THE BIG PICTURE – PART III

(c) Morris E. Ruddick

This “Big Picture” series began by addressing the offensive Satan has had underway against the finances of fruitful segments of the Body since early 2001.

I pointed out the need for a more effective response --- a response that grasps the issues of significance for this hour. The issues that underlie the Issachar context of “understanding the times and knowing what to do.” The big picture.

The truth in Isaiah 59 provides an apt glimpse into the response needed --- a response that extends beyond our human efforts. It points to the Spirit of the Lord raising up a standard when the enemy comes against God’s people. The context in Isaiah 59 is judgment against the enemies of the Lord. But for that judgment and the power of God to be unleashed, there is an alignment needed among God’s people. And that alignment is tied to the power of God, the judgment of God and His holiness.

In verse 19, this scripture indicates that “when the enemy comes in, like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord will raise up a standard.” The standard being raised against the enemy is revival. The strategy for revival is unity. And the result is dominion.

“Understanding the times and knowing what to do” involves the need for an accurate big-picture perspective. A perspective that guides our approach so that it releases the Spirit of the Lord to move against the enemies of God’s people. That’s the pivotal issue. Doing what is needed in both perspective and approach to unlock the power of God to operate on our behalf. This means not only being prepared, but having our hand at the plow that is driving the right agendas.

This “Big Picture” series has noted that at the end of WWII and the defeat of Japan, General Douglas MacArthur recognized the reality of the big picture-need for nation-changers when he called for missionaries to come in to play a major role in the rebuilding of that land. But the Church was not prepared and only four missionaries showed up. What General MacArthur was calling for was beyond the scope of how the Church viewed itself and its role in the affairs of men. Changing nations was not a part of the Church’s identity.

THE ISSUE OF DOMINION AND SEATS OF POWER
Since that time the Body has undergone an incredible process of maturing, awakening and preparation. While we will always have those who will resist change and be blind to the initiatives being released from God’s throne-room, we have in this hour entered a time in which the Lord is moving His people into the fabric of society. Like Joseph the patriarch and Daniel in Babylon, these men and women of God are prepared and aligned and entering the seats of power of this world to bring about God’s plans and purposes. To serve as nation-changers.

For nation-changing efforts to work, the key will be the spiritual dimension. Joseph and Daniel were very bold in their roles to speak God’s words of wisdom into the dilemmas facing the kings and rulers of their day. And they did so in a way, that everyone knew that the wisdom they operated from came from the Lord.

For this to work today, an adjustment of mind-sets is in order. The Church is still largely operating on the premise that separates the sacred from the secular. A premise that has rendered the Church anemic in restoring dominion into the hands of God’s people, as God intended before the fall. A premise founded not on Scripture, but on the traditions and doctrines of men.

This present move of God in the marketplace with God’s prepared vessels penetrating key seats of power in business and government, will uniquely impact the course of nations. But there are certain perspectives that need to be recognized, that will release God’s role in this equation, which is implied in these passages from Isaiah 59.

Dominion is a very pivotal matter in all of this. Dominion and authority. Dominion that results from the restoration that comes from revival and the unity released in a genuine move of the Spirit. And from this dynamic will unfold the operation of the Biblical dimensions of community, covenant and kingdom.

Revival and unity give birth to dominion. While the redemption of revival may be an ”act of restoring,” dominion takes restoration to still another level. Jesus came to reestablish man’s relationship with God and to restore that God-intended dominion. Within that context, Jesus again and again announced His earthly ministry with the words, “the kingdom of God is at hand.”

As the free-world faces the unsettling change and disruptions coming upon the earth, the reality is that this truth is as applicable today, as it was in the days when Jesus walked the face of the earth: “the kingdom of God is at hand.”

In the face of the enemy’s growing offensive, it is time to reevaluate. It is time for a response that exceeds our best human efforts and activates the principles releasing a mighty move of the Spirit. It is time for a response that will reverse the posture of the Body from being in a defensive mode to going onto the offensive.

UNDERSTANDING THE TIMES
There is a war underway in the heavenlies. It is a war that parallels the rise of the Nazi machine in the late thirties. A war over dominion. But, for far too many within the Body, there has been a blindness to the big-picture that is resulting in responses on only a tactical level. Winning the battles, while overlooking the war. The Body of Christ finds itself entangled with delaying actions and issues, which obscure the big picture perspective needed to implement strategies to go beyond the battles to win the war.

To win the war, we need nation-changers. But with the nation-changers is the need to recognize the evil one’s primary schemes in his quest to hang onto the dominion that man relinquished at the fall. The enemy’s age-old strategies have been mammon and sorcery; power and the occult --- and their operation in conjunction with religious spirits. These religious spirits provide entrance to undermining plants that the enemy has among the inner circles of believers. Judas being a prime example of the operation of inner-circle religious spirits.

God’s move in the marketplace, as well as God raising up modern-day Josephs and Daniels is about dominion. It’s about restoration. It’s about nation changers and winning not just the battles, but the war. God’s move in the marketplace is about penetrating the fabric of society --- where revival, unity and dominion will serve as catalysts to the release and operation of the often overlooked Biblical dimensions of community, covenant and kingdom.

We witnessed an incredible level of covenant and community in operation during our recent visit to Belarus. We witnessed this old Biblical paradigm operating in an unlikely setting. Operating as community builders. Operating as modern-day Josephs and Daniels in the fabric of that society. Speaking God’s prophetic words of wisdom into the issues and dilemmas being faced by leaders and rulers. Extending God’s love and healing through the operation of the principles of Isaiah 58, of reaching out to the poor and oppressed, to the widows and the orphans.

When God’s marketplace ambassadors truly begin operating in dominion, it will involve a release of the operation of God’s kingdom rule. Dominion and the operation of God’s kingdom work hand in hand. But the operation of God’s kingdom is predicated on community and covenant.

COMMUNITY AND COVENANT
Nation-changing is built on the Biblical truths of community and the dynamics of community building.

Community building is one of the inherent principles outlined in the book of Deuteronomy. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in essence built entrepreneurial communities. Deuteronomy is absolutely rich with principles on how to operate a business-based, revenue-generating community. Principles of organization applicable to business and community. Customer and employee relations. Fairness. Generosity. Benevolence. Making your assets work.

Early pioneering communities of the old west in the US reflected the dynamics of these Biblical entrepreneurial foundations. At the core of these early US pioneering communities were craftsmen and tradesmen whose talents and gifts were exchanged to the benefit of not only their own survival, but the other members of the community.

This Biblical entrepreneurial dynamic of community building is built on a foundation of service. Service designed to meet the needs of the community. Helping others. Building the community. Taking care of your own. And community building ties back to dominion.

Community builders bring about change. Community builders are agents of change in the midst of obstacles and challenge. Community builders are visionaries who spot and seize the initiative when there is opportunity. They are those who face change and hurdles knowing that God has given them dominion --- and their goal is to pursue the strategies that will bring about God’s purposes in conquering the challenges before them. They are innovative and creative and determined and committed to build a future that will honor the Lord and bless the community.

Community builders understand the importance of shared values. Deuteronomy establishes principles of government and business and the associated relationships. But at its core is putting God first and seeking Him for direction and guidance and working together toward common goals. Shared values not only establish higher standards, but provide the basis for a caring community. They communicate that there is meaning and purpose for not only our individual lives, but for our families and communities.

But community is also based on covenant, or a shared understanding and agreement. Covenant is a central, unifying theme in Scripture. God’s covenants with individuals and the nation and people Israel find their final fulfillment in the New Covenant in Jesus. God’s grace in relating to His people by initiating covenants with them is a major theme throughout the Bible.

God’s covenant is driven by His love for His people. God works for His covenant people. He protected them in the wilderness, gave them the land, and gave them the “power to get wealth” (Deut. 8:18; 29:9). But the blessings of the covenant are more than the promise of better lives for His people. The blessings of the covenant are foundational to God having a people who represent Him and through whom He will accomplish His purposes for His creation (Deut. 8:18).

Communities are built around covenants or agreements and understandings that provide for order, but which also create the opportunity by which both the community and its individuals prosper. Community is based on covenant relationships that are based on unity. And community-covenant relationships create this corporate-level of dominion.

THE SHAKING AND THE CHANGE
But over the last few decades, mobile, progressive Western society has begun losing touch with community. For many, they don’t know their neighbors. They work on one side of town and live on another. Friends may be in still another locale. Without community, we have lost our identity.

Yet it is community-based dominion that is needed to overcome lawlessness and the godless power structures that have infiltrated the political, information and economic circles of this world. An infiltration that perverts what God has created to serve the purposes of the evil one in this age-old battle over dominion. Community is significant because it represents the baseline from which nations are changed to bring the restoration of God’s blessings.

There is a shaking going on. A shaking of this world’s infrastructures. And the shaking is tied to a clash of civilizations that is the age-old battle between good and evil. There is a struggle for the emergence of a new order.

A world being driven increasingly by economic power. And with this new order, will be shifts in the political status quo. A recent report in Israel’s Arutz-7 news service quotes European Union Parliament member Ilka Schroeder: “The Europeans support the Palestinian Authority with the aim of becoming its main sponsor, and through this to challenge the US and present themselves as the future global power.”

We are experiencing the birth pangs in the interim of this struggle for a new order. While the war on terrorism, Israel’s Intifada, along with the mounting movement of anti-Christian and anti-Semitism is very real, the subtle and not quite so obvious battle is over economic sovereignties.

The issue is power and behind these series of manifestations --- such as terrorism against the free world and assaults against ministry finances --- is mammon and sorcery, Babylon and Chaldea, which are being rooted out of their lairs as God is releasing His initiatives for restoration. But the restoration that begins with revival, cannot overlook the need for community and community builders. Restoration and dominion that evolve from the Biblical-principles of community are foundational to the release of the kingdom of God. And the issue of whether the Church is prepared as nation-builders, will depend on its grasp of God’s kingdom rule.

THE KINGDOM OF GOD
Jesus’ earthly ministry was uniquely focused on opening the eyes of those who could see and grasp the revelation of the kingdom of God --- and showing them how it worked. Spirit controls matter and the blessings of God flow from the authority released when we exercise the principles of His kingdom and dominion is operating: it begins with the premise that Spirit controls matter. In Luke 6, Jesus made a simple, but very powerful statement. He said, “give and it will be given unto you.” He told us, “just as you want people to treat you, treat them in the same way.” He also told us to bless those who curse us! Love your neighbor as yourself.

For example, there is a kingdom principle of reciprocity. It tells us that the standard of measure we operate with will determine the standard with which we will receive in return. If you are critical of everyone, you can expect to receive critical judgments from others. It is the principle behind tithes and offerings. It is the principle that undergirds operating with a generous and kind spirit.

The kingdom of God is the integration of the principles and authority of God into the midst of the fabric of society --- the world we live in. It is the release, operation and manifestation of God’s kingdom rule into our everyday lives. It is the reality of the Lord consistently operating in our midst. Redemption involves restoration, of not only our souls, but of God’s kingdom rule. The kingdom perspective incorporates wholeness and oneness with Him --- in ALL facets of life. We are called to be a light in the darkness. The kingdom of God is at hand; and we’re being called to advance.

The kingdom of God and God’s economy work hand in hand. God-directed dominion that results from the entrepreneurial and community dynamic modeled by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will begin releasing God’s Kingdom rule. Communities that have their foundations in the spiritual, but extend into the natural. Communities that have as their basis: revival, unity and dominion.

God’s kingdom rule is the basis of God’s penetration of the marketplace, with His chosen ambassadors moving into positions of authority in seats of power in business and governmental circles. God’s kingdom rule is about the deliverance from the bondage of corruption that Romans 8 speaks of in referring to as the “whole of creation groans and labors with birth pangs” awaiting the deliverers from this age-old bondage.

The Holy Spirit revivals of the past few decades have been about redemption and restoration. Restoration of the role and operation of the Person of the Holy Spirit in giving purpose, leading and guidance to those advancing agendas that penetrate and interlink secular enterprises with God’s purposes.

These revivals have challenged the traditions and doctrines of men that have undermined the power and authority --- and kingdom rule that God always intended for his people. These revivals have been the catalysts to bridging the gap between the sacred and the secular; with the current focus of reconnecting the gap between business and ministry. The shaking taking place in the area of ministry finances shouts to the fact that dominion for the Body extends beyond the boundaries of what have become the overworked traditions of fund-raising to support the work of the ministry. There is more to it than this single approach. Much more.

God’s kingdom rule will mark the difference from the Church’s anemic response at the end of WWII to General MacAuthur’s prescient call for missionary nation-changers. It will be the point of demarcation that releases the power of God needed --- to extend beyond our human efforts. It will provide the authority from which God’s marketplace ambassadors will speak into the dilemmas being faced by the world with prophetic words of wisdom that bring solutions to the problems of communities and nations.

As God’s kingdom rule penetrates, permeates and releases the goodness and blessings of God, there will emerge mature, unified and prepared believers. Kingdom ambassadors at all levels who are strategic in their outlook and response as they serve as mighty instruments of God’s purpose in this clash of civilizations and age-old battle manifesting over dominion and kingdom.

But to fully enter into God’s kingdom rule in the midst of the changes underway, another very essential factor needs to be faced. A factor that will provide balance, stability and unity as God’s kingdom rule penetrates the seats of power of this world. A key factor to those called as nation-changers, but also requisite to seeing the Body evolve into the mature, functioning supportive type of unity spoken of in Ephesians 4:16.

This factor is identity. It is the identity that only comes when we genuinely know who we are in-the-Lord. When we know who we are in-the-Lord not only as individual believers, but corporately as the Body of Christ, the Body of Messiah.

This truth bears uniquely on our grasp of the kingdom perspective and the response required to change nations. It becomes foundational to releasing the power of God in accordance with the big picture strategies needed for these times we have entered: times that are proving to be both times of peril and times of opportunity.

TRUE IDENTITY
In John 8 Jesus was teaching in the temple and was being challenged by a group of self-satisfied religious hypocrites, committed to the traditions of men. They were challenging His identity, but He turned it around to uncovering their lack of identity. These Pharisees told Jesus that they were “Abraham’s descendents,” but Jesus revealed to them that their identity was misplaced and until they recognized their identity “in-God,” they in fact had no identity. Without God their traditions and precepts only left them bound in sin. Jesus uncovered to them the only gateway to identity --- something that all but a handful had lost since the fall of man --- when he said, “IF you continue in My word, then you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” (John 8:32) He concluded his interchange with these religious leaders with the truth that “whom the Son has set free shall be free indeed.” (John 8:36)

The world is searching for identity. Some are coming closer than others. George Melloan in a recent Wall Street Journal column (12/23/03) wrote about identity:
“The expression ‘identity politics’ has crept into the language to describe political messages designed to appeal to voters who find their identities primarily as members of a certain group, such as government employees or African-Americans. It is often used in a pejorative sense, and indeed is something to be feared when demagogues try to pit one group against another. The ardent nationalism that sparked two world wars or the ‘ethnic cleansing’ of more recent vintage are examples. But all humans have, and need, a sense of identity; and so, in a sense, all politics is ‘identity’ politics. That's why political freedom is such a positive force in the world.”

Mr. Melloan is right in his statement that “all humans need a sense of identity.” But it’s not our politics that defines who we are. Nor is it our heritage, as the Pharisees wanted to establish to Jesus. And I’m not knocking the importance of either. Common purpose and heritage do play a role in our bigger picture corporate identities. But by no means are they the pivot points.

The bottom line is that it all begins and ends with the Lord and the truth of His word. We will never know who we are or what we are genuinely here for --- our destiny; until we go through the Penuel experience. This was Jacob’s experience in wrestling with the angel of Lord --- that resulted in his name-change to Israel. It was the Jacob’s pivotal encounter in truly facing God and himself --- and embracing his true identity and destiny.

At the core of this issue of our identity being uniquely tied to God is overcoming the undermining effect of this unholy premise that separates the sacred from the secular. God never intended it that way. But until we bridge this gap between the sacred and the secular; between the ministry and laity; we will never be able to embrace God’s kingdom rule --- and our callings as He intended --- and we are constrained to operate as spiritual schizophrenics.

AN INTEGRATED IDENTITY
Spiritual schizophrenics. It is the traditions of men that hold to this unbiblical concept of the sacred and secular. Among God’s throne-room initiatives, one of the most hated and resisted by Satan, is the Ephesians 4 premise of “perfecting the saints for the work of the ministry.” And the non-biblical concept of the laity, along with the concepts of the sacred versus the secular (which coincides with the separation of Church and state) are among the most diabolical strategies the devil has ever penetrated the Church with. The Church will never be whole, nor will it see the full power of God released until we come into a time in which the saints are being perfected and mobilized.

To be perfected and mobilized to be in the world, but not of the world. Jesus’ great high-priestly prayer in John 17 asked that we not be taken out of the world, but that we be protected from the clutches of the evil one --- and that we be one. This will involve a major change in mind-set and modus operandi of church organization and goals. It’s about identity. It’s about dominion. And it is about God’s kingdom --- community building and changing nations.

There are segments of the Church with a keen understanding of its “identity” on an individual level --- knowing who we are “in Jesus.” The apostle Paul punctuates this truth in Colossians 2:10 in saying “in Him you have been made complete.” But where the Church falls short, is in understanding its identity on a corporate level for the Body. The result is a fractionalized, anemic and whiplashed Body.

We will never fulfill our destiny, either individually or corporately, until we get the identity thing right --- on both levels. Our identity incorporates the sphere of our calling and the authority to complete it. And when our individual identities are rightly and wisely connected to the big-picture and the elements of our genuine corporate identities, then the results are integrated, multiplied and operating in support between the individual and corporate. And when that happens, God’s kingdom begins manifesting and the awesome power of God spoken of in Isaiah 59 is released.

Proverbs 16 provides a passage that undergirds our individual identities, that is also tied to our corporate identities. It says that “he who rules his own spirit is mightier than he who takes a city.” As a former combat officer, that speaks to me. This scripture doesn’t say that we won’t take the city. It says that there is something far more powerful operating, when a man rules his own spirit than that which is operating when a military commander takes a city. That’s the commitment and discipline required to operate under God’s kingdom rule on an individual level. But it is also the transition the Body needs to make to embrace God’s kingdom rule on a corporate level. Knowing who we are as individuals, in-Christ; but also knowing and being released into who we are as a Body --- in-Christ. That’s the integration of our identity in Him. It’s John 17. And it will incorporate service and sacrifice as the integration takes place, and the Lord anoints us to “take the city.”

The traditions of men and the religious spirit driving these “traditions” resists the change involved in this revelation of our identity in God --- on both an individual level, as well as the corporate Body level. It resisted the impact of the miracle-working, tent revivals of the late forties; it resisted the incredible Holy Spirit revival of the late sixties and seventies; as well as it resisting the rise of the Messianic Jewish movement in that same time frame. And before us is God’s move in the marketplace --- which will bring the issue of our identity in-God into the community, business, political and national arenas.

This present move of God is penetrating the fabric of society. And it will also bring into fullness a dimension of our corporate Body identity needed to bridge the gap between Jew and Gentile.

The Messianic Jewish movement has served to define the true identity of being Jewish for the Jewish community. The Pharisees thought their identity was tied to their heritage. To a degree they were right. Judas was convinced his identity was tied to his politics to force the issue of restoring God’s kingdom. But both of these premises were and are incomplete --- and can be stumbling blocks to operating according to God’s kingdom rule. Jewish identity is uniquely tied to God. And before there is a restoration of His kingdom, the identity issue has to be settled.

But there is a similar identity issue --- between Jew and Gentile --- for the Church. The Church has been grafted into the olive tree --- and must address the identity issue of being a branch in this tree. This big picture identity premise for believers --- both Jewish and Gentile believers --- is pivotal to “all Israel being saved.” The secular Jewish community has a far better grasp of the essential kingdom rule elements of covenant and community than the Christian community. In essence, there is a large-scale issue of identity in need of being addressed in each camp. Very few segments of Christendom have a genuine grasp of the Hebraic roots to our faith. These truths will define not only issues of our corporate identity as the Church, but of our function, as we face this clash of civilizations before us.

We will never understand who we are until we understand Whose we are and what we are here for. And we will never understand what we are here for until we understand our calling --- individually and corporately.

Dominion and kingdom and identity. It’s the big picture. And it is where we need to be giving primary focus. Paul wrote the Corinthians and said, “After that comes the end, when He delivers over the kingdom to God the Father after rendering inoperative and abolishing every [other] rule and every authority and power.” (1 Cor 15:24)

Let it be so Lord. Let it be so. Let the knowledge of Your glory and majesty cover the earth O Lord. Let it be so.

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2003 Copyright Morris Ruddick
info@strategic-initiatives.org

Reproduction is prohibited unless specific permission is given by a SIGN advisor.

SIGN is a team of prophetic intercessors committed to targeting strategic-level issues impacting the Body on a global basis. For more information check: www.strategicintercession.org
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