"Offensive Wrestling"

"Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, "Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it." -Numbers 13:30

"But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it." -Numbers 14:24

When the Israelites came to the Promise Land for the first time they sent spies into the land; The 12 came back saying that the land was great but the people in it were too many, too strong and the children of Israel would never be able to take over. All 12, except for two. Joshua and Caleb.

God was displeased with the peoples' lack of faith, and he punished them by keeping them in the wilderness for forty more years , saying that they would never see the promise land, only their children would be allowed in. Except for Caleb and Joshua. He was pleased with these two because they had a different spirit.

My Dad talks about being an over comer, and that the over comers are going to be the ones who inherit the earth. In Caleb's case it was a small part of the earth, but eventually when the Lord comes back the over comers will reign over the whole earth.

Caleb's "different spirit" was that of an overcomer ["for we are well able to overcome it."]. A few nights ago I was shooting a wrestling meet for work; I later started thinking about what it is that makes a good wrestler. You can survive a wrestling match by being a defensive wrestler, defending your opponents moves, but you will never pin or overcome your opponent fighting this way. Until you switch to offense and start making the first move will you come away with a pin.

I've realized that this is the way that I've "wrestled". Too often I am in defensive mode, ready to defend the take down attempts from this world, but until I switch to attacking I will never really be an over comer.This is scary for me, because when I am defending I am doing it out of necessity, the need to survive, if we don't defend we will be overtaken. But when you turn to offense make the move out of your comfort zone by choice, this is no longer a necessity but a decision. The decision to overcome the world. A book I was reading told teenagers, "Don't be known by the things you don't do but be known by the things you do." *

Don't be known as a defensive fighter, but go on offense, because to these "offensive wrestlers" Jesus writes amazing promises, ones that I want to be a part of!

To him who overcomes:

"I will give to eat from the Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God." (Revelation 2:7) "He shall not be hurt by the second death." (verse 11) "To him I will give power over the nations, He shall rule them with a rod of iron." (verse 27) "He shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels." (3:5)

And:
"I will grant him to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne." (3:21)