Are you possessing?

I was at work the other day reading in Genesis. I read Genesis 15:7 as the Spirit quickened in me to stop and meditate on this scripture.

v7 And He said to him, "I am the LORD who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to possess it.

With my new handy Bible I looked up the Hebrew which in the context of this verse the word possess means to consume and conquer!
I sort of dropped it there until it came back up in my prayer time today. I began to look up more scriptures that dealt with possessing. Not surprising there were tons in Deuteronomy as the Lord instructs the Israelite people to possess the land promised them.

Deuteronomy 1:8 See I have placed the land before you; go in and POSSESS the land which the Lord swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to them and their descendants after them.

This is when the Spirit really began to speak to me about possessing. Notice this part: "go in and possess". See going in to the land wasn't fulfilling the instructions. They were to go in AND possess. We have gotten into a tendency as the Israelites did of thinking that going in IS possessing!!

How many times did God show the Isralites that He prepared a way for them, yet in their stubbornness they questioned God and in fear never took the land that He had for them.

I got interested and began reading over and over the exodus story and also Deuteronomy, where we see the same plot. God has this great land for them to not only live in, but to POSSESS. To rule to reign, without fear, without lack, having every need met by Father God, but they were scared, rebellious, a fearful people lacking trust and faith in the God who had already brought them out of slavery and prepared for them freedom.

The more I read the more frustrated I became. Stupid people, how many times does He have to lay it out for you! He wants you to live in this Promised Land. Stop wandering around slandering, rebelling, living in fear and doubt, and GO POSSESS THE LAND!! In Deuteronomy just the subtitles in my Bible are frustrating: Conquests recounted (God slaughters for them) Israelites urged to obey God (WHAT?) Promises of God, God's gracious dealings, Israel provokes God, Rewards of Obedience!! Yeesh. You don't even have to read the verses to get that God did work on their behalf, they mess up, He shows them grace, They mess up, He urges them to obey, They mess up, He forgives them then rewards them, etc. etc. etc. Then...

I was reminded. This is my story too. I believe in the promises of God given to each and every believer and I believe in the individual promises for each believer's purpose.

I have a calling and a purpose. That purpose is my land that i'm not just supposed to dabble in or live in, but supposed to possess! To conquer! I find in myself the very same "settle" stubborn mentality that brain washed the Israelite people. And what I see rapid in the body of Christ today is the enemy's deceptive tactics trying to convince us that we aren't meant to possess we should just be happy with dwelling in the land.

I have a friend here at Tech that everytime you say something she doesn't want to do or disagree with she just replies with "bump that". It always makes me laugh as we say something like "let's go work out" and the simple reply we all know is coming "bump that". I know you're wondering what this has to do w/ anything i've been talking about, but as I really begin to think upon this deception and lie from the enemy, the words that rise in my heart are "BUMP THAT!". We don't need to listen to no stinking liar telling us what is complete opposite of scripture.

God said go IN the land and POSSESS it. Stop settling with making it to the door of your dreams, to the door of victory, i'm not going to stand at the door. I'm going to go in and when i get there, I'm going to possess. The Word says we're more than conquerors through Jesus! So why aren't we conquering?

Begin to inquire of the Lord, WHERE IS MY LAND? HELP ME POSSESS IT!
Abraham had no problem being frank with the Lord.

v8 And he said, "O Lord God, how may I know that I shall possess it?"

We each have areas of our lives, visions, purpose, that we should be POSSESSING, CONQUERING, but for too long have believed the lies that we should just be glad we've made it this far, i should just sit here because obviously this is as far as God wants me to go. I don't know about you, but to me it just doesn't sound like victory, possession, and conquering.

You all know how much I like examples. The place I need to most apply this to is our youth group (Encounter God). We were called to go into a land of West Lubbock and I believe God handed that over to my pastors, the leaders of EG ministries, He's handing that over to me as a youth minister and to our youth workers. A land that we're not just given to go sit and dwell, with the awesome new building He provided, the Bibles, the new sound system, etc. We're to go in AND POSSESS it. To claim that ground to no longer be the rejected, hard knocks, area anymore, but the area on fire for Jesus, where revival begins and spreads to the city. As the drug dealers, prostitutes, etc. that reign over there where come to their knees in repentance. I don't want to settle with being happy that our students aren't getting shot. If possession is what is open to us, we're going to possess. And as the word says, not because of our righteousness, not because of our doings, not because we can do it, but because of God's mercy, because of His grace, and because He's already prepared the way, we just have to follow.

Find what needs possessing in your life.
Be blessed,
J. Tate