Unlocking the Heavens: Release the Supernatural Power of Your Worship (12 page)

Now, do you know what we do at our church? All of our people are learning to spend time in the throne room. We tell them to go to work every day and just do whatever they hear God say. We witness that way.

We also have what we call Treasure Hunts. We got the idea from Kevin Dedmon from Bethel Church in Redding, California.

HEAVEN IS A PLACE WHERE YOU CAN GO NOW

The Bible tells us not to “give place” to the devil (see Ephesians 4:27). Place. Not opportunity, but
place
. Don’t ever forget that Heaven is a place. It’s a real place. That’s why Jesus could ascend to it, and that’s why we can, too, in response to God’s invitation.

Did you know that even Judas had a place saved for him in God’s throne room? According to chapters four and five of the book of Revelation, twenty-four thrones surround the throne of God. Why twenty-four? Twelve for the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel and twelve for the apostles Jesus chose. That represents twelve of the Old Covenant and twelve of the New Covenant.

But we learn in Acts 1:20 that Judas made his place “desolate.” Luke was quoting Psalm 69:25. The Lord had chosen Judas as one of the apostles; therefore Judas had been assigned one of those thrones. But he vacated his seat. He gave up his place. The enemy has one desire, and that is to take you out of your place in God.

Remember: “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty” (Psalm 91:1 KJV). When you are in the bosom of the Father, the devil can’t get to you. In the Father’s lap is the holiest place in the universe. However, if the devil can get you to climb out of Daddy’s lap, he can persuade you to abandon your place, your secret place.

I can’t tell you what the throne room is going to look like for you. I thank God that it is personal for every individual. I can tell you that in that place is fullness and joy and peace that passes all understanding, power, and authority. It doesn’t matter whether you are sitting or standing or walking when you enter into the secret place in prayer. For myself, I like to stand up. You can choose whatever position is most comfortable for you. And you can do it anytime.

If after a time in the throne room you begin to feel as though you have been sucked out, you can get back in. You may feel the weight of the world coming back onto you. The world is heavy. Life is heavy. Let me tell you what I have learned to do. Whenever that happens, even in public, I find a quiet place to pray. I say, “Lord, sprinkle me with Your blood. I’m sorry I left.” Then go right back into it. It will take you about five minutes.

I have learned that wrong words will pull me out of that holy place quicker than anything else. If you find yourself gossiping, you will be sucked out immediately. If you are around somebody who uses the name of the Lord in vain you will be pulled down. Certain things pull each person out of that place.

Every time, just go and ask Him to sprinkle you with His blood so you can go right back into that sacred place. Eventually, you will learn to live there twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

You were created to live there. What you feel when you are there is what Adam and Eve felt all day long, even in the midst of working and tending the Garden. The real you is a spirit, and it was created to live in a spiritual place.

Right now, you can step into the throne room—

Father, I thank You that You have given me an invitation to come into Your throne room, into the holiest place in the universe, the bosom of the Father. But Lord, I am not worthy to come to that place because of the things I have done and the things I have not done, things that You told me to do. So, Lord, I need You right now to sprinkle me with Your blood. Let Your love flow over me. Cleanse me. Now that I am righteous by the blood, help me to make my way to the throne room. Let me see You there on the throne. Let me climb up into Your lap, Daddy, and hug You. Let me gaze upon You and tell You what I think about You. Let me thank Jesus for making it possible. Now I can stay here, or return anytime I want to. No worry. No pain. No struggle. Amen!

Chapter 11

THE PATHWAY TO DOMINION

The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s; but the earth He has given to the children of men
(P
SALM
115:16)
.

W
hen God created the plants that grow all over the earth, He did it by speaking to the dirt: “God said, ‘Let the earth put forth vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, upon the earth.’ And it was so” (Genesis 1:11 RSV).

Then when God wanted to make birds, He spoke to the air they would be flying through. When He made the first animals, He spoke to the ground they would walk and crawl over. Accordingly, when God created fish, He spoke to the water they would swim in. He always used a
source
for His creation. As Myles Munroe wrote on page 21 of his book,
Understanding Your Potential
, “All things have the same source components and essence as their source. What God created is, in essence, like the substance from which it came.”

When the time came for God to create humans, the same creative formula applied. However, this time He did not speak to the dirt, the air, or the water. When He created the first man, God spoke directly to
Himself
. God created man by speaking to Himself! This shows us that in the very beginning, God was taking something from Himself and putting it into Adam so that Adam would be like Him and share in His life:

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them 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.” …Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “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”
(Genesis 1:26,28).

DOMINION

Once God had created Adam and placed him in the Garden of Eden, He gave Adam legal dominion over the earth. Although Satan had once been the “anointed cherub” who had covered the earth, now, because of his rebellion, God took that glorious position away from him and gave it to Adam and to his descendants. He anointed human beings to rule the earth instead of Satan.

Psalm 82:6 (RSV) declares, “I say, ‘You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you.’” In a very real sense, we can say that the Lord made humankind, beginning with Adam and Eve, to be the gods of this world. Of course, that statement needs some clarification. Adam and Eve were not gods in the sense of being divine beings, but they were made to be gods in the sense of their godlike authority or dominion. In His creative order, God put Adam and Eve in authority so that they could dominate the earth.

At the time of the creation of Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden did not cover the entire earth. “And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed” (Genesis 2:8 KJV). God gave them the responsibility to tend the garden, to dominate it, and to multiply it until it covers the earth. God’s eternal plan is still the same. This desire to see the earth as an all-encompassing garden will one day be realized when God unveils the new Heaven and new earth. “The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lord’s; but the earth He has given to the children of men” (Psalm 115:16).

God literally gave the earth to the human beings He had created. The great Creator of the heavens and the earth gave us the power and authority to rule over the earth. Unfortunately, Satan, having once ruled over the earth himself and being angry about his displacement, saw a great opportunity to regain his position. He could see that unconditional authority had been delegated to these upstarts, so he tempted them to surrender that authority by directly disobeying God’s commands. As we know, they fell for Satan’s ploy. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, another transfer of dominion took place. (This is not the same as ownership, because the earth belongs to the Lord God forever.) Dominion was handed back to Satan, at least temporarily. At that point Satan became “the god of this world” who “has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4 NRSV). Humankind lost control from that point forward. Death had entered the world through one man’s disobedience.

In the long run, however, God took care of the situation. He sent His Son Jesus Christ to the earth as a man to restore rightful dominion to the beings He had created in His own image. For thirty-three years Jesus walked this earth, totally yielded to the Holy Spirit and submitted to God the Father. Not once did He capitulate to temptation and relinquish His heavenly position. “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrew 4:15). By virtue of the atoning work of the cross, Jesus, through obedience unto death (see Philippians 2:8), reclaimed and restored humankind’s legal right to dominion.

Some of our Lord’s final words are as follows:

And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen
(Matthew 28:18-20 KJV).

Go ye
implies that the dominion and authority that belong to our Lord has been transferred to every believer in Jesus Christ. Whoever calls Him “Lord” now represents Him on earth. Amazingly, because of the Lord’s redemptive work, every believer has been “made…alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:5-6).

All Christians have been raised up and seated with Christ, even while they still remain here upon the earth. The physical position of believing men and women does not change, but their spiritual position does! Now, in Him, all of them are seated “Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named [above every title that can be conferred], not only in this age and in this world, but also in the age and the world which are to come” (Ephesians 1:21 AMP).

WORSHIP IS THE KEY TO SPIRITUAL DOMINION

What does the believer’s spiritual position have to do with the subject of worship? Because Satan was created as a worshipping angel to have dominion over this earth, and because Christians are his replacement, worship has everything to do with it! Worship was Satan’s pathway to dominion (as well as his pathway out of dominion). In the same way, worship is also every believer’s pathway in—and out—of dominion. When Adam and Eve disobeyed, thereby ceasing to worship God through obedience, they lost their authority. On the other hand, when Jesus, the God-man, worshipped God through total obedience, He regained authority for humankind; He sacrificed Himself to win people back to their full status as His co-regents over the earth God created.

Because Satan was created as a worshipping angel and then was given authority over the earth, it follows that worship must be a key to spiritual dominion.

PRAISE CHOKES THE ENEMY

There is another clue to our destiny as the ones whose destiny is to exercise God’s dominion over the earth:

Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as a lioness; who dares rouse him up? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples
(Genesis 49:8-10 RSV).

This passage is rich with truth that connects worship with spiritual authority. The name
Judah
means “praise” in the Hebrew language. When one reads this passage and substitutes the word
praise
for Judah, the authority factor of worship becomes easily apparent. For example, verse ten declares that the scepter shall not depart from Judah. A scepter is an ornamented staff or rod that has long represented authority. Translated accordingly, this verse declares, “Authority shall not depart from praise.” Verse eight states that Judah’s “hand shall be on the neck of your enemies.” Again, you can see the authority factor of worship. Translated accurately, it would read, “Praise…your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies.” As a believer, do you understand what this statement means? Your praise to God can choke out any enemy that Satan tries to use against your rightful position as a child of God!

This same principle is illustrated in Judges 20:18 (NCV), “The Israelites went up to the city of Bethel and asked God, Which tribe shall be first to attack the Benjaminites?’ The Lord answered, ‘Judah shall go first.’ Here we see that Judah—praise—went into battle first. This shows that worship is a weapon of warfare that must precede everything else. Worship is primary. Until a believer grasps this revelation, he or she will be overwhelmed with oppression and satanic opposition.