Post by John on Aug 16, 2020 18:46:33 GMT -5
A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. Luke 19:12-13
I feel confident that if you have been in the church for long, you have heard people speak on this verse where Jesus told his servants to "occupy" till He returns, but I had the Lord show me something I had not seen before about this verse, and it happened in a strange way. The Lord can show you things through all kinds of methods, and in this case, it was an old movie my wife had on the other week when I got back from my trip. It was an old black and white war movie, and in the film, there was a group of men who served in the navy, and their ship had been hit and was going down. They were close to a group of islands, and they were trying to decide which one was best to swim to. Their decision was made based on which ones they knew were occupied by the enemy, so they chose the one that was not inhabited by anyone.
When I have heard people speak on the subject of occupying till the Lord returns, they always went with the straight forward Greek definition, which is correct. I have no criticism for doing that, as I will also look up words in the Greek and Hebrew Dictionary when putting a message together. The definition of the word occupy here is to busy oneself and to trade. At the same time, the Lord revealed to me a bigger truth that I was overlooking, and that was the fact that his servants were actually occupying territory, not just dwelling on the earth. They were actually holding ground that the Lord owns. While there is no question that Satan has strongholds down here, the earth and the fulness thereof belongs to God. He is the creator, and one day, He will return to reclaim it.
We are entrusted by God to hold as much of this land as we can till Jesus returns. We do not do that by getting a large militia together and holding it with tanks and guns. We hold this ground by following the Lord, and promoting His ways where we live. We do it by living by Kingdom principles, no matter what is going on around us. When we get in trouble is when we allow the enemy to take back ground by getting us to stop following the Lord, and to start following the ways of the unbelievers. We further get in trouble when we join in with the COEXIST mentality, where we feel we can mix Christianity with idol worshipping practices and compromise with sinners. We cannot do that. We are called by God to be a peculiar people. We are a chosen generation, and a royal priesthood. When we decide that we like God's ways in some areas, but prefer the devil's ways in other areas, the result is to give back land to Satan. Until Jesus returns, we are as soldiers holding ground that belongs to the Lord. That is a sacred trust. We cannot let the Lord down. One day He will return and we will have to give account for what we have done. Let us be found faithful soldiers in the army of the Lord.
I feel confident that if you have been in the church for long, you have heard people speak on this verse where Jesus told his servants to "occupy" till He returns, but I had the Lord show me something I had not seen before about this verse, and it happened in a strange way. The Lord can show you things through all kinds of methods, and in this case, it was an old movie my wife had on the other week when I got back from my trip. It was an old black and white war movie, and in the film, there was a group of men who served in the navy, and their ship had been hit and was going down. They were close to a group of islands, and they were trying to decide which one was best to swim to. Their decision was made based on which ones they knew were occupied by the enemy, so they chose the one that was not inhabited by anyone.
When I have heard people speak on the subject of occupying till the Lord returns, they always went with the straight forward Greek definition, which is correct. I have no criticism for doing that, as I will also look up words in the Greek and Hebrew Dictionary when putting a message together. The definition of the word occupy here is to busy oneself and to trade. At the same time, the Lord revealed to me a bigger truth that I was overlooking, and that was the fact that his servants were actually occupying territory, not just dwelling on the earth. They were actually holding ground that the Lord owns. While there is no question that Satan has strongholds down here, the earth and the fulness thereof belongs to God. He is the creator, and one day, He will return to reclaim it.
We are entrusted by God to hold as much of this land as we can till Jesus returns. We do not do that by getting a large militia together and holding it with tanks and guns. We hold this ground by following the Lord, and promoting His ways where we live. We do it by living by Kingdom principles, no matter what is going on around us. When we get in trouble is when we allow the enemy to take back ground by getting us to stop following the Lord, and to start following the ways of the unbelievers. We further get in trouble when we join in with the COEXIST mentality, where we feel we can mix Christianity with idol worshipping practices and compromise with sinners. We cannot do that. We are called by God to be a peculiar people. We are a chosen generation, and a royal priesthood. When we decide that we like God's ways in some areas, but prefer the devil's ways in other areas, the result is to give back land to Satan. Until Jesus returns, we are as soldiers holding ground that belongs to the Lord. That is a sacred trust. We cannot let the Lord down. One day He will return and we will have to give account for what we have done. Let us be found faithful soldiers in the army of the Lord.