He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fulness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things upon the earth.
In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.
In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory. Ephesians 1:9–14.
This is a very difficult and complicated passage. In order to better grasp the meaning of it, let me paraphrase it for you. God made known His will, which was a mystery. It amounted to this, that God was going to sum up in Jesus Christ everything in heaven and earth, and work out an inheritance He had planned for us, all in His predestined plan. He makes it very plain that those who are involved in this planning of God are sealed by the Lord. They carry a brand, showing that they belong to God. They are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. This is the beginning, a pledge of their inheritance, just a little token that God is going to redeem his own possession to Himself. The King James version calls it an “earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession.” Moffatt paraphrases it in a freer translation, which expresses it more clearly: “The Holy Spirit was given as the first installment of heaven.”
This passage could be expounded endlessly, but the gist of it all is the fact that you are God’s possession, His property. You are twice His, once by the right of creation and once by the right of redemption. He bought you and He’s going to have you. And until He gets the full control, He places His brand on you, and you carry that brand as His little dogie, His possession from now on. It guarantees that God is going to finish the work. He gives you the Holy Spirit saying, “This is the start of it.”
Don’t think that receiving the Holy Spirit is an end in itself, that it means you are now perfect. It is given to you as the sign that God is going to continue the work in you. It means that the door is open. You can move on in and from time to time God will deliver more of what He has provided for you. God gives you the Holy Spirit, not only as a seal, but as a promise of all the rest that is to come in your redemption.
This idea of belonging to the Lord intrigues me. Did you ever watch some fellow flirt with a married woman? She soon flashes her wedding ring to show him that she’s taken and he’d better shove off. On that ring finger she carries a sign of possession.
When a person first gets saved, we tell them, “This is going to work for you if you remember one thing. Remember that at this moment you transferred the title of ownership from yourself to the Lord. You don’t belong to yourself anymore; you belong to Jesus. Any time you get in trouble, just remember, ‘This is not my trouble; it’s the Lord’s, because I belong to Him.‘ ”
A long time ago I heard a story that illustrates this beautifully. A man was always getting in trouble for stealing watermelons. But one night, during a revival, he was saved. Some of his friends told him, “Now you have to stop stealing watermelons. You belong to the Lord now.” He agreed, “Yes, I belong to the Lord now.” One night he took a walk past the melon patch. The moon was shining brightly and as he looked at the long tempting melons, his mouth began to water. Immediately he prayed the most beautiful prayer, “Lord, look after Your property.” If he belonged to the Lord, he wanted a little help in this situation.
This sense of belonging to someone is very important. The fact that we belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, and we acknowledge His ownership of our life, makes us a peculiar (or unique) people, according to King James’ translation of I Peter 2:9. A better translation (New American Standard) says that we are “a people for God’s own possession.” We’re His special property. He has redeemed us to Himself and we belong to Him.
When we dedicate a baby, we could picture it as putting the baby in escrow, signing the title over to the Lord. The condition of the escrow reads thus, “The parents will be responsible for the care and the upbringing of this child, but the title goes to the Lord Jesus Christ. This baby is His.”
If we see the Lord’s rights to us, we recognize that He is Lord and Master. The fact the God is the owner of our life gives us one of the strongest possible points of leverage in spiritual warfare. When the devil comes after us, we just back away. We are like the little girl who expressed her experience so simply. She said, “Before I accepted Jesus, the devil came knocking at the door and when I opened the door, he was too strong for me and he pushed right in. And I was a bad girl. But now Jesus is in my heart, and when the devil knocks at the door, I say, ‘Dear Jesus, will you answer the door?’ And when the devil sees Jesus, he runs away.’” This is not only a cute story; it is a true one.
There are several books of Caesar’s Gallic Wars. One of the stories told of the Samnites and the city of Capau. The Samnites came down from Lombardy to raid all the surrounding cities. Finally they besieged the little free city of Capau. The seige was not too heavy, but effective enough that not much food could get in, and soon it was in danger of falling, even though it had fairly good fortifications. A few people were able to come and go, and so they sent someone to Rome to ask for help. At that time, early in its history, Rome was a strong vigorous city that was reaching out in every area and fighting many wars. The messenger from Capau asked the Romans soldiers to come and help them. But the governing body of Rome sent back word, “We cannot help you because we’re too busy protecting our own cities.” Capau called a town meeting at which an important decision was made. Once again they sent messengers to the Romans with a message from the ruling body of Capau, “We hereby surrender our city to Rome.” Immediately the Roman soldiers were marching to defend the city of Capau, and the Samnites were driven back to the north. Never again did they bother the city of Capau because now Rome was watching over it as its own possession, and not as in independent neighboring city. From that time on, as a part of the growing complex of Rome, Capau enjoyed many privileges and blessings that they had not enjoyed before.
These are the very tactics we use with the Lord. When the enemy comes in, like a flood the Spirit of the Lord lifts up a standard against him. The Spirit of the Lord displays the brand and says, “This property belongs to Jesus. Be careful how you treat this fellow; he belongs to the Lord.”
This becomes the basis of your prayer: “Lord, I belong to You and I stand in your victory, in the defenses that You build up for me. I know that You love me and I know I’m Yours.” The Lord wants you to acknowledge His claims upon your life. That’s what this teaching concerning the Lordship of Jesus is all about. He wants you to acknowledge that You belong to Him.
If you want to be successful in overcoming the enemy, you must recognize the fact that independent thinking does not bring victory. Don’t withdraw from the body, like a hermit living in a cave. No great victories have ever been won by recluses because they have no sense of belonging—no sense of belonging to the Lord or to His Body. Some people might be driven to withdraw from the world because the temptations of the world are so great, but I think that is rather sick thinking. A man is not an overcomer who withdraws from the battle; he is just a withdrawer. You can’t be defeated by something you never face. The coward can be so yellow that he runs and runs and runs and never has to battle anyone. There are people who never make mistakes because they never try to do anything. You and I are going to face the battle, but we’re going to face it with the comforting realization that God has redeemed us unto Himself.
We are the possessions of the Lord, but He doesn’t get all of us at once; He moves in a little at a time. There is a simple parable of a camel which illustrates what God does with us. During a sandstorm, the camel asked his Arab master, “May I please put my head in your tent? The sand is blowing so hard.” The Arab agreed, but before long the camel complained again, “Oh, the storm is so bad; may I put my neck inside the tent?” Next, he put in one leg and then the other leg. Finally the Arab became disgusted and said, “Get out of here.” The camel answered, “There’s not room for both of us; you get out!” Like the camel, God works Himself into your life. He keeps moving in more and more, until finally the old self says, “Lord, there’s not room enough in this heart for You and me too.” And the Lord says to self, “Then you will have to go, because this tent is Mine.”
I do not know to what extent one person can possess another, or in what sense possession means domination. Can a woman be possessed by her husband and call it submission? or is it suppression? If he suppresses and inhibits her life to the point that her spirit is crushed and her real identity as an individual is suppressed, it is a dangerous situation and not at all the way it should be. Through submission, her own initiative should be developed, not suppressed. I can be possessed by the Lord without it suppressing me. If the idea of being possessed by the Lord is oppressive to me, then I have the wrong concept of it. If I am totally possessed by the Lord, I am somehow relieved from having to live my own life at my own initiative. I don’t have to say, “I am my own man”; instead I say, “I am Christ’s man; I belong to Him.” It is an amazingly reassuring feeling, but it also develops initiative. If I believe I really belong to the Lord, I will try things greater than I would try otherwise; I will believe to become something that I could never be before.
The idea of possession should be exhilarating and encouraging. If a woman can say, “My man possesses me and he loves me very much,” there should be something that has freed her spirit, not in an arrogant independence, but in a mutual cooperation. There are not very many human beings who can set about to possess another individual without having some wrong concept of it. We must remember that God shows us a perfect way for people to possess each other. When He possesses us, we can learn how to relate to one another. When I feel that I am possessed by the Lord, I recognize another relationship: in a very real way, I feel as if I belong to the people.
I have an aversion to a pastor saying, “These are my people.” You are not my people or my sheep. You’re the Lord’s sheep, the Lord’s people; and I have a real sense of you belonging to Him. But Ephesians 4:11 tells us that when the Lord ascended on high, He gave gifts to men. He gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, some as pastors and teachers. He gave these gifts to the Church. I am a ministry given to you for your edification, to build you up. Instead of you belonging to me, in a sense I belong to you and become responsible for you. I want to be a true shepherd, not a hireling. I take very seriously the fact that you are the Lord’s sheep and you belong to Him. I have that sense of being possessed by you. I think Paul felt that way too. There is a Scripture along this line which I think is very intriguing: So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God. I Corinthians 3:21–23. Paul had that sense of possession in his mind too.
When we get that idea, we have a good strong position in intercession and spiritual warfare. When you think you are all alone and don’t belong to anybody, you become victimized by emotions, by the assault of the enemy, and many things. Come before the Lord in prayer and say, “Lord, I stand in Your victory and in the fact that the blood of Jesus Christ was the price of purchase. I don’t belong to the devil, and I don’t belong to myself; I belong to You, Lord.” Then begin to pray from that position.
Some people, when they are completely on their own, remind us of Mr. Milquetoast, the comic-strip character who always drew back in all of his associations and relationships. He felt completely inadequate to carry through a business deal or anything else. But when he went to his job as night watchman in a large factory, and pinned on his badge and strapped on his gun, he suddenly changed. Then he had the courage to fight a tiger, if necessary. As someone else’s employee, he was responsible and had a sense of belonging to the establishment for whom he was working. When he was on his own, he couldn’t handle it. The same thing is true of anyone who is overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy and insecurity. The minute you realize that you belong to the Lord, those feelings of inadequacy seem to disappear.
Many people chafe under their own moods and weaknesses, under the lack of discipline and organization in their life. Many of these things would disappear if they would come before the Lord and say, “Lord, what do You want today? I belong to You, Lord.” Suddenly there would be order and reason to their life. When the battle came against them or people spoke evil against them, they would say, “Lord, how am I to react? I belong to You.” That sense of belonging to the Lord and being His possession would give them a better position and more leverage in spiritual warfare than anything else I can think of.
When we sense that we belong to the Lord and we position ourselves in Him, then we have the victory in our hearts. Position can mean many things. You can take down a stronger man than you are if you can learn how to keep him off balance. When a big man comes after you and both his feet are flat on the ground, he has the leverage, and you’re in trouble. Keep him a little off balance. This is true also in spiritual warfare. Get your feet firmly planted upon certain facts and truths of God’s Word and declare, “I belong to God—that’s a sure fact. I stand in His victory. I don’t have to win it; God has won it for me.” That is firm solid rock on which to stand. Then you can begin to move ahead in the name of the Lord and whip anything that comes against you because you’re positioned in the power of God, in the place of victory.