Mensa Otabil - Build and Plant (10/26/2025)
Thank you. Welcome to day number 32 of our 40 days of power. We have eight more days to go to end this time of prayer and fasting and seeking the face of the Lord and starting a new phase of our lives. I believe the Lord will be our strength and our guide until the end.
So, we go back to the scripture as we conclude our teaching on exercising dominion: Jeremiah chapter 1, verse 10. «See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.» This is Jeremiah; he is a very young man at this time, in his very early twenties, when God calls him as a prophet, and he’s wondering how he could do the things that God wants him to do. So, God is affirming his calling over his life. He tells him what He has given him power over. He says, «I have set you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms.»
Here we see the things that we can rule over. God has given Jeremiah a great space of ministry, the scope of his ministry over nations and kingdoms. For each one of us, God has given us a sphere of influence, an area we operate in. It could be in a company, it could be in our family, it could be in a church, it could be as an usher. Whatever you do in the church, that is the space God has given to you to operate in. Jeremiah was over kingdoms and nations; that doesn’t mean all of us are going to be over kingdoms and nations. Each one of us has a sphere of influence that God has given to us.
In this sphere of influence, things must be done to bring glory to God. So, He says to Jeremiah that in this place that I’ve placed you, there are things you must remove, things you must root out and pull down, things you’re going to destroy. In the sphere of influence, everything is not all right; there are things that must be corrected. Sometimes, you know, even as parents, we have our sphere of influence over our homes, but there are things that must be removed-sometimes the behavior of children, sometimes in our own behavior, sometimes in the behavior of the community.
If you are leading a team, there are things that must be moved out, removed, rooted out, pulled down, and we have to always determine that when God gives us dominion in an area, we don’t allow the wrong things to continue happening there. We have to correct what needs to be corrected. Then He says to Jeremiah that you also have to build and to plant; there are things we must establish. So you see the sequence: you have an area you rule over, but in that area, there are things that must be corrected, and there are things that must be re-emphasized, things that must be built up.
As we seek to have dominion, we have to look at our lives as the sphere God has given us. There are things to remove and things to plant in our families, things to remove and things to plant in our churches, things to remove and things to plant in our businesses, things to remove and things to plant in our nation-things to remove and things to plant. We cannot have dominion over a sphere and allow things to just happen as they are. The heart of dominion is taking control over all the things that happen so that the activities or the things that happen in a place bring glory to God, honor His name, and help us to live the life that God wants us to live.
So as we round up this week’s teaching on exercising dominion, I pray that you will not only focus on the things outside of you and trying to do powerful things for God, which is good and we must focus on that, but you also have to look at your own life and the things you must remove and the things you must establish. If we can do that, we can truly exercise dominion.
Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for your calling on my life. By your power, I remove what is wrong and build what is right. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.