A DIFFERENT SPIRIT by Gary Wilkerson
“But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit . . .” (Numbers 14:24, ESV).
What was it about Caleb that caused the Bible to say he had a different spirit?
Are you a man or woman who hungers and thirsts and cries out to God, “Make me a man or woman of a different spirit”? Or are you a middle-of-the-road Christian, willing to wander in the wilderness, willing just to spend your life in mediocrity?
What was it within Caleb and Joshua that set them apart? Why did they have a different spirit? What sets apart any man or woman who has a different spirit? Why do they not seem ordinary? What do they have and why do some of us not have it? How do these men and women get this different spirit? And the most important question of all, how can I get it?
A young man in our church has set his face like a flint to follow Jesus. When I am with him I say to myself, “Jesus, I want the kind of desperate spirit this young man has. I want more of that fire and that unction, that purity and that holiness.”
This young man says, “I have determined to follow Jesus, not in my own strength but in the power of the Holy Ghost.” His heart says to me, “I have determined to walk with clean hands and a pure heart.” In an age of compromise, he has determined to keep His eyes on Jesus. When others around him are willing to put on a light show with smoke and mirrors to draw a big crowd, he is crying out, “Lord, I don’t want that. Yes, I want to have thousands saved, but I’m hungry for something more of You.”
When I am around this young man of a different spirit, I am provoked to jealousy. The Holy Spirit allows us to be jealous or envious of someone who has more of Jesus!
What was it about Caleb that caused the Bible to say he had a different spirit?
Are you a man or woman who hungers and thirsts and cries out to God, “Make me a man or woman of a different spirit”? Or are you a middle-of-the-road Christian, willing to wander in the wilderness, willing just to spend your life in mediocrity?
What was it within Caleb and Joshua that set them apart? Why did they have a different spirit? What sets apart any man or woman who has a different spirit? Why do they not seem ordinary? What do they have and why do some of us not have it? How do these men and women get this different spirit? And the most important question of all, how can I get it?
A young man in our church has set his face like a flint to follow Jesus. When I am with him I say to myself, “Jesus, I want the kind of desperate spirit this young man has. I want more of that fire and that unction, that purity and that holiness.”
This young man says, “I have determined to follow Jesus, not in my own strength but in the power of the Holy Ghost.” His heart says to me, “I have determined to walk with clean hands and a pure heart.” In an age of compromise, he has determined to keep His eyes on Jesus. When others around him are willing to put on a light show with smoke and mirrors to draw a big crowd, he is crying out, “Lord, I don’t want that. Yes, I want to have thousands saved, but I’m hungry for something more of You.”
When I am around this young man of a different spirit, I am provoked to jealousy. The Holy Spirit allows us to be jealous or envious of someone who has more of Jesus!