RULING BY PRAYER
(week 07/11)
OLUBI JOHNSON
God expects the Church in this dispensation to rule the nations by prayer thereby tasting of the powers of the millennial age to come.
It is instructive to note that during the millennial reign, Satan will be locked in the bottomless pit for a thousand years so there will be no spiritual opposition to God’s rule on the earth; during this time the distortion we see today in nature: climatic, geographical, in the animal kingdom will no longer be there because the spiritual power causing them would have been removed by Satan’s imprisonment.
Revelation 20:1-3 ESV: Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain. (2) And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, (3) and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while.
Isaiah 11:6-9 MKJV: Also the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the cub lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. (7) And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. (8) And the suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. (9) They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea.
However, in this dispensation,Satan is the prince of the power of the air (Eph. 2:2) and so God’s rule on the earth has to be enforced by the force of spiritual arms through the ministry of angels through prayer otherwise we will continue to see Satan’s rule as it is in many situations on the earth today because the Church is either ignorant or negligent in enforcing God’s rule in sufficient measure in those situations.
This is why the Lord Jesus told us to pray:‘Thy Kingdom come and thy will be done on earthas it is in heaven’ (Matt. 6:10)
Matthew 11:12 MKJV: And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of Heaven is taken by violence, and the violent take it by force.
Luke 11:21-22 NKJV: When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. (22) But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils.
We, by the Word and the Spirit of God (1 Jn. 2:14; 4:4), are stronger than Satan and his evil spirits, so when we come upon him in prayer we can overcome him and divide his spoils: cause God’s will to be enforced on earth as it is in heaven, in this dispensation before the millennial reign causing us to ‘taste of the powers of the age to come’ (Heb. 6:5).
The Church is God’s ‘hand’ on the earth: the avenue through which His power is released on the earth to enforce His will on the earth; so it is our primary responsibility to pray for the nations of the earth and so cause God’s dominion to be made manifest in the nations of the earth in this dispensation. As we pray with effectual, fervent, prayer in the Spirit (Jam. 5:16, Eph. 6:18) with travail (Is. 66:8, Rom. 8:26, Gal. 4:19) we release the power of God as rivers of living water with great force that turns the hearts of the kings of the earth to do God’s will.
Job 40:16 MKJV: See, now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the muscles of his belly.
John 7:38-39 MKJV: He who believes on Me, as the Scripture has said, “Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” (39) (But He spoke this about the Spirit, which they who believed on Him should receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.)
Proverbs 21:1 MKJV: The king’s heart is in the hand of Jehovah asthe rivers of water; He turns it wherever He will.
It is vital to see here that the ‘hand of the Lord’ is in the body of Christ; the ‘Head’ the Lord Jesus is in heaven, but the ‘hand’ which is in the body is on the earth so it is the responsibility of the hand to direct the hearts of the kings on the earth: we cannot do it without God’s power being released in sufficient measure through us; and God cannot do it legally on the earth without us.
Psalm 115:16 MKJV: The heavens, even the heavens, are Jehovah’s; but the earth He has given to the sons of men.
1Timothy 2:1-2 MKJV: First of all, then, I exhort that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, (2) for kings and all who are in authority,so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.
2Chronicles 7:14 MKJV: if My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from Heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Here God tells us that if the Church will humble (fast (Ps.35:13)) herself and turn from her wicked (disobedience to prophetic and apostolic instruction (Ps.50:16-17) especially on how to pray) and pray as instructed: effectually and fervently with all types of prayer and travail; then God will heal the nations of the earth in this hour and so allow the gospel of the Kingdom of God to be a witness to all nations (Mt. 24:14).
Now, this dominion that we exercise through prayer will not be universal all at the same time since it is just a ‘taste’ of the powers of the age to come but it will be exemplary in nations where there is a perfect church in operation enforcing God’s Kingdom in that nation as shown in
Psalm 144:12-15 AMP: When our sons shall be as plants grown large in their youth and our daughters as sculptured corner pillars hewn like those of a palace; (13) When our garners are full, affording all manner of store, and our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our pastures; (14) When our oxen are well loaded; when there is no invasion [of hostile armies] and no going forth [against besiegers–when there is no murder or manslaughter] and no outcry in our streets; (15) Happy and blessed are the people who are in such a case; yes, happy (blessed, fortunate, prosperous, to be envied) are the people whose God is the Lord!
As we look on the earth today (February 2011), we do not see any nation that is currently experiencing this type of divine dominion over its social, political, agricultural and industrial landscape; however, as perfect churches begin to arise in the nations and begin to rule by effectual, fervent prayer, we will see these conditions come into manifestation in such nations and will be a witness to the churches in other nations to also arise in perfection and rule their nations by prayer!
Nigeria, the nation of destiny, from beyond the rivers of Ethiopia, which the rivers divide (Is. 18:1,7; Zeph. 3:10) will be the first nation in which this will be manifest since the first of the first fruits of the perfect church is arising from Nigeria.
The challenge to the entire universal church at this time is to arise into perfection and rule our nations by prayer like Ezra (Ezr.1:3; 6:8-12; 7:21-26), Esther and Mordecai (Esth. 8:7-8), Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (Dan.3:28-29) did in Persia and Babylon.
It is encouraging to note that the leaders at that time were far more powerful and wicked than our leaders today, but we are living under a better testament established by better promises (Heb. 8:6) have access to more spiritual power today and so we should be able to duplicate what they did and even more!
