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  LOOK, WALK, POSSESS, INHERIT

  (From Chapter 7)

  apostlematt@dominionchurch.net

  Matthew Hester

Note from Doug Fortune:
This is an excerpt from my good friend, Matthew Hester's new book entitled BORN TO BE KINGS. You can purchase it on his website at www.DominionChurch.net.

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Habakkuk 2:2
And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. (KJV)

It is not enough for us to hear the powerful revelation of being the Sons of God. Once we hear it we must act upon it.. Actually, this is an indictment against the Church that shows her lethargy concerning the stewardship of what God reveals to her. Much of the Church has become voyeuristic in its approach to the things of God, and now is the time for this destructive habit to be overcome.

LOOK
We must open our eyes in the spirit to what God has done and is about to do. If we do not have the proper vision, there is no way that we can truly be involved in God’s plan for the earth. Many of us are like the crippled man at the gate called beautiful. (Acts 3:1-10) Many times we have no idea what we are asking for. This man did not need money, but he did need a miracle. The beggar had no vision beyond his own need. Thank God for the men and women like Peter of today that will stand up and unveil the minds of those laying at the gate.

Peter had no money to give to the beggar because he was being obedient to the Lord (Matthew 7:7-10). Peter was a business man. He could have obtained silver and gold easily for the beggar, but he was not sanctioned to give these monetary gifts to the him. He walked according to the commission of Christ and faith in His word.

Just because you have things to give does not mean that you are sanctioned to give them. Just because you may have nothing to give in the natural does not mean that you do not have a great deal to share out of the spirit. The key to release is found in proper sanctioning.

God has already specifically delivered to us what we have to offer to the world. Much of the problems that are evident in the world today are due to the Church trying to offer ideas and alternatives that we are not sanctioned to deliver. We have offered escape instead of occupation, positive feelings instead of reality in Christ, sermon books instead of the divinely inspired, scare tactics instead of the kingship of Christ, youth parties instead of heartfelt discipleship and a host of many other things that sicken the heart of the Father.

It is time for us to return to God’s vision for the Church and for the world. It doesn’t take powerful discernment to realize that if that which we have done so far was the answer for the world then we would have already brought this thing to a close. We must see our purpose from the beginning of time and not the traditions that have been spoon fed to us by religion in “our time”. We must see as Moses saw the heart of God for the people. He saw beyond the slavery into freedom, beyond rebellion into submission, beyond complaining into conquering. It is in each of us to do the same.

If we will begin to look for God’s purpose we will find it. We must have our vision redeveloped to line up with the heart of Christ. We can do this from afar with a great deal of time passing by before we walk into all that God has for us. If you see what God has for your life, I promise you that He also wants you to be able walk into it. God has not just called you to be a dreamer for a future generation. If you have the faith and the courage to persevere in Him, then there is no reason why you cannot also walk into that which you have seen in the spirit.

WALK
Proverbs 4:12
When you walk, your steps will not be hampered; when you run, you will not stumble. (NIV)

I John 2:6
Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. (NIV)

The place of inner searching from the Body of Christ comes to its fullness in this revelation. We have spoken so many fantastic things throughout the years without the strength or knowledge to walk them out. The truth is that the world has heard what we have to say, but when we begin to walk it out in everyday life, the gospel we preach will be truly ratified. There will not only be change in the lives of the unbelievers, but also radical change from within the church.

Numbers 13:30
And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it (the promised land); for we are well able to overcome it. (KJV)

Just because you see what God has given you does not mean that those around you will be willing to go up and walk into it. Moses saw the land that God wanted to give to His people, but because of his disobedience he was only able to see the promised land and could not walk into it as Joshua did. It is true that walking is much more difficult than seeing, but we must deliver the report of Caleb that we are “well able” to take the land that God has given to us.

There are two crippling factors that have contributed to the spirit of fear and lethargy prevalent in the Church today. The first of these factors is that we have become content in what we have already been given in the spirit. This produces a people of lethargy who lose hope for tomorrow. This also stunts our reproductive ability to give birth to new revelation in Christ.

The second of these factors is the general lack of faith within the Church. The same spirit that caused the children of Israel to wander in the wilderness is the same spirit that we contend with today. We have our focus off of the report of the Lord and on the current giants of our situations. The enemies of the Lord are defeated and the enforcement of His victory is within the hands of His Sons. We must have the courage to walk out with power the report that we have spoken out by faith.

Deuteronomy 1:21
See, the Lord your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession of it as the Lord, the God of your fathers, told you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. (NIV)

The above verse is key to our understanding of the “walking out” principle. We should have the courage to walk into that which God has for us because He has already given to us everything that we need. There is nothing God does that is half way. When He provides substance He also provides the means to walk it out. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. The time of faith is upon us, and it will carry us from seeing into walking into possessing that which He has for us.

POSSESS
Possess - to have and hold as property; to enter into and control firmly; to instate as owner (Merriam Webster’s online dictionary)

The first step in every journey must begin with seeing the path that is laid out before us. This, however, is not enough to complete the work, but to begin it. We must then step out in faith and begin to walk into what God has given us the vision to pursue after. At this stage we are not called to passively occupy the land in which we find ourselves but we are called to another level of active faith that God demands. Now is the time to possess the inheritance that the Father has birthed within us.

For us to possess the land means that God has given us the command to do so. (Deut. 1:21) This is the place where action is taken out of the theoretical realm and actually becomes a living entity in our lives. It is not enough for us to just understand who God is or what He is about with our intellect. In fact, understanding with the mind has very little effectiveness in the Kingdom of God. We must discern by the spirit and move in the spirit according to that which God is doing in the earth and in His people.

Once we possess something in our lives there is a type of stewardship that begins to blossom. We move from the realm of hearing someone else’s revelation into hearing revelation directly from God for ourselves. We realize that there is something we have at stake concerning the Gospel of the Kingdom being preached and the manifestation of Christ to be realized and experienced in the earth. We move from the dynamic of “mom and dad’s” faith to “my” faith in the King of all things. When we possess things in the spirit they will not be taken from us.

Leviticus 20:24
"You will possess their land; I will give it to you as an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey." (NIV)

God tells us to possess because He has already given. We must destroy the mindset in the Church that poverty is God’s plan or that His promises are for the hereafter. I am not saying to focus on “things”, and I never will, but we must acknowledge the inheritance that God has delivered to us and have the guts and fortitude to possess and steward it for ourselves and future generations. There is one last dynamic that can only be given once we have possessed and laid hold of that which God has given to us. Now is the time for the activation of the power of divine inheritance.

INHERIT
Exodus 15:17
You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance— the place, O LORD, you made for your dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, your hands established. (NIV)

Ephesians 1:18
I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, (NIV)

Matthew 5:5
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. (NIV)

To see what God has for His people is an amazing thing to behold. Once we have seen what God has promised it then releases us into the realm of being able to walk into them. We find in our journey that walking is not the end; we must also have the courage to possess and lay hold of that which God has promised us. It is now time for the inheritance of God to be realized by His people. The anointing, vision, power, glory, intimacy, favor and mantle can be passed on by the faithful!

Once you possess something it turns into an inheritance. This is the fulfillment of the generational blessing found in Psalm 146:10. There has been a famine in the Church concerning the inheritance of the people of God. The past generations have by and large eaten what they have earned and passed very little on to the next generation. The next generation has been viewed as a threat to be guarded against rather than embraced. I declare that we need each other just as Joshua needed Moses and Elijah needed Elisha. It is only together that we can truly see Christ manifest in the diversity of His people.

Both Old And New
Matthew 13:52
"Therefore every teacher of the law who has been instructed about the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old." (NIV)

The Kingdom of God is made up of things both old and new. The fulfillment of the dream of God includes both the old and the young. The power of mentoring is greatly needed in today’s generation. The youth of today are receiving powerful revelation and outpouring from the Spirit but at the same time need the instruction that comes with age on how to steward these gifts from God. The new generation is crying out for fathers and the old generation is crying out for sons. These desires coupled with a holy attitude and response from the Spirit sound like a match made in heaven.

There must be a joining of the faiths in order for the inheritance of God to be trans-generational. Remember, Moses only saw that which Joshua would ultimately walk into and possess. We cannot be in this to protect our own ministries and build individual altars of remembrance before the Lord. We must be in this for the long haul helping to fulfill God’s plan of the mountain of the kingdom that will extend and cover the whole earth. This is the place of commanded blessing.

Psalm 133:3
As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore. (NIV)