Taking full possession
Judges 1:27, “But Manasseh did not take possession of Beth-shean and its villages,… so the Canaanites persisted in living in that land… 29 Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who were living in Gezer ; so the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them.”
For years the Israelites had followed Moses through the wilderness searching for the Promised Land; through Joshua God delivered them. But now that they were in the land they saw the people in the land, and they decided not to get rid of them.
The Bible mentions that many of them had “iron chariots”. Iron chariots were a very powerful weapon of war, and I cannot help but think maybe the Israelites were a little bit intimidated by them? If that was the case then the Israelites were again forgetting about all the mighty works that God had done for them. They were looking with their eyes at the enemy around them instead of seeing the power they had through God.
When I read this story I think about the story of Elisha and his servant in 2 Kings 6. A band of Arameans had come to capture Elisha, and his servant saw the battle group against them and he was scared, but Elisha prayed that God would open his eyes to see the angelic forces that were there for them.
Many times in life I think we get the Israelites and Elisha’s servant. We see the enemy in front of us, but we fail to look around and see God’s forces ready to fight the battle for us. So, much like the Israelites, we live among the enemies of God, and in time we begin to accept the ways of God’s enemies.
God does not want us to compromise His ways so much that they become corrupted with the ways of the world. Jesus died on the cross so that we can have victory. Jesus told the story in Matthew 12 of a man who cleaned himself of demonic possession, but did not join himself to God; and therefore take full possession of himself. When the demonic spirit returned he brought with him seven more spirits, and they took over the man; and he was worse off than he had previously been because he had not joined himself to God, and taken full possession of himself.
God wants you to have full possession of yourself, but that can only be found when you join yourself to Him through His Son!
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Father God, I thank You for sending Your Son, so that through Him I may take what belongs to me. In Jesus’ name, Amen
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The image above can be found at:http://thattaylorgirl.wordpress.com/2011/03/15/thoughts-on-heaven/
Yes, You Can Ministry 