THAT'S MINE!

I grew up in a family of four (4) boys and I was the oldest. You can well imagine the chaos that was present on a regular basis in our household. Fighting, fussing, cussing, and picking at each other happened on a daily basis. One of the root causes for the chaos was the attitude of possession. We did not like nor did we want to share anything with each other. Our video game back in the days was an Atari. This was to be a family game that everyone could play in the house but as 4 boys would have it, it became a possession when we’re playing it. One of my brothers had a habit of starting games but never finishing. He would start playing and then leave to play outside for hours with the game on pause. Our immediate response in most cases: “He’s finished, let’s play!” He would come back in the house after a while to see us playing the family Atari and go crazy with these words: “It’s my game, give it back!”

I watched my children grow up with the same attitude of possession; “That’s mine!” As teenagers, our children love to wear our clothes, shoes, use IPods, and/or whatever they could get their hands on. Now, Tracy and I say: “That’s mine, take it off!”

In many ways, we treat God the same way with our time, gifts, money, careers, education, houses, cars, church positions and church building: “That’s mine, give it back!” or “That’s mine, take it off!” or “It’s my game!”

Whatever the case, we have an attitude of possession with many things in life.

Reality is you can have possessions without being possessed.

The character of God in Adonai teaches us that God is Lord, owner for you are not your own but bought with a price. As simple as I can put it, “You’re not yours, you belong to God”.

Adonai is a sacred name. As with YHWH, the Hebrews felt that God’s name was too sacred to pronounce so they eliminated the vowels. They had to be clear about who they were speaking of so they often times they used Adonai – the Lord who is God.

Adonai is prophetic name in that it speaks of our redemption to be brought through the coming of Jesus Christ, the Messiah. Psalms 110:1 says: “The Lord said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.’”

Adonai is a sufficient name. God made a covenant promise to Abraham to give him a son. In Genesis 12: 1-3 God says; “Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. "And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. "I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." And the discourse in Genesis 15 between Abraham and Adonai (God), Abraham is wondering when the covenant is going to come to pass. In verse 5 & 6 God says; "Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be." And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

While this name is rich in meaning, it really has only one purpose: REDEMPTION and a person’s RESPONSE. Abraham believed!

It has taken me months to draw a conclusion of the name Adonai and how we, as God’s creation, should respond. With all the various cross references, Hebrew meaning, and Greek Septuagint meaning, there is only one way to respond to our Lord (Adonai) as believers, TOTAL SURRENDER.

“Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” -
(1 Corinthians 6:18-20).

“…who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” (Titus 2:14)

There are two reasons why we should respond to God in total surrender:

- To glorify God

- For good works

What decision will you make today? Will you continue to live life with an attitude of possession; “That’s Mine, give it back!” or will you surrender to God to bring glory to His name for good works?

All to Jesus, I surrender;
All to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him,
In His presence daily live.

I surrender all, I surrender all,
All to Thee, my blessèd Savior,
I surrender all.

All to Jesus I surrender;
Humbly at His feet I bow,
Worldly pleasures all forsaken;
Take me, Jesus, take me now.

All to Jesus, I surrender;
Make me, Savior, wholly Thine;
Let me feel the Holy Spirit,
Truly know that Thou art mine.

All to Jesus, I surrender;
Lord, I give myself to Thee;
Fill me with Thy love and power;
Let Thy blessing fall on me.

All to Jesus I surrender;
Now I feel the sacred flame.
O the joy of full salvation!
Glory, glory, to His Name!