The Forging of a Cross Over Mentality
by Dr. John Tetsola

Last month we saw Israel's pronounced victory over the Egyptians, but let's examine the prevailing mindsets that actually existed within the hearts of God's chosen people. After their deliverance from Egyptian bondage, unknowingly the Israelites had entered a space of time between two seasons—the season when God did everything for them, to when they would have to acquire the faith to fight for themselves. In order for them to realize the intention of God for their lives, their past and present seasons would have to be bridged by the forging of a cross over mentality.

And they said to Moses, Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you treated us this way and brought us out of Egypt?

Did we not tell you in Egypt, Let us alone; let us serve the Egyptians? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.

Exodus 14:11-12 AMP

The Red Sea experience was the Israelite's first instance of grumbling and complaining. Over their subsequent forty year journey in the wilderness, they would become masters of complaint in the face of hardship. God brought them into a new season, but they remained locked into the old mindsets of having to be burped, and relying on Moses to change their diapers. Their old mindsets made them very predictable and instead of moving forward in faith, they allowed their present circumstances to dictate their future direction. They would cry out in fear and question Moses' motive for bringing them out of 400 years of bondage! "Why have you treated us this way and brought us out of Egypt?" They failed to realize that there could never be true rest without conflict, so they cursed their crisis. At the threshold of their deliverance they would "melt down" in fear and long for their past bondage. "For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness." Still, God delivered them. Failure to resolve your present conflict makes your past look attractive.

It's evident that although God parted the Red Sea, His chosen people lacked the cross over mentality that would enable them to shift from their defeated slave mindsets. What is a cross over mentality? It is the mindset and thinking in you that produces an inward drive and tenacity not to quit your believing in the face of obstacles. It is when you refuse to allow your present circumstances to dictate your future direction. What aspect of God remains hidden from your generation? Abraham introduced Jehovah-jireh to us. If the Israelites were to continue to reveal the sovereignty of Jehovah God to the surrounding nations, they would have to become pro-active in their own battles. A cross over mentality would enable them to do so.

The children of Israel quit believing in the face of obstacles. Instead of focusing on God's demonstration of power and faithfulness to them in times past, their responses were fear, whining, and despair. When they cried out to Moses, we know the outcome. Like clockwork, the Israelites would prove faithless, Moses would go to God on their behalf, and God would move. Although they would witness the miraculous for 40 years in the wilderness after the parting of the Red Sea, they were still spiritually bankrupt and challenged from within. Their lack of a cross over mentality would ultimately leave a whole generation to die at the threshold of their Promised Land. Let's learn from Israel's example. Don't get to the threshold of your promise only to shrink away in fear. Stop wasting your trials on the production of faithless words and spiritual "melt-downs" by permitting old mindsets to fight against that which God intends to do for you. Develop the inward drive and tenacity not to quit your believing in the face of obstacles. There's only one way to deal with your present conflict, and that is with a cross over mentality.