Dominion Praying

“And 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 fowl of the air, and aover the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created He him, male and female created He them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them: Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” (Genesis 1:26-28)

God created man to manage the earth and everything in it, as His representative. He gave man all that man needed, because He created man in His own image and likeness. God rules in entirety, but He created man to rule the earth, as a sort of sub-ruler or representative of God.

Then sin entered in. Man fell. Man’s dominion over the earth was handed over to Satan. Adam failed the earth and mankind. Creation has groaned in travail ever since.

But a second Adam appeared on the scene: Jesus Christ. Jesus redeemed man, man that He created, and returned the right of dominion back to man: to redeemed man. What was so easily taken for granted and lost, was purchased back at a tremendous price. Nevertheless, restoration has begun.

Redeemed man, whose redemption was purchased by Jesus Christ, has been given the keys of the kingdom back.

What does that mean to us exactly?

Well, for an example of what it means to us, let’s consider the following scenario from Andrew Murray, a 19th century man of God:

“When an earthly sovereign sends a representative to a distant province, that representative advises the sovereign as to the policy to be adopted there. The sovereign follows that advice, doing whatever is necessary to enact the policy and maintain the dignity of his empire. If the sovereign, however, doesn’t approve of the policy, he replaces the representative with someone who better understands his desires for the empire. But as long as the representative is trusted, his advice is carried out.”

Such is what was intended for man originally, and what is intended for redeemed man now. To have dominion over the earth and all that is in it. To have everything on earth done according to man’s will.

Wait, man’s will? Not God’s will?

No, man’s will. Because you see, man’s will, as a true and honest representative of God, IS God’s will. On man’s advice and at man’s request (also known as prayer), heaven shows man's authority and dominion by granting appropriate blessings on earth.

Remember Jesus saying to his disciples: “Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

He gave them the power to make decisions (policies) on earth, and promised them that they would be backed by the proper authority in heaven, and that those things which they asked would be granted to them. Jesus didn’t give this privilege to them casually or without forethought. He knew that they would choose according the the will of the Father, as He had instructed and modeled for them for three years, and so He had enough confidence in their future decisions to grant the necessary authority to “make it so”.

It is no different for us. But there IS a condition to the promise that Jesus spoke when He said: “ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you”. In fact, the condition is the first part of that scripture that gets often neglected: “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you”...THEN...“ye shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you.

As Andrew Murray again says “It is for those who abide in Him, who have forsaken themselves for a life of obedience and self-sacrifice in Him, who have completely surrendered to the interests of the Father and His Kingdom. They understand how their redemption through Jesus Christ has brought them back to their original destiny, restoring God’s image and the power to have dominion. When God chose Abraham, He was beginning to make for Himself a people whose prayer power affected the destinies of those who came into contact with him.

Prayer is not only the means of obtaining blessing for ourselves; it is the exercise of a royal prerogative to influence the destinies of men and the will of God which rules them. Abraham’s prayers for Sodom and Lot, for Abimelech, and for Ishmael prove that a man who is God’s friend has the power to control the history of those around him. Man was to be prophet, priest, and king to interpret God’s will, to represent nature’s needs, to receive and dispense God’s bounty.

It was in bearing God’s image that he could bear God’s rule. As God’s image-bearer and representative on earth, redeemed man has the power to determine the history of the earth through his prayers. Man was created and then redeemed to pray, and by his prayer to have dominion.

Redeemed men indeed have the power - each in his own area - to obtain and dispense the powers of heaven here on earth. With holy boldness they may make known what they will. To rule creation by man is God's design."