I am His

My New Car! (owned by the bank)

            For only the second time in my life I got a new car, not a new used car, but a new one. One with only 6 miles on it. My new car has all the bells and whistles. I think the only thing it cannot do is drive itself. I really like my new car, unfortunately, no matter how many times I call it mine, the reality is- it’s not. My car is not technically mine, yet. The bank owns it. I am paying for it, driving it and my name is on it, but for the next 72 months of my life, this car belongs to the bank. If I fail to pay for it, they will take it back. I may drive it, but I do not have full possession of it.

            Much like my car, I don’t own me. I am owned by someone else. I may walk and talk and have some control over my body, but I am owned by another. I have control to some respects, and my name is even a part of me. But, I am not my own. I belong to someone else. I have been purchased by Jesus Christ my Lord. I am not my own. He owns me. He owns everything there is about me. He paid for me with His precious blood. But does He possess me? He owns me, but have I allowed Him to take full possession of me?

            “and it was the duty of the trumpeters and the singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord), and when the song was raise, with trumpets and cymbal’s and other musical instruments in praise to the Lord, ‘For He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever.’ The house, the house of the Lord was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.”
 2 Chronicles 5:13-14 ESV

            I came across this passage of scripture today and was struck by God’s glory and His presence filling the temple. No matter how many times I read about God’s glory filling the temple, I find myself in awe. In awe of His glory and presence. The temple was so full of His presence that the priests would lay down and worship Him. God took possession of the temple. So much so that no one could stand in His presence. He had all the temple. There was not a nook or cranny that was left untouched by His glory. He owned it and He possessed it. All of it.

            As Christians, we know that we are the temple of the living God. Paul reminds us throughout his writings that we are His temple, we are not our own, we have been bought with a price. (1 Corinthians 3:16. 6:20, 7:23; 2 Corinthians 6:16) We know that God dwells in us if we believe in Him. We know this. But do we know that God wants to possess us?

            To possess something means not only do we own it, but we have full control over it. It belongs to us. No one can take it from us because it is fully ours. There is no doubt that we own it. Does God own you? Does He have full control over you? Do you understand what it means to belong to Him? Jesus said in John 10 that we are His sheep. He said that because we are His “no one will snatch {us} out of His hand.” (John 10:28) He then states that the Father, His Father has given us to Him. Because of what Jesus did for us on the cross we are now owned by Jesus Christ. And since the Father owned us first, and we are His, because of His greatness, “no one is able to snatch {us} from out of the Father’s hand” either. (John 10:29)

            We are not our own. I keep going back to this truth. No matter how long I have been a Christian, I keep going back to this truth that I belong not to myself, but to God the Father and my Lord Jesus Christ. Like my car, I may get to drive it, but someone else owns it. If I say I belong to Him then all of me must belong to Him. I can’t pick and choose what I want to give Him, when I want to give it to Him. I must give Him all, or not at all.

            He possesses the right to move and direct my life in any way He chooses because He owns me. He possesses the right to add blessings if He so chooses, or to bring along trials and tribulations if He thinks I need them. He alone possesses the very breath I breath, and nothing, not even my stubborn rebellion and filthy sins can ever snatch me out of His hand. I am His forever and ever. (AMEN!!)

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            Even though I praise Him for the knowledge that I am forever His, I am convicted. When I look at my life from this understanding, from the truth that I am His, I see areas that I am still trying to possess for myself. That one area is my time. If I say I understand that I am His, and that He owns me, then every single part of me, every single detail of my day also belongs to Him. I must allow Him to take possession of all of me, including how I spend my time and what I spend my time on.

            How do I do that? How do I allow God to come and take possession of my time? I let go of everything that is not pleasing to Him. Right now, as you are reading these words, you are recalling tv shows, books, and social media posts that you know have not been pleasing to the Lord. You know every time you pick up the remote, or every time you pick up your phone to check Facebook, or every time you turn another page you are not pleasing God in what you are choosing to spend your time on. How we spend our time is as important to God as what we spend our time on.

            Our God desires to fill our lives with His presence. He desires to be fully and completely in you and with you and for you. There is not one single second of your life, not one single corner of your mind, and not one beat of your heart that He does not desire to be a part of. He wants all of us, no exceptions, and no excuses. He owns us, and He desires to possess us. The praise and glory of all this truth, and I pray we grasp ahold of what it means to be fully His, is that no one, not even, “death nor life, angles nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:38-39) We cannot be snatched out of His hands. There is no greater calling upon this earth my friend, then to be possessed by the One True God, and to be secure in the palm of His hands. We are His forever and ever. Amen.

            May this truth enlighten your heart and give you great praise today. May we come to that place where we allow Him to take full possession of our lives, our times, and may His glory rest upon us, as we rest in the truth that we are His and no one can ever snatch us from His hands. To God be the glory, forever and ever, Amen.