Excerpt (p. 66 – 70)

And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.
But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched. (Numbers 13:27, 28, 31, 32, emphasis added)

This has to be one of the saddest stories in the whole Bible. The children of Israel got right to the edge of the Promised Land and blew it! They brought back a report that was supposed to confirm what God had promised them, but then they added their “but” by saying “nevertheless.” They said it was the land of prosperity, but it was occupied.
Therefore, in their minds, they could not take what God said was theirs. I guess they expected God to evict the previous owners. God told the children of Israel years prior that He would drive out their enemies, but not completely or all at once (Exodus 23:27–31). He would drive out enough of them until the children of Israel were big enough in numbers to finish the job and possess the land.
God is not going to do everything for you. You are going to have to fight some battles and trust God to give you the strength to gain the victory. When you spend too much time in the wilderness, it causes fear and doubt to set in. When you received the vision of God for your life, you embraced it with all your heart.
You were so sure that God was going to use you for a mighty work, but now you are not sure. You have begun to question God’s word to you and have mixed it with doubt, which brings more questions to your mind. Again, God is not the author of confusion. You have allowed the enemy to convince you that you cannot do what God has already said you would.
Once you receive a thought and believe it you will begin to speak accordingly, so be careful of what you speak over your life. The devil will try to convince you that either you cannot achieve your destiny or you really did not hear from God in the first place. If he is successful in doing either, then your speech will change based upon what you believe.
Your speech determines your actions, and your ac-tions will determine where you end up in life, i.e., your destiny. The previous passage of scripture shows us many things that went wrong. It shows how easily believers can get confused and miss the plan of God for their lives.
The children of Israel are a lot like believers today who allow the circumstances of life to confuse them and take them off course. When you live your life based upon what you can see, then you will lean to your own understanding, which can further add to the confusion.
Once confusion has taken its hold, then frustration consumes your mind and clouds your judgment of what is from God and what is not. This is really when you know how well you have embraced the vision of God for your life. This is when you find out how much you really know God. The test has been placed in front of you; will you pass it?

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." (Proverbs 3:5, 6, emphasis added)

"But the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits." (Daniel 11:32, emphasis added)

Do you know Him? Do you really have a one-on-one relationship with the Father through Jesus Christ our Lord? Do you really trust Him? On the other hand, do you just have religion? When you find yourself doubting, getting frustrated by the circumstances, and speaking contrary to God’s word to you, it shows that you really do not know Him.
It shows that your relationship with God is not as deep as you thought. You probably have been standing on “religion” (emotions) instead of faith, which is based on your experiences with God. Throughout the journey from Egypt to Canaan, you want to build and grow in your personal relationship with God.
God went out of His way to show the children of Israel what He was able to do so that they would not be afraid of the challenges to come. What can you draw from in your relationship with God when troubled times come? Your relationship with God can be an arsenal to use against the attacks of the devil.
Life has a way of testing you to see how much you really believe in God. Trust me – you will not be able to fake it; you must have “the goods” when the test comes or you will fail. Failing a test can drastically delay the process for reaching your Destiny or worse!

"Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.
And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcome them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded." (Acts 19:13–16, emphasis added)