Driving Out the Inhabitants of the Land: Part 2

By Pastor Mitch Horton | February 2001 | Posted in • Archives | (1) Comments

Last month we began discussing the importance of believers “driving out the inhabitants of the land” in their lives. We used the analogy of Israel occupying the land of promise, citing the instructions God gave them to remove the land’s inhabitants. (See Deut. 11:8-32, Exodus 23:20-33, Numbers 33:50-56.) The bottom line is that the land belonged to Israel by God’s promise, but was dominated by other nations devoted to false religions. These inhabitants had to be driven out before the Israelites could take possession of what God had said was their land.

As Christians, we must likewise drive out the inhabitants from our land of promise. These giants consist of the thoughts that make us act and respond the way that we do. We all have giants to slay. Perhaps they have been lifelong companions, just now being exposed as intruders by God’s Word. We may finally be realizing how they intimidate us and try to keep us from our inheritance in Christ. But we must be like little David as he faced mighty Goliath. Defeating the towering foe with stones and a sling seemed impossible, but David’s faith in God prevailed.

Our giants are thought processes that have become rooted in us through family environments and life experiences. They cause us to picture ourselves in the light of our past instead of from God’s viewpoint as His “new creatures in Christ.” Left unchallenged, these giants become entrenched in fortresses of thought, or “strongholds,” that can automatically dictate our every response.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5 mentions these thought strongholds: “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. (4) For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, (5) casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”

God has given us a sling and some stones as we face our giants. These giants, these thoughts, must surrender to the Word of God in our lives. We are to “forget those things which are behind” and “reach forth to those things which are ahead.”(See Philippians 3:13.) Everything in our lives must be focused through the light of who we are in Christ.

The most powerful weapon available to you is the Word of God! Spoken out of your mouth, it will drive these tyrants completely out of your life. Just as Jesus resisted Satan’s insinuations in the wilderness with the Word, so you must resist every thought that disagrees with what God’s Word says you are in Christ.

One giant that I had to drive out of my life was the belief that I could be loved only when I was performing well. Because I derived my value from how well I did, my workaholic tendencies would drive me to exhaustion! I didn’t realize this giant was controlling me until one day in the late 1980’s.

I was on vacation at the beach, soaking up the sun, reading and relaxing. But by the second day, I found myself restless, uneasy, and actually longing to be back in my office at work! The prospect of two weeks apart from normal, productive activity left me miserable! That was when the Lord began to reveal that my value as a person was derived from what I accomplished and not from Him. Instead of being secure in my fellowship and standing in Christ Jesus, my feelings of worth came from what I did and how well I did it.

When I saw that giant, I started slinging stones from the Word of God at him. I began to say, “I am saved by faith and not by works,“and “I have not been saved by faith to live by works.” (See Eph. 2:8). I had felt that the Lord was pleased with me only when I was busy, when I was accomplishing something. Through His Word being implanted within me as I confessed it, God was able to show me that He loves me all the time.

“I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee.” (Jer. 31:3) “‘I know the thoughts that I think towards you,’ says the Lord, ‘thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.’” ( Jer. 29:11) John 16:27 in the Amplified translation reads, “......for the Father Himself tenderly loves you…...” Jesus said in John 17:23, “...... and you have loved them as you have loved me.” I persistently meditated on these Scriptures.

Of course, the old familiar thoughts and feelings of having to produce in order to be loved still surfaced frequently. But when they did, I would start saying out loud what God’s Word says about His unconditional love for me. Through this process, I began to believe deep inside that I am completely accepted by the Lord when I succeed AND when I fail, when I’m busy and when I’m not! For many years now, I have been free from that “workaholic” tendency and the feelings it had produced in me. Speaking the Word and standing against those feelings drove that giant right out of my life!

I also had to face the giant of “rejection,” of always thinking and feeling that others were against me. You can probably imagine how the influence of that giant would severely impair anyone in ministry! The Lord began to give me scripture that would counteract those wrong thoughts and feelings. I began to say out loud verses such as 1 Corinthians 4:3 (Phillips Translation), “It matters very little to me what you or any man thinks of me, I don’t even value my opinion of myself,” and Romans 8:31-39, “If God is for me, no enemy can be successful against me.” Again and again, when those feelings and thoughts came, I would sling stones at that giant by confessing God’s Word. The giant of rejection also departed from my life many years ago now.

What kind of giants do you face in your land of promise? Do you have a mentality of sickness, poverty, fear, failure, or condemnation? Replace the giants that are occupying your land of promise with the Word. Find scriptures that refute those wrong beliefs, take the time to meditate on them, and begin to say aloud what the Word of God says about you. Start claiming your inheritance in Christ now. Agree with what God says about you! Begin to sling stones at the unbelief that stills hinders you mentally. God has a land of promise for you to dwell in; it’s a land of freedom, liberty, joy, peace, rest, health, prosperity, plenty, love, security, confidence, righteousness, and fruitfulness in the family of God!