“Possess the Land”
See, the Lord your God has placed the land before you; go up, take possession, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you. Do not fear or be dismayed.
Deuteronomy 1:21
There are things that God is calling each of us to “possess” by faith. The word “possess” means occupy, drive out previous tenants, seize, or inherit. There is God-ordained destiny that must be possessed by faith. For Israel it was a promised land. For FBC Paradise it is nineteen acres, for you it could be something totally different.
I believe that there are many of you reading this who have dreams and promises from the Lord that have long gone unfulfilled. Some may have even given up on those dreams ever coming true or ever seeing those promises kept. Today is a day to shake off spiritual lethargy and weariness, for we must go to war. We must go to war in our minds, in the spiritual realm, with our attitudes, and with our circumstances.
Even though God has promised you things, it does not mean that your faith will not be tried and tested along the way. This forty-day challenge is meant to be a time of intense training and focus to overcome whatever stands in the way of you possessing your destiny.
Several years ago I was dragging around, as low as an alligator tail. It seemed that every ministry I was a part of fell apart, and I was convinced that I would never taste the sweet waters of God’s blessing and success. Then one morning as I was sitting with the Lord and reading His word I read today’s scripture passage. I meditated on this verse until it filtered into my mind and my soul and it changed my way of thinking. I knew that God had called me to preach and write, but did not understand why there was so much hardship. Through that time with the Lord I became convinced that God had a bigger destiny for me and for the rest of that year my theme was “possess the land.” It was just a simple reminder that through faith I was determined to possess or to seize everything that God had planned for me. Five months later I was interviewing with FBC Paradise to become their pastor. When I walked in the doors of the church, before I ever even met the committee, the Lord spoke in my spirit and told me to possess the land. That is exactly what I have been doing here for nearly four years now.
In order to possess the land God has set before you, you first must be able to see it. Can you see what God has destined for you to possess? If not, you need to spend more time asking Him to plant that dream in your heart. I have always been a dreamer but there were many times in the past when I dreamed my own dreams and then asked God to bless them. As I have grown, I have sought to be more disciplined in asking God to reveal His destiny, and that He would reveal His dreams for my life. This has made all the difference. Can you see what you are being called to possess? A better marriage? Godly children? Financial freedom? A new job? Healing? Renewed vision for work?
Once you can see the land you are being called to possess, the next step is to write it down and keep it before you spiritually. If God has truly placed it before you and called you to believe Him for it, then we know we are praying in accord with the will of God. We should then be praying with confidence and conviction that He will give us the inheritance of His destiny for us.
Here comes the tough part - you might be able to see the land, you might know God has called you to that land, but there is still a real enemy who wants to oppose you every step of the way. He wants you to cower under the impossible odds or the difficulty of the dream. Satan would have you shrink back in fear or to become discouraged at the long delay in the fulfillment of God’s promise. Those thoughts do not honor God. You must shake them off and go back and remember what God has spoken to you.
God promised Israel that land hundreds of years before they actually entered it, through the covenant He made with Abraham. It might not have appeared that they would ever possess the land, but in spite of the fact that Israel doubted and wandered for forty years before being able to enter the promised land, God’s promise never wavered. Today, what do you choose to believe?
Do you choose to believe that your best years are gone? Do you choose to believe that you are stuck in the quagmire of your circumstances? Have you lost sight of your God-ordained destiny and made excuses for a life of low living and high compromise? Get up this moment and cry out to God to restore your vision, your faith, and your expectation that will possess the land. You will be a man, woman, or student of God’s purpose. You will walk in your destiny by faith. What do you see and what do you believe? If God is restoring your vision and your faith, do not delay, pray for possession of the land He has purposed for you.
Steps to Trust and Obey:
Spend some time getting a clear mental picture of what possessing the land means for you. What land is God calling you to possess?
Ask God for a strategy of how you are supposed to seize your intended land.
Has God given you any reassurances or promises along the way? If so, commit them to memory and pray through them.
What is God speaking to you? What steps of obedience is He calling you to take?
Thank you for your encouraging words that came at at a time when I feel I was about to bite the dust from attacks from the enemy.
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