This morning, we will be examining: Understanding Dominion in Victory. The Holy Spirit will be teaching and leading us into particular dimensions of our victory, making us understand that He has given us something that speaks perpetually for our victory. Because I realize that in this month of November, God has been particular about perpetual and sustained victory for us. It is not enough to be victorious for a moment, it is not enough to say I was an ex-champion. If you are familiar with those that battle for heavy weight titles, maybe in boxing or wrestling, none of them want to be an ex-champion.

 

So, what they do on a regular basis is that they defend their belt, they defend their title. So, you will see them step in the boxing ring; not because they did not fight yesterday, but because there is a title they have, that they must sustain. So, they go into the boxing ring, knowing that “I have won a victory yesterday, but it is not enough.” Because some people are rising up to contend with that belt. No body wants to fight with nobody. You will realize that those that are coming up in those championships, they want to beat the big guys because once the beat the big guy, automatically they come on top. 

 

There was a movie my husband and I saw, I think about last month or this month, and there was a particular warrior in that movie, they told him that “see if you really want to make a name, if you want to be popular, to be renowned you need to fight a warrior with a name.” In those times it was epic times, they didn’t have titles, look for warrior that has a name and kill Him. Once you can defeat that warrior, you are automatically placed in victory, in dominion. So, this guy will go out and be asking people “who is the greatest warrior right now.” And they will tell Him the person’s name. So, when he wants to fight somebody and he feels the persons skills is top notch he will say I don’t just want to fight just anybody, what is your name? 

 

Before I fight you, I don’t want to waste my time I am going for the big guys, what is your name, I need to know your identity so that I will know what I want to invest into this. So, he will ask and when the person tells him his name, when he was ignorant, he will still fight. But when he became knowledgeable, he was looking for certain names and when he was sure that he had been able to attain that height, his confidence knew no bound.

 

I said all these to make us understand that when we are talking about victory, in the kingdom, victory is about sustained victory. You don’t want to be an ex-champion, it’s not a place you want to live. So, when we are talking about dominion, dominion is closely associated with victory. In fact, another word you can use to replace victory successfully is dominion.  Because victory is in phases, dominion is like the height of victory. When you are in dominion, you have gotten to the echelon, the highest position in victory, and that is the desire of God for you and I, for us to come into dominion, the highest echelon, the highest position in victory.

 

So, we are going to start our consideration this morning from Genesis 1, please bear in mind the story we shared, its not for fun, its for function. Genesis 1:26-28. We want to see the law of first mention, the first mention of the word dominion. “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion.”  So, the first thing after God spoke about the identity of man, was about the positioning of man. God said “let us make man in our image”, his identity will be our image, according to our likeness” his mannerism and nature will be ours. His identity, his nature; then God went further to say this will be his position. So, God spoke about his identity, God spoke about the nature, then God spoke about the position. So, this is to tell us that there is an order spiritually. You cannot step into divine positioning, without stepping into divine identity, and divine nature.

 

God said let us make man in our image; His identity. So, for you to step into dominion, there is a first huddle of divine identity, then divine nature, then divine positioning. Please I don’t want us to forget this, because this will serve as a background into other things the Holy Spirit will be taking us into. It says now let him have dominion, this dominion that God placed him is over what? Is it over microphones and chairs, is it over buildings? God said; let him have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

 

I want us to follow the Holy Spirit very closely this morning. Dominion; the divine positioning of man was over a set body of creatures. And God listed them one after the other in their grouping. I am sure here in Centre for New Dimension Leadership the Lord has taught us severally the importance and relevance of all these bodies. But God gave man a divine positioning “over” so, when we are talking about victory, because this is where many people miss it. When God sets His creatures, over somewhere or some people, or over a thing, God is this specific. God did not say have dominion and figure it out. How some of us believe that that’s what God said, No! God did not say we should figure out our dominion. He was specific about our place and the extent of our authority.

 

A Bible passage that also corroborates this, says; God set the boundaries. He set the boundaries of our influence, not just for us, for every creature. God sets the boundaries. The Scripture says in proverbs 8:29 that the Lord sets the boundaries for the sea. It is not just the sea, every creature of God. God set the boundaries of their dominion and influence. If you go to the book of Revelations, and you study down to see, all the creatures, it says and they were given power for a season “over”. And the angel was given a trumpet to sound over. And the four winds were commanded. God is that specific, no creature of God can go AWOL. It is not possible; God is that detailed.

 

You can’t just go like that and say you just want to do anything that you please. And that’s why you will see in the Scriptures, that God will always come down and intervene when any creature of His out past their boundaries. How did I know this? When Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon stepped out of the boundaries that God has set for Him, He told himself as people were praising him, he is the king of kings, he is the one that is able to this, see his glory, and God said you have overshot your boundary. You have stepped out of the territory where I have placed you. And he became a beast. Why? What was God doing? God was limiting his boundary; you have gone beyond your boundary I need to call you back.

 

God calls back creatures, don’t think its only those that are in Christ Jesus, God has influence with only people that are in Christ. God has influence over all His creatures. The dominion of God is set over all creatures. God did not create any being or element that is beyond His reach. So, when God was setting man in place, God did not set man even though man was made in His image and in His likeness, you will see that some men have actually overshot their boundaries. There are men right now that want to have dominion over the celestial bodies, they want to have dominion in the heavens. But in this boundary that God set in Genesis 1:26, did we see that God mentioned Angels? In that Scripture did we see Angels?  Did you see the 24 elders? Did you see living creatures that sit before the throne of God? Did you see anything that has to do with heaven in that place? No! God said every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So, God set the boundary of man’s dominion.

 

Verse 27; “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God, He created him; male and female He created them.” So, God created them, with a divine nature, divine identity and with a divine positioning. Verse 28, “Then God blessed them” the difference between 26 and 28 is that right now in verse 26 God said have dominion. God declared His Spiritual intent, and verse 28 it materialized. And God blessed them, “and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth. You will see that God is always specific about their positioning.  and subdue it-the earth, have dominion over the fish you will ask why is God repeating it? Because wherever the word of a king is, there is power. The word of God is law. When God speaks, God use it to judge and to set in motion, what must be.

 

So, when God was speaking to them in 28, and blessing them, He was telling them what must be. 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.” Can you see how God sets the boundary? On the earth! So, from Genesis 1:26-28, we saw that God handed down dominion to man. Will God give what He does not have? Is it possible? No! so also with humans, you can’t give what you don’t have. The same thing with God, God will not give what He does not have. God said have dominion, meaning I am giving you dominion, receive dominion because I have it.

 

1 Peter 4:11, we want to establish this from the Scriptures, that God actually has dominion. “If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” From eternity past to eternity to come, dominion has been God’s. He has it, so He can give it. God has dominion. Psalm 22:28. “For the kingdom is the Lord’s, And He rules over the nations.” When you see ‘the Lord’s’ it is a possessive expression. He owns it. The kingdom is the Lord’s and He rules, dominion speaks about ruling. Dominion is the power or right of governing and controlling that you have over something.

 

When this verse gives us this expression, it’s talking about dominion. The kingdom is the Lord’s, and He rules over, He has dominion over the nations. So, when God was speaking and said “ask of Me and I will give you the nations”, it is because He has it. And I will give you people. Psalm 24:1; “the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof the world and all they that dwell in it.” So, if God says ask Me something and I will give it to you, it is because He has it. So, God has dominion. Psalm 145:13, because when we are speaking about dominion, we should understand what God has handed down to us. “Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And Your dominion endures…” your dominion is available, your dominion is sustained “throughout all generations.”

 

Your dominion did not stop with Abraham, it did not stop with Isaac, it did not stop with Jacob, it did not stop with Jesus. Your dominion is throughout. And that is so important for us to understand. The dominion of God is through out all generations, no generation comes to stop His dominion. His dominion is throughout. So, when He is saying He is giving to us dominion, we should understand the nature of the dominion. It is an enduring dominion, a dominion that cannot fizzle out with time. It is eternal in nature just like God. Your dominion endures. So, one generation comes, one generation goes, the dominion of God endures. 1 Chronicle 29:11. We want to establish this before we go into understanding dominion in victory. The one that has given us this dominion, nature of the dominion He has handed down to us is everlasting in nature. It can’t fizzle out, it can’t end.

 

“Yours, O Lord, is the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory and the majesty; Yours O Lord, you own the victory you own the power and the glory and the majesty for all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; when you use the word ‘all’ it means nothing is excluded. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, And You are exalted as head over all.” Do we see the dominion that God has? So, when God was saying in Genesis 1:26 and also in 28, “have Dominion” He was not saying have something I don’t have, or have something that I will have to go and prepare, and make ready for you. No! He was saying have something that I have. Of my fullness I am giving you dominion, that’s what God is saying, and that dominion talks about the power and the right of governing and controlling. Sovereign authority.

 

Because God knows the implication of what He gives to us. And that is why He did not say have dominion in heaven. Because once He gives us dominion in heaven, we can control the angels. The 24 elders will now start to bow to us, because that is what dominion means in heaven. Sovereign authority. So, God gave us sovereign authority on the earth. And that’s why when God wants to do something on the earth, He needs a man that has that sovereign authority. When Jesus came, He came as the son of man to become the reconciliation of the long separation that existed between God and man, He could not come as angel, they don’t have sovereign authority here. And that is why Jesus will always reiterate; I am the son of man. I am doing this as the son of man, because that is what gives me my sovereign authority in this realm.

 

So, when God was speaking about Dominion; He was speaking about sovereign authority. That is why Jesus said whatever is bind on earth is bound in heaven. You have that sovereign authority. Whatever you lose on earth is loosed in heaven. What was He talking about? “This realm and that realm” He is talking about it because this realm is a realm that God has given you and I to have sovereign authority, to have the power of control, the power of attorney. So, whatever you say will be, will be. Whatever you say will not be; will not be.  Some of us will be asking is that how much power we have? The answer is yes. That’s what the devil constantly wants to rob us of and that is why believers fall into defeat every now and then, because we don’t understand dominion.  

 

Understanding of dominion is understanding our victory. Dominion is what gives us that sustained victory on the earth. So, dominion gives us the authority to rule, you are not ruling as a beggarly person, you are not ruling as somebody that is just passing time, you understand who you are and that is why is said it starts with divine identity. You must understand who you are and the nature of who you are. And that is why you will see that many people have tried to exercise Dominion, outside Christ missed it. They see the image but they don’t understand the nature. They see the divine image and they want to replicate it in their lives. That’s why you see people like Alexander the great that had the passion of conquering the world. It was a false understanding of Dominion.  He wanted to conquer the world, but that gave him a false identity, that you have a divine identity that you should actually rule. But he did not understand divine nature. Divine identity minus divine nature will not equal to divine positioning. What will give you Dominion, which is your divine positioning is divine identity plus divine nature. And until we come into the full realization of that we can’t step into our divine positioning. There must be a marriage of our divine nature plus our divine identity and that is what Jesus came to model for us.

 

The Nature of our Victory in Dominion

Daniel 7:27; “Then the kingdom and dominion, And the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most-High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him.”

 

Did we see that? Daniel had a vision and this was spoken of in the court of God, it said “Then the kingdom and dominion, And the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, did you see under the whole heaven? Not in heaven, the earth! Under the whole heaven shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most-High. That is why divine positioning is not for everyone. Divine positioning is for those who have come to understand their divine identity. And their divine nature. What did the Bible call them? The saints of the most-high. And it says all dominion shall serve and obey Him. Every one that has authority to rule will serve and obey Him. This is the nature of our victory. It said; the kingdom and dominion, And the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people.

 

This place is a prophecy; “shall be given” It is something that will happen but has it happened. If it has happened, how did it happen? I am testifying of this; see what the Angels said in Psalm 8:4-6. “What is man that You are mindful of him, see the question? And the son of man that You visit him?⁵ For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor. Speaking of you. The angels are talking about you. ⁶ You have made him to have dominion you have made him to have authority to rule, over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet” so our dominion was been testified of by the angels of God. you have put all things; you have given him dominion. You have given man dominion over all the works of your hands. And you have put all things under his feet.

 

This is the nature of our victory in dominion. How did we obtain this victory? Romans 6:8-9. “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, ⁹ knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.”  Verse 8 says now if we died the question is; have you died with Christ? has the old nature that Adam passed to us died with Christ in you? If it is conditional, that is why I said this dominion is not for everyone. In the revelation that Daniel had, he said you have given to the saints, not to everyone. And see what it said here, if we died, that’s a conditional statement. If we did not die, we can’t partake. If we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ having raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has Dominion; death no longer rules Him. He has defeated death. Defeat talks about overcoming. Defeat talks about when somebody has overcome, suppress, subdued, somebody that has failed to rule. Somebody that has been thrashed.

 

So, Jesus defeated death and had Dominion. So, whatever we defeat, is what we have dominion over. Jesus defeated death and if we died with Him, we have also defeated death in Him. So, we have dominion over death. So, we obtain dominion over death in Christ. Revelations 5:13. “And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: “Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and ever!”

 

Why? He has won the victory, He has dominion. See the realms of the creatures that were saying this. Is it not the same creatures that God mentioned in Genesis 1:26? every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth but the dominion of Jesus was not just on the earth. It was in heaven and on earth. But see the quantum of the creature everywhere! Jesus won the dominion. The Dominion God gave Adam, was stolen by the devil, and Jesus took back the same Dominion, back from the devil and handed it over to us. Colossians 1:13. “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and ^[c]conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love” so, through Christ we have been delivered out, so we have dominion over darkness no wonder in Isaiah 60, it said arise and shine, that is our prophetic destiny, that’s Dominion. For your light has come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. Even though there is darkness on the earth, and Gross darkness covers the people, you the saints of God, the light of God rises over you because you are walking in dominion, you are not subjected to darkness, you are not subjected to sin.

 

Ephesians 2:4-6. “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. you see that our Dominion cannot be separated from Christ, He has made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), ⁶ and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” in Christ Jesus is our dominion in victory. So, we are alive together, we are raised together in Christ. Our divine identity and our divine nature is in Christ. That speaks for our divine positioning. “Now are seated”, we are positioned together in Christ in the heavenly places. Our divine positioning is in Christ in Dominion. Christ is not sitting defeated; He is sitting victorious. He is sitting in dominion the same way we are also seated.

 

Romans 8:16-17 speaks that we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ we are heirs of dominion. So, our Dominion is secured in the victory of Christ. And if we read Revelations, the Bible records concerning Jesus, that he was the Lamb of God that was slain to receive blessing, power, strength, riches; all these elements speak about the different components of our dominion. He was slain to receive every fragment that speaks for our dominion on the earth. Strength, wisdom, honor, glory. So, when we understand dominion, we understand our victory. Dominion is the highest point of our victory. Once you sit in dominion with Christ, you are walking in perpetual victory. That is where God has placed us, that is who God has made us. And I want us to understand this and you begin to walk in it. When we talk about victory, understand that its your dominion. Don’t forget, your divine identity, your divine nature is what qualifies you for your divine positioning.

 

I believe you have learnt something!

Thanks for the gift of your time, We are Lara Gboyega Adedeji and Gboyega ADEDEJI!

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