The Pathway to Dominion
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· 12 viewsPraise is the pathway to dominion
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16 The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s; But the earth He has given to the children of men.
Praying in the Throne Room
Praying in the Throne Room
We always want Him to come down and we do not seem to want to go to the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
The key to such power is in the throne room, and the reason the Church doesn’t have any power is because we keep asking God to come down here and demonstrate Himself.
The whole time God is saying, “No, you come up here and get in the throne of divine influence, so you can demonstrate My power in the earth as My Son did.”
After prayer meeting last night....
The Secret Place
The Secret Place
HEAVEN IS A PLACE WHERE YOU CAN GO NOW
The Bible tells us not to “give place” to the devil (see Ephesians 4:27).
Place. Not opportunity, but place.
Don’t ever forget that Heaven is a place.
It’s a real place.
That’s why Jesus could ascend to it, and
that’s why we can, too, in response to God’s invitation.
Did you know that even Judas had a place saved for him in God’s throne room?
According to chapters four and five of the book of Revelation, twenty-four thrones surround the throne of God.
Why twenty-four?
Twelve for the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel and
Twelve for the apostles Jesus chose.
That represents twelve of the Old Covenant and twelve of the New Covenant.
But we learn in Acts 1:20 that Judas made his place “desolate.” Luke was quoting Psalm 69:25.
The Lord had chosen Judas as one of the apostles; therefore Judas had been assigned one of those thrones.
But he vacated his seat. He gave up his place.
The enemy has one desire, and that is to take you out of your place in God.
Remember: “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1 KJV).
When you are in the bosom of the Father, the devil can’t get to you. In the Father’s lap is the holiest place in the universe. However, if the devil can get you to climb out of Daddy’s lap, he can persuade you to abandon your place, your secret place.
16 The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s; But the earth He has given to the children of men.
When God created the plants, He did it by speaking to the dirt:
11 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so.
When God wanted to make birds, He spoke to the air...
When God made the first animals, He spoke to the ground....
When God created fish, He spoke to the water where they would swim....
He always used a source for His creation.
It tells us something about the source components and essence that which is created.
It tells us something about the dwelling place it is designed for.
When the time came for God to create humans, the same creative formula applied.
This time He didn’t speak to the dirt, air, or the water.
When He created the first man, God spoke directly to Himself.
God created man by speaking to Himself!
This shows us that God was taking something from himself and putting it into Adam so that Adam would be like Him and share in His life:
26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
DOMINION
DOMINION
Once God had created Adam and placed him in the Garden of Eden, He gave Adam legal dominion over the earth.
Although Satan had once been the “anointed cherub” who had covered the earth, now, because of his rebellion, God took that glorious position away from him and gave it to Adam and to his descendants. He anointed human beings to rule the earth instead of Satan.
6 I said, “You are gods, And all of you are children of the Most High.
In a very real sense, we can say that the Lord made humankind, beginning with Adam and Eve, to be the gods of this world.
Of course, that statement needs some clarification.
Adam and Eve were not gods in the sense of being divine beings,
But they were made to be gods in the sense of their godlike authority or dominion.
In His creative order, God put Adam and Eve in authority so that they could dominate the earth.
At the time of the creation of Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden did not cover the entire earth.
8 The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.
God gave them the responsibility to tend the garden, to dominate it, and to multiply it until it covers the earth.
God’s eternal plan is still the same. This desire to see the earth as an all-encompassing garden will one day be realized when God unveils the new Heaven and new earth.
16 The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s; But the earth He has given to the children of men.
God literally gave the earth to the human beings He had created.
The great Creator of the heavens and the earth gave us the power and authority to rule over the earth.
Unfortunately, Satan, having once ruled over the earth himself and being angry about his displacement, saw a great opportunity to regain his position.
He could see that unconditional authority had been delegated to these upstarts, so he tempted them to surrender that authority by directly disobeying God’s commands.
As we know, they fell for Satan’s ploy.
When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, another transfer of dominion took place.
(This is not the same as ownership, because the earth belongs to the Lord God forever.)
Dominion was handed back to Satan, at least temporarily.
At that point Satan became :
4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
Humankind lost control from that point forward.
Death had entered the world through one man’s disobedience.
In the long run, however, God took care of the situation.
He came to the earth in the form of the man Christ Jesus to restore rightful dominion to the beings He had created in His own image.
For thirty-three years Jesus walked this earth, totally yielded obedient the will of His heavenly father.
Not once did He capitulate to temptation and relinquish His heavenly position.
15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
He reclaimed and restored humankind’s legal right to dominion.
Some of our Lord’s final words are as follows:
18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Go ye implies that the dominion and authority that belong to our Lord has been transferred to every believer in Jesus Christ.
We represents Him on earth.
Amazingly, because of the Lord’s redemptive work, every believer has been “made…alive together with Christ....
5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
All born again believers have been raised up and seated with Christ, even while they still remain here upon the earth.
The physical position of believing men and women does not change, but their spiritual position does!
Now, in Him, all of them are seated
21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.
21 Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named [above every title that can be conferred], not only in this age and in this world, but also in the age and the world which are to come.
Worship is the Key to Spiritual Dominion
Worship is the Key to Spiritual Dominion
What does the believer’s spiritual position have to do with the subject of worship?
Because Satan was created as a
worshipping angel to have
dominion over this earth,
And because we are his replacement, worship has everything to do with it!
Worship was Satan’s pathway to dominion
(as well as his pathway out of dominion).
In the same way, worship is also every believer’s pathway in—and out—of dominion.
When Adam and Eve disobeyed, thereby ceasing to worship God through obedience, they lost their authority.
On the other hand, when Jesus, the God-man, worshipped God through total obedience, He regained authority for humankind;
He sacrificed Himself to win people back to their full status as His co-regents over the earth God created.
Because Satan was created as a worshipping angel and then was given authority over the earth,
it follows that worship must be a key to spiritual dominion.
PRAISE CHOKES THE ENEMY
PRAISE CHOKES THE ENEMY
There is another clue to our destiny as the ones whose destiny is to exercise God’s dominion over the earth:
8 “Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father’s children shall bow down before you.
9 Judah is a lion’s whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He bows down, he lies down as a lion; And as a lion, who shall rouse him?
10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.
This passage is rich with truth that connects worship with spiritual authority.
The name Judah means “praise” in the Hebrew language.
When one reads this passage and substitutes the word praise for Judah, the authority factor of worship becomes easily apparent.
For example, verse ten declares that the scepter shall not depart from Judah.
A scepter is an ornamented staff or rod that has long represented authority.
Translated accordingly, this verse declares, “Authority shall not depart from praise.”
Verse eight states that Judah’s “hand shall be on the neck of your enemies.”
Again, you can see the authority factor of worship.
Translated accurately, it would read, “Praise…your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies.”
As a believer, do you understand what this statement means?
Your praise to God can choke out any enemy that Satan tries to use against your rightful position as a child of God!
This same principle is illustrated in:
18 Then the children of Israel arose and went up to the house of God to inquire of God. They said, “Which of us shall go up first to battle against the children of Benjamin?” The Lord said, “Judah first!”
This shows that worship is a weapon of warfare that must precede everything else.
Worship is primary.
Until a believer grasps this revelation, he or she will be overwhelmed with oppression and satanic opposition.
In other words, the pathway to exercising our rightful dominion and authority is through the warfare of worship.
“We must learn to work out of rest and to wage warfare out of worship.” - Bill Johnson
This is a supremely powerful spiritual principle!
Worship chokes the enemy to death; it represents one of the primary scepters of authority that has been given to every believer and to the Body of Christ as a whole.
Satan hates worship!
The enemy of our souls knows what worship does in the heavens
—how it affects God, how it affects the worshipper, and of course how it affects him.
He knows all too well that revelation about and application of worship comprise a spiritual weapon with which he cannot reckon.
Worship renders him helpless.
....connect the dots concerning why worship is so significant.
Never forget the effect of worship in the spirit realm and the authority it pours into the life of the believer.