Did you know that your attitude affects your altitude? Were you aware that if you see in the Scriptures the same image that God had when He first spoke it; that then you are ready to receive it? If so, have there been experiences where you did not receive what you expected out of the promises of God? Or was the situation that you received the blessings but couldn’t enjoy them for various and sundry reasons?
In the blog posted the week of April 4, 2017, I promised to give more information about the attitudes that hindered receiving and enjoying the blessings of God that He promised. Don’t forget “For all the promises of God in him [Jesus] are yea, and in him are Amen, unto the glory of God by us” (2 Cor 1:20) KJV
Attitude is a frame of mind affecting one’s thoughts or behavior. Peter taught to “Be done with every trace of wickedness (depravity, malignity) and all deceit and insincerity (pretense, hypocrisy), and grudges (envy, jealousy and slander and evil speaking of every kind” (I Pet 2:1 AMPC). Altitude is the perpendicular height above a reference point. If your reference point begins with a particular thought; then that is what will greatly influence what you say and do. Thus the reason that attitude = altitude. Learn to discipline your thoughts to always agree with God’s Word. Bring into captivity and cast down all those that don’t. (2 Cor 10:5) The attitudes of the nations that occupied the Promised Land when the Israelites were led in by Joshua as directed by God were very displeasing to God. God instructed Joshua to tell the Israelites:
“When the Lord thy God shall bring thee into the land whither thou goest to possess it, and hath cast out many nations before thee, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than thou;
2 And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them” (Deut 7:1-2 KJV)
The seven nations mentioned possessed different attitudes of evil spirits that were displeasing to God and He didn’t want the Isalrelites to cohabit with them. Following is a three column chart listing the name of the evil spirit (e.g. nation), meaning of the name and the evil manifestation (characteristics of each)
Table of Seven Evil Spirits
| Name | Meaning of Name | Character ( Evil Manifestation) | |
| 1. Hittites | Sons of Heth (terror) – extreme fear | Death, Fear, Depression, Suicide, Deceit, Purposelessness, terrorism | |
| 2. Girgashites | Clay dweller | Earthliness, Greed, Selfish, fleshy methods, “non-spiritual”, stupidity | |
| 3. Amorites | Mountaineer, “Sayer” – one who has a high position from speech | Pride, Fornicator, Possessor, Arrogant, “Full of themselves”, Entrenches unrighteous behavior in people’s mind. | |
| 4. Canaanites | Lowland, trafficker in merchandise | Low desires (pleasures), sexual immorality, perversions, homosexuality, non-judgement, spreads evil through pleasure, deceitful affection | |
| 5. Perizzites | Villager (belonging to a poor village) | Small thinking, low self-esteem, poverty, “man” worship (idolatry), ungratefulness, laziness, carelessness, blood sucking parasite | |
| 6. Hivites | Village people (rich village lifestyle) | Hedonism (life focused on pleasure), purposelessness, fraud, riches, rape | |
| 7. Jebusites | Threshing place (trodden down, and separated) | Legalists, unrighteous judges, racism, class distinction, murderers, spreads death (Hittites) and poverty (Perizzites), suppression of spiritual authority in fellow believers |
Source: Shamah-Elim Bible Studies
The following Scriptures will give insight as to why God told the Israelites to utterly destroy the existing attitudes that would hinder their progress, enjoyment and obedience.
“ For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints”. (I Cor 14:33)
“ Cast out the scorner, and contention shall go out; yea, strife and reproach shall cease” ( Prov 22:10 KJV)
“For wherever there is jealousy (envy) and contention (rivalry and selfish ambition), there will also be confusion (unrest, disharmony, rebellion) and all sorts of evil and vile practices.” (Jas 3:16 AMPC)
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