All the kings on the west side of the Jordan heard about this, including those in the highlands, the lowlands, and along the entire coast of the Mediterranean Sea toward Lebanon. They were Hittites and Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. They formed an alliance to fight Joshua and Israel.
Joshua 9:1-2 (CEB)
“Perizzite” means, “belonging to a village”. Villages have a connotation of “smallness”. People who grow up in villages are exposed to very limited opportunities for growth; educational, cultural, and entertainment opportunities are scarce. If not careful, people who grow up in villages can develop a very limited vision of life.
Since villages impart a sense of “smallness”, villagers tend to see themselves as small and insignificant people who are a small part of a small and insignificant community. People trapped by the Perizzite spirit, therefore, see themselves as people with little potential whose only task in life is to live a quiet biological existence and to stay out of the way of the people who are “really” important in this world. Perizzites not only believe in their own smallness, but also believe in the smallness of the “villagers” around them, including their children.
The Perizzite spirit, therefore, can lead to many generations of spiritual stagnation. Since stagnation always leads to poverty (in the material and in the spiritual realm), Perizzite spirits tend to produce many generations of spiritual (and even literal) poverty. The effect of Perizzite spirits in someone is limited vision, laziness, low self-esteem.
How do you overcome small thinking?
- Recognise that we serve a big God who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think
Whatever dream God has placed in your heart He is more than able to fulfil it even beyond your wildest imagination. You see we serve a God who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us (Ephesians 3:20);
- Surrender your life to Jesus and seek His vision for your life
When you surrender your life to Jesus, it means you are no longer your own. Ask Jesus to come into your heart and be Lord and Master of your life. Once you surrender your life to Jesus you can then ask Him to show you His vision for your life. His vision for you will always be much bigger and better than you thought;
- Recognise that you can do all things through Christ which strengthens you
Most dreams that God gives you to accomplish may seem impossible to you. And in the natural it may well be, however please remember that you will not have to accomplish them on your own. If you have made Jesus your Lord, then no matter how challenging the dream may be just remember that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you (Philippians 4:13);
- Think big
When God made man He blessed man and gave man a command to be fruitful and to multiply. To be fruitful and multiply means exactly what it says. If your current dream is to run a business that serves 100 customers per day, think big and ask The Lord to show you how you can serve 1,000 customers per day. If your dream is to buy food for one homeless person a day, ask God to give you the means to buy food for ten homeless people per day. However many people you serve, always think big and ask God to show you how you can serve more and more people.
- Ask God to make you a blessing to the world
God told Abram to leave his country and his people and his father’s house and go to a land that He will show him. He said He will make him a great nation and He will bless him and make his name great, and he shall be a blessing (Genesis 12:1-2). Pray and ask God to show you how you can be a blessing to the world, and when you do, you will see how He will begin to drop ideas and visions of greatness into your heart, and as you follow the leading of His Holy Spirit, step-by-step, He will make you a blessing to everyone you meet.
- Use your God-given talents
In the parable of the talents, the Lord rewarded the servant who was able to double his talents and He punished the one who simply buried his talent and did nothing with it. Ask God to help you identify your talents and then use them so that you can make it better and serve more people with it. For example, if your gift is teaching, ask the Holy Spirit to give you opportunities to teach, study and prepare messages and teach at every opportunity you get and always look for ways to serve more and more people with that talent.
- Visualise the promises of God
It was God that took Abram outside and said to him, “Look up into the sky and count the stars if you can. That’s how many descendants you will have!” (Genesis 15:5). God wanted him to visualise His promises and likewise we too must visualise the promises that God has placed inside of us. You become what you think about therefore spend time on a consistent basis to visualise the promises that God has given to you because as a man thinks in his heart so is he (Proverbs 23:7).
Prayer
And may the Lord, the God of my ancestors, multiply me a thousand times more and bless me as He promised in Jesus name (Deuteronomy 1:11).
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How to Discover Your Life’s Purpose Through Dreams
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