Praying to God for help has become the generic prescription adhered to by a significant majority of the inhabitants on the continent of Africa. Africa, arguably, is the most praying continent on the earth and the least developed. Calling on God to do for you what he has mandated you to do, is irresponsibility. And I dare say that most of our prayers are a shirking of our responsibility. In other words, this kind of praying has become a ‘responsible’ way of becoming irresponsible.
When you understand why God made man, the place of prayer will be unambiguously clear. You will also appreciate that impact and relevance on earth is work driven and not prayer driven. If ministers of God specialize in getting God to do things for people, then the church will not fulfill her destiny of dominion. Then who really is man? What can man do?
No body prayed more than Jesus and yet his work ethic was par excellence. Prayer cannot do what work can do. What you contact and become pregnant with in prayer, you deliver through work. Africa has been pregnant for centuries and yet has no children of her own. The day Africa delivers it will lead the world. Many continents stand to profit from Africa’s miscarriage. And this, we must not allow to happen.
God’s Sacred Will for Man on Earth.
Genesis 1:26
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
The scripture above is God’s reason for making man. This is God’s will for every human being on the planet today. When man believed the lie of the devil and fell from dominion, God became a man in Jesus and by faith in him you are recreated in his image through the new birth and released to carry out dominion on the earth just like Jesus.
In Genesis 1:26 God’s responsibility is clear: ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness’. Once man is made, dominion over the whole earth becomes their sole responsibility as captured in Genesis 1:26 ‘… and let THEM have dominion…’
Dominion therefore is the ONLY reason why Man is on the earth. Man means image of God and Man means dominion.
What is the Scope of Man’s Dominion?
Genesis 1:26
‘… and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.’
Dominion over the sea and anything that moves in/on it… This means mastering the sea. And remember the sea is the gathering together of the waters (Gen1: 9-10). Man is authorised to master water; God put fish in the sea and so man can put other objects in and on the sea just like God. All kinds of transportation on the seas, tap crude oil and gas from under the sea bed, energy from hydro and many more yet to be discovered by man.
Dominion over the air and anything that flies in it… God put birds in the air and so man can put other objects in the air. Telecommunication, aviation, wind energy, mastering anything air borne and many more possibilities yet to be discovered by man.
Dominion over cattle… Man is mandated to master animals. Understanding horse power influenced the building of engines in automobiles. There is more potential in this regard.
Dominion over all the earth… The whole earth is to be mastered. This is why you must have a global view. Earth-wide impact is in your spiritual DNA. Something in you and from you must dominate the earth. You have a right to every resource in the earth. Financial poverty is therefore inconsistent with the man who will take dominion.
Dominion over everything that creeps on the earth… We can master everything from bacteria to reptiles.
God, in answering prayer, is not seeking to take over man’s responsibility. It seems Africa is yet to embrace and accept why God made man. We are still trying, through prayers, to let God do for us what he has authorized us to do on the earth. Take dominion – that is why you are on earth.
Rule and Subdue the Earth!