The Holy Spirit will make changes in your life far beyond anything you thought possible, but it’s not going to happen overnight. When Saddleback Church did our “Decade of Destiny,” my prayer was that, through the work of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God and with support from our small groups, our church would become more mature, more Christlike, and further along in our purpose 10 years from that point. My prayer is the same for you: that in the next decade, you would grow in spiritual maturity and Christlikeness and purpose.

I want you to be stronger emotionally, physically, spiritually, psychologically, and financially, but you’ve got to be intentional about it. The Bible says, “Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy” (Ephesians 4:24 NLT).

This is how we become more like Jesus. We throw off the old things and the old ways that keep us from getting to know Christ and becoming like him, and we put on our new selves with the help of the Holy Spirit. We let God do his work in us—no matter how long it takes.

“As the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him” (2 Corinthians 3:18 TLB).

This is called stewardship — it is related to the old English word for “manager.” The first law of financial freedom is the law of possession: Everything you have belongs to God. You are only a manager!

We are called to be stewards of our time. We are called to be stewards of our influence. We are called to be stewards of our health, our relationships, and our opportunities. God calls you to be steward or manager of everything you have.

You may say, “But wait a minute! I worked for my money, and now you want to tell me it isn’t mine?” Where do you think you got your body to work for your money? Where do you think you got your mind to work for it? Where do you think you got the energy to work for it? Where do you think you got the intelligence to work for it? Everything you have is a gift from God. You don’t really own anything in life; it’s all on loan.

You only get to use God’s money while you’re here on Earth. He’s loaned it to you for a few decades. He loaned it to somebody before you, and he’s going to loan it to somebody else after you die. You don’t own it; the Master owns it all. It’s all under management.

Do you know what the sign is that you’ve forgotten the law of possession? When you think your money is yours, you worry about it. You feel a pressure and stress that you weren’t meant to have.

Money management is a spiritual discipline. God is actually watching how you handle his money to see what spiritual riches he can trust you with in heaven. This might make you feel pressure, but there is actually freedom in the law of possession.

When you remember that God is the owner and you are the manager, you’ll worry a whole lot less and focus more on managing God’s money well.

There are many, many other benefits. The problem is, we misunderstand this term. We don’t really know what meekness is. In fact, we often confuse it with another term that sounds like it — “meek” sounds like “weak.” Nobody wants to be weak, so nobody wants to be meek.

But the truth is that meekness and weakness are at the opposite ends of the spectrum. Meekness is in no way weakness. In fact, the Greek word for meekness literally means “strength under control.” To be meek is not to be weak. It’s used to describe a wild stallion that has been tamed. That stallion still has all the strength it had when it was wild, but now its strength is under control. It is strength bottled up for the master’s use. God doesn’t want you to be weak, but he does want you to be meek. The Bible teaches that it’s one of the keys to stress reduction in your life.

Here’s a simple definition of the word meek: Let go, and let God. That is the essence of meekness. It is surrendering, submitting, and agreeing to what God wants to do in your life. It’s letting God be God in your life. Let go, and let God.

I don’t know a phrase that will do more for your health physically or emotionally than this phrase. If you’ll begin to practice it in your life, it will relieve stress and eliminate worry. If you’ll let go and let God, it will defuse anger and end your hurt and resentment.