The Dominion Mandate

"The woman who rules her own spirit is better than she who takes a city." Prov. 25:28

Better. Some things are just better - Old Covenant and New, they are timelessly better. I don't know about you, but I was Created for Conquest, Destined for Dignity, Mandated to Mandate...and in the process, I am being a good steward of the manifold (read: many, many, many varied expressions) of the grace of God.

The greatest land, yet unconquered, is the terrain of the soul...the renewal of the mind...all things being brought into conformity to the nature of God. I've made great strides in the taking back of soul ground in recent years. I've reached that place where the target plot of self-soil was "tightly shut up...none came out, none went in." (Joshua 6:1)

I've even marched seven times around my obstacle/habit/old unrenewed, untransformed thinking/negativity/depression/unforgiveness/fill-in-the-blank. Had it well contained.

But I stopped short of, "Shout..."

...that sound of victory that must come before the walls crumble once and for all time.

Nothing falls without the shout. I can corral and contain, I can circle seven, and even seventy times seven, relishing in my obedient self discipline...and yes, the marching seven times around was part of The Plan.

But at some point, there has to be supernatural grace. My best human effort will not bring the obstacle down. There has to be a Final Falling of the walls of the stronghold. There has to be a shout of faith.

Take dominion, oh my soul!

"Shout! For God Has Given YOU The City!"

What are you to lay seige, circle as many times as it takes, and finally shout over? The restoration of broken relationships? Needed finances? Unhealthy extra weight? Habits of disorganization or ruts of negativity? Stolen joy? Ruling and reigning right where you are makes you a better woman than she who takes a city. Through your God, you CAN do valiantly, because He is the Valiant One! Christ in you...Christ as you...all things subject to His authority, all illegitimate rule under His beautiful feet.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I will say a great BIG SHOUT!! You got it girl!!! God is good and yep we better take thoes cities!!or really allow God to take them, but we have to active in the Shouting!
Oh by the way love your signature with the flower...hee to cute.
Love Vickie E

Sheila Atchley said...

Isn't it the cutest? I'm hoping 2010 will be the Year of the Blog.

We take the city or the city (metaphorically speaking) takes us, right? :-)

Anonymous said...

LOVE this 'Dominion Mandate' exhortation,dear'st Sheila!!! I *do* want to 'SHOUT OUT' here in Faith this year ~ it's TIME! Like Vickie, I love your new 'flowery sig line' and the 'flower patch' Season of Harvest 'tag' on your homepage. How*ever* did you 'do' those? Soooo 'JUST *right*' for you/ your blog! LoveUalways...ann in faith [i never am successful 'choosing an identity' on that list of choices- i don't have a google account or an 'open ID address they ask for when putting my name there, or a 'name/URL', so i always have to choose 'anonymous' -- hahaha]

Sheila Atchley said...

Hi MomAnn!

I have discovered a lady who is a Christian stay-at-home mom who does what she calls "blog makeovers". She does all the technical stuff FOR you! She created my sunflower signature line for $5, and did my Harvest "button" for $5. I am waiting to be able to afford her "Extreme Blog Makeover". HA! She's a treasure trove of know-how, from what I can see. She's "custom blog designs at FreeStyleMama...I'm not sure the URL, but I'm sure you can google her. She has a blog, too, called "Dianarambles.blogspot.com"