Psalm 24:1: “A psalm of David. The Lord owns the earth and all it contains, the world and all who live in it.”

Look at the earth. It is a massive globe from our own estimation, with rivers, plains, and mountains. “The Lord owns the earth and all it contains.” But what have we done as human beings? We have decided that we are going to worship the created rather than the Creator. So we worship the river, we worship the stone, we worship the tree. But “the Lord owns the earth and all it contains, the world and all who live in it.”

So what do we do? We talk about territorial spirits, as if some spirits own this space and some other spirits own that space. However, “the earth is the Lord’s and all it contains.” But what do we do? We say, “We need to take over a territory.” Yet the earth is the Lord’s and all it contains.

So what do we do? We behave like Joshua and try to walk the land and say, “God told Joshua, ‘Wherever the sole of your feet steps, that is what I am going to give you.’” But you are not Joshua. God has not asked you to do that. “The earth is the Lord’s and all it contains.” It does not matter where that place is. The earth is the Lord’s and all it contains.

But what do we do? We get to a new place and begin to do some ritual: “God, give me this place, give me this place.” The earth is the Lord’s and all it contains—and all the humans in it. We are His subjects, and He gives us whatever He wants to give us at the time He wants to give us.

No need for ceremony, because “the earth is the Lord’s and all it contains.” There is nobody contending with God for any inch of the earth. There is no need for drama. There is no need to jump up seven times and jump down five times. The earth is the Lord’s and all it contains.

You may say, “What about alternate powers? What about the prince over this country? What about that prince over that country?” And people go to Daniel and talk about the prince of Persia. What does that have to do with you? The earth is the Lord’s and all it contains.

God did not tell Joshua that when he steps on the land, that is when something is “activated.” No. He had already promised that place to Abraham—because the earth is the Lord’s and all it contains. He said, “This space of land I am going to give to the children of Israel.” And He said, “Do not attack those people, because I have given them that space. Do not attack those people; I gave them that space” (see Deuteronomy 2). “The earth is the Lord’s and all it contains.”

God told Abraham, “Go to the land that I will show you” and “I will give this land to your descendants” (Genesis 12:1, 7). He is talking like the Owner. He is not taking permission. “The earth is the Lord’s and all it contains.”

This should help us begin to orient ourselves and stop doing drama. To stop saying, “Let me walk this place; if I walk this place, that means God…” What? The earth is already the Lord’s. He made it. The earth is the Lord’s and all it contains.

Let us have that level of high regard for God and for Jesus Christ. He said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Therefore go…” (Matthew 28:18–19). Not “therefore bind the spirit on top of somewhere.” Go. “The Lord is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:17). “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). Open your mouth and go, because the earth—no matter where that place is, no matter the country, no matter the political system, no matter the people, no matter how different or similar they are to you—the earth is the Lord’s and all it contains.

God gave Abraham a land. God told Joshua, “Every place the sole of your foot will tread on, I have given it to you” (Joshua 1:3). He is not telling you to go and do that as a method. He is communicating, “It is free for you—go and take it.” He is not giving you a technique to “take over” some place for God. No. The earth is already the Lord’s.

God bless you.