Dominion Through Prayer
Daniel used to pray three times a day while he was in Babylon. So we shouldn’t be surprised at the results he was commanding in that heathen country. Moreover, the restoration of the children of Israel from the captivity of Babylon wouldn’t have been possible if not for his prayers. Jesus spend most of His nights in prayer, and we can testify that His life was full of miracles, signs and wonders. The apostles labored in prayer and the early church was also into much prayer. More than once, Moses, stood between God and the Israelites and through his prayers, these children were spared severally. Even when God’s anger was burning against His people, he was able to intercede for them and God held back His anger. Esther also stood in the gap and put her life on the line – risking death itself – for the sake of her people.
Prayer is one of the greatest ways of dominating and taking charge of your world. In the days of Prophet Elijah for example, God had an agenda to send rain in Israel after three years of drought and he spoke to Elijah who knew exactly what to do. The agenda was with God, yet He needed a man to fulfil it. Elijah obeyed the voice of God and he did many things, but the most notable one was his earnest prayer. Elijah understood that even though God had promised to bring rain in the land of Israel, it wasn’t going to be by default. He knew that someone had to pray and he took that responsibility. He told King Ahab to go and eat, but he himself went to the mountain to pray. He prayed earnestly until He got a breakthrough and shortly after, God released rain in Israel.
Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit ~ James 5:7-18
What this means is that for God to effectively use man to do business on earth, man must be willing to obey and submit to Him. God is the Master and the Author of everything. He alone knows the plans and purposes He has for all of us and the whole world. The responsibility of man is to seek to know them and to carry them out as given by God. He has the responsibility of downloading the will of God into his life and whatever situation he may be facing. And how else does he do this if not through prayer?
Since man is the representative of God on earth, he must be in constant communication with his Master; their relationship must be right, and they must be in sync, otherwise there will be a conflict of interest and nothing will work. The sad reality in the lives of many people is that we are in constant conflict and war with unseen forces. Many of us see things happening, but we can’t tell their source or where they are coming from. Yet at the same time, we cannot deny that they affect our lives in a way we don’t like. Many believers find it difficult to deal with the negative energy that get released against us and our lives and find it overwhelming. For this reason, only a handful of us know what to do to overcome and enjoy our freedom in Christ.
We need to understand that God is a God of order and He has given us a way out which we must follow for us to overcome the enemy. We cannot be exempted from the troubles and the issues of this life simply because we are God’s children. Christ promised that the world will make us suffer, but we shouldn’t be worried because He has already overcome it. Yet many of us can attest to the fact that the kind of life we are living is nowhere near what Christ talked about. The greatest responsibility for every believer even above preaching, fulfilling purpose or serving God effectively is prayer. If we do not pray, we will never know victory and freedom in Christ and still, we will never successfully take charge of our worlds.
Prayer is extremely important especially where the dominion mandate is concerned. In the book of Exodus 17:8-13, the Amalekites came and attacked the children of Israel at Rephidim. Moses told Joshua to pick out some men to go and fight them the next day. He said that he will stand on top of the hill holding the staff that God had told him to carry. Joshua did as he was told and Moses, Aaron and Hur went on top of the mountain. Moses lifted up his hands and as long as they were lifted, victory was on their side, but when he put his arms down, the Amalekites would win. This means that as long as you are praying, the enemy will remain under your feet, but the moment you get tired and decide to leave your place of prayer, he will gain control over your life.
