The next progression point in the
Psalm is found in the phrase, “Praise Him in the firmament of His power”. This introduction of power is the
occupational phase of the spiritual war.
Warfare is encountered when praise is offered to God. Not only does the Lord want us to sanctify a
place by and for praise He wants, through continued praise, to introduce power
into the atmosphere (firmament). It
takes power to establish spiritual territory after it has been gained through
battle and conquest.
As Jesus was making preparation
for his departure from this world, He commanded his disciples to return to
Jerusalem to wait for the promise of the Holy Ghost. The battle had been fought and the conquest
won through His death, burial, and resurrection and now it was time for establishing
the newly won spiritual territory. The
appointed city was Jerusalem and the appointed place was the upper room. This upper room is the sanctuary Jesus
established and would become the sanctuary of praise through which the Holy
Ghost made its entrance. With the Holy Ghost
came power in a dimension not known until the day of Pentecost. Jesus told his disciples that they “… shall receive power after that the Holy
Ghost has come upon you.” (Acts 1:4) This is the Spirit in which we are
instructed to walk, and praise gives us a means of joining ourselves to its
movement. As revealed in the Psalm, by
praise we move through spiritual phases that defeat satanic forces and
establish Godly ones.
Using the illustration of
military conquest it is easy to understand spiritual conquest. Again the five stages of transition from one
kingdom to another (Satan’s to God’s) are delineated in this Psalm and they
are; Battle, Conquest, Occupation, Dominion, and Enthronement. With the introduction of power into the
firmament (atmosphere) the occupation phase begins.
This concept of the need of power
was clearly seen in the war in Iraq in the spring of 2003. The battle phase of the war was relatively
quick and decisive. In just twenty-one
days the battle was over and the military found itself in the position not of
battle, but of conquest as they had won the war and were in control of the
geographical space of the enemy’s former territory. It was quickly understood, however, that
conquest was not enough and that there was much more work to do in making the
transition from a dictatorship to a democracy.
A phrase that was much used concerning this matter was, “we knew how to
win the war, but didn’t know how to win the peace.” What was needed was a show of power in the
newly obtained territory that would allow the same to be occupied.
The idea of occupation is one
that must be grasped lest the conquest and battle phases of the process be to
no avail. It is not just in fighting and
winning that the objective is reached, but the process must be continued and an
occupational “force” established.
There have been many battles
fought and won to no permanent good because God’s people did not know how to,
or were unwilling to, place an occupational force in new territory. The Korean War was over in 1953, but the
presence of the United States is still there.
Power had to be maintained in order to keep the enemy from invading
again. Communism was halted there
because our military knew that winning battles was not enough.
As you endeavor to walk in the
Spirit you must remember this important fact: Battle and conquest must be
followed with the will to occupy.
Conquest is an awesome thing to experience, but you must be prepared to
occupy the spiritual territory that you win... occupy with power. Jesus, by means of the parable of the absent
nobleman, told his disciples that they must hold on to what they win, that is
“occupy”, until he comes.
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