2013: {Possess}

I am standing at the threshold of the unknown.  2013 will bring exactly what God has ordained and called good.  I just have to remember that His definition of good doesn't always match up with my own.  Nevertheless, He has gone before me and stands guard behind me.  I am hemmed in by grace this year...no matter what this year may bring.

I sense a lot of change coming with this new year.  Some of it is obvious...a new baby, a teenager, a move.  But there is a whole lot of change I sense that I am not sure of yet. 

While praying over this year and wondering what direction God would have it take, I was also reading Deuteronomy chapter 30.  One word kept jumping off the page throughout the chapter:  POSSESS.  This word occurs three times more in the book of Deuteronomy than any other book of the bible. 

"And the LORD thy God will bring thee into the land which thy fathers possessed and thou shalt possess it; and he will do thee good and multiply thee..."

"...and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in the land whither thou goest to possess it."

This word scares me a little because it is a verb.  The act of possessing something requires action.  The Hebrew word for possess is "yaresh" and means to occupy (especially by driving out previous tenants), to seize, or to inherit.  In a legal sense, it means to become an heir.  In a military sense, it means to invade for the purpose of settling in the territory.  Both meanings are dominant with regard to God's covenant with Israel.

The word possess occurs over and over again in Deuteronomy because the Israelites had to be reminded of their legacy after 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. 

I wonder if there is something out there for our family to take hold of...is there a spiritual legacy that we need to be reminded of and seize with all our mights??

I feel like Judges 18:9-10 is some sort of commission for us...

"And they said, arise, that we may go up against them, for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good, and are ye still?  Be not slothful to go and to enter to possess the land.  When ye go, ye shall come unto a people secure, and to a large land:  for God hath given it into your hands; a place where there is no want of anything that is in the earth."

I don't know what 2013 holds, but I know that change is coming.  I feel like my word for the year is possess because as children of God, we are to march forward and take whatever He is giving to us (instead of cowering in fear or being lazy or apathetic.) 

I feel like it will be a challenge, but if I can look back at the end of 2013 and see that we were able to seize our inheritance and leave behind a legacy, then God will be glorified.

Here is to the word possess.  This heart could use a little courage.