Occupying the Land

As we live in and occupy the land God has called us to, we are doing battle. Living according to His Word and principles in this land is a victory in and of itself. We are to live in and enjoy the land He's placed us in. This is a banner of victory over the land and over our lives.

David spent his life in battle. When he and his army had returned from battle to their families in Ziklag, they found that they had been captured. They grieved tremendously (1 Samuel 30). Fighting was not where they found their joy. They found joy in returning to their families and enjoying their time with them. We don't fight just to fight either. Without a battle, where is your joy?

When I first started praying for Waterford several years ago, the Lord asked me, 'If everyone in Waterford were free from all of the bondage's of the enemy, what would you pray for then?' I had been so used to battling the enemy that it was hard for me to see where to go as the battles were won. God wants us to see how He intended us to live in the beginning, and to live that way now. We need to see how our communities were meant to be. What is the good plan and design of God for your community? Fight when you need to fight, but don't go looking for a battle when there is no battle to fight. Recognize when it is time to live in and occupy the land.

Isaiah 55:6-13

Lord we seek You now. We call upon You now. We forsake the unrighteous, wicked ways, and the thoughts that are contrary to You. We thank You for your compassion and forgiveness. We recognize Your thoughts are not like ours. We want to think Your thoughts, to know and walk in Your ways. Your words do produce what You desire them to. They cause the earth to become abundantly fruitful. Your Word doesn't go out and return to You unfruitful. They accomplish what You send them out to do.

We speak Your Word for Your words never die. They continue throughout the earth. We speak Your words out of our mouth. We speak them over our lives, our families, our communities, our churches, our businesses and schools, our nation and our earth. We go out with joy and are led with peace. The fruit of Your spoken word is here before us.

When we go out and begin something, there is joy. There is excitement and joy when God brings us into a new thing. The peace is how we maintain that new thing. The joy gives us the strength, and the peace gives us what we need to live and work it out. When we live in peace, we maintain what He's called us to. Get a hold of the joy in the land, the field, that He's called you to. Go out into your field in joy and maintain the victory of it in peace. Live and do in the land what He has called you to, and you'll maintain the peace and victory He's provided for.

Lord, show the people their land, the garden, and field that You've called them to. Let them discover the purpose You've prepared them for. Let them joyfully enter into it. We speak to the blinders--the things that tell them they can't do it or don't want to do it--and tell them to go. We speak to the deception that tells people they can't do it--go in Jesus' name.

Thank You Lord. You are so good to us. 

Micah 4:1-4

In Micah 4, the Lord said they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. These are weapons that were hammered/changed into farming tools. The things we've fought with are now the tools we use to occupy the land--to settle into it.

On the one hand, the battle is won and we are living in peace. So you could say you don't need the warring tools. Yet on the other hand, the very weapon you've battled with is still a weapon even as a farming tool, but its one you use to occupy the land in peace with. When you occupy the land in joy and peace, you are still waging war, doing battle. You are defeating the enemy by living in peace. You are living the victory God has called you to live in. You are maintaining the victory.

Each one will sit under his vine and fig tree, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. When God says it, nothing can change it. Enjoy your life. Enjoy Him. Enjoy your families in the land He's placed you in.

Lord, we thank You for Your Word. You are the God who judges everything righteously. You'll judge the nations. We thank You for our weapons, our tools, our victory. Thank You Jesus for conquering the sin and evil of the earth so we can live in the victory as You've called us to. We will sit under our vine and fig tree and live as You have called us to. Let everything be aligned according to You and Your Word.

Thank You for the earth, the portion of it that You've given to us. We want to occupy it according to Your plan. Reveal it to us. We want to judge all things like You do. We have Your mind. We want Your mind--to see things as You do.

Thank You for our farming tools, which are still our weapons. That we can use them now in such a way that shows we have settled into the land You've given to us. The burden is not on us. You are our rock, our defense and our victor. We are not fighting flesh and blood or in our own strength. We fight to maintain joy and peace. The enemy is not to distract us into strife, arguments or any distractions that lead us away from the stable life You've called us to. You are our rock and foundation. 

I pray the people of this community and beyond stay in alignment with what You have revealed is Your purpose for them. Stay away from stress and strife. That is not the kind of fight we are to fight.

As we defend our land, let us remember what we are defending. We don't fight just to fight. We are protecting that which You've entrusted to us. We are protecting what and where You've called us to. We are protecting our families and communities.

Pray this out over the next couple weeks. Come back to this and proclaim it for the people to live in and occupy the land as God has called them to. For you and your family as well, so it becomes solidified in your own heart too.