For the past six weeks we have been looking at the meaning behind the names of the seven nations that the Children of Israel were commanded to destroy before they could enter into the Promised Land:
And Joshua said, “By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites:
Joshua 3:10 (NKJV)
These seven nations though they were physical nations now represents seven types of evil spirits that we as believers in Jesus Christ must totally destroy and overcome before we can enter into our spiritual inheritance. In order for us to enter into our spiritual inheritance we must overcome fear, pride, carnality, small thinking, living for earthly pleasures, and rejection.
Today, in our final overcoming series we are going to look at how to overcome the spirits that entice us to focus on the things that can be seen and ignoring the things that cannot be seen.
“Girgashite” means, “clay dweller”, which refers to “dwelling on earthliness”. This type of spirit promotes a focus on earthly, temporal things, and produces a dislike for things that are “spiritual” and eternal. Girgashites or people infected with this type of spirit tend to focus on things that are visible. Whereas the Bible tells us to focus on things that are not seen:
While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
2 Corinthians 4:18
How do you overcome focusing on things that are natural and not spiritual?
- Be born again
When Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews came by night to speak with Jesus, Jesus told him that unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. Nicodemus being puzzled, asked Jesus how a grown up man can be born again. Jesus replied and said that you must be born of water and the Spirit (John 3:1-5). In other words, you must accept Jesus Christ as your Saviour. When you believe in Jesus you are sealed with His Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13). To be born of water is to go through water baptism which Jesus instructed His disciples to do (Matthew 28:19). When you are born again then, your spiritual senses come alive and you are able to discern things in the spiritual realm which cannot be seen with the naked human eye;
- Ask The Lord to open your spiritual eyes so that you can see
We must pray like the Psalmist prayed and ask The Lord to open our spiritual eyes so that we can see wonderful things from His law (Psalm 119:18). You see, as you have natural eyes so you have spiritual eyes so if you are spiritually blind you need to cry out and ask The Lord to open your eyes so that you can see the things that He wants to show you;
- Ask The Lord to open your spiritual ears so you may hear
Jesus in His letters to the Seven Churches in Revelation ended his letters by saying “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” In other words, we all have spiritual ears that must come alive if we are to hear things from the Spirit of God. Again if you find that you are spiritually deaf and cannot hear the voice of God, cry out and ask The Lord to awaken your ears so that you can hear as the learned (Isaiah 50:4);
- Ask The Lord to give you His Spirit of wisdom and revelation
We must pray like Paul did that God will give us His Spirit of wisdom and revelation, Who will let us know truths about God and help us understand them, so that we will know Him better. It is the same Spirit who will open our minds to see His truth so that we will know the hope that He has chosen us to have (Ephesians 1:17-19);
- Fasting
Fasting is a discipline that sharpens our spiritual senses so that we can tap into the divine power of God. Jesus expected His disciples to fast and He said that “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). When we abstain from food and feed on nothing but the Word of God, the Word nourishes, fuels and strengthens our spirits. In so doing we tend to focus less on the natural things that are visible and look at the eternal things that are invisible.
Prayer
Dear Lord, please help me to focus on the things that are eternal that cannot be seen and let me take my eyes off the things that are natural and temporary in Jesus name, amen.
Listen to the Message
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How to Discover Your Life’s Purpose Through Dreams
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For more information about the Girgashite spirit and how to overcome them please visit here.
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