Occupy Til I Come!

Messages from the Heart of God

By:  Pastor Cammy Walters

 

Occupy Til I Come

 

I would like to share with you what I believe our Father God would have us to learn from the “Occupy” movement, and what we The Church, should learn from the people on the street.  If God in the Old Testament could use a donkey to make His point, I believe that He can use the signs of the times to also make His point clear to us today as well.

As I began pondering my first Message from the Heart of God, I heard come up out of my Spirit. “Occupy Til I Come”.  This Word comes directly from the bible out of Luke chapter 19 verse 13 in the parable of the talents that Jesus told.  This is one of those verses that I believe the message might have gotten lost in the translation.  The New King James says “Do Business til I come” whereas the Old King James version says Occupy til I come.  Now as we have been armed with the Old translation of Occupy til I come, allow me to share with you what I believe the Lord would have us “The Church” to learn from the Occupy Wall Street movement that we have seen since September 17, 2011 when the Occupy movement came to the US.  And Yes folks, the Occupy Movement began overseas in 2010 and arrived on our shores in New York on September 17, 2011,  another, Notable September Day to be sure, however are we listening to what the Spirit of the Lord is saying?

If you will go to any dictionary, whether online or offline, and look up the word “Occupy” you will find the following definitions.  This definition comes from dictionary.com for example:

 oc·cu·py

verb (used with object)

1.

to take or fill up (space, time, etc.): I occupied my evenings reading novels.

2.

to engage or employ the mind, energy, or attention of: Occupy the children with a game while I prepare dinner.

3.

to be a resident or tenant of; dwell in: We occupied the same house for 20 years.

4.

to take possession and control of (a place), as by military invasion.

5.

to hold (a position, office, etc.).

verb (used without object)

6.

to take or hold possession.

Armed with the Word of God, “Occupy til I come” the definition of Occupy as a military term, and the gifts talents and abilities that God has given to each of us as His Occupying Army here on this earth, I ask you, What have you done with your individual talents that you have received?  What has The Church Done with her collective talents that she has received?  Have we Occupied the land with the mindset of wiling away our time til Jesus comes or are we going to become that Occupying Force to take possession and control of what the Enemy has stolen?  Though these questions and probably many others that each of you may have, we are going to begin looking at what we The Church are currently doing, verses what we The Church should be doing in fulfilling our orders of Occuping Til He Comes.

Currently, we The Church have been content to sit inside our highly decorated buildings every weekend chalking up our attendance as if attendance to a church service was somehow was all that was required of us to get to heaven when we die.  Folks, just because you may have perfect attendance at your local church gathering doesn’t mean that you have Occupied your territory that He has given you to occupy til He Comes.  We The Church have been given many talents, skills and abilities, however, somehow we think that those talents are only for inside the four walls of a church building.  Allow me if you will to share with you how the Spiritual Gifts that we have been given can actually be effective in Occupying our territory til He Comes.

Gifts of Ministry

Ephesians 4:7-16

But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.  There fore He says:  “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.”  [Now this , “He ascended” – what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth?  He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things]

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastor and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head – Christ – from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does it share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

The gifts of ministry are given to reveal or put into action the Plans and purposes of God.  Many times when we talk about spiritual gifts most assume that they are only for ministry application, however, as we will discuss, these gifts have practical business applications as well.  Once we learn and apply these gifts to the whole spectrum of spiritual and practical applications, then we will begin to allow the Plan of God to flow through every area of our lives through these gifting’s.

1)    The Gift of Apostle:  Is many times referred to as the THUMB of the ministry gifts.  Just like the natural thumb on your hand pushes your peas on to your fork or knife, so too does the Apostle push all the necessary components of the ministry or business together, and fits them into place.  This gift is what most church planters or entrepreneurs  have been given, and as such the people that have been given this gift, will many time function in all the Spiritual Gifts providing assistance where needed within the other gifting.  And just as you learned when you were a kid while thumb wrestling with your friends, it the strongest and most powerful finger on your hand, so to this is the strongest and most powerful spiritual gift, with the ability and talent to help all other gifts. These are also entrepreneurs that build and establish businesses within the business community as well as building and planting church or ministry organizations.

2)    The Gift of Prophet:  Surprising to many, Yes this Gift is still very much in operation today.  However, this one gift is also the most often sought after gift by control freaks, and they try to manipulate others into believing they have been given the Gift of the Prophet when all they have ever been given is the give of manipulation and control, and that wasn’t given by God, I can assure you.  The Gift of the Prophet is the gift that is represented on your natural hand as the INDEX FINGER, or mister pointer.  Just as mister pointer finger likes to point out everything, so too does the Gift of the Prophet.  The Gift of the Prophet will point to the future of the people of God and will also point out where sin or problems reside.  The Gift of the Prophet when manifested within the TRUE gift will be ACCURATE!   The Gift of the Prophet when given by the Holy Spirit of God, CANNOT BE WRONG.  When you see someone operating in this spiritual gift, or should I say pretending to operate in this spiritual gift and they have missed their prediction or forecast of future events or identifying where sin or issues that need resolving is, this is never from God, and from such you should run, don’t walk away.  The Gift of the Prophet isn’t like the Old Testament prophet pronouncing judgment, the New Testament Gift of the Prophet will always be edifying and uplifting in nature.  One important distinction to be aware of when witnessing the Gift of the Prophet is that God’s people win, and the only purpose that the Gift of the Prophet has in identifying where sin and issue reside is so that we can repent or change our minds regarding our failings, and continue in the will of God for our lives.  A good rule of thumb for identifying this Gift as to whether it is from God or not; is to remember that when “Mister Point” is pointing to something that is true or not, there are three fingers always pointing back at him or herself.

3)    The Gift of Evangelist:  This gift is represented on our natural hand as the MIDDLE FINGER.  It is the longest or tallest of all our fingers, and stands out among them all.  This finger is also the one that seems to take some of the hardest hits like being stuck into places or the first one to get jammed in the car door.  The ministry gift of Evangelist standouts out among the congregation, and takes the most hits of criticism within the congregation or local body of believers.  This Gift of the Evangelist has been gifted to reach out and draw people into a local body of believers.  The gift of the Evangelists can also be referred to as “A Salesman” they are the ones that are gifted to sell a product.  If they are pretending to operate in this Gift without drawing them into a local body of believers or to a product sold by their business, and only drawing attention to themselves, then they are giving the “middle finger” to God, and from such steer clear at all costs.

4)    The Gift of Pastor:    This gift is many times referred to as the RING FINGER of the organization.  The person that fills this role is married to and responsible for overseeing to the welfare of the people within a specific organization.  In a business sense, this would be the business manager or supervisory position within the organization.  This gift is for the shepherding of people within a specific congregation or group specifically gathered together for the sole purpose of care and nurturing the people of within a ministry or business.  A pastor is not just the person that stands at the pulpit within our churches today, a pastor is anyone that has oversight and seeks for the welfare of the members.  A pastor is responsible for nurturing, guiding, and protecting the members within the group.  In the truest sense of the word pastor, they are to be caregivers of the flock.  Whether that flock is a group gathered together for business purposes, ministry or the combination of business and ministry purposes, the pastor is the one who answers to God for how well the flock (group) thrives and survives.  If more business owners would see that their talent for operating businesses and managing people was a pastoral gifting, then we wouldn’t be in our current economic crisis.  Those that should have regarded their positions of care and oversight as a God given gift or ability would have seen to the care of the flock instead of the care of their own desires.  This gift along with all of the other ministry gifts have true business applications that if applied would create a completely different business climate as well as would no longer create the need for Big Government to regulate them, and fill in the gap that their lack of responsibility has caused.

The Gift of Teacher:  This gift is sometimes a shared gift with the gift of the pastor; however, it doesn’t have to be.  The teacher is one that is able to simplify difficult tasks or concepts into easy to understand instructions.  The teacher’s primary focus is on accurate information and detail to see that the concept is learned and understood, in order to be reproduced by the student or others that will perform a specific task or duty.  The gift of a teacher will pick apart and reassemble the Word of Truth or a specific task in order for others to grasp the concept and achieve the goals desired

 

Gifts of Motivation

Romans 12:6-8

Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them:  if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

Just as the title of this section suggest, the following gifts are what is known as gifts of motivation, or more simple said, what motivates an individual.  These gifts just as the others that we have already discussed, are not given to everyone, however, everyone has one or several gifting’s that motivates them into action each and every day of their lives.  Just as all individuals are different in their personalities, these motivation gifts reveal the personality of our Heavenly Father as to whom he has given these gifts to, as well as how those gift function within each individual.  With three questions that I will often ask, I can determine what motivate an individual, and where their gifting’s lie.  As we discuss the gifts of motivation, please keep these three questions in mind as you read, and you too will be able to easily determine yours and others gifts of motivation that our Heavenly Father has bestowed on you and those whom you work with on a daily basis.  In our many ministry/businesses, we take this process one step further and have every employee take a spiritual gifts test, to determine with greater focus the gifts of motivation within each of our employees.  When people are working in their specific areas of their God given gifts and abilities you have happier and more fulfilled employees, and these individuals are set up for success rather than failure.

Prophecy

The motive gift of prophecy is revealed within those individuals that tend to have insight into particular situations for which they may or may not be trained in.  These people are many times referred to as the guard dogs of any organization because they can often times sense or see where issues are or will be within a given organization.  These people are known as the “eyes” of the organization and as such can alert management or leadership as to problems many times before they become out of control.

Teaching

The motive gift of teacher or teaching is revealed within those individuals that enjoy training others in the subject matter at hand within an organization.  They will be the ones that can take complex issues, projects, or subject and break them down into bite size nuggets of information so that everyone can comprehend the matter being taught and they will have a firm grasp of the lessons taught by an individual with this motivational gift.  Individuals with this motive gifting is sometimes referred to as the “brains or the mind” of the operation.

Exhortation or Gift of Encouragement

The motive gift of exhortation is revealed in individuals that can speak persuasively which will cause an action to be taken by the one spoken too.  These people are ones that will give advice or counsel to others.  They are often times seen as the “mouthpiece” of the organization.

Gift of Giving

The motive gift of giving doesn’t just mean the giving of money however that is one facet of this gift.  Other facets of this gifting that will be revealed within individuals motivated by this gift can also include; random acts of kindness just because that is their nature, giving of their time, energy, talents or abilities, or simply the giving of themselves to others in times of need.  The individual with this gift of giving will seem to irritate others because others will feel that a GIVER is only trying to give their way into heaven, or even to “suck up” to the boss.  Givers are often times seen as the “arms” of any organization, which help to hold things up.  Arms are limbs of the body that can help stabilize others by just their presence and giving nature.

Gift of Leadership

Many times this gift is referred to as the gift of administration or as; we have titled it according to the bible, the Gift of Leadership.  The person that has this gifting will be very detail oriented, and seek to find ways to make the overall project, or organization run smoothly and efficiently.  These people are good organizers and planners.  Individuals displaying this gift will many times not choose to be in a leadership capacity, however if there is a vacancy in leadership, they will be the ones that will rise to the responsibility to fill the void.  Their greatest sense of accomplishment comes from having a group of people come together to complete a task or project.  These people represent the “head” of the body in which they are joined to.  The head of the body will do whatever it believes is best for the body as a whole.

Gift of Mercy

Individuals that are gifted with the gift of mercy will be very sensitive to the needs of other individuals.  These people are very extreme in their emotions, which can turn on a dime given the people that they are around.  They are the ones that will laugh with you, cry with you, and seek to help anyone at a possible determent to themselves.  Individuals with this gift are attracted to individuals that are in some sort of need or distress.  Many times these people will not recognize when others are abusing their mercy-filled nature, and will many times become victims themselves when all they were trying to do is to help someone else.  People with the gift of mercy are known as the “heart or heart beat” of an organization.  They are led by their emotional needs to give mercy, regardless of the truth or the situation around them.

Gift of Ministry or Gift of Service

People with this gift of ministry are the doers of any organization.  The don’t want to sit around and wait for decisions to be made, the see a need, they go do it.  These people are known as the “hands” of the organization, and will see that any task is done, and are extremely and highly motivated individuals.  People with the gift of ministry or the gift of service will many times over extend themselves and will become frustrated with their situation because they don’t seem to have enough hours in the day to get everything done.  They like short-term goals and expectations, so that they can move on to another area of need.

Wrapping it all Up

1 Corinthians 12:13-14

For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body – whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free – and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.  For in fact the body is not one member but many.

As you have learned through this overview of our spiritual gifts that our Heavenly Father has bestowed upon each and every human being, these gifts are for the benefit of us all.  Just as no one individual is an island, neither is there a human being alive that will have each and everyone of these spiritual gifts with the exception that Jesus had them all, because he was all man and all God.  We need each other regardless of what spiritual gift our Heavenly Father has given us, so that we all are joined together to form ONE BODY.  Just as a human body has many billions of cells that make up the entire body, each part of the body has many billions of cells that make up each individual member of that body.  It requires everyone of us to complete the entire body.  Until we recognize that these gifts are not just for being used on Sundays and Wednesdays church services but are necessary for our daily lives and businesses in which we work, we will not become the built up and functioning body that Jesus was trying to teach us about in the scriptures. Neither are we being the best stewards of the talents that have been given to us to Occupy Til He Comes.  So whatever you gifts, talents or abilities are being using them to Occupy til He comes in EVERY AREA and Arena of Life,  so that you will hear Well done, good servant; because you have been faithful in a very little, you now have authority over much!  Let’s begin taking back what we have allowed the Enemy to steal from us which is our gifts, talents, and ability to influence the current Political and Economic Culture of our World as God and Jesus intended and no longer take the 501c3 Bribe of keeping our voices silent in ALL areas and arenas of our everyday life.  And I say Let the Bride of Christ Arise, and take back what is rightfully ours OUR VOICE, OUR INFLUENCE, OUR TALENTS & ABILITIES, AND OUR ONE NATION UNDER GOD!!!!