HAVE DOMINION! 

Pastor Tayo Adeyemi

Senior Pastor of New Wine Church

Sunday 30 January 2011

Foundation Scriptures: Genesis 1: 26-28

Today, we conclude our journey in developing our understanding of the dominion mandate and will consider the fourth element, ‘Have dominion’, which draws together all that we have learned over the past weeks. Firstly, by way of recap, you will remember that last week, we learned that God’s mandate for us to subdue the earth was designed as a mechanism to keep us in control and enable us to maintain what we have obtained. You will remember that in the imperative to subdue the earth, was encapsulated God’s intention for us to dominate the sociological earth ( by establishing a commanding presence, distinguishing ourselves from imitators and changing prevailing practices), the structural earth (by taming hostile environments and being good stewards of the earth’s resources) and the spiritual earth ( by walking in the power of the holy spirit and adopting the heart of a servant.)

Have Dominion!

God’s instruction to us to ‘have dominion’ although established in Genesis 1 is also apparent in Psalm 8: 3-6 in which the psalmist ponders the magnitude and splendour of creation and wondering why God pays such attention to mankind, declares “You have made him to have dominion over the works of your hands and have put all things under his feet”.  In Genesis 1 we are introduced to the process of God’s creation of the planets, solar systems, animals, vegetation and ultimately mankind, the ‘how’ whereas in the creation of mankind, we are given insight into both the process and the purpose, the ‘how’ and in the declaration “Let them have dominion”, the ‘why’.

In the account of creation, we uncover two fundamental truths about God which apply consistently in His dealings with us which are as follows: (i) God is a God of Intention:   Before creating man, the crowning masterpiece of His creation, God declared “Let them have dominion”, the Hebrew word used here being ‘radah’, which means to reign, rule, prevail and subjugate with connotations of contending and bringing a thing under control.

We see therefore that for each of our lives there is an ultimate intention, which we often describe as destiny, which is related to the word “destination”, meaning the end of a journey. We can extract from this that God is more interested in our destination, our end point than where we are coming from or where we are now. In God’s reckoning, the end of a thing is always more important than the beginning as made clear in both Ecclesiastes 7: 8 and Job 8: 7 and we can be confident that God, who has a singular, unique intention and purpose concerning each of us and has declared our end, and it is a good one! Therefore, the truth is that we do not decide what our purpose is, we discover it and we can be certain that God’s purpose for us individually, is an extension of His universal purpose or job description for mankind: Have dominion!

(ii) God is a God of Process: The fact that God has declared something concerning you does not mean that it will happen immediately. There is almost always a process involved and this is where many believers miss it: They like the promises of God but do not want the process involved in getting them there. God’s intention for Joseph was rulership and dominion in Egypt but the process involved the pit, Potiphar’s house and prison. God’s intention for the children of Israel was a promised land flowing with milk and honey but the process involved a hostile wilderness and countless battles. God’s intention for Jesus was to be saviour but the process involved sacrifice and the shame and pain of the cross. I urge you not to run away from God’s intention for your life because you don’t like the process.

Made in the Image and Likeness of God

In Genesis 1: 26-30 and Genesis 2: 7 we see four distinct dimensions of the dominion process as follows: (i) God built man – there was a construction process involved. Made in the image of God, we are designed to function and look like Him. We are God’s representatives on the earth, called to be imitators of Him. The image is a reflection of the original. We are a reflection of God and as Philippians 4: 13 makes clear, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us!

In the same way that a tumbler being made of glass can be destroyed by anything that is capable of destroying glass, we being made of God-stuff, can only be destroyed by something that is capable of destroying God  - we can be confident therefore that as nothing can destroy God, we are indestructible! If we are challenged when walking in dominion, we can boldly say that we are made in the image and likeness of God and therefore it is our right to act and be like Him.

(ii) God breathed into man: We have the capacity to have dominion because God breathed His breath, the ‘ruach’ into us. The components from which mankind was made were the dust of the earth and also the breath of God, by which we became living beings. We are therefore both physical and spiritual beings – there is a part of us that is visible, temporal, finite and physical and a part of us that is invisible, eternal, limitless and spiritual as 1 Corinthians 15: 48-49 makes clear. Many of us, however only relate to the physical, visible aspects of our lives and fail to understand that there is more to us and our lives than that which can be seen.

From this, we can extract two truths: Firstly, in order to walk in dominion we must learn to go beyond what is readily visible and look beyond our natural abilities or inabilities, tapping into the power in the breath of God and secondly, we must continually inhale the breath of God, being filled with the Spirit.

Empowered to Prosper!

(iii) God blessed man - In Genesis 1: 28 it is important to note that the blessing that God bestowed on man is quite distinct from the mandate. The blessing “Then God blessed them” preceded the mandate “and God said to them”; they were separate events. To bless is to empower to prosper - therefore, it is because we are blessed that we can be fruitful, we can multiply, that we can fill the earth and have dominion. The blessing is not a future event –we have been blessed. We are not bankrupt or helpless, we have been empowered to have dominion and therefore when circumstances of life confront us, we remember this truth: We are already blessed and the blessing elevates, promotes and advances and makes a way for us!

(iv) God bestowed seed to man – Man is the only creature of God to have been given dominion. Although the plants and vegetation were enabled to be fruitful, and birds were enabled to be fruitful and multiply and the sea creatures (and by extension the animals) were told to multiply and fill the seas, only man was instructed to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth and to have dominion.

A further distinction is that only mankind were given seed: In Genesis 1: 29, God bestowed to man ‘every herb that yields seed’ whereas to the animals in verse 30, “every green herb for food” was given. God gave food to animals and birds but not seed. Jesus confirmed this in Matthew 6: 26, saying the birds neither sow nor reap. When God gave food to man however, He gave him seed (see Isaiah 55:10 and 2 Corinthians 9: 10) and therefore it is safe to conclude that seed is an instrument of dominion. The extent to which we can succeed in utilising our seed effectively will determine the extent to which we are able to exercise our dominion.

In answer to the inevitable question “What is our seed?” Our seed is anything that God has given us with which to create our future. Many people do not recognise their seed and therefore do not put it to work – the clue is in “seed to the sower and bread to the eater”. Whatever can be your bread can be your seed; wherever you find your bread, your seed is usually hidden inside.

This leads to the next question, ‘How do I recognise my bread?’ – Well, bread is anything God has given to us to enjoy: Food, money, good health, peace of mind, material possessions, influence – the list is endless. The point is to be able to discern how to turn each of these into seed and rather than eat everything that God brings our way, we must learn to sow some of it. I have discovered that whatever I have learned to sow, has perpetuated in my life and whatever I have sown, I do not run out of, thus manifesting the truth of John 12: 24.

You may well ask then why it is that people find it so difficult to sow? The reasons are twofold: firstly, bread brings about immediate enjoyment whereas the enjoyment of seed is delayed and a desire to delay gratification is contrary to the nature of fallen mankind. Secondly, in order to benefit from seed, we must release it, which again, is a notion that is contrary to our nature, which from childhood indulges a desire to hold on to things rather than release them.

And so, there we have it – our dominion mandate - the very purpose for which we have been created. As you go through 2011, I challenge you to be aware of and walk in the consciousness that you were born to rule, remembering that you bring the highest honour and glory to God when you fulfil His desire for you to rise up and be all that you can be and have dominion!