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Possessing the Land
By Mary Kroeger
The Israelites did not have to conquer the nations that were living off their land while they were wandering in the desert. The nations' strength, wealth and power of deception became apparent when the Israelites fought to possess their land! Even as the Israelites had to conquer the enemies that kept them from possessing their inheritance, so we have to conquer the enemies that rise up in deceptive power to keep us from possessing our spiritual inheritance in Christ! If we listen to them instead of to God, we will fail in our endeavour to possess our land.
What is our spiritual inheritance? The new creation that we are in Christ has the mind of Christ! (1 Cor. 2:16) We have been created in Christ! The hope of glory is not heven; it is Christ in us! (Col. 1:27) However, receiving an inheritance does not help us if we don't possess it - if we don't use it. Having a $3,00 check in our purse does not help us if we don't cash it and use it!
God has given us the mind of Christ - the mind that never leads us into sin! But our natural mind is focused on the seen realm and wants to cater to our feelings and circumstances. It is an enemy of faith! To possess the mind of Christ, we have to fix our eyes on Jesus Christ, the author and perfecter of our faith. (Hebrews 12:2) As we keep our eyes fixed on Christ and obey His directives, we will overcome the enemy!
The mind of the flesh is the enemy that always wars against the mind of Christ. It is against the Spirit, and the Spirit is always against the flesh. (Gal. 5:1 7) If we focus on the lusting of the flesh and its desires, we will not hear the voice of the Spirit. We will not possess our land! The Israelites were not to focus on the giants, the walled cities and the power of the enemy. They were to focus on the power of God and to be careful to do everything according to God's instructions! Obedience to His instructions would make them successful in overcoming the enemy!
This is also God's message for us today! We have to know that, "The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." (2 Cor. 10:4-5) Every thought and every imagination that does not have God as its source has to be cast down!
God dwells in the unseen realm. Therefore the knowledge of God has to come to us by revelation! Only the Holy Spirit can lead us into all truth! All the false conceptions of God presented to us by the carnal mind have to be cast down! All the false ideas of God we have received, whether through wrong teachings, the natural understanding of spiritual realities, religion, imaginations, traditions and customs, have to be cast down! If we are not willing to leave our traditional thinking and the lies that ha ve become our truth, we will not come into the true knowledge of God!
This was the problem Jesus encountered when He was on earth. The leadership refused to change. The priests and Pharisees loved their rules and the glory from people. So they crucified the Truth! This proves that humanity does not have the ability to make a right judgment! It shows us that we need to live out of the mind of Christ and be obedient to His directives!
In order to possess our land (the mind of Christ), we have to believe that God is who He says He is! In everything Jesus said and did, He revealed the mind of God, the love of God, the ability of God, the forgiveness of God, and the goodness of God! In Christ we see that life overcomes death!
If we think that the devil can stop God from achieving His purpose, we don't know our God! If we think that our 'free will' or any created thing can stop od from doing His will, we don't know our God! How big is our God? Is He big enough, is He powerful enough to overcome the enemies that reside in the natural mind - in your mind and in my mind? If He is unable to do that, then we cannot be conformed into His image! If anything or anyone can stop Him from doing His will, then He is not all powerful! If He cannot live up to His claims, He is a liar. However, "He is not a man that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change his mind. Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not fulfill it?" (Numbers 23:19)
To possess our land, the mind of Christ, we have to cast down all the thoughts that are in the carnal mind of unbelief and death! How can we overcome them? Even as Jesus did! He overcame them by only doing what the Father showed Him to do! We also overcome by our obedience to our Father's directives! Whatever the Father shows us to do, we will do! This requires faith!
Believing God is believing truth! It does away with faith in the power of our ego - our selfhood! It shows us the uselessness of self-effort! It strips us of our faith in the lie - the counterfeit!
Our obedience to God's directives is the evidence that we are believing God! It is the evidence and proof that the mind of Christ is functioning in us! Believing God reveals His power, love, forgiveness, ability and righteousness! Believing God reveals the mind of Christ in us! "Not by might, not by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord." (Zechariah 4:6) The Spirit of God enables us to conquer the enemies that reside in the carnal mind! Nothing, absolutely nothing, can overcome the power of God! Nothing, absolutely nothing, can stop God from fulfilling His promises! Living in the intimacy of the revelation knowledge of God our Father, is the high calling that is ours in Christ! Glory to His name!