I sit here, looking around at the ground before my eyes. I am confident in the fact that I am here, in this place, but what will my time look like and how will I steward my short amount of time spent in this place? One thing that has consistently been on my heart is the idea of not holding anything back. I want to be a person who pours out everything I am and who Christ has called me to be everywhere I go, impacting everyone around me. The Lord has called us to dive in. Not only into everywhere we go, but every second of every day. We are called to invest. Diving in is more than just a general idea, but it’s a very specific and very intentional thing we have the opportunity of doing all of the time. I can only imagine how more impactful we, as a body of believers would be if we could grasp the idea of intentionality and diving into every moment.
As this was stirring in my spirit, in my readings in Deuteronomy, I came across a similar instance where God was demanding the same thing out of his people. He called them to enter and occupy the land. I love how this command is a two-step process in which one can choose to take on either.
It’s totally possible to enter a place, a conversation, a country, a scene, anything and to not occupy it. However, the Lord is calling us all to occupy everything in which we come in contact with. He hasn’t just called us to do the norm and what’s expected of us, but he has called us to be above the norm and do go beyond what is recommended or required; to live a life fully devoted to him in everything we do.
We have all entered this world with a great purpose. However, the choice is in our hands to occupy our life and the Lord’s purpose in that. To be somewhere and take ownership over something is two very different things. We are called to claim what has been given to us and everything the Lord puts before us.
To occupy is to be obedient and to be obedient is to walk in His ways and fearing Him.
Within obedience we are called to be open and be teachable. Walking in obedience can be a variety of things,
starting with obeying the Lord in our heart– where I am loving Him more than any relationship, activity, achievement, or possession. Guarding and expanding the boundaries of your heart to fill it with His truths and His ways.
Obey the Lord in our will, which makes up committing all of who we are to him and surrendering our plans for a trust that teaches to rest and a lifestyle of such greater purpose and potential.
Obey the Lord in our mind by seeking and continuing to pursue Him in His word, in order that that His perspective becomes ours and that His principles and values form the foundation of all we think and do.
Obey the Lord in our body by recognizing that our strengths and talents are given to us by God to be used for pleasure and fulfillment according to his commands and not our own. Feeding our temples with things that glorify Him and knowing that we are the vessel called to glorify His name upon this earth, and not our own.
Obey the Lord in our resources as we continually acknowledge that everything that we have belongs to God. We are called to be managers and stewards, rather than owners.
And finally, obey the Lord in our future by deciding to make service to God and people the main purpose of our life’s work.
In the simple taking of God’s hand to lead you down the pathway that’s only intended for you, you will find the benefits of occupying the land in which you walk, rather than letting time waste away and make no difference by entering.
I want to be a woman that hasn’t just entered this world to become another number on the population map, but a woman who leaves a legacy everywhere I go. A woman that chooses to walk in obedience to the Lord in every area of my life and in that occupy the land in which He has handed over to me. I want to make a difference. I want to not settle for anything less than everything He has for me and has promised.
For the life I have been given is not my own, but a life set apart fully unto God, who is above all others and the author and finisher of my faith. For no other reason may my heartbeat, for no other name or sake may my life live, but all for the glory of Christ Jesus.
