Do you know what a mirage is? It’s something that appears real or possible, but in actuality, it’s not.
Just recently, I had a very vivid dream about a situation that appeared real, but wasn’t. In the dream, there was an evil being standing between me and my destination. Every time I tried walking towards it, it would make intimidating faces causing fear to overcome me. This, of course, kept me from moving forward down the path toward the place I intended to go. Several times this happened to me with the same result, but then, a thought popped into my head – this can’t be real. Mustering up some courage, I took a stick and swiped at the evil being in my path, and to my amazement, it went straight through it. In other words, it wasn’t really there at all – it was only a mirage! I decided to take a risk and walk through the evil being. As I approached it again, it made the ugliest, scariest face I had seen yet. It tried to get me to turn back, but I just kept saying to myself, “I believe, I believe, I believe.” It could do nothing to me and I walked on past it!!!
I realized that the evil being wasn’t real, even though I perceived it to be. As I took steps of faith toward my destination and believed the truth, I was able to walk past it.
So many times in our Christian life, the Enemy plants lies in our minds that aren’t true, but we believe them none the less. In fact, they keep us immobilized from ever stepping out to trust God. We know we should move forward, but the Enemy puts on a big front that looks intimidating and very real. We think to ourselves, “There’s no way I can overcome this or get through this trial.” Instead of taking risk and walking into our destiny, we sit on the side of the road full of fear!
The Israelites did the same thing before entering the land God promised to give them. God sent 12 spies into the land of Canaan and they each brought back a report. Two of the spies were very optimistic, but 10 of them brought back a negative report. This is what the majority of them said, “We are not able to go up against the people [of Canaan], for they are stronger than we are. So they brought the Israelites an evil report of the land which they had scouted out, saying, ‘The land through which we went to spy it out is a land that devours its inhabitants. And all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the Nephilim [or giants], the sons of Anak, who come from the giants; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight’” (Numbers 13:31-33 AMP).
The Israelites saw themselves as grasshoppers in the sight of their enemies. They failed to realize that God was with them and had just defeated the most powerful nation in the world at that time – the Egyptians. They forgot that God had parted the Red Sea and He was with them to succeed with His plan and purpose for their lives! Instead of seeing with eyes of faith, they let fear and the lies of the Enemy overtake them. In fact, all those 20 years old or older would never enter the land God desperately wanted to give them, accept Joshua and Caleb – the two spies that came back with a positive report!
When the entire older generation had died out, God was ready to take the younger people into the Promise Land. The nations that currently occupied the Promise Land were actually terrified of the Israelites. The Bible records, “And she (Rahab) said to the men, I know that the Lord has given you the land and that your terror is fallen upon us and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the [east] side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. When we heard it, our hearts melted, neither did spirit or courage remain any more in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.”
Wow, the people currently inhabiting the land God wanted to give His people, the Israelites, were terrified of them because they knew that God fought for them! Yet, the Israelites let fear and lies consume them so that they refused to trust God and receive the good land God wanted to give them!
Just like in my dream, what appeared real was not really real at all, it was a mirage. Don’t let lies creep in and keep you from experiencing God’s very best. Take steps of faith regardless of how you feel. Believe God and trust Him by faith and watch God cause you to step into all the good things He has for you! If you have been on the side of the road for a while, I want to encourage you to get back up and keep walking forward with God! His mercies are new every morning and He can even use your past failures for great good! Keep walking, keep trusting, keep believing by faith and not by sight! The obstacle between you and your God-given destiny is only a mirage. Step past it today!
