We read in Numbers 13 how the Lord sent twelve spies from the Israelites to spy out the land of Canaan.  They went into the land as they were instructed, and came back bearing the fruit of the land, and a report of how the land flowed with milk and honey.  Caleb saw the opportunity the Lord set before them, and said, Let’s go take it.  But the other eleven?  They weren’t so sure.  I see it’s really no different today.
   The Lord sets opportunities for us to be victorious, but sometimes we shrink back in unbelief. Let’s read in Numbers 13:30-33 about it how it was for Caleb.
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. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
    I see here, it wasn’t really the giants that kept the Israelites out of the Promised Land for forty years, it was those stupid little grasshoppers, that is, those who as much as told God to His face that He was not able to deliver on His promise.  Was God pleased with them?  Absolutely not.  In fact, we read that God caused them to wander around in the wilderness forty years until that whole unbelieving generation died off.  But Caleb was not an unbeliever.  He took God at His word, and held onto the promise for FORTY FIVE YEARS!!  How many of YOU could hold onto God’s promise forty five years without wavering?  How about twenty years?  Twenty days? Twenty minutes?
     You know, Israel could have entered the Promised Land right away.  Could have, should have, but unbelief kept them out.  Is unbelief allowing someone else to occupy YOUR mountain?  More specifically, are you living in a situation right now where you KNOW you should be having victory according to God’s promise, but you’re not seeing it?  Then what’s going on?
 Caleb didn’t waver in his faith, yet unbelief in his camp still ended up keeping him out of his Promised Land for forty years.  Was it Caleb’s unbelief?  No, but he remained in the unbeliever’s camp, and I think that’s why he had to wait forty five years to possess his mountain.  Sometimes you just have to separate yourself unto God and shut the unbelievers out of your life.  Am I saying if you have an unbelieving mate that you should leave them?  No.  But stop listening to their unbelief.  Stop letting unbelievers influence your choices.  Stop going to a church that teaches unbelief even though your mate is comfortable there.  You have to step away from unbelief, make your stand apart from unbelievers.  Is it easy when you have unbelief in your household?  No.  But who said anything about “easy”?
    Overcoming is never easy, that’s why it’s called “overcoming”.  Caleb wanted his mountain.  It was all he thought about for forty five years.  Every day he listened to the naysayers, the unbelievers, the spiritually lazy people around him, probably shaking his head in sorrow at them.  Every time he spoke of his mountain with a gleam of fire in his eye, someone would be right there with the water bucket to douse the fire in him.  “Yeah, Caleb, it’s a nice mountain, but you’re not a spring chicken you know, and besides, you remember the giants, and if you would have tried to take that mountain, they would have put you in your own back pocket.  You’d better be glad the people didn’t listen to you, think of how many lives would have been lost?.  When are you ever going to learn that there is wisdom in the counsel of many others?  We know better than to just go into Canaan and declare it’s ours, you need to get that silly idea out of your head right now!”  Can you imagine listening to that trash for forty five years?  But one day, Caleb had enough.  He wanted his mountain, and nobody was going to talk him out of it.  Joshua 14:12 is where it gets good:
Now therefore give me this mountain, whereof the LORD spake in that day; for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities were great and fenced: if so be the LORD will be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as the LORD said.
    Remember, Caleb is eighty five years old now.  His patience had worn thin with the unbelievers.  If they wanted to remain in unbelief, then so be it, but HE was going to have his mountain.  We need to have that same attitude today.  Unbelief may have kept you off your mountain for several years now, but hey, it’s a new day.  Who says today has to be like yesterday was?  There are times and season for everything under the sun.  Is it YOUR season to take your mountain?  That depends.  Have you spent enough time looking at the mountain you want that you’re ready to get up off your easy chair and TAKE IT?  If so, then do so.  If not, sit back in your easy chair until you ARE ready to take your mountain.
    What mountain do you want to possess?  Health?  Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired?  Are you willing to take the kingdom of heaven by force and lay hold of the promises of God relentlessly, without wavering?  I promise you will encounter giants who will do their best to dissuade you from your goal.  The devil will never willingly surrender what he has occupied, and if you’ve been sick a long time, he has lots of people who are convinced that sickness is just a part of life, and that it’s God’s will for you to endure sickness.  And he will make sure to put those people in your life often.  And they will sneeze and slobber all over you, too.  Do you really want to be whole?  Jesus paid the price for your healing, so the only thing standing in your way of health is the devil, and unbelief.  The devil? He’s no problem, the Lord gave believers authority to bind him and cast him out, in Matthew 18:18, with the promise in Luke 10:19 that he could not harm you.  He’s the least of your worries.  Unbelief?  Now that’s another story.  Unbelief will keep you out of ALL the promises of God.  And only YOU have control of unbelief.  Can’t blame THAT one on the devil, sorry, the cure for unbelief falls squarely on you.  Deal with it. Start taking God at His word, and don’t stop.
    Are your finances in a wreck?  God promises provision for His children.  Are you one of His?  Then the promises are sure, IF you believe.  See the above for “cure for unbelief”.  Secondly, start doing what the Word of God says with your finances.  Be led of the Holy Spirit where and what to give.  Imagine you standing there, shoveling blessings to others.  As you are shoveling, God is shoveling blessings back to you.  Only, His shovel is much bigger than yours.  Any questions?
    Are you suffering in a bad relationship?  How long, O Lord, can this go on?  Well, it can go on until you start believing God can fix it, and you treat them as GOD would treat them in the meantime.  God treats us all real good, giving rain and sunshine to the good and evil alike.  Your mountain in this particular scenario is your own flesh,” Well, you can’t treat ME like that!  You talk ugly about me, I’ll talk ugly about you!”   “They will never change, been that way since Moses was a little kid.  Even God himself couldn’t change them.”  But maybe God could change the way YOU see them, and you might even start to love them like God loves them, and change will indeed take place.  Jesus said, “Believe only…”  Don’t worry about changing others.  Ask God to change YOU into the image of His beloved Son.  Then you’ll be happy regardless.  And isn’t that what you’re really after?
    Whatever mountain you’re looking at right now to possess, know this: it’s high, but it’s worth having.  And it’s probably “booby-trapped”, meaning it’s not going to be a piece of cake for you to possess it.  Every step of the way will be uphill.  Mountains do tend to be that way, you know.  But God created us to be more comfortable walking uphill, than downhill.  That’s just a tidbit for you to consider the next time you’re out walking  Try it and see. 
   We are created for the uphill climb to the top, not standing at the bottom and looking up.  You weren’t created to walk around and around the base of the mountain saying “The mountain is getting higher!”  No, the mountain is not getting higher, but the rut you’re walking in is getting DEEPER!  Climb out of the rut and set your path straight to the top, and TAKE YOUR MOUNTAIN!  After all, God already gave it to you, but He isn’t going to build a ski lift to take you up there.  Half of the fun is the very act of taking your own mountain.  The other half is being up there enjoying the view, looking down on the ones who were too timid to take their mountain.