The Year 2016: Possessing Your Possessions

Pastor Joseph Prince of New Creation Church declared the year 2016:

The Year of Possessing Your Possessions.

His banner verse?

Obadiah 17:

"But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions." (Obadiah 17)

What?

We do we have to "possess our possessions."

If we have them, then we have them, right?

Not uite.

We have to receive all that good things which God our Father gives, by faith!

The Lord made the heavens and the earth for man.

And yet the first man and woman did not believe God. They took something not intended for them, even though their loving Creator had told them:

"And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:" (Genesis 2: 16)

Notice the number 16 in this verse!

God was already demonstrating His loving, gracious heart to the first man and woman.

And yet ... they did not believe Him!

When God selected Abraham and brought up one nation out of this Father of faith, He brought them out of bondage in Egypt to the Promised Land:

And in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place." (Deuteronomy 1: 31)

And still, the children of Israel did not believe the LORD. They decided to trust their own eyes and look to their weak, limited capacities.

The writer of Hebrews faults the Israelites, and uotes the LORD chastising His people:

"While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation." (Hebrews 3: 15)

Which comes from:

"For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,

8Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

9When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.

10Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:

11Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest." (Psalm 95: 7-11)

We need to believe that God has given us all things.

We need to take Him at His word that He loves us.

He sent us His Son, and through Him we receive redemption, life, righteousness, and all things which pertain to godliness.

No wonder Jesus asked very simply yet straightly:

"Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." (John 6: 29)

Believe in Him, and receive all things from Him this year!

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The Year 2016: The Meaning of the Number 16

 Because of Jesus, we freely receive all things from our Father.

God wants to be revealed to us as more, much more than Creator.

He is our Father.

This revelation comes to us through His Son Jesus!

"For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." (Romans 8: 15)

and

"And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." (Romans 8: 23)

Now, what can we learn about this year through the Biblical numerology of 16?

The number sixteen is symbolic of love and loving. Christians are to become perfected in God's love.

How true indeed!

"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4: 17)

The proper rendering of this verse reads: "Herein is love perfected among us."

God's love perfects, shapes us, makes us more like His Son, from the inside out!

In the Old Testament, 16 of the various names and titles for God specially signify His constant, never-ending love for the children of Israel.

Wow! Incredible!

It's all about His love for us!

16 features prominently in a verse which so many of us learned at a young age, and still learn about:

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3: 16)

God so loved us, He gave us His beloved Son, that we would have Himself, His life and standing, within us!

"But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." (John 1: 12)

There's more about our Daddy God that we can learn through the number 16:

The phrase 'the Father," appear sixteen times in Scripture.

We learn so much about the Love of God through what He has done for us through His Son!

For God is Love!

Apostle Paul, in his first book to the Corinthian church, states that there are sixteen distinct things about the quality of love that God has and that he wants us to have as well. Love is incredibly patient and very kind. It never brags about itself or does it envy others. Perfect love does not act vainly, behave in an unacceptable manner, is not selfish, is not very easily provoke and thinks no evil of others. It mourns sin but rejoices in what is the truth. Godly love is willing to bear and endure all things, and to hope for and believe the best. This greatest of all spiritual gifts will never EVER fail (1Corinthians 13:4 - 8)!

The Year 2016: Take Him for All He is Worth

A strange title, perhaps, and a stranger theme.

Does it seem presumptive? Even rude and ungodly?

Not at all!

Consider Psalm 116 in its entirety:

I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications.

2Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.

3The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.

4Then called I upon the name of the LORD; O LORD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul.

5Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful.

6The LORD preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me.

7Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee.

8For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.

9I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.

10I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted:

11I said in my haste, All men are liars.

12What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me?

13I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD.

14I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people.

15Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.

16O LORD, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds.

17I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD.

18I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people,

19In the courts of the LORD'S house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise ye the LORD.

The theme throughout stresses all that God does for us.

We are lost. We are near death. We despair of our fellow man, who show themselves to be false, misleading, or unable.

This year, 2016, see JESUS as your life, your substance, your everything.

If God the Father gave us His Son, we can expect that He will give us all things with Him (Romans 8: 32).

Notice in the 16th verse, as this year is 2016:

"O LORD, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds."

Jesus set us free from sin and death, and gave us His Life, His liberty, and His blessings in overflowing measure!

How can we thank, how can we "repay" our Daddy God for all the good which He has done--and continues to do for us?

"12What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me?"

The Psalmist asked the question ...

And here is the answer:

"13I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD."

The best way that you and I can give to the Lord? Is to take  more from him!

To see Him as our salvation in every way!

Let us meditate on this truth: Jesus is our Salvation, for that is His name!

Take Jesus for all He is worth this year, for that is the greatest good you can do for our Lord God!