Dominion Through Prayer
Prayers are powerful. You can surely attest to that when you recall the testimonies from the past about God doing the impossible. In the Christian walk, you might have understood or learned that God's mode of communication is not usually through an audible voice, but He is always speaking. The book of Revelation says, 'Listen to what the Spirit of God is saying.' It is present continuous.
August 1, 2022
Prayers are powerful. You can surely attest to that when you recall the testimonies from the past about God doing the impossible. In the Christian walk, you might have understood or learned that God’s mode of communication is not usually through an audible voice, but He is always speaking. The book of Revelation says, ‘Listen to what the Spirit of God is saying.’ It is present continuous. When one aligns to the frequency of the Lord, they can hear what He is saying. This listening is not always audible. Irrespective of whether one can listen morally, the Spirit of God is leading a believer. And that itself is communication. The Spirit is leading them. Romans 8, Paul says, ‘for those who are led by the spirit are called sons of God.’ So if you are here wondering if the Spirit is leading you or not, here is a Bible verse for you.
1 Corinthians 12: 2-3 (ESV) – You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to mute idols, however, you were led. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.
The fact that one can confess that Jesus is Lord is evidence that the Holy Spirit is inside them. Without the Holy Spirit, nobody can say that Jesus is Lord. One doesn’t require a tangible sign. Knowing they can come to church and worship God is enough evidence to know that the Holy Spirit is leading. However, the human mind fails to know when the mind is being led or not. The processing capacity of the mind is less than what the Spirit of God wants to communicate. Therefore, it is okay if the mind does not understand or can explain the things of the Spirit.
Our minds have a limited capacity to receive what the spirit of God is saying. But our spirit is unlimited. The function of prayer is effectively opening up our spiritual senses to be led by the Spirit.
Illustration of a Baby:
When a baby is born, the baby exercises his muscles so that he can start using his muscles effectively. To start walking, the baby begins by crawling, then gets up, falls down, gets up, then falls down, and it’s continuous learning. Similarly, the spiritual senses of man need to be constantly exercised. During prayer, the spiritual ears open to hear what God is saying. Likewise, prayer opens the spiritual eyes to see what God has for tomorrow. Prayer also opens hearts to receive the word of God. Prayer prepares the mind to protect itself against any spiritual attack. Prayer gives speed to spiritually alive men to accelerate into their destiny.
Thus prayer opens up the spiritual senses so that one can effectively be led by the Spirit of God. But the question is, where is the spirit of God leading you? There must be a destiny towards which the spirit of God is leading you because the spirit of God is not purposeless or directionless.
Genesis 1: 26 (ESV) – Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Many assume that God created humans to worship Him. It was not God’s plan. Worship is the response of man to the goodness of God. When one tastes the goodness of God, the automatic response is worship. However, God’s plan was to create man in His image and likeness to dominate the earth. Mankind does not need to have dominion in heaven. According to Genesis, God’s plan for man was to have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. In other words, humans were created to rule and reign.
If Jesus is King of kings, who are the kings? Have you thought about it?
Man was created to have dominion in every aspect of the world.
If this is true, why is the world in chaos today? It is because the sons and daughters of God have not taken dominion. And the further verses elaborate on how you should have dominion.
Genesis 1: 27-28 (ESV) – So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Dominion: broken down
God’s plan for domination is very simple, and it’s a 4-step process:
Most Asian countries have thought being fruitful was having children. So their way of dominion is filling the earth with more people, and that’s why their population is so high. But being fruitful is not just about having children. If being fruitful is or was just to have children, then Jesus was unfruitful, as He didn’t have kids and didn’t get married.
Being fruitful means being productive. There’s a purpose for which God created each individual, and God wants them to be fruitful or productive in that purpose. There’s a heavenly calling on everyone to be productive. Everyone has some gifting. Say, if the gifting is cooking, being productive in the kitchen is fulfilling the heavenly assignment. Knowing the calling makes life more meaningful. Someone once said, ‘The richest place on the earth are the graveyards because so many purposes have not been completed, have not been fulfilled.’ So much potential that was never achieved. God has a purpose for everyone. And He wants all to be fruitful in that purpose.
Work and worship come from the same root word. Sadly, Christians are highly effective and faithful in Church, which is good. Nevertheless, that nature should extend to the workspaces. Worship is not limited to coming to church and singing songs. But a a workplace can also become a place of worship to God. In the daily exchange with the workmates, when the sons of God become a channel of blessing to somebody, it brings joy to the Father. Thus, work becomes worship.
Being fruitful is being productive.
The second step is multiplication. Whatever the product is, it should not be limited to meeting the needs of the person, their house, family, or city. For instance, if the productivity is computers, then the skills to multiply should help a person to come to the second step. When you learn to produce something, multiply that production. When you multiply that production, the third step is to fill the earth. The productivity should be so much that it fills the earth. God is not just talking about opening a restaurant that has local chains. He’s talking about filling the earth. Finally, anything that comes against the purpose needs to be subdued. Suffering is not living a life of misery or poverty.
Christian suffering is to get out of the comfort zone to live a life of freedom and glory.
The Christian life is not about being comfortable. The Christian life is about being free and glorious. And that comes with a battle with the mind which wants to be comfortable. The mind is trying to hold one a prisoner. This is because the mind cannot comprehend the work of the Spirit. For instance, when we hear someone testify of a huge promotion. The Holy Spirit is working in their mind and preparing them to receive the same. But the mind cannot imagine the same; therefore, it throws the arrows of reasons and questions. Thus, even though we clap for such testimonies, we cannot comprehend the turmoil the person would be going through. That is suffering because it pushes them out of their comfort zone and renews their minds to walk with the Lord.
Living a miserable and pathetic life can often become comfortable when one accepts the walls of limitations. But God wants man to break free knowing the truth. not over until the Sons of God fill the earth and subdue it. So that in their blessing, God is glorified.
God, in His plan of dominion, is blessing humankind with a business plan to rule the earth, while most of the Church is thinking about going to heaven. Indeed heaven is a beautiful place. However, heaven is a temporary place for you and me. In the end, the Church will come back to earth.
How to have Dominion:
Be Fruitful
Multiply
Fill the Earth
Subdue
Illustration of a traveler:
Suppose someone is traveling from India to the US. There is a connecting flight they have to catch from Dubai. They touch base in Dubai for transit, but they do not make a big deal about Dubai because their destination is the US. But Christians are the only ones who make a big deal about the transit. Heaven is a transit place. It’s a place of transition where the Church catches the next flight to reach the destination, the new earth. The new earth is the place where heaven and earth become one. Revelations 21 talks about how Jerusalem comes down from heaven and God dwells with His people on earth, which makes it clear that the final destination is the earth.
Heaven is a transit place.
If someone dies, they will go to heaven, and their spirit will worship God. However, it is an incomplete story. The final result of the gospel is when the mortal bodies are resurrected, and the Church worships God in their body, not in heaven, but on earth. Jesus came in the body, died, and was resurrected. He was showing the example or prototype of what we could become and what we are.
Romans 8: 28 (ESV) – And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
In all things, God works together for good according to His purpose. We must understand God’s purpose for us.
Romans 8: 29-30 (ESV) – For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.
These are the following:
1. Foreknowledge of God- Foreknowledge can be broken into two words before and knowledge. That means God knew man even before they were created or knew themselves.
1. Predestined– God’s purpose for everyone is not limited to taking them to heaven. God predestined everyone to be conformed to the image of His Son. thus, predestination even before Adam sinned is about becoming like Jesus. In other words, Jesus’ sacrifice was not an afterthought of Adam’s sin. So irrespective of Adam sinning or not sinning, Jesus would have come so that you and I could be conformed to His image.
Even if humans are created in the image of God, according to Genesis 1: 26, becoming like Jesus is the mandate of the sons of God. Indeed, Adam was created in the image of God. But he was not yet conformed to the image of Jesus, which caused him to sin. If he conformed to the image of Jesus, he wouldn’t have eaten the tree of knowledge or engaged in a dialogue with the devil. Instead, like Jesus, he would have subdued the devil when tempted. We are all created in the image of God. But being conformed to the image of Jesus means attaining maturity in the image of God, where we rule and reign like Jesus. Jesus was the only image of God in the Bible who was truly mature enough to say no to the devil.
The journey of the the sons of God is to have the maturity of Jesus here on earth, not in heaven. Heaven does not need your maturity. Being created in the image of God acts as a catalyst that helps in conforming to the image of Jesus. Paul says we are moving from glory to glory and not moving from shame to glory. You are already created in glory, i.e., in the image of God, and now you’re moving to another level of glory, i.e., the image of the Son.
2. Called – Calling means you have an invitation to choose the predestination that God has set before us. God does not force anyone into his purpose. He gives humanity the free will to choose His purpose. Therefore, if a Christian is not becoming like Jesus, it’s on them as the choice lies with them. It’s upon your life. Every time a son of God accepts the leading of the Spirit, they are saying yes to the Spirit. The spirit can overcome the flesh and begin to possess different aspects of their life to the point that from the spirit to the entire body recognises this union.
3. Justified– The invitation is open to everyone. The finished work of Christ reconciled the world to God. He became the righteousness that justifies humankind. This justification is experienced in the spirit realm. So when Adam sinned, God said. ‘The day you eat of the tree, in dying,, you shall die.” This mean that the day they ate from the forbidden tree, the clock of death started. Death is not non-existence, but it is disconnection or separation. When somebody dies on the earth, their body has been separated from the spirit. Similarly, when one is spiritually dead, their spirit is separated from God. The separation is relational in nature, however, there is more to this.
Ephesians 2: 4 (ESV) – But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
God restored humanity to Himself in Christ. Thus, the separation was undone, and everyone who believes has been rejoined through the person of the Holy Spirit. There is no longer living in death, but everyone who accepts Christ as their saviour is in union with God through the holy spirit.
John 10: 30 (ESV) – I and the Father are one.
When Jesus says, ‘I and my Father are one,’ he is not talking about them being a single unit. He’s talking about a union, like that of a husband and wife. In the spirit realm, man and the Holy Spirit are one, and this is justification. If God, who can accuse man of their sin, had justified them, they have been justified in the spirit. Everyone who believes is sealed with the guarantee of Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit has the potential to overcome the entire cosmos (Genesis 1: 2). When the earth was void and formless, and it was dark, God said, “Let there be light.” The light came from God. That light of God has the power to overcome the entire dark cosmos. When recives the Holy Spirit they have the potential to overwhelm the entire cosmos.
4. Glorified – Jesus told the Samaritan woman, “If you drink of this living water, it shall become streams of living waters into an everlasting life.’ In other words, the spirit of God wants to overflow by flooding the mind, heart, and the entire body with the life of God. Thus, when the Holy Spirit completely possesses your body, we call it a glorified state. Becoming like Jesus is the destiny of Christians, not in heaven, but on earth. Submission of freewill and no dependance on the flesh are important components for the same.
When we look at the process of attaining the purpose we see all the components involved are in the past tense (i.e. He predestined, called, justified, and glorified.) God sees the final picture and operates from there, unlike us.
Ephesians 2: 10 (NLT) – For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
Conclusion :
According to Genesis 1, God has already blessed us. One is not praying and receiving the blessings. However, one is praying to be led by the spirit. The Spirit is leading the sons of God to be conformed to the image of Jesus. When one walks according to this leading they can say that they are living an abundant life.
Prayer should be to surrender to the work of the Holy Spirit. Satan was in the heaven between the angels when he sinned. Likewise, Adam was in Eden whichwas full of God’s presence when he sinned. Thus being in heaven or in the omnipresence of God is not a guarantee that one will not sin. The guarantee is that the union with the Holy Spirit who will possess us completely. We will not be led by our flesh which seeks independence from God. The guarantee is Jesus. During His course on Earth, there were so many instances where Jesus could have chosen independence from the Father and sinned. But bible records that when Jesus was on the earth, He knew no sin. Likewise, when the Holy Spirit will overflow and possess the body the tendency to sin will be gone. The possession of the body is preceded by the possession of the soul. The process where the Holy Spirit possesses the soul is called sanctification. A son of God is justified by the finished work of Christ, sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and then glorified.
Humans are God’s masterpieces. No matter how well one claims to know themselves, it is only the Creator who knows the creation well. So don’t listen to your own thoughts. When we claim to know ourselves it looks like an extension board being plugged to itself. The plug needs to be attached into a power supply so that the extension board starts supplying power. But this is what happens when you’re being led by the flesh.
When being led by the Holy Spirit, humans are deriving power from God. Being led by the spirit is a privilege. Prayer opens the spiritual senses and reduces dependance on the flesh. Thus, prayer helps in experiencing the power of God. The power of resurrection is not supposed to be limited to a concept, instead it has to become a reality. The same power of resurrection is within each believer.
Therefore, prayer is an action that symbolises that one is already connected to God. It’s not in that prayer connects people to God. However, during prayer one recognizes that they are already connected and the life of God flows in and through them.
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