering us.