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John Otis
PR YER
ME NS IN
CHIEVING
THE DOMINION M ND TE
26:64; Mk 16:19; Acts
7:55;
Heb. all strongholds,arguments,
etc.
thatare
1:13). Sitting at one's right hand de- contrary to the truth. We are to take
notes a position of power and author-captive all
thoughts
to Christ's obedi
ity. Prior to
His
giving of the Great ence. What a glorious call to exercise
COnunission, Jesus said that
all power
godly dontinion overall the
earth
This
had been given Him in
Heaven
and on istheimplementationofabiblica1world
earth
(Matt.
28:18). Jesus is presently and life view.
This passage
is the
exercising His kingship
from
the right discipling of the nations as seen in the
hand of
God the
Father.
In
fact,
He
is
Great Commission.
presently subduing the earth to His The Church
has
been
given
all the
Lordship from that position (I Cor. t lish'ts task
power necessary 0 accomp 1
15:20-28). Jesus remains in this
posi-
becauseithasdjrectaccess to the source
F.or prayer to be effective and pow- tion until His enemies
are made
His of that
power
" its head, Jesus Chrisl
erful, it must be in accordance with footstool
(Heb.
1:1-13).
The power for the church to exercise
God's .purposes
for mankind.
It must How does Jesus exercise this king- dominion and
the
success in this task
alignitselfwiththe clearrevea1edwillof
hi this
ld isn't automatically dispensed to her. A
God. The Scripture
teaches
that it
is
s pin
wor
? He exercises His
God'sdesireand purpose tosubdue the dominion through His agent. The primarymeans by which this is
accom
woddto HimselLThekingdomof
God
church,which is Hisbody, is thevisible plishedis
by
PRAYER; We petition our
f
,, representation of Christ on earth (Acts King Jesus
to grant us
the victory in
is to
pervade
all
0
w.e.
disciplingthenations.
We
pray
Wher
God
createdman,He that our efforts (if in accord
gave
man the mandate to exer- withScripture)willbesuccess-
cise
dominion over
all
the earth
ful. We
pray that His Spirit
(Gen. 1 28). In his fall into sin,
softens
the hearts of unbeliev-
mankind's
ability
to
achieve
this
ers, bringing
them to repen-
mandate has been marred and
tance
andsaving
faith.
Wepray
perverted; however, by virtue
that
the Holy Spiritwillconvict
of Christ's ~ d e m p t i o n , Chris- wayward Cluistiansoftheirdis-
dans are enabled to exercise obedience, restoring them to a
dominion to God's
glory.
This life of godliness. We pray that
mandate to exercise dominion God's
law
will prevail in our
. is seen in the Great Commis- culture
as
revival takes place.
sion(Matl28:19,20).Thecom-
mand is - to disciple the na-
t -P-
Matthew 9:36-38 isveryin-
tions. This discipJing
is given I I
__ - ~
: - - - \ - _ - \ ; : - I structive for
us. The
passage
meariing in v. 20 when Jesus I - ~ _ , __ reads, "When he saw the
said that this discipling
takes \ 1
crowds,hehadcompassionon
formin the obedience to
all
that 1 ;;;;;;;1;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
~ ~ ; ; ; ; ; ~ ; t ~ ; ; ; ; ; ; t ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
them, because they were ha
. h d h all
th
rassed and helpless, like sheep
He assai . T us, tJesus 9:4,5; Eph.l:23). ThroughHischurch, withoutashepherd. Thenhesaidtohis
has
in mind for mankind
oomes
into Christ's power and influence is exerted
h A Iv i
his
disciples, ,The harvest is plentiful but
ocus ere. man'ssa ationa
eets
onearth. We must not miss the thrust
theworkersarefew,
ask
the Lord of the
behavior in
this
world. A Christian's ofJesus' teaching in Matl 16:18. The
harvest, therefore, to sendout workers
goals
are now different; his
desires are
church
is
not a
defensive army
but an his
harves
field
difIi
in to
. t .
o
An
intriguing
. erent, and the way he approaches offensiveone Gatesaredefensivestruc- tha
his
k
dall f
'" difIi question tweaskourse1vesisseeing
. ' wor an
0
W e is . erent. Man tures. Whose
gates
. amlOt prevail or that the Lord is
well
aware of the need
is saved to bring glory to
God's name.
hold up during
attack?
It
s
the gates of d th than bl
th
an atHe
is
more capa e a s e
Understanding the dominion man-
Hell.
What a
glorious
truth The sovereign Lord of meeting that need,
date necessitates that we understand church, when it obeys her head, de- why does
He call
upon His church
to
the in: plications
of Christ's
ascension.
stroys the strongholds of Satan. pray for the need to be
met?
In many
Jesus figuratively sits at
the
right hand
11
Corinthians 10:4,5 illustrates for ways the answer is shrouded in
mys
ofGodthe fatheralmighty(Matt 22:44; us that the church's task is to demolish tery
for
we are brought
face
to face with
8
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COUNSEL
of
Chalcedon
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October 1991
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8/12/2019 1991 Issue 7 - Prayer: A Means in Achieving the Dominion Mandate - Counsel of Chalcedon
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a sovereign God who carries out His
foreordained plans,
yet,
thoo: plans are
not divorced from His
people's
obedi
ence.
We must come to
grips with the
fact that our
prayers
are a
power
which
does affect the
gathering
of the haJVest.
The
progress
of
the
kingdom is related
to our prayers This means that when
we
fuil
to pray
for
laborers
to
be
sent,
God
willnotsend
them.
This brings us
to
a sobering thought that our
disobe
dience or
ack
of compassion
is
hinder
ing the
advance
of the Gospel. Our
Jethargy
is hindering godly
dominion.
n
a
real sense, the
number of
laborers
and the
measure
of the halVest does
depend upon our prayers.
Yes.Jesus
is
the
Lord
of
the
haJVest. Yes.Jesus
is
the
dispenser of spiritual gifts. But,
His
supply and the
dis
tribution of
the gifts
often are related
to
the faithful prayers
of His church.
The title of
this
message has been
chosenfora particu-
lar purpose. Chris
tians,
who are con
stantly praying and
availing themselves
of the unlimited
promises of God
through believing
prayer, are
indeed
the warriorsof God .
It
is
through such
persons tha
tour
God
works a
marvelous
way in
this
world. It is
through such persons that
the Great
Commission
is fulfilled. It is
through such
persons
that
the
strong
holds of Satan come crashing down
before the advanCing onslaught of the
church OfjestlS
Christ.
Humanism L< the world's
system
of
thought which sees man and not God
as
the center of all
knowledge
and
truth. This system has peJVaded our
fanrilies,ourcivilgovernment,ouredu
cation, our view of
science,
etc. s the
warriors ofGod, we
diligently strive
to
expose and bring down
Humanism's
influence in this world. We seek to
demonstrate that
the wisdom of this
world is but foolishness. We seek to
demonstrate that God hasspokeninall
areas
of ife, and that His wayis the only
rightway - the way that Jeads to fruitful
ness
and happiness.
As
Corinthians
lO:3-5exhorts us we do seek to bring
captive
all thoughts
to the obedience of
Christ.
We must
come
to realize that prayer
is
a means
by which we
call upon our
King
Jesus to subdue the
world
to
Hin1Self. We must realize that without
constant and believing
prayer
this
do
minion task is hindered. As we en
deavor to
carry
out
the task of world
dominion, we must keep in
focus
sev
eralkey
factors.
Jesus iskingrightnow.
Jesus presently reigns. The task ofsub
duing
the
earth
is given to the
church.
The
power to achieve
success
in this
task is totally from Christ. The means
by
which
we
appropriate
the
power
is
through
believing prayer. Therefore,
let
us
start praying
So
we must ask,"
where
are the warriors of God?" Are
you
one?
IV.
PRAYER
WHAT IS ITS CHIEF END?
We must ask, what is the primary
reason we are
commanded
to pray?"
The chiefreason
is
to glorify God J
Cor.
10:31). John 14:12-14 exhorts us,
"I
tell
you
the
truth, anyonewhohas faith
in
me will do what I have been doing.
He will do even greater things than
these, because Iamgoingto the Father.
And
I will do
whatever you ask in
my
name, so that the Son may bring glory
to the Father. You
may ask
me
for
anything
in
my name, and Iwill
do
it."
As we study the Scriptureswe
learn
that Jesus'
sole
purpose during
His
earthly life
was
to do His Father's will
(John 8:
29). If we
are
going
to
be
effective and powerful in our prayers,
we must have God's glory
as
our sole
purpose
as well.
Can it be said that
God's
gloryis thefirst
objectofourprayers?
Or,
are
self-interest
and self-will ourba-
sicmotives
in
prayer?
Is there any wonder
why we have so
many unanswered
prayers? God cannot
be glorified except
whenHisgloryis the
sole aim of our
prayers. The Chris
tianwhoseeksGod's
glory is the one who
will see his prayers
answered. Oh,
Christian,isthisyour
hunger and thirst -
the
glory
of God? fnot, you need not
go
further to see why your prayers are
unanswered.
God
willnot bestow that
which is contrary to His expressed
purposes
for
this world.
V.
PRAYER-THE CHANNEL TO
UNLIMITED PROMISES
We have
already emphasized that
prayer is rooted in a correct under
standmgoftheattribut.e5ofGod.Asa
refresher, it would not
hurt
to recall
that
God
inHis very nature is omnipo-
October 1991 THE COUNSELof Cha1cedon 9
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8/12/2019 1991 Issue 7 - Prayer: A Means in Achieving the Dominion Mandate - Counsel of Chalcedon
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tent
(all powerful).
"Ibere
is
no limit to
the extent imd nature of
God's
power.
Job confessed thatGodcandoall things
(job 42:2). Jeremiah acknowledged,
"Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made
the heavens and the earth byyourgreat
powerand outstretched
arm.
Nothing
is too hardforyou" (ler. 32:17). Jesus
in His discussion with
His
disciples
declared that with God nothing isim
possible (Matt
19:23-26). Pauldeclared
thatGod'spoweris"incompar. blygreat
for
us
who believe" (Eph.1:19). Thus,
we can see that
God
lacks no ability
to
execute
His
Divine purposes.
Not only
is God
omnipotent, but
He
is faithful
"Ibe
Bible
does
speak of
certain things whichare impossible for
God, and this
is not contra-
adhere to thesequalifications,theprom
ises
remain boundless. Our
Lord
and
Saviorijesus Christ, is the one
who
boldlyassertedthatprayerisameansto
grasp the immeasurable promises and
resources of God. " be following pas
sages
reveal the
unlimited promises of
God: John 14:12-14;]ohn 15 :7; John
16:23,24;
Matthew
7:7-11; Matthew
17:18-20; Matthew 21:21,22; Mark
11:23,24; Matthew 18:1; 1 John
3:21,22; I John 5:14,15; and Psalm
37:4.
Uie human tendency
is
to look at
these passages and
say
"surely they
really
don't mean what
they
appear to
mean" But why can't they?
Are there
any contextual reasons why
the words
whatsoever,
dictory to His
omnipotence,
whenproperly
understood.
The Scripture
affirms
that
Godcannotlie,
sin,changeHis
being, nor
deny Himself
CNum.23:19;I
Sam.
15:29; II
Tim 2:13;
Heb. 6:18;
am e s
1:13,17 .
In
~ w e p r a y w e
re fect
upon ani
affirm
tliat jodis
af{pOWeiful
ni
tfr at
fe
wif[
alWays
~ p
spromises.
JJ
and
"anything"
in these pas
sageS cannot
, mean literally
what :they im
ply? Whycan't
we
allow
God's
Word to come
to
uS with its
vibrant power
and
~ n e r g y
, .
challenging
us
. o receive all
t h a ~ H e d e s i r e s
to
give to
His
childien?
view of this,
God
will
always remain faithful to His
promises. If
God says
it,
the
issue
is,
settled We should now be able to
see
what great value
these two
attributeSof
Godhave fordurprayerlife.'Aswepray
we reflect upon and
affirm
that God
is
all powerful
and
that
He
will always
keep His promises. '
WhatkindofpromiseshasHemade
to
His
people with regard to prayer?
God has made unlimited promises. In
later sections
we shall
see that
these
unlimited
promises do have certain
qualifications; however, as
long as we
Ourhuman
reason, even as Christians,
is
, o add
to
thesepassagescertainqualifierssuchas
ifexpedient" or ifaccording to God's
will
in order
to safeguard
against a
negligentuse ofScripture for our
own
selfish
purposes. Itis true that thereare
certain conditions which must be met
in order
for these
unlimited promises
to
be unleashed in our experienoe.
However, these conditions simply pro
vide
the
guidelines throughwhich these
promises become
a reality. The
Scrip
tur l conditions for prayer
in
no way
minimize
the
foroefulness of
the limit-
less promises. In other words, as long
10
I
THE COUNSEL
of
Chalcedon
I
October 1991
as we faithfully meet these conditions,
we
can still ask for anything and itwill
be
granted. We
must guard
against
limiting
a limitless God We
must
not
shy away from the boldness
to
avail
ourselves of God's immense resources.
We must allow God's
promises,
which
are granted through prayer,
to
grip our
verysoul Oh, Christian,
are you ready
to
pray the way God
desires
you
to
pray? Are
you
ready to lay hold of
the
heaveri1y storehouse? n
D e l i ~ t
yourseff
in
the
LOQD;
nd
He
will f)ve
you
thedesfres
of
your
hearL
P.37:4
