Radical Reformation

Have you ever walked into a place and felt great? The atmosphere is full of joy, hope, and peace. You can feel it when you walk into a home and you instantly feel “at home”, or into a business and you feel energized, people are smiling and happy.

Then you walk into another place and you sense nothing but anger, despair, or hopelessness. Some places seem to be in a perpetual state of spiritual decay. Ask anyone where they last felt this and they’ll invariably say “Wal-Mart”. We also often sense it when traveling through a city or neighborhood… sometimes strongly enough to make you want to leave. If you stay, you often start feeling angry, despairing, or hopeless.

Let’s get a little bit more personal. Have you ever been around someone who is a positive, upbeat person… a ray of sunshine? You start feeling great, don’t you? Your whole outlook changes. But the converse is also true: if you’re in the company of a negative, depressed, or angry person it’s an instant downer – you just want to get away – and if you stay there long enough you might end up negative, depressed, or angry.

But let me ask you something: Are you a thermometer or a thermostat? Are you controlled by the environment around you? Or do you control it?

People ascribe this phenomenon of sensing the emotional state of our environment to everything from being spiritually sensitive or prophetic to demons and territorial spirits. I say that the source of the problem does not matter nearly so much as our response to it.

It may come as a surprise to you, that we are allowed (and expected to) control the environment around us. I know it was a shock for me, the first time Bill Perdue asked me, “Are you a thermometer or a thermostat? Are you controlled, or do you set the temperature? What are you allowing Holy Spirit inside you to do through you in these situations?”

I remember sitting there, blinking… I knew that we do not necessarily have to be affected by the atmosphere around us. We can choose to insulate ourselves from anger, despair, and spiritual decay. With a little effort we can keep a sunny outlook even in the most negative of situations. But is that God’s will for us? What does the Book say about it?

Jesus restored us to our “garden purpose” – the original intent of God for mankind was this:

“Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion…” (Genesis 1:28 NKJV)

That sure doesn’t sound like “Be influenced by your environment” or “Insulate yourself and get out as soon as you can!”, does it? God’s command was for us to bear fruit and have dominion over the world around us. The verb “subdue” means to exercise our God-given authority and to bring it under control.

What is a kingdom? It’s the king’s domain. Our original, and now-restored, purpose on the planet is to have authority over the King’s domain: to fill it, subdue it, have dominion over it.

Because the Kingdom of God is absolutely counter-cultural, we need to clear up some misconceptions right from the beginning: The Kingdom does not look like our culture and Kingdom people do not operate according to the standards set by the world. This is not about forcing people to do things against their will. It is not about “getting our way” to the detriment of everyone else.

People are not the enemy. So much hurt has been perpetuated in the world because we have pitted ourselves against other people, rather than recognizing the enemy for who he is. satan is the enemy. he is not ruler over this world, he is a usurper. He has no right to remain, but he will as long as he’s allowed to. Kingdom authority means he and his minions get the boot. We have been given power over all the power of the enemy (Luke 10:19). That means when we exercise our God-given power, satan’s power cannot stand. But in order to see those results, we must “do the stuff”. Dominion is not automatic.

…continued in part 2…