Possessing Nothing?

The Lord has been speaking to me lately about having "open hands" and not clinging to the blessings He has blessed me with... not clinging to "things" more than I cling to Him. I am to cling to Him while enjoying the blessings He has given me. If I cling to these "things" and not to Him, my heart does not have room for Him to be in total control.



As I sat down to spend some time with Him yesterday afternoon, I really felt impressed to read the chapter on "The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing" from The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer. I am approximately halfway through this book, but felt strongly that God wanted me to reread this chapter. I want to share the following from that chapter:

Our woes began when God was forced out of His central shrine and things were allowed to enter. Within the human heart things have taken over. ...

The roots of our hearts have grown deep into things, and we dare not pull up one rootlet lest we die. Things have become necessary to us, a development never originally intended. God's gifts now take the place of God, and the whole course of nature is upset by the monstrous substitution.

I have said that Abraham possessed nothing. Yet was not this poor man rich? Everything he had owned before was still his to enjoy: sheep, camels, herds, and goods of every sort. He had also his wife and his friends, and best of all he had his son Issac safe by his side. He had everything, but he possessed nothing. There is the spiritual secret. (emphasis mine)

This really spoke to me yesterday, more so than the first time I read it. Maybe because with the way the economy is right now, our money being extremely tight, and the fact that I am very much aware of the "things" I do not need to spend money on, although I may desire to spend money on them. I am learning that those things that I think I need or want I really do not need or want at all, for if I have Christ and have fellowship with Him, that is all I truly need. That is the only thing that truly satisfies the needs of my heart. God is opening my eyes to how much He has blessed me with, materially and non-materially, and He is telling me to take full advantage of all that He has given me and not to long for things I do not need or that I do not have at this time. He wants me to enjoy the blessings He has given me, but not to cling tightly to them, to use them and enjoy them, but to cling only to Him. To have them but to not possess them...

You see, I really have everything... relationships, a wonderful home with furnishings, food, clothing, a van, a wonderful church family, my family, good health, friends, and on and on... but most of all I have my relationship with my Lord, and maybe one day, to His glory, I will be able to say that I have everything but possess nothing... for Christ will be the only one on the throne of my heart.

Father, I want to know Thee, but my cowardly heart fears to give up its toys. I cannot part with them without inward bleeding, and I do not try to hide from Thee the terror of parting. I come trembling, but I do come. Please root from my heart all those things which I have cherished so long and which have become a very important part of my living self, so that Thou mayest enter and dwell there without a rival. Then shalt Thou make the place of Thy feet glorious. Then shall my heart have no need of the sun to shine in it, for Thyself wilt be the light of it, and there shall be no more night there. In Jesus' name. Amen. ( the prayer by Tozer at the end of the chapter.)

I would love to hear your thoughts on this... does this speak to you?