So the Lord gave to Israel all the land he had sworn to give their ancestors, and they took possession of it and settled there. Joshua 21:43-44
I believe that taking possession of that which God has given is a vital skill to possess as a believer. Knowing this is how we translate our amen to the Word of God and prophetic declaration into manifested realities.
The Bible tells us that God gave Israel the promised land. However, the fact that He had given did not mean the Israelites could immediately start living and enjoying the land. They had a part to play before they could begin to live and enjoy the land. What was their role? Taking possession. Just as they had to learn to take possession, we too must learn to do the same. Here are a few lessons we can glean from their journey.
1. Know what God has given: – Israel knew what land God gave and the ones He said not to take. They understood that God would only back them up to take possession of what He had given.
Taking possession of what isn’t yours is called stealing. Before you embark on the journey of taking possession, you must know exactly what God has given you. If you don’t know what you have been given, the enemy will convince you that it is not yours and make you give up on your possessions. You must have scripture and know exactly what has been legally given to you.
2. Believe you have received– After 40 years, the Israelites were back to take possession and this time they believed in God. The reason they could rise and contend against nations bigger and greater than them was because they believed God had not only given them the land but was fighting with them to take possession of it.
You cannot effectively fight to take what isn’t yours. It is believing God has given it to you that gives you the staying power to contend, regardless of the cost.
3. Decide to take possession: It’s one thing to believe something is yours, it’s another to take possession of it. When you decide to take possession, it means you have decided to deploy the appropriate spiritual tools that remove every barrier: internal or external, hindering you from taking what is yours. Decisions are powerful. Decisions change the course of your life and the outcomes of your life. Decide today.
4. Take action: With your words: – Possessing the land means declaring what is yours. Decree and declare that you have what God has given.
With your praise: Rejoice and thank God for what you have received regardless of the contrary circumstances on the outside.
Prayer: – Prayer is another way to take possession. Pray the word that gives you legal access to your possession. This kind of prayer involves declaring the victory God has given.
Once you start engaging these spiritual principles, you will begin to discover all the giants on your land. The giant of unbelief might begin to arise and say, don’t say that, it is not true, it can’t happen to you. It is impossible. But you’ve got to keep speaking. As you begin to declare and contend for what’s yours, praising God for the victory, it will look like all hell breaks loose. You’ll begin to sense a lot of pushback; anger, weird dreams, attacks of thoughts in your mind, and more. This is the enemy doing what he knows best to do. Truth is just like the Israelites you are beginning to defeat your giants, you’re gaining ground hence the pushback. The enemy will do anything in his power to make you abort the process because he knows that it’s only a matter of time, before that which you have received and are rejoicing over will be made manifest.
Whenever you arise to take possession of what you have been given, you get to experience warfare in a dimension like no other. If you are not contending for or possessing anything, in most cases, you’ll be okay. But once you decide to take God at His word and enforce victory, you won’t need anyone to conceive you that life is spiritual.
One of the enemy’s targets is to get you to believe you do not have what you’re contending for. For instance, let’s say you believe and receive healing as written in the word and then begin to thank God and declare you are healed. The enemy will try to get you to quit believing you have received healing because he knows you can only have (manifest physically) what you received (spiritually). Remember the word says “Believe you have received and you shall have”. When you stand your ground knowing you have received healing, then that healing will be manifest. But if through manipulation of your symptoms the enemy gets you to believe you’ve lost the healing, or maybe you were not healed in the first place, then he wins.
You know sometimes it is easy to read scriptures and just assume everything happened in a day or less. I’m guilty of that. It took slowing down and thinking through these stories to realize you do not just kill everyone in an entire nation in one day. I believe some of their battles lasted days, weeks, or even longer. You know when Joshua was old and about to die the bible records they still had not taken possession of all the land. This tells us that these battles did not just happen overnight. I say this because there are times I have personally given up on standing on what God had given because I felt it was taking too long and if it was truly done it should manifest almost immediately. The deception of assumption. No matter how long, it is important to stand your ground until you take all that is yours.
It takes trust, strength, and more to possess your possessions. It’s so easy to give up because some battles can become very intense and quitting seems like the easiest way out. But I want to encourage you today to stand. Stand in victory, stand your ground, stand in praise, stand until it is on earth as it is in heaven.
