THE NEVERTHELESS/MOREOVER PRINCIPLE

Greetings Word Lovers. 2006 is rapidly closing...and 2007 is quickly opening. Over the past year...many words have flooded my mind...and a good many of those words have escaped out of my mouth. Some of those words were positive affirmations...some were negative confessions. Some of the words were a healing ointment...others were sharp blasts from the gun of my tongue.

My words were in agreement with something...either a bad report or a good report...just like the 12 spies...in Numbers 13...who were spying out the LAND that God was GIVING THEM TO POSSESS. They were not spying out to land to see if there was a possiblity that they MIGHT possess it IF all the conditions were favorable and JUST RIGHT.

No...they were sent in to see if what God had promised was not TRUE. They were also to be aware that there was opposition to the promise... but the reality...the positive...the good report was that they COULD TAKE THE LAND...that was already GIVEN TO THEM. The problem...was WORDS...in the form of a BAD REPORT. The were done in by the word NEVERTHELESS.

The 12 were selected and sent...the mission was accomplished...tangible evidence was brought back (in the form of grapes)...and the report of the mission was given.

"When they returned from spying out the land...at the end of forty days...they proceeded to come to Moses and Aaron and to ALL the congregation of the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; and they BROUGHT BACK WORD TO THEM and to ALL THE CONGREGATION...and showed them the fruit of the land. Thus they TOLD him and SAID...we went in to the land where you sent us; and it CERTAINLY DOES flow with mik and honey...and THIS IS ITS FRUIT."
(Numbers 13:25-27)

So far...so good. It is the next word that is crucial to the success or failure of their mission. The word? NEVERTHELESS. What the word nevertheless is saying is...Everything that God says about the promised land that he has already given us is true...but we choose to believe the enemy instead of God

"NEVERTHELESS...the people who live in the land are strong and the cities are fortified and very large." (Numbers 13:28)

The next word is another word that added to the nevertheless. That word was MOREOVER. Morever meant that not only is everything that we just negatively said is true...there is more to it. "MOREOVER... we saw the descendants of ANAK there...Amalek is living in the land of the Negev and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites are living in the hill country...and the Cannanites are living by the sea and by the side of the Jordan.." (Numbers 13:29)

The CAUSE AND EFFECT of the negative report was FEAR...and caused an uproar of the people....to the point that Caleb...had to quiet the people. To counter the negative...the BAD REPORT ...Caleb spoke forth a positive word...a GOOD REPORT..."WE SHOULD BY ALL MEANS GO UP AND TAKE POSSESSION OF THE IT (the land) FOR WE SHALL SURELY OVERCOME IT." (Numbers 13:30)

The counterpoint to the positive was another negative word...

"But the men who had gone up with him said...we are NOT ABLE...to go up against the PEOPLE for they are too strong for us...so they gave out to the sons of Israel...A BAD REPORT of the land which they spied out SAYING The land through which we have gone, in spying it out...is a land that DEVOURS its inhabitants; and all the people whome we saw in it are MEN OF GREAT SIZE. There we also saw the Nephilim...the SONS OF ANAK are part of the Nephilim....and WE BECAME like GRASSHOPPERS in our OWN SIGHT...and so we were IN THEIR SIGHT." (Numbers 13:31-33)

Two people...Joshua and Caleb...lined up with the WORD OF GOD...10 lined up with THEIR FEARS...what they saw...what they imagined...what they SPOKE FORTH. They both lined up with WORDS...with two different MINDSETS. One mindset saw POSSESSION..of promised land...the other mindset saw being possessed...by what they feard. One mindset was in AGREEMENT WITH THE WORD OF GOD...the other mindset was in AGREEMENT with their fears. Verse 33 is the telling part of it...the 10 became like grasshoppers in their OWN SIGHT...and how they saw themselves...based on their fears...SO WE WERE IN THEIR (the enemy's) SIGHT.

The question is...what are you SPEAKING? Are you speaking out of fear...of your perceived reality...or are you SPEAKING words of faith based on the WORD OF GOD...or are you SPEAKING words of doubt and unbelief based on your fear and perception of how you...and your enemies see you?

What the ten SAW...was reality...but what they SPOKE was not. What the two SAW...was the same thing the ten saw...but they choose to SPEAK something different...the choose to speak truth instead of reality. It was not a denial of the reality...but faith. Truth trumps reality everytime.

This year...2007...is the YEAR OF THE WORD. This is the year to read the Word...hear the Word...believe the Word...speak forth the Word...and act on the Word. Take the NEVERTHELESS and the MOREOVER...that lines up with the negative...and turn it around for the positive. When reality screams...the economy is falling apart...the world is crumbling...my job is a dead end...my health is failing...DON'T DENY THE REALITY....but begin to read the Word of God and begin to CONFESS....begin to speak forth....NEVERTHELESS...my God shall supply all my needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus and MOREOVER...I will cast all my anxiety on Him for He cares for me...and as for me and my house we WILL SERVE THE LORD.

Love and GOOD REPORT KISSES
Rodney "Declaring the Year of the Word" Boyd