Have you taken possession of what is yours?

Caleb has been on my heart, lately. Remember Caleb?  God had delivered the Israelites from Egypt, opened the Red Sea, and provided manna from Heaven.  Now Israel was camped at the border of the Promised Land, and Moses sent out twelve spies to explore the land of Canaan.

Joshua and Caleb were the two spies — of all the spies – who came back with faith and said, “We can take them! Let’s take the land!”  The other ten spies were saying, “We’re grasshoppers next to them!  We’ll be eaten alive!”   Caleb and Joshua pleaded, “The Lord is with us!  Don’t be afraid of them!”

But the Israelites chose defeat, they chose fear, they chose not to trust in God and claim what He’d already given them.

Moses was pleading for the people because of all the stuff that was going on in the desert, and the Lord basically said, “No…they’re not entering in.” They were all going to have to die in the desert – outside the Land of Promise.

And the Lord was rebuking those people, saying, “Surely all of them, they didn’t listen to my voice, they aren’t going to see the land…but my servant Caleb – because he’s had a different spirit and has followed Me fully – I will bring into the land, which he entered, and his descendants shall take possession of it.” (Numbers 14:24)

In Numbers 32:12, again the Lord was talking about the land and He was saying in verse 11, that none of the men who came up out of Egypt who were 20 years and older shall see the land, except for Caleb and Joshua, for they have wholly followed the Lord.

 

Have you taken possession of what is yours?

And here we are, standing at the border of the land of promise.  We can choose to step over and claim what God has for us, or we can turn away.

I just want to encourage you with the goodness of God because He has already done it.  It’s just us coming to realize that that’s the plan.  This whole chapter of Ephesians 3 is an invitation to step into the promise!

 

Let’s review the plan of God revealed:

  1. We must have encounter with Him – we need to pursue a revelation of God’s goodness and love and power.
    • We can boldly, and freely approach God, with freedom and without fear. (Ephesians 3:10-12)
    • We can know, practically, through experience, the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge. (Ephesians 3:19)
  2. Through the church, the wisdom of God – in all its aspects – is made known to the angelic rulers and authorities. (Ephesians 3:10)
  3. We are to be strengthened with power, through His Spirit, in our inner being, rooted and grounded and love, and filled up with all the fullness of God. (Ephesians 3:16-19).

His purpose is timeless

We tend to think of purpose as doing something, walking it out and then seeing a result.  We’re very results-oriented people.  We want the action and the results.  But He’s timeless.  In Ephesians 3:11, we read about his “eternal and timeless purpose which has been realized (past tense!) and carried into effect in Christ Jesus our Lord.” It’s already done.

God told Joshua, “Every place on which the sole of your feet treads, I have given to you.”  Note God said, “I have given to you” – past tense!    All that Joshua had to do was appropriate it.  In the same way, all we need to do is appropriate His plan for us.

 

We just need to take possession of the land!

In Hebrews 4:1-2, we read, Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it.  For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.”

The people of Israel had seen God’s mighty works.  Moses and Aaron had preached God’s Word to them.  And yet, when it came time to enter the land, they turned away, because their knowledge was not united with faith.

Lord, help us to remember the Lord our God who brought us out of Egypt, who brought us out of slavery.  Help us to remember the things You’ve done.

Help us to remember that You’ve also called us to be overcomers.  You’ve said we are overcomers.  Already…realized…in Christ.  It’s already been done.  It is finished!

Lord, I ask that You just stir within us right now.  May You help us to recognize that your timeless purpose is for us to be full of You.

 

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