Thursday, December 5th, 2024
Early in the morning over the weekend God gave me a phrase in my half-awakened state. He said, “What you focus on is what you will possess.” As my day progressed, I kept going back to those words over and over. Lately I feel like I am possessing a land filled with fear, anxiety, impatience, anger and pride. I keep asking God, what is the key to my freedom? Show me how I can get to the land I am supposed to be possessing, because I know this is not it.
In Webster’s 1828 dictionary, focus means a central point or a point of concentration. Some of us may think we are good at thinking about and doing multiple things at once, but the truth is that we are really just moving from focus to focus or point to point. Our focus can only ever be on one point at a time. For me personally, I know that when I am in a place of fear, worry, anger or heaviness it’s because my focus is on whatever lies the enemy has baited me with.
Possess in Webster’s 1828 means to have the just and legal title, ownership or property of a thing; to hold the title of; to occupy; to seize; to gain. Possess is a powerful word. It doesn’t just mean to borrow something or to visit a place; it means we take ownership of or occupy something or a place. When we focus on fear, anger, pride or depressing thoughts we are giving the evil spirits behind those things permission to permeate every part of our being and take possession of all that we think and do. When we choose to focus on the fruits of the Spirit like patience, peace, love and joy instead we are giving Holy Spirit permission to infiltrate and seep out of all that we do and think about.
Let’s look at a couple of scriptures. Deuteronomy 5:33 says:
33 You shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.
That word possess in the original Hebrew means to occupy (by driving out previous tenants and possessing in their place); to receive an inheritance. This same Hebrew word is used for “inherit” in Isaiah 60:21:
21 Also your people shall all be righteous;
They shall inherit the land forever,
The branch of My planting,
The work of My hands,
That I may be glorified.
Final Thoughts…
One more interesting thing about this Hebrew word is that it has both a negative and positive meaning. So, it could be possess or dispossess, it could be inherit or disinherit. In the kingdom of God, when we possess what God has for us it means we dispossess ourselves of what the enemy is trying to deceive us with. When we disinherit ourselves from a life of darkness, we have moved into an inheritance of light and life in God’s kingdom. We cannot focus on both death and life at the same time. We cannot focus on fear and faith at the same time. We have to choose one or the other. And which ever we choose is the one that we will possess. So where is our focus lately? What is it that we want to possess?