Where I live, Dominion is a great school with an amazing Principal whom I’ve had the honor of meeting. For many Christ-followers, that’s the extent of what Dominion looks like: it’s somewhere or something that’s here on earth that they’ve seen or heard about. 

For the Child of God dominion should be a condition, a state of being. Yes, we were created in a state of dominion. When God thought of creating man, his mental picture was that of a creature existing in a state of dominion. 

In Genesis 1:26-27, God said, “Now we will make humans, and they will be like us. We will let them rule (have dominion over) the fish, the birds, and all other living creatures… So God created humans to be like himself; he made men and women.”

I love verse 31 which says, “God looked at what he had done. All of it was very good! …that was the sixth day.” God didn’t make any errors, there were no glitches, we didn’t accidentally turn out partially like him. He was spot on in his endeavor. The creation turned out exactly as the Creator, God envisioned it to be. 

So what happened? What took us from being like Christ and having dominion, to being limited creatures who are afraid of most of the living things we are supposed to have dominion over? 

Sin, you may say! Well, that’s true for those who haven’t been born again. Adam’s sin caused spiritual death and separation from God. For those of us who have accepted Christ as Lord and Savior, we are no longer under the curse of sin because Christ’s blood that was shed on Calvary removed the sin issue from us and we received his gift of eternal life. 

After I understood that, I had to sit and contemplate my dominion, and the lack of its manifestation in my life. Then I began to seek God and search scripture to understand what dominion looks like for the child of God. 

Through salvation, we are one with Christ and seated in heavenly places with him according to Ephesians 2:6. Not physically of course, but spiritually sharing his authority and dominion. Our dominion and authority come from a place of reigning in the spirit realm with Christ. 

To grasp this, we must recall Luke 10:20 which says, “…Your real source of joy isn’t merely that … spirits submit to your authority, but that your names are written in the journals of heaven and that you belong to God’s kingdom. This is the true source of your authority.”  Simply put, as citizens of the kingdom of heaven we have records in heaven. We, therefore, have the authority associated with our heavenly citizenship. 

In the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6:10, Christ taught us to say,  “Manifest your kingdom realm, and cause your every purpose to be fulfilled on earth, just as it is fulfilled in heaven.” So we pray for the authority established in heaven to be established on earth. 

In addition, we have been given “…the keys of the kingdom of heaven”. Keys are symbolic of our heavenly authority. We unlock and lock things in the heavenlies. When the kingdom of heaven is manifested (on earth), our authority in and through Christ is established (on earth). 

When we try to exercise our dominion ‘from’ the earth realm we fail because we attempt to establish authority from a fleshly perspective, as though the dominion is innately part of our physical, flesh, and blood being when it is in fact part of our spirit man. 

For our dominion to be manifest in the earth or flesh realm it must be established in the heavenlies or spirit realm through salvation. Salvation then causes the believer’s spirit to come to life. Just as God is spirit we, the new creations made in his image and likeness, are also spirit. 

To that spirit-led man He says: 

* “… whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:19

* “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” Mark 9:23

* “…anyone believing in me shall do the same miracles I have done, and even greater ones, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask him for anything, using my name, and I will do it, for this will bring praise to the Father because of what I, the Son, will do for you. Yes, ask anything, using my name, and I will do it!” John 14:11-14

Therein lies the source of your dominion as a Child of God. I had to read that verse a few times to fully grasp its truth, you may need to also. Do you believe? Do you have faith? As Jesus said to the two blind men  in Matthew 9, “According to your faith, be it unto you.” The passion translation puts it this way, “You will have what your faith expects!” I ask you today, what does your faith expect?