God wants you to overcome. Adam and Eve were created as overcomers. They had perfect bodies, environment, circumstances, and a perfect Father (God). They had everything they needed but decided to not follow God and follow their own desires.

The original commandment to man is found here So God created people in his own image; God patterned them after himself; male and female he created them. God blessed them and told them, “Multiply and fill the earth and subdue it. Be masters over the fish and birds and all the animals.” Genesis 1:27-28

God wants to bring reformation into your life. Reformation means change. He wants to change you and your circumstances around you to look more like heaven. This is possible. He wants heaven’s principles, King Jesus’ principles, to overtake your personal life, family, job, church, etc.

But he does not give it to us in perfect condition, like he did with Adam and Eve. This didn’t work. So, he sent his son Jesus to die for our sins and get the authority for us to remake our world in his image. This time we have to learn how to overcome or occupy as it is described in this parable.

And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. Luke 19:11-13 (KJV)

Jesus does not want us to just wait around till he comes back. He wants us to do the original command and apply his principles to our world. When we do this with Jesus’ authority and Holy Spirit’s power, we can slowly reverse the death and decay in our relationships, finances, businesses, family, etc.

We Have to Engage

Our passivity has brought us to the place where we have almost lost our Judeo-Christian Civilization in America. We have become humanists. Meaning man is the answer and whatever man wants goes. The current civilization gives no hope, meaning, direction. Only chaos and rampant hedonism – self-pleasure – with no stability.

We have experienced waves of radical Marxism, the sexual revolution, radical Islamism, and secular liberalism. All have failed to produce hope, peace, and stability. Our civilization needs Christians to step up to the plate and be diligent and outspoken about the need of Christianity. The renewal of faith is now seen to be indispensable. We need it as a country and we need it as individuals in our spheres of life.

Why Occupy?

God loves the earth. He created the Garden of Eden and gave commands to Adam and Eve to spread this pattern of living over the whole earth. We disobeyed, and the earth has been in turmoil ever since. But it can be reversed by reversing the spheres of life around us.

God’s original plan will come about. His will always happens. But he wants to do it with us, just like he was doing it with Adam and Eve. His plan, through us, over time, is total restoration.

Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, and he will again send you Jesus, your appointed Messiah. For he must remain in heaven until the time for the final restoration of all things, as God promised long ago through his holy prophets.Acts 3:20-21

We will not finish the job until Jesus comes back. But the restoration of the earth and your sphere in it will happen. The good news is we can start now.

Heaven Is Not Our Final Destination

To reclaim our sphere of life here on earth, we need a mindset shift. Heaven is not our final destination. It never was. Earth is our home. But when sin came into the world, it brought death, which was not God’s will. So, when we die, we go to heaven. This was the backup plan. But eventually we will come back to earth after Jesus comes back and we will stay here. Heaven is God’s home. It is a temporary home for us. It is a holding place, although a nice holding place, till we come back to earth.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. Revelation 21:1

God did not assign us to go to heaven. Going to Heaven is not our priority. Most religions, including religious Christianity, focus on teaching their people how to get ready to escape Earth and go to Heaven, however they define Heaven. That is not our assignment as kingdom citizens. Remember, God did not create the world to be empty, but to be inhabited.

For this is what the Lord says– he who created the heavens, he is God; he who fashioned and made the earth, he founded it; he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited – he says: “I am the Lord, and there is no other. Isaiah 45:18 (NIV)

“The highest heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth He has given to man” Psalms 115:16

your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10

Heaven should not be our passion or goal, but the bringing of Heaven to Earth.

Want your World to Be Different?

It can be. This is the first in a series of articles to help us understand how to occupy or overcome. With God’s ideas, authority, and power, we can start restoring our world to how God intended it to when he created Adam and Eve.