It's been a while since I wrote. I really miss it. Things have been busy, but the bigger reason is this: I've been thinking about "ownership", and trying to understand what it means.
I first heard Him talk about it three weeks ago. There were certain areas of my life that seemed to be at a standstill, and I needed a breakthrough. "The key," He said, "is Ownership."
Remember Moses, after the Israelites complained about him angering the Pharoah, said to God,
"O Lord, why have you brought trouble upon this people? Is this why you sent me? Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and you have not rescued your people at all." @ Exo 5:22
And later, when the Israelites worshipped the golden calf, the Lord said,
"Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. ... I have seen these people, and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation." @ Exo 32:7-10
But Moses reminded the Lord of
His people,
"O LORD, why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?" @ Exo 32:11
The things we own, are the things we will love, protect and sow into.
God desires to bless all that's in our hands. Except that we refuse to hold anything as ours. We let things happen to us, saying it is God's will. We wait for circumstances to make decisions for us. We say that nothing belongs to us, because we are only stewards. This is the mentality of the man who hid his one talent in the ground (Matt 25:14-30). God's picture of stewardship is much bigger than ours. "It is a co-laboring, it belongs not to Me or to you, but to us."
"If you would only reach out and claim what is yours, I will bless it, because you are important to me, and what is important to you is important to me too."
This is why God called Joshua and the Israelites to conquer the promised land. He did not just give it to them. He wanted them to take possession of it. He blessed everything that they laid their hands on. For the same reason, God is calling us to be strong and courageous, to take possession of all that Christ has paid the price for. Because the act of ownership allows God to release His blessings into something that would otherwise be meaningless, belonging to no one.
I struggled with this concept, because I thought He was asking me to own up to my problems. He does not say, "This is your problem, you better solve it!" He is not asking us to own the problem. He is asking us to own the very thing the problem is stealing from us! If we are sick, then it is our health that is being stolen from us. In realizing that our health belongs rightfully to us, that God has given it to us, that we are not unworthy of it because Christ has paid the price, we begin to take possession of it again. I want to take ownership of my work, my finances, my friendships, my family, my gifts, my passions, my emotions, my thoughts, my body, my will. They are the Lord's and they are mine too. This is where we begin to shine.
