One of the people that I LOVE studying in the Bible is David. He was the only man to be called a man after God’s own heart, even in the midst of all of his imperfections and mistakes. And because of that I always love to glean new lessons from his life whenever I can. This month, we’re going to explore David’s promotion from shepherd to king and what we can learn about taking the next big step in our lives - whatever that may be.

Know Who You Are (Genesis 1:26-31)

The definition mentioned above for dominion, comes from the idea that we humans are in charge of the world on God’s behalf. Genesis 1:28 says, “And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth”. 

This is God’s command to us. But I believe there is no way to effectively rule or have dominion the way God intended unless you know who you are. God wanted to fill the earth with the culture of Heaven, so what does He do? He released children from His Spiritual womb to earth, and deposited in us His Image and His Likeness, with the command to rule the earth. 

1 Peter 2:9 (NLT) “You are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for He called you out of the darkness into His wonderful light”. 

The Bible says when we become a Christian, or what I like to call “Children of Relationship”, we become a new creation in Christ. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. When you become a new creation or a “Child of Relationship”, there needs to be confidence that you know who you belong to. You are now a royal priesthood, a chosen generation, God’s very own possession. Because you are a new creation and you share the same DNA (the Spirit) as God. {hence why the Bible said “I know no man according to the flesh}, old things have passed away. 

If you have knowledge of your God and the Spirit living inside you, you understand that nothing can harm you. Please HEAR ME OUT!!! I'm not telling you to go challenge God and become some bulletproof daredevil, but when sickness or pain or anything comes your way, know that you have the power in your tongue to speak over those things. To speak of life and not death. To rule not to succumb. 

DON'T LET YOUR FEAR, or lack of identity stop you from ruling what you should rule over. You have been given dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. (Genesis 1:26) (you that are afraid of bugs.lol) The first step in discovering the Power within you is to understand your identity and know who you are (Genesis 1:27) 

Additional scripture reading: Jeremiah 1:5

Knowing your role in the Kingdom

Yesterday we spoke about identity and the importance of knowing who you are, so you can successfully rule and have dominion the way God intended you to. Knowing who you are in Christ and the power that the Spirit enables you to have is the first step in having Dominion. 

Today, I want us to focus on the Kingdom: I introduced the definition of the Kingdom as the governing influence of a King over a territory. Another way I like to personally define Kingdom is by breaking it apart as King-dom, King’s Domain. The domain or area of the King. A King who influences the domain of his Kingdom with values and lifestyles, with hope that the people begin to reflect that. In the practical sense, this may be different areas or a piece of land that belongs to an individual, and anyone who enters that land has to follow the rules and regulations. 

“The Kingdom of God is coming”, “The Kingdom of God is near”, was preached by Jesus so many times. But what is the Kingdom of God? The Kingdom of God is about God having His way. Of course, it's never by force. God doesn’t force you to love Him and inherit the Kingdom. God gives us all a choice when we choose Him, and become willing to surrender to Him. We get the opportunity to partner with the God of the universe in His great Kingdom on earth. Our role in the Kingdom of God is a very important one, and it is for us to pick up where Jesus left off and to accomplish even greater works (John 14:12). Pick up the mantle, pass the baton, go out into the world and make disciples. 

God’s original purpose from the beginning was to establish His heavenly Kingdom on earth from heaven with Adam. Of course we know how that went. *inserts eye emoji*. Everything begins with purpose, and the reason everything should begin with purpose is because purpose is the motivation for all of God’s actions, not our plans. Proverbs 19:21 says, “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand”. And it is His purpose that moves Him, as God won’t involve Himself in something He did not approve. That isn’t to say things won’t turn out “good” or “favorable”, but is it good because you said it is, or because God said it is good? 

In order for us to discover the power that lies within us, we have to understand who gave us this power (Luke 10:19), why we were given this power (to bring about the Kingdom of God) and what does that power look like? Which we will talk about tomorrow.

Additional scripture reading: Matthew 6:33

What does this Power look like? 

Yesterday we spoke on the topic “Knowing your role in the Kingdom” and the important role we play in bringing about that kingdom with the power that has been deposited inside of us. 

Since day one, we have been talking about this power that lies within us. Today, I want to help us discover what this power looks like. 

In order to help us uncover this Power, I want to break down our anchor Bible verse in Luke 10:19, “Behold, I have given you authority to trample upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you”.

1. Authority Has Been Given To You

After the Spirit came upon Him and He set out and returned from the wilderness, Jesus gained a reputation around the land as one who had Power or “one with Authority'' (Luke 4:36). From here, we begin reading of the many miracles Jesus performed, from healing the sick and casting out demons to restoring people back to life whenever He encountered demons, who had taken over an individual. What always blows my mind about this is that the demons already knew who He was. Demons even oftentimes begged to be spared, but one thing they did was acknowledge who He was (His identity), and obeyed and respected His authority. As you continue to read the acts and works of Jesus, we read that He gave authority to His disciples, by his Holy Spirit, and it's the same Spirit with the same authority that He has given to us, His children, today.

2. “..to trample upon snakes and scorpions…”

As we know the world is inherently evil– Satan has been running amuck here on earth since our boy Adam fell back in Genesis 3. And since then all the bad things in and of the world, including death, sin, evil, sickness, oppression, rebellion, and pretty much every bad thing you can think of, is the work of Satan and his demons…. Quick timeout in the story– it’s often conveyed that we are being attacked by the devil but please note the devil is not omnipresent like God and can't be everywhere at once. *hits play button*. Metaphorically the snakes and scorpions we are meant to trample on are the devil and his demons. But where the Power lies, is not only knowing who you are, but knowing that the least in the Kingdom of God has been given the Holy Spirit and the Authority through the Spirit to trample upon them.

3. “…over all the power of the enemy...”

Genesis 1:27, we’ve repeated this over and over, know who you are. We spoke earlier about the mission of Jesus to tear down the kingdom of the enemy, and proclaim and bring about the Kingdom of God. If we as believers could understand such things, and our true identity, we would be less susceptible to the lies and devices of the devil. His kingdom and reign over the earth will continue to decrease. Manipulating and deceiving even fellow believers into thinking that his power is greater than what lies inside of them has been his main objective from jump. His entire kingdom is built on lies and whispers of sweet nothings. We should always remember who we are, where we belong and the Power that was given and lives within us.

4. …and nothing shall hurt you.”

In life, we might face many setbacks, but I want to say this, when you know who you are, you begin to realize that the enemies we see and don't see have no real power to harm us. The worst the enemy can do is kill us. Okayyy you die, but the Bible says in Philippians 1:21 NLT, “living means living for Christ, and dying is even better”. When God is on our side, we have the ability to discover who we are. When we are putting into application the power within us, we can’t lose. This life is only temporary, so we should do things in this short time to feel as comfortable as we can before we go. The worst thing, I mean the absolute worst thing, they can do is “kill the body” (Mt 10:28), but when you complete that verse it reads, “...rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell”. -Matthew 10:28

Feed the Power  (Exodus 33:7-15)

After bringing the Children of Israel out of Egypt, on their way to the Promised Land Moses set up a tent, which was called The Tent of Meeting. The place where He met with God, to discuss matters of the people (ex.v7). I want to use these Old Testament verses today to call out three points about how we are to Feed the Power given to us– feed it, grow it, and diversify It. 

1. Feed it:

Human beings need food in order to live and function. Just like our Spirit needs spiritual food in order to live and function. How do we feed a Spirit you say? Great question. We feed the Holy Spirit by spending time with Him (James 4:8), reading and staying in the Word (2 Timothy 3:16), and by prayer/communication (Colossians 4:2). These acts allow us the opportunity to get to know Him. Similar to our earthly relationships, spending more time with someone allows you to get to know them better. 

Moses spent time with the Lord by often visiting the Tent of Meeting and speaking to Him face-to-face as one speaks to a friend (v11). Through those interactions Moses knew in order to accomplish the task the Lord gave Him, he needed to go back to the Source.

2. Grow it:

As you continue to feed, you begin to grow. While there are many food sources out there, not all of them are conducive to proper and healthy growth. Just like within our Spirits, there are certain ‘foods’ that might stunt our growth. To effectively grow our Spirits, we need to have faith and trust (Proverbs 3:5-6) in God despite what might be occurring around us. And Practice, yes we are talking about practice. Practice is the repetitive nature of doing something over and over until it becomes second nature. As a believer, are you taking what you learned and putting it into practice? Practice is making your Power a habit, so whenever you need it, it becomes second nature. Growing in the practice of Power.  Repetitiveness makes it a habit, and then that habit becomes nature. 

This is the same Moses who ran from God and didn’t see himself worthy of being a leader, he developed into a Moses who told God straight up, if you don’t go with us, we ain’t going nowhere (v15); Growth! Moses had many encounters with God from the Burning Bush to verse 15. He grew in relationship with God, from trusting Him to protect Him in Egypt, showing faith in splitting the sea and escaping pharaoh.  and repetitively practicing what God was teaching him until it became his nature. 

3. Diversify it:

Just like with a baby you feed it and it begins to grow bigger and older. And when it gets to a certain age, they start making choices and decisions on their own. Some good, some not so good but there is a learning curve that comes with each decision. Many of us will have different ways to apply power. In Romans 12:6-8, the Bible speaks about different gifts that are given to us– prophecy, serving, teaching, exhortation, giving, leadership, and mercy. I wanted to highlight this because your super power might not look like the next person. Just because you see them teaching and you aren’t, doesn’t mean you aren’t working in power. It's important to know your power and pray for discernment regarding your power, so you are effectively feeding it the right food, growing it the right way, and diversifying it the way God wants. Practically speaking, certain foods are not for everyone. 

God used Moses as a conduit to communicate with His people. The Bible says in Psalm 103v7, “He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel”.  Moses allowed himself to become a vessel of the Lord, and through him God showed Himself in diverse ways.

Additional scripture reading: 1 Peter 2:2

Steward over it

“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace” - 1 Peter 4:10. The word steward or stewardship as defined in the Bible refers to the way time, talents, material possessions, or wealth are used in the service of God. 

When we are given such a power or authority, it is easy to misuse it. I remember growing up, I always wanted to be a student bus patrol, which is someone who helps monitor the students on the bus in ensuring everyone is following the rules. Day after day, weeks after weeks, I never got picked, until a fateful day.

As my teacher got ready to announce the new bus patrol (at this point, I gave up hope), she said “Bryant”. I was like oh wait that's me, I was now given the authority by a higher power to take over the World (Jk), to rule over a land/ and or domain. Let me be real with you all, your boy let the power get to his head. I would rub it in other peoples faces, lord it over people, make sure that my badge and belt were always showing, even so much so that I put myself above the law and didn't obey the rules myself. A clear violation of the oath I took. 

As Children of God it's easy to get carried away by Grace, Mercy and Authority (talking to myself as well). King David is a perfect example of this. When we read his story we see how close he was with God and the access he had. But David still fumbled the bag, bag after bag after bag. Misusing it, and doing what he truly wanted . 

How do we become good stewards of our Power? Let’s take a look at Matthew 25:14-30, where we have the Parable of the many talents. In summary, we have three stewards, two who did good works and increased what the Master had given them and then one who buried it. The first two were rewarded with more and the little that the third had was taken away from him. 

We become good stewards by continuing to increase and wisely use what He has given us, all for His Kingdom. We have been entrusted with much as “children of relationship”, from faith to the gospel, to access and authority, and just because  we have it doesn't mean we have to misuse it and misrepresent God. 

As we close for the day, the question we have to ask ourselves is, are we going to use these kingdom treasures or bury them? 

Additional scripture reading: Titus 1:7

Reflection

Let's take a pause in our studies and use this day as a day of reflection. Everything on these pages won’t mean a thing until you believe that the Power– the same Power that Jesus had, the same Power that allowed Him to do so many things– lies within you. 

Find a moment to get up and take a look at yourself in the mirror– crust, baggy-eyed, blemishes, and all and reflect on the thing(s) that spoke most to you these past five days. Say it out loud– tell yourself I have the Power, I have the Power, I *insert your name* have the Power, repeat it as many times as you need to until you believe it. Until you believe that no situation can come your way that you can’t conquer. Until you believe that no enemy is greater than the Authority that has been given to you. Utilize one of the gifts we spoke about two days ago and prophesy over your life. I am a Child of God. I know who I am.

Scripture reading: Romans 8:17

Connect the Dots.

One of my favorite things to do as a child was to play Connect the Dots. For those who might be foreign to the mini brain game of connecting the dots, there are a bunch of dots on a page each of them have numbers associated with them, starting from one to whichever number. As you start at one, you draw a line to two and so on. When connecting the dots, it's often hard to see the picture that the page is telling, until you step back and see the full image. 

My desire with this devotional is to get us to a place where we as Children of God begin walking in Power. From day one to day six, you may not have been able to see it, but when you connect the dots everything points back to Jesus. 

Jesus is our real world, a physical example of Power. We know the mission He was set out to do, we know what He left us with. Sometimes referred to as the second or last Adam. He came to restore what was broken in Genesis 3. Through the 33 years Jesus lived on this earth and three years of ministry, He was able to show and tell us what that Power looked like. He spoke to a tree and it died (Mark 11:14), He spoke to the fish and the fish ran to the net  (John 21:6), He spoke things into existence (Isaiah 55:11). 

As I close out, if you don't take anything away from what God has allowed me to discuss these past few days, please remember one thing– You have the Power. 

John Welsey once said “Without man God can not, without man, God will not..” Which means  on earth man can do nothing without God, while on the flip side God will do nothing on earth without man. The underlying meaning of this is that, there is a partnership between heaven and earth, and with the addition of the Holy Spirit, we are the bridge. 

May God bless you. May He keep you. May He continue to give you the Power and Authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, that nothing shall or will hurt you. 

Additional scripture reading: John 14:6