When Spiritual Corruption Defiles the Land

Now there was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year; and David inquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, “It is because of Saul and his bloodthirsty house, because he killed the Gibeonites.” (2 Samuel 21:1)

Evil corrupts the land. Not necessarily by physical pollution — Saul’s murder of the Gibeonites did not particularly damage the natural environment — but by marring the underlying reality of the land. The natural realm arises from the spiritual, for the heavens and the earth were created by God, who is Spirit.

Spiritual defilement has catastrophic effects on the ecosphere. We see this especially in Genesis 3, when Adam rebelled against God, disconnecting from the divine source. Because man was created from the earth to have dominion over it, when Adam sinned, the earth was corrupted (Genesis 3:17-19). That is why Paul said that all creation groans, waiting for the sons of God to be revealed (Romans 8:18-23). The redemption of man means healing for the earth itself.

The pattern of spiritual corruption defiling the land is repeated often in the Bible:

• In the generation after Adam, Cain slew Abel, and the blood of Abel cried out from the ground (Genesis 4:10).
• Sexual immorality — fornications, adulteries, homosexuality, bestiality — defiles the lands (Leviticus 18:24-25).
• Bloodshed defiles the ground (Numbers 35:34-35).
• Idolatry, the worship of false gods, defiles the land (Jeremiah 16:17-18).
• Breaking the laws of God devours the earth with curse (Isaiah 24:4-6).
• In addition to bloodshed and adultery, lying and speaking evil of others causes the land to mourn (Hosea 4:1-3).

Famine came on the land of Israel for three years in a row. David sought the word of the Lord about this and discovered it was because of Saul’s murderous heart and bloodthirsty ways. A restitution was required, not to God but to the Gibeonites. When David complied, the famine passed and the land was healed. For the generation after David, and forward, God made this promise:

If My people, who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)

The redemption of humanity and the healing of the land is ultimately based upon Jesus, “Mediator of the new covenant” and the “blood of sprinkling that speaks better things that that of Abel” (Hebrews 12:24). The blood of Abel decried defilement. The blood of Jesus declares healing, not just for us, but also for the land.

Spiritual defilement corrupts the land, but repentance (turning to God) and righteousness (doing things God’s way) brings restoration.

(See also Why Does the Land Mourn, Alienated from the Land and Healing a Defiled Land.)

God’s Word in Your Mouth

I have put My words in your mouth,
and covered you in the shadow My hand,
in order to plant the heavens,
to found the earth,
and to say to Zion, “You are My people.”

(Isaiah 51:16 HCSB)

God has put His words in our mouths. Not just in our hearts, so that we may know them, but in our mouths, so that we may speak them. Why? In order to plant the heavens and lay the foundation of earth. In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, He spoke it all into existence by His words. The author of Hebrews reminds us, “By faith, we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible” (Hebrews 11:3).

Just as God originally created heaven and earth by His words, He has put His words in our mouths in order to again establish the heavens and give foundation to the earth. For the whole world fell under a curse when Adam rebelled against God, disconnecting from the life of God. Since man was given dominion over the world, when Adam lost the life and the glory of God, the whole world was plunged into darkness and decay. In Jesus Christ, the “Second Adam,” there is not only redemption for mankind, but restoration for all creation. That is why Paul says,

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. (Romans 8:18-22)

God puts His words in our mouths so that we may be revealed as the “sons of God.” That is why Jesus came: “But as many as received Him [Jesus], to them He gave the right to become the children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12). That is also why God gives us His Spirit: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God” (Romans 8:14).

What are the words that establish heaven and earth? Every promise of God. As we believe them in our hearts and speak them with mouths, we are bringing divine transformation into the world. In this way we exercise dominion and “subdue” the earth, that is, bring it into line with the purpose of God, which is what God created for us to do (Genesis 1:26-28).

Jesus taught us to pray, “Your kingdom, come. Your will, be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). Whenever we see things on earth that are out of joint with the will of God in heaven, we have the authority to bring it into alignment by the words of our prayer: “Kingdom of God, come here into this place. Will of God, be done in this place just as it is being done in heaven.”

He also taught us this: “Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 18:18). The grammatical tense of the Greek text actually means that whatever we bind or loose on earth will have already been bound or loosed in heaven. In other words, by what we bind and loose, we are bringing earth into alignment with heaven.

Jesus continued: “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven” (Matthew 18:19). When we, as disciples of Jesus, come into agreement on earth about something, it will be done for us from heaven — our Father will see to it. Again, it is bringing earth into alignment with heaven.

Praying in this way and with this authority not only establishes heaven and earth, it establishes heaven on earth. For that is God’s plan, for heaven and earth to joined together as one, forever.

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” (Revelation 21:1-5)

These are the words God puts in our mouths and this is what they are for.

What are the words you are speaking with your mouth? Are they words that establish heaven on earth?

For more about the dynamics of faith and the power of God’s words, see God’s Word in Your Mouth: Changing Your World Through Faith.

Praise, Increase and the Theory of Entanglement

Let the peoples praise You, O God;
Let all the peoples praise You.
Then the earth shall yield her increase.

(Psalm 67:4-5)

In Quantum Physics there is a theory called Entanglement, which says that two particles that have ever been connected are so related to one another that, even if they are separated on opposite sides of the universe, the state of one affects the state of the other. Consider, then, the significance of Genesis 2:7 in the light of that theory: “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground.”

The life of man is found in the breath of God. He became of living being when God breathed the breath of life into his nostrils (Genesis 2:7). But the body of man is inextricably bound with the material of the universe. That is why, when Adam disconnected from the life of God through his rebellion, it affected the whole planet: “Cursed is the ground for your sake [i.e., because of you] … for out of it you were taken” (Genesis 3:17, 19).

Just as all creation was affected by the fall of man, so all creation finds restoration in the redemption of man.

For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope, because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. (Romans 8:19-22)

This brings out the significance of the psalm: “Let all the peoples praise You. Then the earth shall yield her increase.” When the nations and peoples of the earth release praise to God, it is not just the expression of redeemed humanity, it also brings forth fruitfulness from the dust of the ground with which we are so connected. The earth yields her increase because of our praise.

When we are out of joint with God through rebellion, ingratitude and unbelief, the whole earth is out of joint, too. But when we return to God in faith and praise, divine order is reestablished in the earth because we are so entangled with the stuff of creation. In this manner, therefore, pray: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom, come. Your will, be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9-10).

(For some amazing discussion about Entanglement, check out these video clips: Are We All Connected? and Quantum Entanglement and the Power of Intention.)

The Secret, the Bible, and the Answer

An unexpected best-seller has recently been making the rounds, promoted as the path to health, wealth and happiness. It is called The Secret and is a compilation, by Rhonda Byrne, of motivational thoughts of people from various walks of life. It is not a new teaching, but a recycled one, a distillation of the “New Thought” philosophy movement from the late 1800’s. Essentially, “the secret” is what is known as the “law of attraction,” that “like attracts like” and that we tend to attract to ourselves whatever we focus ourselves on. Focus on poverty and sickness, for example, and that is what you’ll end up with. Focus on wealth and health, and happiness, and they shall be yours.

There is an underlying value to the book that is true: The world was created to respond to us. The Bible teaches us that the world was framed by the Word of God (Hebrews 11:3), and we were created in the image of God, to be like God, and to subdue the earth and exercise dominion over it (Genesis 1:26-28). Also, experiments in quantum physics demonstrate that the world does indeed respond to the very act of how we observe it.

What is left out, however, is the truth that sin has marred both mankind and the world. Remember that there were these two trees in the Garden of Eden: The Tree of Life, from which man could eat feely, and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, which was forbidden. Adam and Eve rebelled against God, ate from the forbidden tree, and disconnected from the life of God. The result is that the world was plunged under a curse. That is still the problem today.

The answer, however, is found in Jesus Christ, who sets us free from the penalty and power of sin. The apostle Paul tells us that all of creation is waiting for us to manifest this salvation:

For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. (Romans 8:19-21)

Just as the fall of man negatively affected creation, so the redemption of man also brings with it the restoration of creation.

But instead of eating from the Tree of Life and operating from the life of God, the life of the Spirit found in Jesus Christ, man keeps eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, trying to deal with good and evil apart from God. That is what The Secret ends up doing: It tries to deal with good and evil apart from the life of God and the power of the Holy Spirit — and that ultimately leads to death.

The Secret promotes positive thinking, which is not necessarily bad, just inadequate. Consider what Jesus had to say about changing the world:

So Jesus answered and said to them, "Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. (Mark 11:22-24)

It begins with faith in God. It is not enough just to imagine mountains moving, or even to speak to them; we must also believe in our heart, and the faith by which we believe in our heart has everything to do with faith in God. Indeed, it is a faith that comes from God. The Bible says that “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17).

The Secret is not about the kind of faith that comes by hearing the Word of God, but merely about the power of human intention. Human intention can be very powerful, but when it is not directed by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, it can also be very destructive.

From a Christian point of view, the problem I have with The Secret is that it is not founded on the Word of God, by which the world itself was created, and by which faith comes. However, the current interest in The Secret gives us an opportunity similar to the one Paul had at Mars Hill. The Athenians had a temple to the “unknown God.” But Paul took that as an opportunity to tell them about this unknown God, and he preached Jesus to them (Acts 17:22-23).

Likewise, I do think that the people cited in The Secret have learned some things about how God's creation works, though they have missed some crucial aspects which are revealed to us in the Scriptures. But the things that they have learned presents a common ground for understanding, and a “Mars Hill” opportunity to bring the teaching of Scripture and especially the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Though man was created to subdue the earth and exercise dominion over it, the likeness of God in us was marred by Adam's sin in the Garden. But Jesus Christ, the Second Adam, we have redemption, so that we may be “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). In other words, what was lost in Adam is restored to us in Jesus Christ, and all creation is waiting for that to be revealed in the grown-up children of God (Romans 8:19-22).

THAT is the essential key, which The Secret lacks.

Divine Beings

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.” (Genesis 1:26-28)

The amazing truth about mankind is that, from the very beginning, we were created as divine beings — to be like God. That is what the Scripture means which it says, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.” That is such a mind-blower that even many Christians have a difficult time believing what it says. But we see this truth consistently through the Bible.

In Psalm 82:1, for example, we see calling together the judges of the earth to rebuke them for failing so miserably in their duties. “God stands in the congregation of the mighty; He judges among the gods.” The Hebrew word for “gods” is elohim, usually translated as a reference to God Himself. But from the context, we see that it is here talking about men, calling them “gods.”We see it again in verse 6: “I said, ‘You are gods,’ and all of you are children of the Most High.”

Was that a slip-up on the part of the psalm writer? Maybe some sort of typographical error? No, not at all. Writing by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the psalmist really meant to refer to them as gods. These were human beings whom God expected to operate in a divine capacity, but He would not have done so had He not created man to be like Him.

The Lord Jesus references this passage in John 10:34-36:

Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods”’? If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?”

Jesus did not dispute this verse, or the fact that God spoke to men and said, “You are gods.” Rather, He confirmed it! He used it as a point to talk about His own divinity: If God said to men, “You are gods,” then why should the Jewish leaders get so bent when Jesus claimed to be the Son of God?

Now, we understand from other Scriptures that Jesus is uniquely the Son of God, that is, in such a way that is not true of anyone else (see John 3:16, for example). That is because He is the eternal Word of God who took on human flesh (John 1:1-18). Jesus is God in human flesh, and He did not think it took anything away from Him for men to be called “gods.” He was not offended by it one bit; He affirmed it.

God created man to be like Himself, a divine class of being. But where God is infinite in all His divine attributes, man finite in his god-likeness. God exists of Himself, but man is completely dependent upon God for his existence. God’s divinity is absolute; man’s divinity is derivative from God.

From Genesis 3, we know that Adam rebelled against God, believing the promise of the devil that he could be a god apart from Almighty God. But in that day, man died, having disconnected himself from the very source of his divine existence. That is why Jesus came, to destroy the works of the devil and reconcile man back to the Father. His redemptive work makes it possible for us to take up, once again, the divine nature God intended us to have from the beginning.

Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. (2 Peter 1:2-4)

To those who have received the Lord Jesus Christ, the divine power of God has restored everything required for life and god-likeness, so that we might be “partakers of the divine nature.”

Throughout the New Testament, those who receive Jesus are called “sons of God,” and “children of God.” “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12). “Beloved, now we are children of God” (1 John 3:2). “For as many as are lead by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God” (Romans 8:14).

What does it mean to be “children of God” and to partake of the divine nature? It is the law of reproduction:

• A dog has puppies. The puppies partake of the canine nature of the parents. They are a canine class of being.
• A sheep has lambs. The lambs partake of the ovine nature of the parents. They are an ovine class of being.
• A pig has piglets. The piglets partake of the porcine nature of the parents. They are a porcine class of being.
• A bear has cubs. The cubs partake of the ursine nature of the parents. They are an ursine class of being.

All this is how God planned it from the beginning — everything reproduces after its kind. That means that a dog does not have pups that are not canines, and a cat does not have kittens that are not felines.

What does it means, then, that we are called “sons of God,” and “children of God?” It means that we are beings like Him, we partake of His divine nature. We are a divine class of being — created by God to be so; redeemed by Jesus Christ to be so.

Why is this important? Because it is who we are in Jesus Christ. Not only that, but all of creation is waiting for us to get this revelation. For when Adam sinned, he brought the world under a curse. But in Jesus Christ, we have redemption, not only for ourselves, but for the creation as well.

For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. (Romans 8:19-22)

You and I were created as diving beings. Though we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), the Lord Jesus has come to reconnect us to Father God, so that we may once again partake of the divine nature, to fellowship with God and do His will upon the earth. All of creation is waiting for you and me to get this revelation so that it, too, can be redeemed.

Even the Waters Respond

And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the deep. (Genesis 1:2)

The Hebrew word for “hovering,” means to flutter, to move, even to brood over, as a hen broods over her eggs to hatch them, or over her chicks to warm and develop them. The Holy Spirit was brooding over the face of the deep, or as the King James Version has it, the “face of the waters.” Adam Clarke, in his Bible commentary, said that it signifies the communicating of a vital, prolific principle to the water. Something was being imparted and instilled which has very much to do with life, for water is vital for life.

Water covers about three quarters of the face of the earth, but on the very first day, it covered the world completely. When the Spirit of God moved over the face of the waters, it was imparting something to the whole earth.

Water is an excellent conductor of energy, and ultimately, energy is information — mind stuff. Dr. Masaru Emoto, author of the New York Times Bestseller, The Hidden Messages of Water, has conducted some very interesting experiments on the capacity of water to conduct information. He has taken water samples from many sources throughout the world, frozen droplets from them and photographed the resultant crystals. What he has discovered is nothing short of amazing.

Samples of tap water from various cities around the world generally do not form water crystals very well because they are not very pure; but water drawn from various freshwater sources produces some beautiful crystals. Perhaps that in itself is not very surprising, but what Dr. Emoto did next is: he exposed the water to various kinds of music and then measured the results. Water exposed to music by Beethoven, Mozart and Chopin produced distinct and well-formed crystals; water exposed to heavy-metal rock music produced fragmented, malformed crystals.

Next, Dr. Emoto exposed the water to various types of words. But these were not spoken words; rather, they were written words taped to bottles of water. Again, the results were amazing: When the water was exposed to words of gratitude, “Thank you,” in various languages, it produced beautiful, well-formed crystals. But when it was exposed to the word “Fool,” the results were very similar to the water exposed to the heavy-metal rock music: no crystals formed. It doesn’t make sense for water to be able to “read” words, but it does appear to somehow be able to sense and respond to human intention and emotion expressed with words. Other words, both positive and negative in nature, produced corresponding results.

Water samples were also exposed to various photographs, and the crystals that formed seemed to respond accordingly. This should probably come as no surprise, seeing how the water responded to music — light waves and sound waves are all part of the same electromagnetic spectrum.

There were also some interesting experiments involving before and after images of water samples from natural sources that had been prayed over. Before prayer was offered, the water samples produced poorly-formed crystals or no crystals at all. After prayer, the water samples produce beautiful, well-formed crystals. (You can also view photographs of many of these water droplet crystals here.)

In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, and the water enveloped the whole planet, the Holy Spirit brooded and imparted. The Bible also says that God framed the world by His words (Hebrews 11:3). Man, who was created in the image and likeness of God, and into whom God puffed His own breath, was given the charge to subdue the earth, that is, to bring it into divine order (Genesis 1:26-29). Should it come as a surprise, then, to find that water, which is so much a part of our existence, readily responds to human words and spirit?

The Stuff of the World is Mind-Stuff

The stuff of the world is mind-stuff.

— Sir Arthur Eddington

The reality of the world is not what it really seems to the naked eye. Those things which seem so solid to us, when viewed at the atomic and subatomic level, are actually the whirling of tiny charged particles — energy. The amazing relationship between energy and matter was discovered by Albert Einstein and stated in his famous formula E=mc². Arthur Eddington, an astrophysicist of the early twentieth century, was instrumental in announcing Einstein’s general theory of relativity to the English-speaking world.

Recognizing that the same human mind that perceives the concreteness of material things can also understand the abstractness of physical reality at the subatomic level, that can comprehend the world in mathematical equations such as Einstein’s, Eddington came to the conclusion that “the stuff of the world is mind-stuff.”

Sir James Jeans, a contemporary of Eddington, basically agreed with him, except he thought that this mind-stuff was more mathematical in nature. He concluded that the universe is “the thought of a mathematical thinker.”

We live in a world of “mind-stuff” that can be understood by language and logic, and has such mathematical elegance that it points us to a world created by a mind — the Mind of God.

In biology, we are learning more and more that DNA really is a genetic code, a language that conveys information and lays out the blueprint for every form of life, even down to the tiniest micro-organism. The information stored in your DNA is so rich and vast, if it could be transcribed in book form, it would fill up many, many volumes. And that DNA instructs each cell in your body, guiding its construction and regulating its function. Truly, it is mind-stuff.

The stuff of the world is mind-stuff. The author of the book of Hebrews understood this almost two thousand years ago when he said, “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible” (Hebrews 11:3).

Commanding All Creation

Praise the LORD!

(Psalm 148:1)

Here the psalm writer is seen as the worship leader for all Creation. That is why we were made, to subdue all creation and bring it into the proper and divine order, so that it may always be to the praise of His glory. To us has been given the authority and privilege — and the responsibility — to command all of heaven and earth to praise the LORD.

Praise the LORD from the heavens;
Praise Him in the heights!
Praise Him, all His angels;
Praise Him, all His hosts!
Praise Him, sun and moon;
Praise Him, all you stars of light!
Praise Him, you heavens above the heavens,
And you waters above the heavens!

(vv. 1-4)

Every sphere and realm of heaven, even the highest heavens, and all their inhabitants, are included — the angels and all the hosts of God (for He is called Yahweh Sabaoth, the “LORD of Hosts”), as well as the sun, moon and stars of the physical universe.

Quantum theory suggests that subatomic particles, once they have been joined, even if they should be separated by the entire universe, will react identically. This means that how one of those particles responds to stimuli on earth, the other will respond in the exact same way — even though it may be on the other side of the universe!

Now, the stuff of our bodies is the stuff of the earth, and the stuff of the earth is the same stuff as the rest of the physical realm. In other words, our bodies are joined together with all of the natural creation. When we give praise to God, will that not resonate throughout all the heavens? Indeed, this psalm shows us that we have authority to command all of the heavens to release their praise to Yahweh.

Praise the LORD from the earth,
You great sea creatures and all the depths;
Fire and hail, snow and clouds;
Stormy wind, fulfilling His word;
Mountains and all hills;
Fruitful trees and all cedars;
Beasts and all cattle;
Creeping things and flying fowl;
Kings of the earth and all peoples;
Princes and all judges of the earth;
Both young men and maidens;
Old men and children.

(vv. 7-12)

Jesus commanded the wind and the waves to be still and at peace, and they obeyed. He brought them into the divine order, and they became a glory to God. He commanded the fig tree and it obeyed Him (though in that instance He used it as a sign of judgment on the unbelieving Jewish leaders), and it revealed His divine glory. He taught the disciples to speak to the sycamore tree, the mountain, and whatever stood in the way of the glory of God being made known. He taught us all to command the will of God to be done on earth just as it is being done in heaven. It is all about His kingdom coming and His glory manifesting everywhere.

We have been given this authority over all beasts, all sea creatures, all the birds and all creeping things. And to us has been given the privilege and responsibility of calling all peoples — even kings and princes — to praise the name of the LORD. His name alone is to be given the highest praise, for it is greater than all the heavens and earth put together.

The LORD has lifted up and enabled His people, whom He has brought near to Himself, so that we may bring all honor and glory to Him (v. 14). He created us in His own likeness, and when we fell into sin, restored us to be partakers of His divine nature, so that we may command the praises of heaven and earth to be released unto Him. All creation waits in eager anticipation for this to be revealed through us.

Healing a Defiled Land

The Law and the Prophets show us a number of things that defile (corrupt, pollute and profane) the land, that bring curse, destruction and fruitlessness upon it.

Sexual Immorality
Leviticus 18 lists various forms of sexual immorality: fornications, adulteries, homosexuality, and bestiality. Then it says,

Do not defile yourselves with any of these things; for by all these the nations are defiled, which I am casting out before you. For the land is defiled; therefore I visit the punishment of its iniquity upon it, and the land vomits out its inhabitants. (Leviticus 18:24-25)

Bloodshed

So you shall not pollute the land where you are; for blood defiles the land, and no atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it. Therefore do not defile the land which you inhabit, in the midst of which I dwell; for I the LORD dwell among the children of Israel. (Numbers 35:34-35)

Idolatry

For my eyes are on all their was; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity hidden from My eyes. And first I will repay double for their iniquity and their sin, because they have defiled My land; they have filled My inheritance with the carcasses of their detestable and abominable idols. (Jeremiah 16:17-18)

The Broken Covenant

The earth mourns and fades away,
The world languishes and fades away;
The haughty people of the earth languish.
The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants,
Because they have transgressed the laws,
Changed the ordinance,
Broken the everlasting covenant.
Therefore the curse has devoured the earth,
And those who dwell in it are desolate.

(Isaiah 24:4-6)

The laws, ordinances and covenant refers not only to the law of God revealed through Moses, but even the laws written on the conscience of those who did not have the Law of Moses. As Paul said,

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, ad their foolish hearts were darkened. (Romans 1:18-21)

For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law. For not the hearers of the law are just I the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified. For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them. (Romans 2:12-15)

Healing the Land
But God has never left the world without a way of redemption. In 2 Chronicles, as Solomon dedicates the Temple to Him, the LORD said,

When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people, who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)

For the land to be healed, there must be repentance and confession, renouncing and turning away from sin and back to God, seeking His face. One generation may even need to confess the sins of their fathers, agreeing with God that the evildoing of the previous generations should never have been done. If the fathers failed to renounce those things, then the sons may have to do it for them, canceling the invitation given to demonic entities and influences. When the conditions of this promise are met, then God will hear, forgive and heal the land and its inhabitants.

This forgiveness and healing is based on the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, who took our sins upon Himself so that, through faith in Him, we can be reconciled with God. His blood atones for all the things that defile the land, but it must be applied by faith. It is healing both for us and the land, and all creation waits for this revelation.

Alienated from the Land

So now you are cursed from the earth. (Genesis 4:11)

The earth was framed by the Word of God and created to respond to man, who was made in the likeness of God. But when Adam rebelled against God in the Garden of Eden, he disconnected himself from the life and glory of God and brought the world under a curse:

Cursed is the ground for you sake [i.e., because of you];
In toil you shall eat of it
All the days of your life.
Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,
And you shall eat the herb of the field.
In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread,
Till you return to the ground
For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return.

(Genesis 3:17-19)

Both man and the planet were alienated from the divine order of God.

In Genesis 4, we read that Cain, out of anger and jealousy, killed his brother Abel. God comes to Cain and asks, “Where is Abel your brother?” Abel answers, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” Then God says,

What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth. (Genesis 4:10-12)

First, notice that Abel’s blood has a voice — it cried out! Then notice that the earth “opened its mouth” to receive Abel’s blood. The Hebrew word for “mouth” here is peh. It is used for consuming (e.g., drinking), but it is also used for speaking. The ground, which opened its mouth to receive Abel’s blood, also released the voice of that blood as it cried out to God for justice.

The ground was not an accomplice to Cain’s murderous act, but became a refuge for the blood of Abel, releasing its cry to God. The earth was repulsed by Cain’s evil deed, and Cain was alienated from it. The result was that the ground would no longer yield its strength to Cain, but Cain would become a wanderer with no place of welcome on the earth.

What we do affects the whole earth, because we were formed from the dust of the ground. Our spirits come from God, but our bodies are of the earth. We are connected to it, united with it. Quantum mechanics shows that particles that have been joined, even though they be separated across the universe, when something happens to one of them it also affects the other. When our hearts are evil, the whole world suffers.

How long will the land mourn,
And the herbs of every field wither?
The beasts and birds are consumed,
For the wickedness of those who dwell there.

(Jeremiah 12:4)

But there is another blood that was spilled on the ground, and it also cries out to God.

For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore … but you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things that that of Abel. (Hebrews 12:18-19, 22-24)

The blood of Abel cried out from the ground against Cain. The blood of Jesus cries out on our behalf, though we, like Cain, were covered with sin. And in that is redemption. Jesus took our sins upon Himself and judged them at the Cross, so that we might be reconciled to Father God and once again know His blessing and bring His order back into the earth. All of creation is groaning and laboring with birth pangs, eagerly waiting for this manifestation.

Why Does the Land Mourn?

Hear the word of the LORD,
You children of Israel,
For the LORD brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land.
“There is no truth or mercy
Or knowledge of God in the land.
By swearing and lying,
Killing and stealing and committing adultery,
They break all restraint,
With bloodshed upon bloodshed,
Therefore the land will mourn;
And everyone who dwells there will waste away
With the beasts of the field
And the birds of the air;
Even the fish of the sea will be taken away.”

(Hosea 4:1-3)

God created the world to respond to man, His likeness upon the earth. When man, through his rebellion, disconnected from the life of God, the world plunged into chaos. By Adam’s sin, death entered into the world, not just the death of men, but of all the animals — the birds, the beast, and even the fish. Even the land itself suffers. Wherever truth, mercy and knowing God has been replaced in the land by swearing, lying, killing, stealing and adultery, the land itself mourns, for that is not why it was created.

“Swearing” is cursing, speaking evil about people, places or things. Many people go around cursing and damning people, places and things, often using God’s name to do it, and then they wonder why their lives are like hell on earth. The earth, having been created by words, responds to our words. When we speak evil, the earth retches.

We were created to be in the image and likeness of God, even to speak like God and bring the earth into divine order. But when we speak evil, we are taking the name of God, in whose likeness we were created, in vain. And so our words become destructive, not only in the psychological realm, but also in the earth itself.

God gave us the Ten Commandments to instruct us and bless us, to teach us how to dwell in the land in fruitfulness. Notice that the five reasons Hosea lists for the mourning of the land are five of those commandments. When we curse, lie, steal, commit adultery and kill, or honor any of those things, we destroy the land and its fruitfulness. What is more, we will have to give account to God for what we have done to the land, because, ultimately, it belongs to Him. We are merely stewards, and stewards must always give account.

We thank God for sending the Lord Jesus Christ to save us from our sins and restore us to proper relationship with the Father. But we must let that salvation come and work in every area of our lives, even in the words we speak. When cursing, lying, stealing, killing and adultery are dealt with in Jesus Christ, the land will be no longer mourn, but be healed and blessed.

What You Say Can Change the World

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7).

God created the world by words (Hebrews 11:3). Man was created in the image of God, to be like God on the earth (Genesis 1:26-28). When God formed man from the dust of the ground, the job was not yet complete until He puffed the breath of life into his nostrils. Then man became a “living being.” An ancient Jewish commentary says that man became a “speaking spirit.”

We were created with the ability to speak words. It is part of our likeness with God. Words are powerful and creative. They call things into being. The first assignment God gave Adam was to name the animals.

Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. (Genesis 2:19)

This was not some little clerical job God gave Adam to keep him occupied. Adam was not assigning variables for the purpose of cataloging. By naming the animals, Adam was calling forth something in each of them. He was giving them destiny. Whatever Adam decided to call each one, that was its name, and destiny. By the use of words, Adam was giving shape to certain aspects of creation while God observed.

Our words have the capacity to create and shape things in the natural realm. In the book of Job, one of his friends says something very interesting. Though it was misapplied to Job's situation, it is nevertheless very true:

You will have your delight in the Almighty,
And lift up your face to God.
You will make your prayer to Him,
He will hear you,
And you will pay your vows.
You will also declare a thing,
And it will be established for you.

(Job 22:26-8)

“You will also declare a thing and it will be established for you.” Adam declared the names of the animals and established their destinies. Though that ability was marred and misdirected when Adam and Eve sinned against God, it still remained. And now, through faith in Jesus Christ, we are reconciled to our Almighty God and Father, and the capacity of our words can be restored to their proper function. Our words can bring the natural world back into divine order. Jesus showed His disciples how:

Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, “Be removed and be cast into the sea,” and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. (Mark 11:22-23)

When connected with faith, what we say becomes very powerful. They can move mountains and change the world.

What You Ask, Think and Imagine Can Change the World

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21; the NIV has “imagine” instead of “think”)

This power that is at work in us is the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you”(Acts 1:8). This is the same power that raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at the Father's right hand in the the heavenlies, far above all principality, power, might and dominion (Ephesians 1:19-21). This same power has also seated us there in Him (Ephesians 2:6).

At the end of Ephesians 3, we see that this power has something to do with what we ask, think and imagine. Now, notice that, although God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above and beyond all we ask or imagine, He does it according to the power that is at work in us, the power of the Holy Spirit. This means that job is to ask, think and imagine, not according to our own ability, but according to the divine power at work in us. All our asking, thinking and imagining can never exhaust this power, because God is infinite in power. But this power is released by our asking, thinking and imagining because God has established His power to work in us. That is why it says “according to the power that works in us.”

If we do not ask, think and imagine, then this power will not be released. But we must ask, think and imagine in line with God's thoughts, God's will and God's way if we expect to release God's power and get God's results. Otherwise, our thoughts and imaginations will result in chaos. That is what happened at the Tower of Babel:

And they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.”

But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the LORD said, “Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.” (Genesis 11:4-7)

The King James Version has, “Nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined to do.” The Amplified Bible shows it as “Nothing they have imagined they can do will be impossible.” These were ungodly people plotting proud and arrogant things. Because their language was one, when they expressed their imaginations together, it was a very powerful thing. But it did not make for divine order, so God confused their speech and scattered them abroad.

We must ask, think and imagine according to God's thoughts and God's ways.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts higher than your thoughts.

(Isaiah 55:8-9)

This does not mean that we cannot know God ways and thoughts, for in verses 10-11, we see that He sends His Word to earth to accomplish His purposes. Paul put it this way, quoting from Isaiah 64:4, and adding an important New Testament revelation:

But as it is written:

“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. (1 Corinthians 2:9-10)

God reveals these things to us by His Spirit so we can ask, think and imagine according to His thoughts and ways and get divine results, because it is according to the power of His Spirit at work in us that the world gets changed for the good.

The human imagination is very powerful for changing the world. When you ask, think and imagine according to the Word of God, it brings about divine order and blessing — the kingdom of God.

What and How You Observe Changes the World

Behold!

— The Bible, throughout

God often tells us to “behold.” It is an opportunity to engage in a divine vision, for many times, what God is directing us to see is not yet visible in the natural, but only in the spirit. That is how God works, calling “those things which do not exist as though the did” (Romans 4:17). He framed the world with His Word, “so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible” (Hebrews 11:3).

God calls us to see things first in the spirit so that we will be able to manifest them, by faith, in the natural. The apostle Paul said, “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). That is, we are not to go by what our natural eyes see, but by what we see in the spirit, what we see by faith. As many have said, “If you can see the invisible, you can do the impossible.” What we can see by faith, we will see in the natural.

The nature of physical reality is that what and how we observe things changes the world.

The “double-slit” experiments in the field of quantum mechanics theory reveals some very puzzling phenomena. In these experiments, when electrons are fired at a screen through a panel with a single slit in it, the electrons act like particles. When they are fired at the screen through a panel with two slits, the electrons act like waves, not like particles. Even when the electrons are fired one at a time, they eventually reveal a wave pattern. So which are they — waves or particles? Depending upon how you decide to test, they show up as either one or the other.

Now, here is a real kicker. When detectors are set up in the “double-slit”model to see which slit individual electrons go through, they act as particles, even though the double slits would otherwise show a wave pattern. The very act of observation causes the wave function to collapse, with the result that the electron acts like a particle. The head-scratching question is this: How did the electron know that it was being observed?

For more on this unusual quantum behavior, see Double-Slit Experiment at Wikipedia. Or check out this cartoon animation of the experiment which helps guys like me understand.


Perhaps the ancient Celtic Christians were way ahead of quantum science when they prayed:

Bless, O Christ, my face,
Let my face bless everything;
Bless, O Christ, mine eye,
Let mine eye bless all it sees.

Learn how to behold the things of God in the spirit, then what and how you see will bring the world into divine order.

A Heart of Praise Changes the World

Blessed is the man whose strength is in You,
Whose heart is set on pilgrimage.
As they pass through the Valley of Baca,
They make it a spring;
The rain also covers it with pools.

(Psalm 84:5-6)

Creation responds to our praise. When our heart is set on God, it affects wherever we go. The Valley of Baca is a dry and barren place, a place of weeping. That is what the name Baca means, “weeping.” But when we pass through with the things of God in our hearts and His praises on our lips, it causes wells to spring up in the desert places. Barren lands become a place of fruitfulness and the Valley of Weeping becomes a place of blessing.

The one who sets his thoughts and imagination on the Word of God becomes like a tree planted by rivers of water, bearing fruit in season, never withering but always prospering (Psalm 1:1-3). Those who receive the Lord Jesus Christ, out of their innermost beings flow rivers of living water — the Holy Spirit (John 7:37-39). The river of God always flows with abundance to bless the earth (Psalm 65:9-11).

When we give all our praise to God, it causes the earth to yield its increase:

Let the peoples praise You, O god;
Let all the peoples praise You.
Then the earth shall yield her increase;
God, our own God, shall bless us.

(Psalm 67:5-6)

These are not just psychological effects, changes in the soul, but changes in the natural. The spiritual realm is the basis for the natural realm. So when we worship God in spirit and in truth, it effects the natural as well as the spirit and the soul.

Jesus taught us to pray, “Kingdom of God, come! Will of God, be done on earth as it is in heaven!” (Matthew 6:10). When we pray that in faith, the atmosphere of heaven begins to pervade the things of earth, lining them up with the order of God.

Wherever you go, whatever you do, set your heart on God. Give Him praise and watch how it changes your surroundings.

Healing at the Quantum Level

God commissioned mankind to “subdue” the earth, that is, to bring it into order. Experiments in quantum physics indicate that subatomic particles can be ordered by the presence of DNA.

From the Scriptures we know that the spiritual realm is the foundation for the physical realm. For God, who is Spirit, created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1; John 4:24), and that He framed the worlds by His Word (Hebrews 11:3). So whatever happens in the natural, physical realm is based on spiritual realities. But what might that interaction between the spiritual and the natural look like at the quantum level, say, in the matter of healing.

Take, for example, the account of the woman with the “issue of blood” who was healed when she touched the corner of Jesus' garment (Luke 8:43-48). This thing had plagued her for twelve years and the doctors could give her no relief (though they thoroughly depleted her funds). But when she touched Jesus, her body was instantly healed. Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me.”

Now, Jesus was (and is) fully divine, but He was (and is) also fully human, and His body was fully human. The apostle Peter tells us that the healing Jesus did, He did because He was anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power, and God was with Him. So all the miracles He performed, He performed as one who was fully human, but in perfect alignment with God. His flesh, even His DNA contained divine healing power. He actually felt it when it went out of His body; the woman immediately experienced it in her body. And this effect transferred through the material of the garment which, being worn by Jesus, perhaps held some of His DNA in the form of epithelials (thank you, CSI).

So maybe at the quantum level the divinely saturated DNA of Jesus, who was perfectly aligned with the order of God, brought divine order to the chaos that existed in this woman's body and thus healed her. The anointing of the Holy Spirit and divine power interacted with the physical realm, and would have somehow done so even at the most basic level of physics — the quantum level.

We know that this did not happen only once, but happened many times in the ministry of Jesus:

When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret. And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent out into all that surrounding region, brought to Him all who were sick, and begged Him that they might only touch the hem of His garment. And as many as touched it were made perfectly well. (Matthew 14:34-36)

We see the same sort of effect in other places in the Bible:

• Elisha the prophet carried a “double portion” of Elijah's divine anointing. But unlike Elijah, he had no one to pass it on to when he died, so it went with him to the grave. Second Kings 13:20-21 records that when a dead man was lowered into Elisha's grave, and his body touched the prophet's bones, the man came back to life.
• In Acts 5:14-16, we find that the presence of the apostle Peter had such a powerful effect that people “brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them ... and they were all healed.” Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit and yielded to the will of God; perhaps his DNA, soaked with divine power, began to restore order and healing to the bodies of those who were brought near.
• In Acts 19:11-13, people brought the aprons and handkerchiefs that had been used by Paul (which would have been loaded with epithelials) to the sick, and diseases and evil spirits left their bodies.

God created us to bring the world into line with His divine order. Surely our DNA was created to bring glory to His name, even at the quantum level, and maybe even in healing.

---

Healing Scriptures and Prayers
by Jeff Doles

Preview with Amazon’s “Look Inside.”

Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

Even at the Quantum Level

Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. (Genesis 1:27)

To subdue means to bring under subjection and into order. God created us to bring order to all the earth, and He created the earth to respond to us by coming into order. Recent experiments show that even the mere presence of our DNA can have the effect of bringing order to the natural world. This phenomenon, analyzed by Dr. Vladimir Poponin and Dr. Peter Gariev, is known as the DNA Phantom Effect.

In these experiments a “scattering chamber” was created, a vacuum which contained only photons. The control state of these particles was close to random. Then a DNA sample was introduced into the chamber and the state of the photon particles was measured and found to be in an ordered state. That is interesting in itself, but what is even more interesting is that, when the DNA was removed from the chamber and the state of the photons measured a third time, they did not return to their original random state, but were distinctly and very differently arranged. This phantom effect was observed to last up to a month when the vacuum remained undisturbed.

We were created in the image and likeness of God and commissioned to bring the earth into line with His divine order. Even our DNA appears to have an ordering effect on the world. When Adam rebelled against God, he plunged the world into chaos. But in Jesus Christ, the Second Adam, we are restored to our proper relationship with God, and all creation waits for this to be fully made manifest (Romans 8:19-22).

The World Responds to Us: Jesus Showed Us How

The world was created to respond to us. When Adam sinned, he brought the world under a curse. In Jesus Christ, the “Second Adam,” we have redemption. Not only us, but the whole world as well, and now all creation waits for that manifestation (Romans 8:19-22). By faith in Christ, we become new creatures (2 Corinthians 5:17), and all creation responds to us.

Jesus demonstrated this, for example, when He spoke to the wind and waves and said, “Peace, be still.” The winds ceased and there was a great calm (Mark 4:39). On another occasion, Jesus spoke to the fig tree, “No one will eat fruit from you ever again,” and the tree was withered away by the next morning (Mark 11:14; 20-21).

Now, some will say that Jesus could do that because He was the Son of God and fully divine. And indeed He was. But that is not how He performed His miracles. Rather, He did them because He was anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power, and God was with Him (Acts 10:38). That is why He was able to teach His disciples to do the same sort of things.

In the example of the fig tree, Peter noticed that it had withered away, and he pointed it out to Jesus. Jesus answered and showed them how such things come about:

Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. (Mark 11:22-23)

When we do not doubt, but believe what we say, we will have whatever we say. Even nature will respond to us.

Everything Jesus did in His earthly ministry, He did by faith and the power of the Holy Spirit. He made both of these available to His disciples, to all who receive Him. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17). We receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon us (Acts 1:8). It is enough to change the world.

The World Responds to Us: Biblical Examples

The world was created to respond to us. When Adam fell, the world fell into chaos. When we walk in obedience to God and His Word, the world also begins to respond in obedience. We see this illustrated many times in Scripture:

• When Moses parted the Red Sea. God said, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. But life up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea” (Exodus 14:15-16).
• When Moses brought forth water from the rock. The Lord said, “Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink” (Exodus 17:5-6).
• When God told Moses how to bring forth water again: “Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water” (Numbers 20:8). Unfortunately, in anger against the people, Moses struck the rock again instead of speaking to it as he had been instructed. Nevertheless, the rock yielded water, though Moses lost the blessing because of his disobedience.
• When Joshua commanded the sun. “Then Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight o f Israel: 'Sun, stand still over Gibeon; and Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.' So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the people had revenge upon their enemies” (Joshua 10:12-13).
• When Elijah commanded the rain. He said to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word” (1 Kings 17:1)

There are also many other cases in the Old Testament where men performed miracles and healings — even raising the dead! The natural world responded to them because they believed and obeyed God.

Now, some people might say that those were special men of God, and has nothing to do with us today. But James, the brother of the Lord Jesus, would beg to differ, as he encourages people to get serious about the life-changing, world-changing benefits of prayer:

The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. And he prayer again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit. (James 5:16-18)

The kind of things God did through Elijah in Old Testament times, He is willing to do through all His people today. Consider what Jesus said to His disciples and how it blows the parameters wide open for us today:

For I say to you, among those born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he. (Luke 7:28)

Follow the equation: John the Baptist was greater than all the prophets and mighty men of God in the Old Testament. But even the least one in the kingdom of God is greater than John the Baptist. Therefore, even the least one in the kingdom of God is greater than all the prophets and mighty men of God in the Old Testament.

If the natural realm responded to mighty men of old as they believed and obeyed God, how much more will it be responsive to us when we believe and obey God.

The World Was Created to Respond to Us

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 that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26-27)

God created us in His image and likeness — to be like Him — and so that we could exercise dominion over the earth and everything in it, to be stewards of His creation on in accordance with His purposes. The command He gave to Adam and Eve was to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the earth and subdue it. To subdue the earth means to bring it into order. God created us to be like Him so that we could bring all the earth into line with who He is and what He is like. In other words, the earth was created to be responsive to us.

We know, of course, that Adam and Eve rebelled against God, and in so doing, disconnected from the life, and even the order, of God. Chaos followed, not only for man, but also for creation. That is how close the relationship is between man and the earth. Man was formed of the dust of the ground, and when Adam sinned, the ground came under a curse.

Then to Adam He [God] said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it':

Cursed is the ground for your sake [because of you];
In toil you shall eat of it
All the days of your life.
Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,
And you shall eat the herb of the field.
In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
Till you return to the ground,
For out of it you were taken;
For dust you are,
And to dust you shall return."

(Genesis 3:17-19)

We know also that God had a plan or redemption, to restore us to Himself. That's why Jesus came. This redemption is not for us only, but also for all creation:

For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. (Romans 8:19-22)

Just as all creation was affected by the fall of man in Adam, it is also influenced by the restoration of man in Jesus Christ, because the world was created to respond to mankind. When we walk in rebellion, the earth responds in kind. But if we will walk in faithful obedience to God and His Word, the earth will respond to that obedience. Indeed, the world was created to respond to the Word of God, as well as to us, because it was framed by the Word of God. When we are lined up with that Word in all we say and do, how much greater will be creation's response to it.