{"id":1489,"date":"2016-05-27T11:57:33","date_gmt":"2016-05-27T16:57:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.slentz.us\/wordpress\/?p=1489"},"modified":"2021-03-11T20:16:51","modified_gmt":"2021-03-12T01:16:51","slug":"preciousness-of-personal-ownership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/slentz.org\/blog\/devotional\/preciousness-of-personal-ownership\/","title":{"rendered":"Preciousness of Personal Ownership"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u266c \u201cO Lord, Thou art my<\/strong> God; I will exalt Thee,<\/em>
I will praise Thy Name; for Thou hast done wonderful things;<\/em>
Thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth\u201d<\/em> \u266c (Isaiah 25:1 KJV)<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some years ago in a prayer meeting, someone started singing the fast-tempo chorus taken from the verse cited above. Heaven fell down! We sang that same chorus for over an hour! It was like I could see the Father\u2019s smile beaming down and could hear Him saying with delight, \u201cSay it one more time! I love to hear you say that I am your<\/strong> God!\u201d<\/em>
Ever since that prayer meeting, this song penned by the hand of Isaiah has been a special song for my prayer-closet times (which is oftentimes out in the forest). \u201cO Lord, You are my God.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is.”<\/p>Psalm 63:1<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Jacob had some real \u201chang-ups<\/a>\u201d in his life. His father was Isaac who saw God\u2019s provision on an altar at the expense of first seeing his father\u2019s hand with a knife! Jacob was also the grandson of Abraham, the Father of Faith. Talk about family peer pressure! Yet Jacob was not willing to say the God of Abraham and Isaac was \u201chis<\/strong> God.\u201d<\/em> Listen to how he spoke to God:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then Jacob made a vow, saying, \u201cIf God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, so that I come back to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God.\u201d<\/p>Genesis 28:20-21 NKJV<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes, like Jacob, we may be somewhat hesitant to declare that God is \u201cmy God\u201d<\/em> simply because we are unfamiliar with who He really is! But this indeed presents a problem because the only way we can ever \u201cknow\u201d<\/strong><\/em> God is if we first<\/em> surrender and enter into a covenant relationship with Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This dilemma seems unsolvable, right? But wait, in many ways isn\u2019t this also true of marriage? No matter how long a couple has \u201cknown\u201d each other before marriage, it is not until after <\/em>they exchange vows and enter into the God-ordained marriage covenant that they truly get to \u201cknow\u201d<\/em> each other enough to declare: \u201cI am my beloved\u2019s and he is mine.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even after we have surrendering ourselves in abandonment to love the Lord, very often our spiritual life gets dumped into routine ruts and can quickly dry up. At other times that precious personal relationship with God gets sacrificed for the \u201ccorporate good\u201d of God\u2019s people. Of course, it is a noble thing to love and live for God\u2019s people. But, at times, our prayers can be more \u201cwe\u2019s, us\u2019s, and our\u2019s\u201d rather than \u201cI\u2019s, me\u2019s, and mine\u2019s\u201d. How necessary it is to have little \u201cmarriage vow renewal\u201d ceremonies with the Lord, and to say \u201cI do\u201d to Him all afresh \u2013 and to do that frequently and spontaneously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This morning the whole thought of the preciousness of personal ownership in our relationship with Christ was kindled anew while I read this passage:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnto thee, O my strength, will I sing: for God is my defense, and the God of my<\/strong> mercy\u201d (Psalms 59:17 KJV, cf. 59:10).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not only did David use the expression, \u201cmy God,\u201d<\/em> but he also took personal ownership of the mercy (read \u201ccovenant-love\u201d<\/em>) which God had shown him \u2013 \u201cthe God of my<\/strong> mercy.\u201d<\/em>
This same intimate relationship is seen when the phrase \u201cmy salvation\u201d<\/em> is used throughout the Bible. Now David makes a very important observation that \u201csalvation belongeth unto the Lord\u201d (Psalm 3:8 KJV)<\/em>, yet he reveals his intimate personal experience of God\u2019s salvation by calling it \u201cmy salvation\u201d<\/em> and he does so many times throughout the Psalms (see Psalm 18:2, 46; 25:5; 27:1, 9; 38:22; 51:14; 62:1,2,6,7; 88:1; 89:26; 91:16; 118:14,21; 140:7).<\/em> Moses, Isaiah, Micah, and Habakkuk also declared their personal integration with God\u2019s salvation (see Exo 15:2; Isaiah 12:2; 46:13; 49:6; 51:5, 6; Micah 7:7; Hab 3:18).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the New Testament, Paul is not a single step behind in the personal ownership of his relationship with Jesus Christ. As Paul teaches and preaches the doctrinal intricacies and the wonderful beauties of the Gospel, he refers to it as \u201cmy Gospel\u201d<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis will take place on the day when God judges people’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my Gospel<\/strong> declares\u201d (Rom 2:16 NIV).<\/em>
\u201cNow to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my Gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past\u201d (Romans 16:25 NIV).<\/em>
\u201cRemember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my Gospel<\/strong>\u201d (2 Timothy 2:8 NIV).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Paul shouldered a huge responsibility of ministry \u2013 an apostleship and a stewardship was entrusted to him. He was busy with souls. He was entrusted with the writing of many books in the New Testament. Nevertheless, he recognized the extreme importance of personal devotion. The underlying passion and pursuit that guided Paul\u2019s life was \u201cthat I may win Christ and be found in Him…that I may know Him…that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus…I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus\u201d (Phil 3:8-14 KJV)<\/em>. He sternly exhorted the Corinthians about the serious peril of allowing stuff (and even religion) to complicate our lives which causes us to be \u201cled astray from the \u201csimplicity and purity of devotion to Christ\u201d (2 Cor 11:2-3 NASB)<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is my<\/strong> Gospel!\u201d \u201cThis is my<\/strong> salvation!\u201d \u201cThis is my<\/strong> mercy!\u201d \u201cO Lord, you are my<\/strong> God!\u201d<\/em> I believe in the eyes of God, there is a preciousness in the personal ownership of our relationship with Him and all He has and wants for us. \u201cI am my beloved\u2019s and my Beloved is mine\u201d (S.O.S. 6:3).<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why not take a few spontaneous moments today? Whether it be out in the forest, by the lake, in rush-hour traffic, or in the business of your job… Just close your eyes. Lift your hands. Whisper into His heart: \u201cO God, You are my<\/strong> God!\u201d<\/em> Amen.
I found this verse on 2016-07-02:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, EVEN OUR OWN GOD, shall bless us” (Psalms 67:6).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u266c \u201cO Lord, Thou art my God; I will exalt Thee,I will praise Thy Name; for Thou hast done wonderful things;Thy counsels of old are …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[32,61,121,153,158,162,211],"class_list":["post-1489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotional","tag-belonging","tag-covenant","tag-intimate","tag-ownership","tag-personal","tag-posession","tag-surrender"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8ofw-o1","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1489"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1925,"href":"https:\/\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1489\/revisions\/1925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/slentz.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}