Heart Tracks - The Borderlands

"So we have continued praying for you ever since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete understanding of what He wants to do in your lives, and we ask Him to make you wise with spiritual wisdom." Colossians 1:9....."Your inheritance consists of everything in the Father's possession.....He is in truth, everything you need Him to be, but in practice only what you allow Him to be in you." Chris Tiegreen

Jesus said that He came in order that we might have life, and "have it abundantly." This is His heart desire for each one, yet it is a desire that in far too many ways go unmet. So many may be "saved," but so few are truly alive. That may sound judgemental, but after more than 35 years of ministry, I'll take the risk in sounding so. The Father rebuked the people of Israel because they continued to stand on the borderland of the rich territory He had given them, asking them how long they would put off going in to take possession of what was already theirs. So many of His people today are guilty of the same. We live on the borderland of the promise, we don't "go in" to take possession. As a result, we fall victim to all that those without Him experience. Believers divorce at a rate as high, and some say higher, than those in the world. We are held captive to many of the same addictions and emotional afflictions as are those who have never heard of Him. In a crisis we look to other sources rather than He who is the Source. We embody so little of the peace, joy, and strength that is found only in Him. In many ways, we are more unhappy that those without Him, because we believe that life really is found in Him alone, but such life is little experienced by us, or not experienced at all. And the heart of the Father grieves over all of it. As a pastor, my heart has grieved over it as well. I grieve over it still.

My prayer for you echoes that of Paul's in Colossians 1. I long for you to know, understand, and be in possession of all the riches He has given you in Jesus Christ. In the story of the Prodigal Son, the older brother was angry over the welcome his father had given his younger brother, who had squandered his inheritance. His father, who loved him, said, "All that I have is yours." It was a true statement, but the older brother never realized the truth of it. All that was His father's was his, but he didn't live in that reality. He lived like an orphan instead of a son. So many of us do as well. We keep begging Him to give us what He's already given. We keep looking for a place at His table when that place has already been set for us. We try to earn our way into His presence while He has already made a place for us there in Christ. He is everything we need, but we have allowed Him to be so little of that to us. We keep living in the borderland, while the land of promise lies open before us.

May every aspects of your life that continue to linger on the border of His fullness cease to do so this year. May you cease begging for what is already yours. May you cease to accept the devil's lie that you're an orphan and begin instead to live as sons and daughters. In Christ are riches beyond measure. Partake of them....now. Freely He has given, now freely receive. Leave the borderlands. Take possession of what is already yours......in Christ.

Blessings,
Pastor O