Stake Your Claim: Occupy

​Every 7th year on the Hebrew calendar is called the Shemitah.  It is to be a Sabbath year, a year of rest, for the land and consequently for God's people.  It is a time when God desires to release abundant blessings and provision.  The year of Jubilee follows the 7th of seven years and gives us a double portion of the blessing.
 
We are now in the midst of the 70th Jubilee, the year 5776.  The number six is represented by the Hebrew letter VAV which is a picture of a hook or tent peg.  This should be a reminder for us to "stake our claim" for God's promises.  You see, God has a multitude of blessings that He would like to pour out on us, but we play a part in their release.  I believe that this is one of the reasons that Jesus taught His disciples to pray, "Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10) By declaring this we come into agreement with the Lord and pave the way for the blessings to flow.  I must emphasize the importance of declaration in agreement with the plans of heaven.  This will bring down the blessings that the Lord has stored up for us.
 
In addition to calling for heaven to come to earth, we must be aware of our destinies and God's promises for us that are associated with them.  Each one of us has been designed with unique characteristics that are meant to enable us in taking possession of our inheritances.  The Lord says, "Occupy your inheritance so that you have increase and expansion."  Occupy means to take possession of, fill, control, and reside.  Another definition is permeate.  I like this one!  We are the ones who bring the characteristics of heaven to earth as we fill and saturate our inheritances. We are to recreate the climate of heaven on earth in the territories God has given us.
 
Our call is to establish ourselves in our God-given territories.  God made this clear to Adam and Eve:  "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it..." (Genesis 1:28)  God gave them complete authority and dominion over their inheritance.  Unfortunately they gave it away by coming into agreement with the darkness.  Adam and Eve would not be able to advance God's kingdom because they gave away the key to their victory.  A new Adam was sent to earth:  The Lion of the Tribe of Judah and the Redeemer.  King Jesus would win back the key and restore it to God's people.
 
God gave Israel an inheritance that they were meant to occupy.  He wanted them to expand their borders.  Isaiah prophesied about a leader who would father God’s people and about the expansion of Israel:  "I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.  I will drive him like a peg into a firm place; he will be a seat of honor for the house of his father." (Isaiah 22:22-23)  "Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.  For you will spread out to the right and to the left; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities." (Isaiah 54:2-3)
 
It is time for us to place a stake in the ground that we are called to occupy.  Recognize that the kingdom of darkness will not be happy as we fill and increase our territories.  Demons will attempt to derail us.  We must keep our attention on the goal.  Paul says, "I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:14) Remember that we are in an unprecedented season of blessing.  Remember the picture of the tent peg, and remember to look to and worship our Savior who will lead us to victory.  "'From Judah will come the cornerstone, from Him the tent peg, from Him the battle bow, from Him every ruler...I will strengthen them in the LORD and in His name they will walk,' declares the LORD."  (Zechariah 10:4, 12)