February 2017 Partner Letter

The congregation at Moscow Good News Church is nearing the end of our annual twenty-one day time of fasting and prayer. As always, this is a time a great reflection, great expectations and a lot of prayers ascending to the Father God.

Have you ever wondered why God requires us to lift our voices and ask of Him and inquire of Him? Why would an all-powerful God need our prayers? Doesn’t Jesus, the Head of the Church, have the authority on earth to do WHATEVER He wants to do?

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church said this, “It seems that God is limited by our prayer life. He can do nothing for humanity unless someone asks Him to do it.”

Really, how could this be true—God is limited?  We can find some answers in the first chapter of Genesis. Here we see God made man in His image and likeness and gave him dominion over the earth.

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

God placed Adam in a position of ruling and having dominion over this natural world. But Adam committed high treason against God by disobeying Him and eating of the tree that was forbidden to eat from and sold out to Satan.

Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; “but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'” Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?” So he said, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.” And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?

Of course, Adam didn’t have a moral right to disobey God, but he had a legal right. God had given him dominion and rule over the earth.

The scripture tells us that after Adam disobeyed God Satan became the god of this world and as a result of Adam’s disobedience, he became the ruler of this fallen world system.

II Corinthians 4:3-4
But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them. 

Ephesians 6:12
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

I John 5:19
We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.

Until Adam’s lease runs out the devil has a legal right to rule the world systems. But praise God it’s getting very close to the time when his grip will be removed.

Because Adam, who was a man, sold us out to Satan justice required that a Man pay the price of the sin of mankind. God, who is a spirit being, didn’t have a legal right to take the rule of the earth from Satan because Adam had given Satan the legal right to it.

Remember Satan saying to Jesus, “All the kingdoms of the world I’ll give to you if you will just bow down to me”  (Matthew 4:8-9). If Satan didn’t have the rule over the world, Jesus would have confronted him with this lie. This conversation with Satan occurred in the dessert while Jesus was fasting and praying forty days and nights. And the Bible said the devil tempted Him. Jesus was tempted by the devil.  He was enticed when the devil said he would give Him all the kingdoms of the world. Jesus knew they were his to give.

And that’s why God, in His infinite mercy, sent Jesus to be born as a Man—to redeem us back from the control of Satan.  Jesus is God, but according to Philippians 2:7, “…but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.” Jesus put aside his power as God and was born of a woman just like us.  It was the man Christ Jesus that defeated Satan and released us from the clutches of darkness.

Because of Adam’s sin, Satan has a legal right to rule the earth until Adam’s lease runs out. That means God cannot just push him out before his time. Our God is a just God and He keeps His own rules. That’s why we needed for Jesus to come to the earth to take back the authority that Adam gave away.

After Jesus was raised from the dead, He took the authority He secured from Satan and gave that authority to His Body, the Church. Now man can pray and ask God in faith, according to His will, giving God a legal right to intervene and perform His will on the earth.

Matthew 28:18-19
And Jesus came 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 of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 16:19
And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

We see here Jesus is giving us a key—whatsoever you bind on earth, the act occurring first in the earth, will be bound in heaven.  Another translation says, whatever you prohibit on earth will be prohibited in heaven.

Through the delegated authority Jesus gave to us, we can pray (ask, decree, declare) according to the will God—which is the Word of God, giving the Father legal access to perform His will in the earth!

Here we see a powerful truth about prayer and the vital importance of our prayers. God chose to limit Himself through our prayers!

This truth should be quite sobering to us as Christians and should provoke us to a greater commitment to work with God in prayer. Our prayers give God something to work with in the earth. The prayers of God’s people are not merely an obligatory religious act to a God we hope is listening. Our prayers are essential to the will and plan of God being brought to the earth! What a privilege we have as children of God!

Will you let your voice be heard on high today? Will you pray and release the will and plan of God for your life, for your family, for our country and all men? For it seems God can do nothing for humanity unless someone asks Him to do it…

We would like to pray for you. Please contact us with your needs and we will pray His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

We also want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your love and your prayers and your faithful financial support to this God-given work we have carried out for more than twelve years in the heart of the former Soviet Union.  Thank you and may God bless you in great measure.  For He is the God of abundance!

We really do love and care about you,
Bob and Katherine Dickerson