I was walking on water,
A precarious path,
Every step in danger of sinking.
Blowing and blinding,
Raging and spewing
I looked up.
Was my way sure?
Did I make a false step?
Did my ankle dip below?
What did I see?
Only the hope of your face.
I dropped my baby,
But she could swim.
She rises in the fog.
She lifts defiant sword.
Fight on, soldier, fight.
The battle is not done.
Weary, weak and torn
The war will yet be won.
Fight on, soldier, fight.
The day will finally dawn.
This darkness shall be gone.
Fight on.
I was sweeping debris from my deck. Twigs, crackly leaves and spider webs virtually covered furniture, floor and rail. We live in the woods. Nature was reclaiming her own.
Spider web (Photo credit: lynnmwillis)
I imagined my house, left unattended, dissolving back into its elements. Man carves nature into useful and even beautiful projects, but when he stops caring for the product of his labor, it will always decompose. It returns to the earth from which it was taken.
This decomposition is renewal. The earth renews itself. Man can create and maintain, but left unattended the earth will reclaim.
I gazed at the dappled sunlight glancing on the dense green of our woods. The idea glowed in me like hope.
Hollow skeleton, empty arms,
Cold pillow by my head;
Hot my face, – wet my tears, speak
Groanings deep from love-wrenched soul;
Pounding heart and anguished grimace;
Hope abandoned leaves love’s torture.
Fourteen years my soul has wrestled,
Watched another take my place,
Give him what my soul does long to,
Fill his comfort, soothe his needs,
Even given what I cannot;
His son suckled at her breast.
What was that? Someone believes it?
He said I would have my joy?
Can I hope when hope has faltered;
Can I give what died in me?
Furrowed brow and trembling torso;
Can I offer heart and soul?
Faith takes over where hope faltered.
I believe, now let it be.
Once again I’ll hold him to me.
Each our wells pour passion’s torrent
Flowing deep until, all given,
Lie we one, both soul and body.
From this spring comes laughter reigning.
Life from death brings life again.
Warmth and softness snuggle to me,
Fingers warm his tiny grip.
Here I hold what could not happen,
Son of Laughter at my breast.
There is a wealthy household on a sprawling estate which employs many servants. Among them is a girl who works as a maid. She hears a knock at the door and opens to greet an important-looking man on the front step. The little maid has the authority to let the man in or to turn him away according to the will of the householder. Whatever this girl tells the man, he must do. She bears the full authority of the head of that wealthy household, because she is under authority and in her rightful place.
Every man, woman, and child has the same authority that belongs to the maid. Each in his rightful place carries the full authority of the Creator within his own domain.
Another term for this authority of which we speak is dominion. God has put Man, male and female, in the earth to have dominion in it. If we are in our proper place in God’s order, even demons must obey us. Our actions are not our own, but his that sent us. Under God we have authority over all things, and as the psalmist, we are inspired to cry out, “What is man, that thou art mindful of him?![1]”
Our own lives and our families, our communities, and our nation are in serious trouble. Yet we are not without a lifeline. The Great Creator has offered us hope from the beginning. The hope starts in our own hearts as we learn to love and obey God and to love our fellowman. Only unselfish love can fulfill God’s dominion mandate.
In repentance let us all send up this cry to heaven, “Spare thy people, O Lord, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them.” God will hear. The Logos-Word by which he created all things shall one day fill all the earth. The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.[2] God desires his kingdom to fill the earth. It is not his will that men be persecuted and oppressed by antichrist powers. Yes, we are warned that the spirit of antichrist will wear out the saints,[3] but the very next verses promise that the saints will take away antichrist’s dominion. Then, the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.[4]
Our outlook is not one of defeat. Our motivating hope is that God will empower a holy people by his Spirit to overcome the spirit of antichrist. They will overcome him personally by fully yielding to the dominion of the Creator. They will overcome antichrist oppression in the lives of others by compassionate deeds laying down their own lives in following their Savior. They will overcome antichrist nationally by restoring true justice. These are a people living in dominion covenant with God.
Each one of us can affect this world for God. Our sphere of influence grows as we are found faithful in each domain that God has given us. We must give ourselves fully to the work, realizing that the work is only ours as God’s ambassadors. The goal toward which we aim is that God’s kingdom will fully come in our own hearts and lives and that his kingdom will spread to include our families, our communities, our nation and finally fill the whole earth.
And the LORD said …As truly as I live,
all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD.[5]
[1] Psalm 8:4
[2] Revelation 11:15 This prophecy shows God’s plan for the kingdoms of this world.
[3] Daniel 7:25
[4] Daniel 7:26-27
[5] Numbers 14:20-21
The preceding post is the final chapter of my publication Womanhood and God’s Dominion Call which is now available on this site as a free e-booklet download.
-EW
Image copyright 1998 no permission granted
Despair in raging blackness
Assaults my lone ascent.
My footing slips
My fingers grip
And day may come too late.
Keep holding now
And fix the grip.
I’ll close my eyes and wait.
I grasp for tomorrow,
Away, it whisks through my hands,
Slips through my fingers,
Dissipates in a breeze.
Yet I reach.
I nervously strain.
I gaze.
I peer.
Grabbing binoculars,
I look,
But it’s never there.
It’s with me.
I feel it.
I grasp.
Again, it’s not there.
Oh, it is, and I see it.
Gone again, into the air.
Tomorrow –
So big I can’t see Today.
And just yesterday I reached
For what now is today.
It is here
And I hold it,
But tomorrow is bigger
And I push this away.
What if this Today is the great Tomorrow I seek?
Today was tomorrow only yesterday.
Tomorrow will be Today tomorrow.
Won’t it?
Today I have Today
Held in my hand.
I can’t blow it away.
It is here.
Tomorrow again
Will be only Today,
And I’ll hold it.
It’s real.
Tomorrow never is.
What we hold is the Great Today.
Do you see it? The plant has not left Earth, yet it reaches into the Heavens. Its broad leaves soak up heavenly light and return true nourishment to its earthly realm. I think this plant lives in heaven and on earth.
God’s Garden – Seeing Earth From Heaven
I will enter the heavens to see the earth
God planted a garden there
The trees that He planted have offered their fruit
Each seed has been sown in the ground
In warmth and in moisture
And blindness of dark
The terrestrial body gives way
In brokenness offering its life to the earth
Comes a new form up, winding its path
Celestial body still planted in earth
Stretching and growing above
Turning and reaching for heavenly light
Broad leaves seek for nourishment there
Green earth and the light mix a marvelous way
Restoring to earth life and breath.
The day I wrote this poem, I felt myself lifted above the earth. I saw … Click to Continue…
The Word in Vision 