God's Plan For Man To Reign
From the beginning, God's plan was for mankind to reign on the earth. Satan works 24 hours a day 7 days a week to make the Word of God appear false. The Bible tells us we live and we walk by faith. So, in the face of everything that looks opposite you still have to believe the Scriptures because the Scriptures are true regardless of what's happening in your life. God cannot lie, it's impossible for Him to lie. Faith doesn't believe or put trust in what it sees, but faith trusts what you know is so in your heart. The plan of God for man from the beginning was for mankind to reign on the earth.
You've got to go way back to the book of Genesis to find out what God originally intended for man.
"God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good. Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind"; and it was so. God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good." Genesis 1:21,24-25
Now notice every living thing reproduces after its kind. You will see this theme repeated over and over again in just this one chapter.
"Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.". Genesis 1:26-27
What's God making here? He's making something after its kind. The Scripture here very clearly tells what the purpose of man was to be - a duplicate of God.
"The heavens are the heavens of the Lord, but the earth He has given to the sons of men." Psalms 115:16
The earth has been given to the sons of men. We are supposed to subdue and rule in the earth, not the devil. Not the enemy, we are. You are designed to dominate and defeat everything the enemy puts in front of you. People act like the Lord and the devil are equal matches for each other. No, the devil is not even a match. In fact, Jesus tells us in the New Testament, that He casts out demons with the finger of God. He just speaks the Word and they go. The demons know there is no equality between the two and they know man's rightful position is to rule and dominate, but they'll dominate you anyway if you let them.
"When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained; What is man that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for him? Yet You have made him a little lower than God, and You crown him with glory and majesty! You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet," Psalms 8:3-6
Psalms 8 is a prophetic psalm, but it also has significance for you and me. Some translations translate verse 5, "You have made him a little lower than the angels." The Hebrew word is actually translated "Elohim" and can be translated "God or angels" but the reference here is obviously to the Lord. God created the earth. We had nothing to do with that, but we will have something to do with ruling over it.
When satan came in, tricked man, and gained access to the earth, man recognized that they had an enemy to deal with. Once the enemy was here, God had another thought and another plan - to redeem us to our rightful place of authority. He's never changed the plan, it's always been that we should rule over circumstances and exercise our faith to rule in the earth.
"So He saved them from the hand of the one who hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy." Psalms 106:10
Yes, this verse is talking about the Red Sea, but it has much greater implications than just the Red Sea. It's saying that God had the plan to redeem mankind from the hand of the devil. That plan has never been thwarted. It has been bypassed and ignored by a lot of people, but it will never be thwarted.
"The seventy returned with joy, saying, 'Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.'" Luke 10:17
Look at that, "Even the demons are SUBJECT TO US in Your name." Are there demons? Oh yes, there are demons. Where are they? They're everywhere. Do we need to be afraid of them? No sir, not at all. Are they potentially dangerous? Yes, sure. Are there rattlesnakes? Of course there are but you don't go to bed at night terrified that a rattlesnake is going to get you. You just lay down and go to bed. Sure they're out there, but that doesn't mean they can affect us. They can only affect us to the degree we let them.
And He said to them, "I was watching Satan fall from heaven like lightning. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you. Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven." Luke 10:18-20
What's authority? The King James renders it power, but it's not. It's authority. There is a difference between authority and power. A police officer might have authority because of the badge on his shirt, but if you take the gun off of his hip, he lacks the power. The gun on his hip backs up his authority. See, you don't have the power in yourself to beat satan, but God has given you the authority and He supplies the power.
That's why James the 4th chapter and 7th verse says, "Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee." You'd have to have power and authority over him or that could never happen.
And in Matthew's gospel the 28th chapter Jesus is about to ascend into Heaven and just before He does, He says some very important words to His disciples.
And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Matthew 28:18-20
Notice the next verse begins with "Go therefore..." Doesn't that imply that He's given His authority to us and He's going to back us up? Go therefore. That's His authority being granted to us.
We just looked at several Scriptures that show us that the devil cannot prevail against the church of Jesus Christ. Don't let him dominate you - you dominate over him!