Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.” Genesis 2:18.
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine!” Isaiah 43:1.
Behold, I belong to God like you; I too have been formed out of the clay. Job 33:6.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God says:
Everyone seeks to belong. It is in you from the beginning. It is not good for you to be alone. And that is why there are so many cults, clubs, gangs, religions, support groups, relationships, and marriages. But until you find to whom you truly belong, you will not have peace in this life, for no one else can fill the gap in you that needs completion. And when you find the One to whom you belong and Who belongs to you, it is then you will be content wherever the One you belongs to directs you. Where I am, there will My servant be, and him I will honor.
Yes, before all and above all you are Mine. And I am yours. I formed you in My image and in My likeness, I blessed you, and I called you from your mother’s womb. I call you by name. You are fearfully, wonderfully made, My hands fashioned you, and you are My workmanship and My masterpiece. You have no other who is with you and for you as I AM. Why do you go to other gods? Other sources? They are broken cisterns that hold no water.
To know and do My Will you must have decided that you belong to Me and will not stray to another. My sheep hear My voice, they know Me and follow Me, a stranger’s voice they will not follow. And I give My life to them. Forever. My Spirit in you and on you when you belong to Me. Covenant. Oneness. Life eternal.
Today we continue our instructions on how to know My Will for your life with Life Lesson No. 5: “Know to Whom You Belong.”
When Paul was taken as a prisoner aboard a ship traveling to Rome with other prisoners, a tremendous storm hit them. I had forewarned Paul of this but the ship’s captain thought he knew better than Paul so ignored Paul’s warnings and sailed. Sure enough, the storm hit and all looked lost. But Paul knew in whom he had believed and that I was able to deliver him out of all his trials, the same as David knew. Psalm 34:19 (“Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all.”). And, sure enough, I sent My angel to Paul to give him My Word for My Will in the present storm. Here is what Paul told the fearful and discouraged crew and fellow passengers, “Men, you ought to have followed my advice and not to have set sail from Crete and incurred this damage and loss. Yet now I urge you to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood before me, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar; and behold, God has granted you all those who are sailing with you.’ Therefore, keep up your courage, men, for I believe God that it will be exactly as I have been told.” Acts 27:21-25.
I want you to consider three things he said in that storm that looked like all was lost, which you must know to know My Will at any given moment:
1. The God to whom I belong;
2. The God I serve;
3. I believe God that it will be exactly as I have been told.
Know to whom you belong. Know whom you serve. Have faith in His Word. If you identify Me for all three, you will receive revelation as to My Will for your life and you will be secure and in perfect protection, you will dwell in the secret place of the Most High and abide in the shadow of the Almighty, if you say: “My refuge and my fortress, MY God in Whom I TRUST.” You belong (dwell in My secret place), you serve (abide in My shadow, the shadow of My hand, which is My hand working through yours so My Kingdom can invade the earth realm with miracles, signs and wonders), and you trust in My Word (MY God in whom I trust—I am your healer, your provider, your righteousness, your deliverer, your redeemer, your shepherd, your Father, and your LORD).
Let us consider to whom you belong. Too many are searching for someone and something to belong to but why do you look to strangers and not to your very own Father, Creator, and LORD? I have made covenant with you. And that is the strongest bond of belonging that exists in this life or the age to come.
Let us go back to the beginning to see the rock from which you were hewn. The everlasting rock.
I formed you (in My image and according to My likeness), I blessed you (empowered you), and I called you (dominion authority), and supplied for you (provision). I not only made you but I sustain you and care for you. I see to all your needs if you will let Me.
In the beginning I spoke you into being and My Word is established forever. And as it began so is it to this day, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” Genesis 1:26. I created man in My own image, in the image of God I created him; male and female I created them. And I blessed them; and I said to them, “Be very fruitful, fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Genesis 1:28. Then I gave them provision that kept producing, multiplying to more and more from seed sown and grown, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you.” Genesis 1:29. For you are My workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which I prepared beforehand so that you would walk in them. Ephesians 2:10. My plans for you are for your shalom (peace, prosperity, health, and well being in every area of our life) and not evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11. In blessing, I will bless YOU, in multiplying, I will multiply YOU.
I have longed to gather you to Me, into My everlasting arms as a mother hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but so many, from the beginning, have rejected Me and sought to belong to another. Though I stooped to feed My children, they did not know I was their healer.
Do you want to leave Me too? Do you even know you are Mine? Adam and Eve did not know it and they left me for another “god.” The one you obey. The one to whom you listen. The one whose word you keep is the one to whom you belong. Even if you call out “Lord, Lord,” if you openly violate My Words, I do not know you. I told the Israelites I redeemed out of Egypt whom I bore on eagles’ wings, and brought to Myself that if they would walk with Me by obeying My voice and keeping My covenant, then they would be My special treasure among all the peoples, and a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Exodus 19:4-6. But though I was a husband to them (Covenant), they broke My Covenant and turned to other “gods.” They did not know they belonged to Me.
If someone asked you to whom you belong, what would you answer? Would I even come to your mind? Or would you say you did not belong to anyone and are the boss of your life? That is what Adam thought. And that is why many people do not talk with Me or walk with Me.
If you believe in My Son, you are My child and a member of My household, the household of faith, and a child has a place in the father’s house forever.
David knew he belonged to Me, I was his Shepherd, his rock, his deliverer, his refuge, and his fortress. And he knew he would dwell in My house forever. Psalm 23:5.
I care for those who are Mine. This is Covenant. And your Covenant with Me is through Jesus and it can never be broken. I am obligated to care for you. Cast all your cares upon Me because I care for you. I give good things to My children. Parents have a legal obligation to care for their minor children. You must become as little children to enter My Kingdom. I give you the children’s bread.
Disciples belong to a Rabbi, students belong to a teacher, children belong to their parents and spouses belong to each other. Disciples become like their Rabbi, students become like their teacher, children become like their parents, and spouses grow to be like one another. How does this pertain to finding My Will for your life? The one you belong to you will become like and you will follow. My children imitate Me. I walk in love. And all will know you for My disciples by your love for one another.
You should be looking just like Me in what you say and do. Jesus explained that to you, “In seeing Me, you are seeing the Father.” You saw the healer, the provider, the Shepherd, the redeemer, the deliverer, the Teacher, and the comforter, but you also saw the one who served you. Do people see that in you? Would people know by your words and works, by the fruit of your lips and the fruit of your lives, that you are Mine?
The believers in Antioch were so much like Christ in their behavior that the nonbelievers began to call them “Christians.” Why? Because Paul (then named Saul), Barnabas, and other believers filled with the Holy Spirit and faith followed My direction to witness to Jesus and went to preach the good news to the people of Antioch, and Paul stayed there teaching with Barnabas for an entire year and great crowds were brought to Jesus, who they then discipled as they met with the church that formed there and taught considerable numbers; and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. Acts 11:19-26.
And that was the same Paul who knew he belonged to Me and served Me, who trusted in My Word.
And what has Jesus told you to do? “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:19-20. Why don’t you begin doing My Will today by sharing Jesus with someone? You are Mine, bring them into the family too. Covenant. I have espoused you to Me forever in faithfulness and love. And I have given you My Name. There is no snatching out of My hand.
I love you. You are Mine. I am so looking forward to spending eternity with you. I made Heaven and earth for you to enjoy with Me. You are in My image, according to My likeness. It is not good for Me to be alone either. My greatest joy, like the father in the parable of the prodigal son, is when you come home to Me and stay. And that is doing My Will. I will never leave you or forsake you but I would like you to feel the same about Me.
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom the whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:14-19.