Failing To Fully Possess What Has Been Promised

Too many of us are not fully possessing what Jesus intended for us to possess. We have been offered the fullness of Christ and instead we satisfy ourselves with a few crumbs. We are repeating exactly what the Israelites did when they were offered the Promised Land. They never fully possessed it. Some of the tribes took what was given to them but others never did. Even the tribes that did take their possession did not flush out and destroy the other nations like they were instructed to do. And it came to pass exactly what Yahweh warned them would happen, that if they left any of those he sent them to destroy, they would be influenced to turn to other gods.

It's difficult for us to image what Israel could have been and how Yahweh would have been glorified, if only Israel had obeyed:

Now the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of meeting there. And the land was subdued before them. But there remained among the children of Israel seven tribes which had not yet received their inheritance.

Then Joshua said to the children of Israel: “How long will you neglect to go and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers has given you?" (Joshua 18:1-3)

How long will we neglect to possess all that Jesus has promised us? When he saved us he made us a new creation; no longer bound to this place; no longer bound to sin; no longer bound to the systems of man; no longer bound to the patterns of this world, we were set free to be fully possessed by the Holy Spirit, to be filled by the power of Jesus Christ, the resurrection power, free to be fully obedient to our Father's will. But we have failed.

We have failed to allow our love for the things of this world to die. We have allowed things to keep residence. We have allowed strongholds to remain and we still sacrifice at the high places. These things continue to pollute us, to influence our heart and mind. They drain goodness from us and cause us to have a divided loyalty. We want friendship with the world and friendship with Jesus, but it doesn't work that way.

To be fully possessed means to have one Master, one Lord, one King. To be fully possessed is to be fully committed to walking in Jesus' footsteps, to doing the Father's will, to obeying the Holy Spirit. It is a commitment to live by the Word of Yahweh and not by opinion. It is a full denial of yourself and a complete acceptance of Yahweh's wisdom.

We are serving in a half measure and expecting full benefits. But there is not half anything in the Kingdom; no half measure, half effort, half hearted, half minded. It is all or nothing:

He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. (Matthew 10:37-38)

I am not exactly sure when or why we lost it but we did. We have allowed the world to possess more of us than we have in the last 100 years. Holiness is almost forgotten as we join in with a society that only lives to be entertained. We are failing to live the powerful godly lives that Jesus saved us to live for his glory, and I am convinced that the only way we can change it is if we encourage each other to turn and seek the face of Yahweh, the presence of our LORD. We need to make the decision to vanquish the strongholds in our lives and place Jesus solidly on the throne, with no hesitation and with all our heart. We need to seek purity in our lives once more that we would be available to be used by our King, to bring salvation to the land and glory to his name.

Say no to being entertained by the sins of this world and yes to serving Jesus with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, and all your strength. Jesus must be our everything.