Numbers 13:27-31"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. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan. And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. 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." Numbers 14:33-34 "And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcasses be wasted in the wilderness. After the number of the days, in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise".

The children of Israel were on the precipice of success and were being prepared, by God, to complete their journey from slavery in Egypt to entering into the land of Canaan. After centuries of degradation under the grip of Pharaoh, the most powerful empiric leader in the world and after enduring a harrowing flight out of Egypt, the trouble was almost over and they could practically smell the liberation that seemed like only a dream a few months back. God told Moses to send out spies to check out the land, not to prove that what He said was true, but for them to prepare the strategies needed to conquer this land in wisdom and without loss. The spies were gone for forty days and this was supposed to be an opportunity for the Israelites to prepare to move with faith and purpose into their new homes but when the spies returned the people were utterly destroyed by an unseen plague that was carried in the mouths of ten of the spies. Because of this disease instead of forty days of purposed preparation they doomed themselves to wander for forty years in the wilderness without any purpose at all. The plague according to the words in Numbers 14:37 was called an "evil report" but today we just call it negativity.

Negativity is one of the schemes used by Satan and His forces to bring ruin to the people of God by causing them to look at situations and circumstances that may appear to have no positive value and cause them to make judgments based on those facts alone. When this happens it immediately causes the mind to move in a carnal cycle of remembering past experiences, past defeats, irrational thoughts and it becomes consumed with fear and doubt. The spies not only saw the Amalekites and other tribes as stronger than they were but they would add that they mentally saw themselves as mere grasshoppers (Numbers 13:33) even though they had successfully pulled off the greatest escape from a world power ever recorded and even made the Pharaoh finance the trip. Negativity is a spirit that alters the perceptions of the people it plagues and causes them to remove the enlightened lenses of the Spirit and paints a portrait of life as grim and impossible with defeat as imminent unless they stay right where they are. Negativity breeds complacency. When we operate in negativity it not only alters our present life but it also can alter the future. That one day of negativity for the Israelites caused four decades of bondage. The scripture stated that for every day that they searched the land (40) they would wander in the wilderness which they did for forty (40) years. Twelve spies were sent out and ten gave a negative report. The two believers were Joshua and Caleb who thought victory was a piece of cake ready for the taking. God made a distinction between these men and the ten cowards and they both lived to see and enter the land. The ten unbelieving spies died immediately of a plaque sent by the Lord. Our actions are the things we concentrate on fixing and focusing the most but it is really our minds and our attitudes that determine whether we will accomplish our goals or languish in meritocracy and obscurity, falling short of our intended purpose. Proverbs 18:21"Death and life are in the power of the TONGUE: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof."

Watch what you say. Your deliverance from the wilderness may depend on it.