Possessing What Is Ours

God delivered the people out of the hand of Pharaoh in Egypt and brought them into their own promised land. But, Israel just stopped short of possessing all of the land God gave them.
God urged them to take full possessing their land because He knew the trouble they would have well into their future if they didn't finish what they started.  God spoke to Joshua,

"How long will you put off entering in, to take possession of the land which the Lord, the God  of your fathers, has given you?" (Joshua 18:3)

Israel's story is also given to us for our instruction.  God has given us, as His children, an incredible inheritance when Jesus brought us out of the kingdom of darkness into God's Kingdom of light.  Everything God has promised us through Christ, in His Word is ours:

• Salvation
• Freedom from bondage
• Victory over sin
• Authority over the devil
• The ability to live a holy life through the indwelling of the holy Spirit 
• Faith that overcomes
• His strength to be able to do all things
• Divine love and forgiveness for one another and our enemies
• Christ's humility to be a servant of all 
• The mind of Christ to become obedient
• The authority to pray in Jesus name 
• Spiritual gifts to serve

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE DON'T CONSIDER THE CONSEQUENCES?   To often we remain happy with what we now have, satisfied with our salvation as it stands, with the knowledge that we will go to heaven when we die.  So we sit back and enjoy God's blessings instead of growing up in Christ.  As Ephesians 4:11-15 states, we must become fully equipped to serve Him, as it is the will of God our Father.  

• We will have little or no power to overcome 
• We will remain immature and not be able to take responsibility
• Our marriage and family will not have the good testimony it should have
• Our children will not learn from us what is means to serve God in Faith, Holiness, and obedience to His word.  
• We selfishly pursue blessings and have little concern for the lost world
• We can become a hindrance and a burden to the body of Christ
• We greatly delay God's plan and blessings for ourselves
• We rob God of the glory He is to receive from our lives
  

If this is you, how much longer will it take for you to  put off overcoming a sin, or forgiving someone, and begin walking in faith?  The Apostle Paul said it nicely,
"Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which Jesus Christ has laid hold of  for me." (Philippians 3:12)

When We Have No Answers

There are many things and circumstances in our life that we have no answers for.  Health issues, our families and children, where the future is heading are just a few.  If we try to find answers for the problems we face and dwell on these issues for solutions, we can't.  As a result our heart may become heavy or discouraged, anxious and fearful.  We pray and trust God for the answers but sometimes weeks and months pass and there are no visible changes.

The Old Testament tells us of a time when God's people were taken into captivity.  For 70 years their land laid desolate.  Their cites were destroyed, and Jerusalem along with their temple were in ruins. Then God told them He would bring the people back and restore everything as it was before.  The people remained discouraged because they couldn't imagine that such a restoration could happen. (Read God's promises to Zion  Zechariah 8:1-18)  God asked them this question:

     "Even though it seems impossible to the remnant of this people in these days,  shall it also seem too difficult to Me?  (to restore this land) (Zechariah 8:6,  NRSV) 

God wanted to tell them, and us, 'because you can't find any solutions or answers, don't think that I can't either. Remember I AM God and for Me all things are possible'.

Focus and Meditate on the Greatness of our God  

There are many outcomes in the Bible where God in His Almighty Power shows His greatness and demonstrates that nothing is impossible for Him, including changing the laws of nature if it fits His purpose.  When we meditate on God's greatness our faith and trust in Him will grow--far beyond the limited solutions our minds can produce.  We will not not give up believing God knows ways of changing circumstances and the hearts of people for whom we are praying for.  What He has done before, and has purposely stated in His Word, He is willing and able to do again. We are privileged to serve a God whose power has no limits.  

Watch Over your Heart

God sows the seed of His Word into our heart, yet so often what comes out never takes root or barely survives. So God has to come back and plant again and again until finally His Word sprouts and takes root ... like little plants that sprout and grow tall and begin to bear some fruit.

Just look at your life: ''for how long has God been trying to grow plants of faith, holiness and obedience in your heart?''  We read daily about these things in the Bible, and we hear hundreds of sermons on the subject.  Yet too often nothing takes root and develops, though we've been a Christian for many years.

Jesus explains the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13:3-8, 18-23.  We can we examine our hearts carefully to determine which of these types of soil is our problem.

-  The Roadside:
The seed never makes into the ground at all.   It is lying on top of or right next to the hard pavement and never has a chance to take root.  It easily withers away or is snatched away by the birds. This is the heart that is totally unprepared to receive anything.  Many factors can leave us in a place where we can't understand, or in the case of a believer, something is blocking the Holy Spirit from penetrating into our heart.  There are many things that may cause this.  Some reasons are the sin we hold on to and an unteachable spirit ...  which can be result of pride or an unsurrendered will. We may need to  allow God to  put us in a state of brokenness to receive.

-Thorny Ground: 
This ground has no hardness or rock, and is made up of good soil, soft and can easily put down roots. But the ground has never been weeded.  It has thorn brushes that overgrow and choke out the little plants.  This a picture of a heart that has been prepared to receive and the seed and develops healthy plants and can bear fruit.  But we have allowed other types of seed to take root and  choke out the good plants.  We may be a person who worries or has accepted the deceitfulness of riches. We may have surrounded ourselves with the wrong type of  people who influence us in negative ways. Worry kills our faith. Without faith we can not please God. Also the lure of riches takes our affection away from God and we desire the things the world.

God promises if we choose His will over our own, He will turn the soil of our hearts into rich
fertile ground ready to accept His seed and grow tall plants ready to bear fruit.  "If my people 
who are called by My name will humble themselves and  pray, and seek my face and turn from
their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and I will  forgive their sin, and I will heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14.

If your heart has only a thin layer of good soil, and your commitment has no depth, then go to the Word of God and learn what it says.  Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what it cost Jesus to redeem you... what the lordship of Christ is.  By submitting to God's Word, you will find that it is "like a hammer that shatter the rock," the hard rock of your heart. (Jeremiah 23:29)  

Are We Walking Worthy of HIS Name?

What names do the people we know give us? 

Would they call us pretenders, self-seekers, gossips,

prideful, lovers of money, or covetous?  Or ... would we truly qualify to be called a Christian?


These are hard questions to answer about ourselves.  It's so hard to see ourselves as we really are.   I think about it often, am I steadfast in my commitment to the Lord and represent Christ well in the world?  Here are a few thoughts:  
We often excuse our un-Christ-like attitude and behavior by saying "no one is perfect,"  Other Christians I know do all the same things.   It may be true that other believers are as sorry as we are, but that should never satisfy us to stay the way we are.  We should desire with all our heat to become someone worthy to be called a follower of Jesus.   There are some things we can do to change:


1.  We must first WANT to change.  Jesus must become our measuring rod.  Romans 8:29-30 tells us, ''Those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that we might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters... those he called, he also justified, and those he justified, he also glorified.''    The cry of our heart must be Lord Jesus I want to become like you so I can bring honor to your name. 

2.  We must decide to obey the Word of God regardless of what others practice.  We chose to do the will of God as His Word instructs ... and of course in order to do this, we must meditate on and know God's Word.


3.  We need to surround ourselves with God's people who live what we desire to become.  There is an old saying, "Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are."  We may think it really doesn't matter who our friends are as long as we follow our own convictions,  but this is one of the most powerful deceptions of the Enemy to keep us from becoming like Jesus.  We may not realize it, but the negative behavior,  critical spirit and rebellious attitude of those we spend time with will surely rub off on us.  It may not happen over night but our heart is being poisoned little by little.  The Apostle Paul wrote, "Bad company corrupts good character." (1Corinthians 15:33).  We may even hurt some feeling including our own when we dissolve some friendships that pull us in the wrong direction. 


4.  We must draw near to God.  God put a wonderful promise and invitation in His Word for us:  "Draw near to God and He will draw near to us." (James 4:8)  We will find that His presence and character will transform our thoughts, hearts, and actions in such a way that we will become authentic Christians.  

I Will Never Leave You

We have a God of new beginnings.  Every day is a new day, and with it comes the promise, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”  So we can say with confidence,

 “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid."  Hebrews 13:5,6.

 

God is a God of grace, hope, and new life.  The Bible teaches this from the first page to the last, and we must believe it and act upon it every day.  If we want to be change how we act and think, there are 3 things we must not do: 

1.  Our failures must be left behind                                                                                         
The devil wants to keep us prisoners of the past, and that's why he fills our mind with lies about our past.    Instead, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sin and CLEANSE US from all our unrighteousness."  (1John 1:9).  "There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1) 

If we believe and have truly repented of past sin God freely and immediately forgives because of Jesus' sacrifice for us on the cross.  In His sight we are completely cleansed and free of all condemnation.  Our part is to RECEIVE His full pardon.  rejoice in it, and live for now on in obedience to God's Word... and not look back. 

2.   Our hurts must be left behind    
If you ever have been hurt by anyone, even someone we love and trusted, we want the wounds done to our heart to heal over time, but sometimes they don't. You may have forgiven them, but are still hurting.  Unless we completely release them from the wrongs done to us we will never completely heal.  If there is any bitterness at all or holding on to what that person has made you to become, or wish punishment would still come to them, then our forgiveness is incomplete and we are still left in chains. 

Christ did not hold back anything, not even a grudge.  He prayed for God's mercy for those who drove the nails into his hands.  It's not worth going through another day holding on the to wounds that God is able to completely heal when we completely forgive. 

3.  Our low expectations must be left behind
God wants to establish His kingdom here and He want to do it through His people.  Your perceptions and expectation we hold for ourselves as a child of God will determine to what extent we will give God use of our life.  If we are convinced that there are others around us who can do the job better... people more spiritual or courageous, we leave no room in our heart for God to use us.  God's Word says this about us as believers:

• It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.  (Galatians 2:20)
• You shall have power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you... (Acts 1:8)
• God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and discipline. (2Timothy 1:7)
• For whatever is born of God overcomes... and this is the victory that has overcome the world, our FAITH.  (1 John 5:4)

We must believe what God says we can do through Christ and be used by God in ways we never imagined.  pray for one another that we will walk with Jesus in such a way that will bring glory and honor to His name.

Walk with Me I heard Him say...

                                                  

Walk with Me, I heard Him say,

Walk with Me a while today.

Talk with Me I heard Him speak,

Talk with Me of the things you think.

Share with Me the things you feel,

Share with Me so you can heal.

Cry with Me through your heartache,

Cry with Me when your soul aches.

Look with Me, a new sunrise!

Look with Me through opened eyes.

See with Me the world anew,

See with Me my point of view.

Laugh with Me in pure delight,

Laugh with Me, it's all alright!

Sing with Me as we walk along,

Sing with Me I love your song.

Learn with Me you wondrous story,

Learn with Me your former glory.

Know with Me just who you are,

Know with Me, we've traveled far.

Create with Me and dreams come true, 

Create with Me, I create though you.

Walk with M on heavens shore,

Walk with Me forever more.

Greg Olson

copyright 2007