Don’t Think Like a Grasshopper!

How do you see yourself?  Do you see yourself as a world overcomer that can do all things or do you see yourself as a grasshopper that is too small and insignificant to overcome when the going gets tough?  This is an important question to answer because the way we see ourselves determines how we will respond to the opportunities and challenges in life.  Once we are born again, God sees us as world overcomers and He talks to us like that is actually true!  This means He will ask us to do really challenging things because He is with us and He knows we will overcome.  If we see ourselves as a grasshoppers, however, we will often miss His voice and never step into His plans and purposes for our life.

A great example of this is in the book of Numbers when Moses sent 12 of his key leaders into Canaan to spy out the promised land.  When they entered in, they saw a land that flowed with milk and honey and had clusters of grapes so big it took two men to carry them.  This land that was promised to them by God was opulent yet it had a problem; it was occupied by giants.  Look at the report the 12 spies brought back to the children of Israel in Numbers 13:

31“We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.”  32 And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. 33 There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”

The 12 spies said the people in the land were stronger than they were and they couldn’t overcome them.  After that, the spies said they were like grasshoppers in their own sight as well as in the sight of the giants.  Before we go further, let me ask a question.  If God was with the children of Israel and He promised to give them this land, why did it matter how the giants saw them? 

If the children of Israel would have seen themselves as world overcomers who had God with them, they wouldn’t have cared what the giants thought.  We need to understand this principle and apply it to our lives. It doesn’t matter what our adversaries think and it doesn’t matter what our doubters think.  We have God with us, we will overcome! I’ve had plenty of people doubt me along the way, but their opinions didn’t matter as long as I saw myself the way God saw me.  The children of Israel’s problem wasn’t the way the giants saw them.  It was the way they saw themselves.  They saw themselves like grasshoppers.

We will behave in line with the identity we assume.  If we believe we can do all things through Christ, we’ll take on any challenge that comes our way.  If we believe we are like grasshoppers, we’ll behave like grasshoppers and not try to take on giants.  

It’s interesting that of all the animals in the world the children of Israel could have compared themselves to, they picked the grasshopper.  Why?  Grasshoppers don’t have ears and they struggle to hear.  Where does faith come from?  According to Romans 10:17 faith comes by hearing.  Another interesting fact about grasshoppers is they have 5 eyes.  According to 2 Corinthians 5:7 we walk by faith and not by sight.  While grasshoppers struggle to hear, they have magnified sight.  This was the children of Israel’s problem in this story.  They couldn’t hear God tell them how they were going to take the promised land because their eyes were too busy focusing on the challenges.

This is true for many of us today. God has spoken promises over our lives of prosperity, healing, divine purpose, and supernatural favor yet many of us focus more on our circumstances than on the word of God.  We struggle to hear the voice of the Father say I am with you and you are going to be victorious because we see all the giants that stand in our way.  If we aren’t intentional about focusing on God’s promises over our lives, the giants will get us to believe we are grasshoppers.  We won’t see God with us and we will see ourselves as too insignificant to overcome.  

How do you see yourself?  God wants you to see yourself as he sees you!  Here are a few scriptures that tell you how your Father sees you:

  • 2 Corinthians 5:21 You are the righteousness of God!
  • Ephesians 1:3 You are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places!
  • Philippians 4:13 You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you!
  • Romans 8:31 You are more than a conqueror!
  • 1 John 5:4 You are a world overcomer!
  • John 14:12 You can do the same works Jesus did and even greater works because He went to the Father!
  • Mark 9:23 All things are possible to Him who believes!

Meditate these scriptures along with the dozens of other “in Christ” scriptures in the New Testament until you begin to see yourself the way God sees you. You are “in Christ” so this is your real identity! As you change how you see yourself on the inside, the way you respond to life will begin to change on the outside!  God wants you to step into your promised land!

If you would like to learn more about how to overcome grasshopper thinking, check out this message I taught at Grace Life Church.

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