Grasshopper Mentality

Numbers 13:1 and 17-33; 14:1-4

Rev. Jason Rowland

Sunday, September 12, 2004

In mid-July, they’ve been in the desert for many
years.  The only thing they had in
mind was that they were going to a land flowing with milk and honey after
having left Egypt.  They’ve been eating manna each
day.  If they disobey and make the
wrong choice, it could be devastation. Joshua sat half-way up the mountain
waiting for Moses to return.  Their
leader picked 12 good men who believed God for anything.  It is very hot and the time that the
grapes are harvested.  They are on
the brink of their destiny.  They
could taste the milk, the honey, and the fruit of the land.  These men were sent into this land to
see what is there.  They come back
to give their report.  The people
are listening to hear the report just like we listen to the news report each
day.  The report was:  there are giants,
if we go we may not come back.  But
Joshua and Caleb say, “Are you crazy?”  We have not come this far to turn back
now.  The people chose to stone
Joshua and Caleb and Moses and said, “We can’t go against giants;
they will kill us.”  Joshua
and Caleb said, “Do you see these grapes?  They are huge.”  Joshua and Caleb said, “If God be
for us, who can be against us?”
They have not had fruit in years and see the huge grapes, but they cry
in the desert and sit there because their faith is not big enough to step over
into the promise.  The battle that
they were about to face began in their mind.  Prov.
23:27:  What a man thinks in his
heart, so is he. Ephe 6:10-12 Be
strong in the Lord, be on the whole armor of God.  We do not wrestle against flesh and
blood.  We fight against
principalities.  The battle is not
with the boss, your children, your co-workers.  The battle is with Satan.

Satan’s native language is “lying.”  There is a war raging.  Those who walk in the flesh, the weapons
of our warfare are not carnal.  We
must be bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience to Christ.

The battlefield in the desert was the battlefield in their
mind.

They said that the other people thought that they were
grasshoppers too, but the giants never saw them.  That thought was in their mind.  It became a stronghold.  The devil works diligently to set up
strongholds in our mind.  The devil
takes his time to work out his plans and strategies.

Grasshoppers’ skin changes with the season.  Anybody with a grasshopper mentality
changes with the things around them.
Grasshoppers hop away from a battle.  The people in the desert thought that
they were grasshoppers in the sight of the giants.

Grasshopper Mentality

My future is determined by my past.

Someone do it for me because I don’t want to take
responsibility.

Please make everything easy because I can’t take it if
it’s too hard.

I’m addicted to faultfinding and complaining.

Don’t make me wait for anything.  I want it now without working for it.

My behavior might be wrong but it’s not my fault.

My life is so miserable

Why shouldn’t I be envious?

I’m going to do it my way or not at all.

The Bible and Confessions are the medicine for grasshopper
mentality.

We are our own worse enemy.

Grasshoppers never eat grapes. It’s not a part of
their diet.

If you knew what the devil knows about you, he saw you when
you got saved and when God anointed you.
The devil sees that you are going somewhere.  He sees your destiny.

Joshua’s spies see Rehab.  She said that they had heard about them
and knew what God had done in their life.
They are afraid.  Satan is
shaking in his boots because he knows the destiny that God has for you.

We must understand that we are Giant Killers.  The devil has lied to us all our
lives.  What your family said about
you, what children said on the playground when you were a child—is not
what the Bible says about you.  You
are a child of God. And with God we can do anything.

Caleb listens to the people moan and groan. Caleb quieted
the people by saying, “Shut up!”  It’s time to tell the devil
“Shut Up” to the things he is telling you in your mind.
(You’re going to be fired.
You’re going to get a divorce.  You’re not a good parent.)

The devil uses these things to turn us away from the destiny
that God has for our lives.

The enemy is scared and frightened when you find out who you
are in Christ.  Tell the devil to
“shut up” about the lies he is telling you.  They’ll be people against you,
jealous, etc.  The people with
grasshopper mentality will have to get out of the way.  That purpose is greater than you could
ever imagine.

The seven sons of Sciva tried to
cast out a devel.  The devil did not know them.  They were not in Christ or not
saved.  They were trying to cast out
the devil, but the devil didn’t know them.  But they knew Paul.

We are engaged in a war.  Our enemy is Satan.  Our mind is the battlefield.  What a man thinks in his heart; so is
he.  Confess the word over your life
every day.

Jason says that he acted as if he were married for a long
time before he was married:  he
opened doors for ladies at the grocery store; he made sure they had a
cart.  He had to change his mind and
act as he would act when he did become married.

If you still believe the strongholds in your mind (I’m
ugly, I’ll never be anything), you must use the Word of God to get rid of
them.  Grasshoppers never eat
grapes.