Luke 19:13, “And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, occupy till I come.”

It is time to occupy.

Occupy is to reside, fill, keep, take control of by military conquest or settlement.

God has given his people many gifts, talents, callings, etc. We are given charge over ministries and organizations, but we face stalls in progression, and we wonder where God is.

We understand (to a certain extent) what we are supposed to do but are afraid to make the first move. Instead, we find a reason to explain why we have not yet taken our place or actively working with these God-given gifts. We make excuse afterexcuse and will call it something else. We tie it up in a cute bow and say we are waiting for God to reveal himself or provide additional instruction. But the truth of the matter is we forgot who we are in Christ and so have forgotten the God we serve!

An awfully familiar scripture we may have heard many times, and probably quoted a time or two – 2 Timothy 1:7, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” This scripture we need to keep on the speed dial of our mind. We may need to lean on this severaltimes a day. It is a weapon to use to fight any time we feel the tentacles of fear trying to creep up on us and choke out our spiritual ambition.

The story in the text, Luke 19:11-27, tells the parable of a Nobleman who took a journey to receive his official appointment to rule a kingdom. Like with anyone seeking a position of power, there will be some who want them in the position and some who don’t. Before he left, he called his 10servants to him. These were men who knew the character of the nobleman. He gave them money to work with and told them to deal skillfully with it (occupy till I come).

Let’s stop here to take a deeper look. The Nobleman did not leave instructions on what they were supposed to do with the money. He trusted his servants to operate within their specialized skill set to make a gain or increase on the pound.This is what God does with his children too. He has given us gifts and callings and makes sure we are aware of what he has placed in us. Throughout our life and walk with him we have brushed up against these gifts many times. We may not know their full scope, but we are not ignorant of what we have been given.

I believe this is also where many fall prey to fear. Because we can sense the magnitude of our gift and become intimidated to go after it to the degree God requires. Instead, we trick ourselves to believe we are waiting for God to reveal himself to us.

However, God has done what he has done! Now the ball is in our court to make the next move. Read James 2:14-26. However, we are going to focus on verses 14, 17, 20, 22, and 26.

Verse 14 – asks a couple important questions – what does it profit to have faith and no works? Can faith (alone) save him?

Verse 17 – answers the questions – faith, if it has no works, is dead being alone.

Verse 20 – reiterates and confirms the answer given in verse 17.

Verse 22 – confirmation that our faith is made perfect by our works. 

You may ask what that means. Simply put, when you believe a thing you must walk, live, move like you do, you put your faith in action and walk it out in your life.

Verse 26 – sums up the matter. Just as the body is dead without the spirit, so is out faith dead without works.

God expects his people to step out by faith and make moves. Now, we do not do this blindly. We fast and pray; we seek direction from God. We also search the scriptures, and we do our research. We go after education that will allow us to move with knowledge in the spirit of excellence.

This is key. We must study our craft (the area where our gift, talent, calling, and anointing resides). Then we make strategic and calculated moves – while we are still actively seeking the Lord.

Think about Abraham. After everything God did for Abraham and Sarah to get Isaac here, Abraham knew there was no way God would take away that same promise. He remembered the God he served.  He understood that Isaac would need to be alive so the promised could be fulfilled. So, Abraham knew that somehow Isaac would leave the situation alive and well. Abraham assured Isaac that God would provide himself a sacrifice (see Genesis 22:8). He had faith and put works to his faith. In his obedience, Abraham lifted his hand with the knife to slay Isaac, but God stopped him and provided a ram in the bush.

Now looking back at the text again – let’s look at the Greek translation of ‘occupy’. It means to concern oneself. Dwell, live, inhabit, reside, populate, possess, hold, own, have, master. To busy, employ. To conceive, understand, sit in.

They were to become fully engaged in working with the pound to increase it.

God expects the same from us. We are to become fully engaged with our ministry (gifts, talents, callings, etc.). We must concern ourselves with the gift of God. We are to seek to understand it, to sit in it (fully accept it and embrace). We are to possess it and conceive (reproduce) and populate the space God has given us to operate in. God has invested in us, and he does expect a return on that investment.

Failing to add work with out faith is to bring judgement upon ourselves.

When the Nobleman returned the ruler of the Kingdom, his first order of business was to check on his ten servants. To get a report on how the increased the gift. The first two servants surveyed did well. They added to that which had been given. This was not so with the last servant surveyed. This servant hid the gift in the ground and did nothing with it. This angered the new ruler, and he passed harsh judgement on that servant, while he rewarded the faithful servants.

We must ask ourselves, what will God say when he comes back to find that nothing has been done to expand upon the investment he has placed in us?

But when we do step out on faith and add works to it – we occupy till he comes – God is glorified. There is no excuses not to.

Have a blessed day.