And so, we have to shift our focus back from fear and depending upon exterior forces, depending upon exterior happenings, being so focused on all of those things.

Again, be aware.

Sure.

Aware, but not paranoid.

Come back to who you are in Christ.

Come back to the simplicity, the simplicity with which Jesus taught.

Relax.

Trust and obey.

Can trust and obey.

The future is bright.

As you hear these things, you may be saying, “Well, what’s the point then? What’s the point of being called? What’s will I ever even get married? Am I ever going to listen?” The kingdom is expanding.

The future is bright.

God is in control.

Our heavenly Father is like that.

He trains us in incremental steps to reach out to him in small steps at first.

When we know that Abba, our Father, is with us, we know that we can’t go seriously wrong, for we know we can call on him for help.

He has promised, “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.

” Hebrews 13:5.

Twice in the scriptures, the Lord stood alongside Paul, the apostle, at critical times in his life, giving him strength and encouragement.

Acts 23:11 and 2 Timothy 4:17.

We may not see him with our natural eye, but he is always there with us.

And the Lord watches over all that love him.

Psalm 145:20.

Everything the Father asks us to do is always in concert with him.

We are called God’s fellow workers.

2 Corinthians 6:1.

Being the perfect model, Jesus said, “By myself, I can do nothing.

I judge only as I hear.

” John 5:30.

In another place, he said, “Very truly, I tell you, the son can do nothing by himself.

He can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does, the son also does.

” John 5:19.

If the Son of God could do nothing without the Father leading him, it is even more true for you and me.

The more this truth sinks into our spirit, the more we can rest in God that it is his ministry, not ours.

This means that all the Father is asking for is our obedience.

When we pray for a sick person to be well, uh leaving the results with God is okay if we don’t see him at work.

Sometimes his healing happens at night when the person is alone with God.

We do not have to make God look good, and we don’t have to make ourselves look good.

If Christ made himself of no reputation, Philippians 2:7 KJV, it must be the same with his servants.

We take the step of faith in obedience to the Father and believe he will work, but the results are up to him.

Our part is to listen, obey, and trust his power, authority, and timing.

This trust in God takes a burden off our shoulders.

Remember, his yoke is easy and his burden is light.

Our previous study discussed that if you have sincerely given your life to Christ, you have entered into a close relationship with him through a blood covenant.

A covenant is a legal agreement or contract between two parties, a covenant that is solemn and binding.

We have become one with him spiritually.

Colossians 1:27.

1 Corinthians 6:17.

When I gave my life to Christ, I didn’t look much different.

Maybe with a bigger smile on my face and fewer lines on my forehead.

The difference was more internal, in the unseen part of us, the area of our soul and spirit.

The Bible says we were made alive with Christ even when we were dead in trespasses and sins.

Ephesians 2:5.

Those of us who have given our lives to Christ have entered into a covenant with God and have promised that the Lord will be our God and that we will be faithful to him, no matter what happens in this life.

Bought from Satan’s dominion, we are no longer our own.

We have been bought with a price.

1 Corinthians 6:20.

And the precious blood of Christ is the redemption payment that set us free from Satan’s dominion.

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the son he loves.

Colossians 1:13.

What does it mean that we were under Satan’s dominion before we came to Christ? How did we get under Satan’s control in the first place? When the devil tempted Jesus in the desert, Satan took Christ to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their splendor.

“All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.

” Matthew 4:8.

How could Satan offer something to Christ that was not his to offer? How can that be? For the scripture says that the earth is the Lord’s.

Psalm 24:1.

Jesus never disputed Satan’s claim that dominion over the earth was his.

In fact, if in two other places, the Lord upheld Satan’s legal claim by calling Satan the prince of this world.

John 12:31 and 14:30.

Satan managed to gain legal rule and dominion over the earth when he deceived Eve in the Garden of Eden.

When Adam chose to listen to Satan’s voice, even though it came through the mouth of Eve, he was not deceived.

He willingly decided to go along with what the serpent, Satan, according to Revelation 22, wanted of him.

In his letter to Timothy, Paul tells us, “And Adam was not the one deceived, it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.

” 1 Timothy 2:14.

Adam made a conscious choice to disobey God, choosing to listen to Satan’s voice and obey him by eating the fruit.

His decision brought him into servitude to Satan.

He decided to be a slave to sin.

We serve whomever we listen to and obey.

“Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey, whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?” Romans 6:16.

Whomever we listen to and offer ourselves to obey, we are slaves to the one we obey.

We are slaves to sin and Satan or servants of God and choose to follow him.

Rulership of the earth.

Humanity has not always been under Satan’s dominion.

When our ancestor Adam was created, he was made in the image of God and given dominion over the earth.

We have lost something since those early days of the human race, for we read that Adam had the mental capacity to provide names for all the animal and bird creation.

Genesis 2:19-20.

And God gave the responsibility for the earth to mankind to rule over all he had made.

>> [snorts] >> Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.

” So, God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him.

Male and female he created them.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number.

Fill the earth and subdue it.

Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, and over every living creature that moves on the ground.

” Genesis 1:26-28.

Emphasis mine.

In what ways do you think that Adam was to rule over all the earth? How do you think this looked? The Hebrew word radah, um translated with our English word rule, means to rule over or subdue.

God gave responsibility and authority over all of creation to Adam and his descendants.

I presume that even the king of the beasts, the lion, could be spoken to by man under God’s authority, and the lion would obey.

Such was man’s dominion and authority before the fall in the Garden of Eden.

King David, speaking by the spirit, says something very similar.

“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, for what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with
glory and honor.

You made him ruler over the works of your hands.

You put everything under his feet.

” Psalm 8:3-6, emphasis mine.

The Hebrew word mashal, uh translated with the English expression ruler in Psalm 8:6, indicates that Adam and his descendants are God’s managers, governors, or stewards over the earth.

Mashal means to rule, reign, govern, have dominion over, and manage.

Man was different from the other created beings due to being crowned with glory and honor and made ruler over the earth.

He alone was created in the image of God and could rule with grace and justice.

He was God’s representative.

He was created in the image of God, showing forth the likeness of the one true God, representing God’s heart and will for his creation.

Under the inspiration of the spirit in the verses above, David says that man, in his original creation, was made a little lower than Elohim, the Hebrew word for God.

Many translations render this word differently, or in some translate it as heavenly beings, but scripture says that Adam was made just a little lower than God.

Elohim is the Hebrew word almost always used to speak of God.

Some English translations record the change by putting it into the notes at the bottom or in the margins.

How magnificent Adam must have been, crowned with glory and honor, fully equipped by God for his managerial role over the earth.

God put everything on earth under Adam’s feet, symbolizing rulership and dominion over all creation, verse 6.

The highest heavens belong to the Lord, but the earth he has given to man, Psalm 115:16 emphasis mine.

The Hebrew word nathan, translated as the English word given, means to assign.

The earth is the territory man has been assigned to rule.

The heavens and the earth belong to the Lord.

Oh, but the scriptures clarify that God has given stewardship of the earth to humanity to govern and take care of.

This thought of mankind being given responsibility is also brought out in Genesis 2:15.

Then the Lord God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

The Hebrew word shamar, translated with the English words take care of, means to keep, guard, protect, and preserve as a watchman cares for his cattle or sheep.

Adam and his descendants were assigned the task of governing and stewardship of earth.

In the fall of mankind, Adam gave away his right and dominion to rule into the hands of Satan.

Satan, with impunity, could say to Christ at the temptation, “I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.

” Luke 4:6.

Satan was not offering Jesus something that he did not have.

If so, Jesus would not have been tempted by this.

Satan was offering Jesus something in his hands to use as leverage.

He sought to induce Christ to act outside the Father’s will and bypass the cross.

This spiritual authority given to humanity over the earth is why humanity’s redemption had to come through a man.

God gave stewardship of earth to Adam’s race, and only one of the human race could win it back.

Humankind was the trustee of the earth.

Satan could legally do anything he wanted to Adam’s progeny because they became slaves of Satan due to Adam’s choice to obey Satan rather than God.

All it took was one act of disobedience.

A man had to be found upon whom Satan had no claim.

That’s why Christ had to be born of a virgin.

It is no wonder that the concept of the virgin birth is under attack and something that the enemy wants to refute as foolish.

It is an essential element in the redemption story.

 

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