The Gift of Dominion
WEEKLY DEVOTIONAL BY PATRICE TSAGUE
Do you know that, as a Christian, God has given you Divine authority to exercise wise and fruitful stewardship over the work of His hands?
Do you know what the gift of dominion is?
Are you walking in it?
| 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.” – Genesis 1:28 (NKJV) |
The Gift of Dominion
The gift of dominion is a Divine authority given to man by God to exercise stewardship over the works of God’s hands. God created everything in six days, including mankind, His highest creation, and then He rested. After creating Adam and Eve, God gave man dominion over the earth, that they might “Be fruitful and multiply” and “fill the earth and subdue it” for the ultimate purpose of advancing His kingdom on earth. This means that God has given man the ability to prevail, regardless of how challenging the resources, how wild the beast, or how difficult the terrain is.
Through disobedience, Adam and his natural sons lost that gift, but through our relationship with Jesus Christ, we can regain it. This is because the sins of the first Adam were paid for by the redeeming sacrifice of the Last Adam – Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:22). Part of that redemption included restoring what was lost in the Garden of Eden, which included the gift of dominion.
When Adam and Eve chose to obey the cunning craftiness of the serpent, they were unknowingly losing their divinely given dominion and submitting to satan’s counterfeit authority.
| Know you not that to whom you present yourself as servants, unto obedience his servants you are whom you obey. – Romans 6:16 (NKJV) |
Almighty God has always had, and always will have, all dominion and authority over the earth. But through fallen man, satan gained a measure of power over the earth, although it goes without saying that his power is in no way, shape, or form akin to the dominion and authority of God.
God has ordained three main institutions through which redeemed humanity can exercise the gift of dominion:
- Family, which is primarily responsible for procreation
- Government, which is primarily responsible for law and order
- Business, which is primarily responsible for provision
Business is used to exercise the gift of dominion in the marketplace. Our ability to effectively subdue, multiply, and have dominion over the works of God’s hand through business depends just as much upon the strength of our relationship with Him as it does upon our understanding of how business works.
| You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet. – Psalm 8:6 (NKJV) |
Throughout the history of the world, many discoveries, innovations, and inventions were developed by people who were motivated by a desire to serve humanity and empowered by the gift of dominion. This gift has enabled man to tame animals, walk on the moon, discover new territories, develop major medical discoveries and technological advancements, and build bridges, airplanes, and automobiles.
Christians will be motivated by the desire to glorify God and serve humanity, and they will use their God-given dominion to do it. Whereas the non-believer is usually motivated by self-centered ambition, pride, and personal greed. Operating under the influence of “counterfeit authority” of the kingdom of darkness, they have brought harm to humanity and to creation, even to the extent of attempting to tamper with the created order, and the design and manufacture of weapons of mass destruction, bringing humanity to the brink of extinction in the process.
| And the LORD said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.” – Genesis 11:6 (NKJV) |
To effectively walk in the gift of dominion as God intended, you must possess some (if not all) of these characteristics:
- Faith – A strong belief in the existence of God and in His supernatural power
- Knowledge – Skills acquired by a person through experience or education
- Discipline – A systematic approach to life that requires willpower
- An Industrious Nature – The ability to work hard, be creative, and persevere
- Organizational Ability – The ability to form a structured or coherent whole
- Planning Skills – The ability to design and execute specific steps according to a timetable
- Follow-through – The ability to bring a process through to its completion
Successful Kingdom businesses exercise dominion. They are not intimidated by market changes or circumstances. Rather, they take control over the market and their circumstances. They have an internal belief in God’s destiny for their lives. They do not give in to fear and doubt; they maintain the courage to press on no matter what the circumstances. More than ever before, the world needs believers to step up and do this – otherwise those operating under counterfeit authority will “fill the void” and cause harm.
Have you allowed the forces of the market to intimidate you?
Are you living in doubt as a result of your current circumstances?
Reflect upon the following Scriptures, and begin to exercise the gift of dominion that God has given to you to bring Him glory:
- Psalm 8:6
- Jeremiah 29:11
- Matthew 17:20
My prayer for you is that God will give you the grace to understand and activate the gift of dominion that He has placed in you, to enable you to realize His plan and purpose for your life and business.
The devil is always after the promise of dominion, he’s no respecter of anybody and Got booted out of heaven for that, tried with Jesus(Luke 4: 1-13)too who defeated him with the understanding of God’s word(knowledge). If he can try that with the Father and Son, who am I for someone who’s that relentless and always looking for the opportunity( even left Jesus for a season). The devil will use any body(spouse, kids, family, colleagues etc) or anything(government and legislation) to take away the dominion and thank God for His promises which are yea and Amen(2 Corinthians 1:20) . The issue of dominion is so central to the Christian faith(Mark 16:17-18) that without it we are nothing and have nothing to show for it, we have to consciously, deliberately and in a timed manner do an appraisal of our state of dominion.