Take Possession - Numbers 33:53-56

Numbers 33:53-56 ESV 

And you shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it. You shall inherit the land by lot according to your clans. To a large tribe you shall give a large inheritance, and to a small tribe you shall give a small inheritance. Wherever the lot falls for anyone, that shall be his. According to the tribes of your fathers you shall inherit. But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell. And I will do to you as I thought to do to them.”

The Lord gave the promised land to Israel to possess it. It was theirs for the taking, but take it they must. They must conquer the land to acquire and keep it. 

The Lord has given us life that we might possess it. It is ours for the taking, but take it we must. We must conquer our lives by overcoming the world of our flesh. We then become more than conquerors because we will receive life everlasting. 

If we do not drive out the works of the flesh, we risk falling short our goal of possessing the life of God. 

We must work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. 

Philippians 2:13

for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

1 Corinthians 2:2-5

For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.