This is love: we lay down our lives for our friends

From my perspective,
Jesus said the highest practice of,
how we are IN and we Share 

Real Love:

We Lay Down our Lives for our Friends...
and for God, for ourselves, and for the well-being and coming-to-fruition of All our Relations...

We lay down our lives.

We lay down our ego, our habits, and our identifications.
We lay down all of God's promises and blessings.
We lay down all the ways we want to impress people, and be a success.

We lay down our lives.

We lay down everything we rationally believe. 
We lay down everything that makes us, us - in our own concept of ourselves.
We lay down our understanding of ourselves, of this world, of God, and of what we think God wants for us.

We lay down our lives.

We lay down our health and our illness, our wealth and our poverty, our wisdom and our folly, our worth and our worthlessness, our rightness and our humility.
We lay down our relationships - our loves and our hates.
We lay down how we wish the world was, how we think things should be, and the difference we want to make.

We lay down our lives.
Everything past, present and future - on and on I could list it all - we are called to lay it Down...

We lay down our lives.

And from here:

• we can more and more see what The Progenitor (Father) is Doing spiritually (in Heaven) - and we can begin to DO that on Earth.
• we can more and more hear what The Progenitor is Saying spiritually (in Heaven) - and we can begin to Say that here on Earth.

(All this, just as Jesus did... but, in our own unique way, with our own unique call)

.

And from here,
sooner or later...

we run cross-ways to the powers and principalities of this World, 

This is always the way.The Progenitor does not bow-to to the petty beliefs and limits of the 'Authorities', the rule-makers and enforcers
- whether they be Religious, Political, Martial, Economic, Cultural, Familial, etc.

Matter of fact, Jesus seems to be doing an inordinate amount of healing On the Sabbath; 
neener-neener to religious sensibilities.

And like Jesus, eventually, as we do as God calls us to do, 
we also end up doing/ being the unpopular, unacceptable, unsuccessful, verboten...

And, like Jesus, we take the consequences - both the enjoyable ones, and those that are not.
.

And from here, we keep going, until we go round again...

When we follow Jesus, we pick up our cross.
We die daily - on a soul level.

And (praise God) we also rise (on a soul level) in the Glory of God,

to love and serve God and our neighbor
...There is no end to this practice.

.
This is love:
we lay down our lives for our friends.

It took me a long time to realize:

• it doesn't mean to please my friends, be nice to my friends, do what my friends want me to do.
• it doesn't mean to be a happy-little-martyr, putting up with BS, letting people treat me like a doormat.
• it doesn't mean to try to save them from themselves, from their lessons, from the pain of their challenges or from the pain of their Glory.

Laying down our lives for our friends;
Means:
- Dying to flesh - to our physically-focused self; and
- Rising in spirit - to our spiritually-focused self; and
- Being constantly born again into:

• I AM Love - fed and led Directly by God, more and more, in who we Be and what we Do
• the Way, Truth, Light, Life, Love... which shines through us more and more clearly into the world
• beholding and reflecting as a mirror the Glory of God, more and more into this world, from Glory to Glory...

.
Our friends may like this, or they may not.
Our friends may judge and resist this, or they may not.
Our friends may recognize and support us, or they may not.

It doesn't matter whether our friends experience this as Love!
- As we BE and DO Love - they are blessed.
- As we follow the Living God in each step, and become who we Really Are in God - they are blessed.
- As the world shifts, and more and more of us come to our maturity spiritually - they are blessed.

Our friends:
our intimates, our play-friends, our families, our co-workers, our church-friends, our neighbors...
may not recognize Love when they see it, or enjoy it when they experience it.
might think we are crazy, or mean, or (OMG! ;) inappropriate.

And you know what, we can become ok with that.
Fortunately, we are getting into the habit of dying-daily
- so we can get unstuck from needing-to, having-to please them, to live-into their expectations...

.
And, of course we do not have to do any of this!
We have a choice.

We can follow The Progenitor
or not.

We can live as Jesus lived, in our own unique way,
or not.

We can engage our unique Process of Soul Maturity, Teleios,
or not. 

We can do any other thing, follow any other way, and miss the mark, or not.
We can follow the World, the Flesh, the Devil... or not.

.
We have a choice:

• We can follow Spirit and Actually Love our Neighbor, truly, deeply, spiritually.

OR

• We can have a shadow of Love, a pretense of Love, a striving to Love; a purely human, limited kind of love.

.
It may seem strange, but culturally we are not clear about what Love is, spiritually.
We don't always rationally or emotionally or relationally grok Love.
That's ok, spirit is not flesh, and the carnal cannot Know God.

But spiritually, as we lay down our lives, we start to expereince the wild ride of Love.
And no one and nothing will ever be the same, again.
Jesus did this, let us follow his lead.

.
this post has a similar theme, if interested: When we Follow God: Everything Must Go!

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BTW this post is my response, to this useful post by Michael Green: 
How Orthodoxy Wages War Against Orthopraxy (And Causes Us All To Miss The Point) 

Personally,

I do not care at all about orthodoxy, or about 'right' rational beliefs

... Except how they affect things that matter spiritually,
i.e. our Practice and Experience of:

• the Presence and Love of God,
• the Reign-Kingdom of Heaven,
• our direct communication and relationship... healing, filling, maturing, dancing, co-creating with the Living God.

I'm not a fan of "attaching" to doing-thinking anything 'Right',

rather

• going in a direction that is useful to catch the scent of the direct, present-time leading of of the Living God, and
• walking in the way I am led, best I can.

>>>

With this in mind 

From my perspective

love, laying down our lives, dancing with the Divine in our soul and into the world - in real-time...

leaves right-belief in the dust.

My perspective is 

our calling to love may look different than we humanly think believe, feel, usually see modeled. 

our calling to lay down our lives for our friends, 

includes laying everything down,

including our ego, beliefs, religion...

and doing/saying as we perceive the Divine doing/saying 

- I would call this doing the will of God, bringing heaven to earth 

- the CORE of the Lord's Prayer, IMO. 

This is love, the way of Jesus, from my perspective 

way beyond being nice, following rules, or any traditional ideas of orthodoxy

thanks for playing! 

your feedback appreciated 

: ) Wendy

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Willpower (flesh) OR Free Will & True Power (spirit) - choose

Willpower is the best the world has to offer
regarding how to get from here to there.

Folks say they are blessed, healthy, wealthy, wise, fulfilled, successful...
because of their willpower.
But, I see willpower as a fool’s errand.

From my perspective, all the hype about willpower leads to a dead end.
We cannot run on willpower, forever - it runs out!
WE wear out, we come to the end of our rope…

Ultimately, running on willpower is
running in the wrong direction,
and using the wrong fuel.

If we truly want to be love, joy, peace… in the world.
If we truly want to be free,
If we truly want to be true to ourselves, to our God, to our calling,
If we truly want to be IN the world, but not OF the world…

Then willpower has our eyes on the wrong prize.
And the fruit will not be delicious or long-lasting.

I could go on and on - because the world has us hypnotized about this.
Most of us are totally programmed to Strive under our own power - even in our spiritual lives…
But there is hope

2 blessings from God really help us get back on track, I believe:
our Spiritual Free Will and our True Spiritual Power.


Instead of willpower, we Must get our Spiritual Free Will back

We must get our free will back;
back from where we squandered it, lost it, gave it away.

We can get our spiritual authority back, from others, from religion, from social conventions, from media’s programming…

We can establish spiritual dominion in our own space, taking our own choice back from our lovers, friends, parents, children, family, teachers…

We can be spiritually the captain of our ship, no longer tossed around by our thoughts, our emotions, our impulses of survival, sexuality, control…

We can get back our free will, to spiritually be ourselves, do our thing,
and as we choose, to BE in alignment with our Source
- our God, our Gifts, our Blessings, our Path…

Before we get our free will back, spiritually we cannot follow God, we cannot consciously do God’s will - we do not have choice - we are victims to someone else, something else.

Spiritually, we Must get our Free will back, if we are to get free of the lie of willpower.
Of course all this, by God's Grace, and our soul choice.


Instead of willpower, we Must get our True Spiritual Power back

We must get our Spiritual Power back;
back from where we squandered it, lost it, gave it away.

We can get our True Spiritual Power back, from others from religion, social conventions, media’s programming…

We can be empowered in our own space, taking our energy back from our lovers, friends, parents, children, family, teachers…

We can allow the spiritual force of the Universe, the River of Life, to flow through us, enliven and empower us, Truly.

We can get back our True Spiritual Power to be ourselves, do our thing,
and as we choose to ACT in alignment with our Source
- our God, our Gifts, our Blessings, our Path…

Before we get our True Spiritual Power back, we cannot spiritually follow God - we can only pretend,
we cannot consciously spiritually do God’s will - we can only act like it.

We can only use force, striving, trying, effort
until we line-up with God in our flow of True Spiritual Power

Spiritually, we Must get our True Power back, if we are to get free of the lie of willpower.
Of course all this, by God's Grace, and our soul choice.

.

so to re-cap

Ultimately, running on willpower is

running in the wrong direction,

and using the wrong fuel.

The world has us hypnotized about this.

Most of us are totally programmed
to Strive under our own power - even in our spiritual lives…

But there is hope

These 2 blessings from God:

our Spiritual Free Will and

our True Spiritual Power

really help us get back on track.

From here we can engage our Unique Process of Soul Maturity, Teleios 

This is my expereince, what is yours?

Blessings on your Unique Path!
Wendy

I just noticed, back in the Spring, I wrote about the necessity of getting out Free Will back, I hope you check it out!

Until we get our free-will back, we CAN NOT FOLLOW GOD.

When we get our free-will back... Everything is Possible!
But, until then, we are in bondage.

Our free-will is our birthright,
our Authority to choose in our own space,
and to act - within (inside our skin) and in our world.

Our free-will is, was, and always will be ours -
but most of us don't own and utilize our most precious gift.

We are all given free-will,
we are all given dominion in our space and in our world...

But

• we lost it,
• we squandered it,
• we traded it for something else,
• we forgot about it,
• we didn't value it,
• it was ripped from us...

We can all get our volition back!
I encourage you to do whatever it takes (spiritually), to get your free-will back;
back from our own and others:

• religion, understanding of the bible, religious defaults, thoughts, ideas, beliefs, doubt...
• body impulses, survival instincts, control pictures, habits, patterns of thought, feelings, fear, pain...
• expectations, limits, lies, programming, invalidation, control, competition, judgment...

A different way to say it, in old-time religious terminology, is this:
Spiritually, we must take our free-will back from the world, the flesh, and the devil.

And when we get our free-will back, as spirit;
Then, and only then can we Begin to Consciously Choose to:

• align with our Source - our Light, our Life, our Truth, our Way in God.
• behold and reflect, as in a mirror, the glory of God
• pay attention to - utilize - our soul senses... so we can see, hear, know God - and the leading of God, for us, today.
• actually follow, when we hear a word behind us, saying, 'This is the way, go ye in it'

Until we get our free-will back, we CAN NOT consciously FOLLOW GOD.

From this place, 

We are blessed to engage our Unique Process of Soul Maturity, Teleios 

REALizing who we are in God, into our body, life, world...

.
May God lead you to the freedom that is yours!
Wendy

For more see previous post 

From the silly human rules to the Wild Freedom of God

Waaa-hoo!

And of course, the POINT

is not to Resist the Resisters (bless their hearts)

It is to

BE
FREE

IMO, the point is to do what Paul encouraged:

(this is perhaps my favorite bible verse since my teens)

It was for freedom that Christ set us free;

therefore keep standing firm and

do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery (bondage, servitude)

Christian Culture has gotten so far off the track on this!
(yup, there I said it ; )

From my perspective, most of us have been infected...

we are so infected by the law, the legalists, the religious bullys. 

• some of us in compliance, dominated
• some of us in resistance, fighting
• many of us waffling back and forth, not Really Clear about who we really Are...

 

But, we really are
FREE,
now!

So, let's BE that!

If this resonates for you at all,

and you want to help clear your body, mind, heart, soul of all the religious rules and regs...

You may want to go see and meditate through these many different translations of this one verse

- I get encouraged by just looking through this: Galatians 5:1

Most importantly, I ask you to ask Jesus to help you

• to heal,
• to let-in a waterfall of the blessings of God, asking for the vibration of Freedom, that will fill you up with the fruit of Liberty - in your body, in your life, in your world.

When we allow the spiritual freedom that is already ours:

• then we can BE the us - that only we can be.
• then we can DO what we are called to do - that only we can do!

Until we are free, we are only RE-acting.
Until we are free, we are only following and/or resisting some one else's agenda. 

Until we get our free-will back, we CAN NOT consciously FOLLOW GOD.
(for more on this, see next post)

Of course this is a life-time process, deepening in God, maturing spiritually.

So let us choose each day to Let-go of what holds us hostage, 
and to LET IN these blessings from God.

We can choose each day to
ask Jesus to help us to heal and grow into who we really are,

• from law to Grace, 
• from bondage to Liberty, 
• from the silly human rules to the Wild Freedom of God.

From this place, we can engage our Unique Process of Soul Maturity, Teleios 

Realizing who we are in God, into our body, life, world...

.

Blessings on your Unique Journey in God,
Wendy

If you have not seen it, here is a similar theme written half a year later:
Willpower (flesh) OR Free Will and True Power (spirit) - choose

Here I am, Lord

I read Jeff Robinson's wonderful FB post: we are

mere Kindergartners
in the much larger world of grace-filled, Spirit-led, Christ-following.
Many of us remain Pharisees wrapped in costumes of grace.

How will we ever find our way out...our way forward...
into the Light and Freedom of Jesus?
Who will lead us?
Who among us is even willing to admit how cozy we are in our small and narrow, exclusive cocoon?

And I had to play!!
so this I wrote:

I believe and expereince that Jesus will lead us
- as he did when he walked the earth, and ever since. 
Jesus himself will disciple us
- IF IF IF WHEN WHEN WHEN we let him!

I believe the question is: who will follow Jesus?
Who will say YES! to experiencing him spiritually, and follow him spiritually?

Who being last, is willing for God to put us up front?
Who as followers, are willing for God to have us lead?

I pray to God, the answer for every single person who reads this is:
ME, YES!
Each one of us who Really loves God, who really wants to follow Jesus:
Let's Actually DO it!

.
From my perspective, the tripping point is:
we have been lost in doctrine and ritual and tradition and ethics and physical-focus and... 
We have been led astray by our bodies, our culture, our thoughts, our beliefs, our habits, our feelings, our survival impulses, our control issues...

Mostly we have been led astray by the LIE (of the flesh/physical)
that we must learn from a book
about a Jesus who physically died 2,000 years ago!

Instead of the TRUTH (of the spiritual, available in our soul)
that the Risen and Ascended Christ is right here, right now.
Jesus is just as much available to us as he was to Saul/Paul, for example.

And like Saul/Paul:
- our inner lives, our outer lives, our companions, our world can be completely Transformed;
- when we let go of our Concepts and Traditions and allegedly-biblical Barriers; and
- instead choose to say YES! to our unique Spiritual Adventure with the Living God!

.
From this place, we can engage our Unique Process of Soul Maturity, Teleios 

Realizing who we are in God, into our body, life, world...

.
So
1 - How will we ever find our way out... our way forward... into the Light and Freedom of Jesus?
2 - Who will lead us?
3 - Who among us is even willing to admit how cozy we are in our small and narrow, exclusive cocoon?

MY specific answer to each of these questions, is below
-> what are your answers?

.
1) How will we ever find our way out... our way forward... into the Light and Freedom of Jesus?

I am in that process of letting the Light and Freedom that Jesus IS,
BE more and more IN, AS, Through me. 
It has been an expletive-filled process
- becasue I fight Every Single Step. 

This dying daily business Really Sucks. 

But when I am not screaming so loud,
I am Grateful beyond measure! 
This Way, Light, Life, Love, Truth expereince is worth Everything, Anything!

.
2) Who will lead us?

Jesus leads me, God leads me, Spirit leads me, God sends Angels and Spiritual Masters to lead me -
there is NO lack of spiritual leading, filling, healing, wisdom...

WHEN and only when I am Willing
to Open my spiritual senses
to see, hear, know, touch, taste, smell, feel, expereince oneness with spirit;
then Act spiritually and physically in alignment with that spiritual leading.

This process of opening,
I only utilize
(and eventually was called to share)
because it was and is my call.

.
Like Jonah, I tried to run!
and I suffered terribly for many, many years
- until I let go, and became willing to follow my call.

That was over a dozen years ago.
Since then, I slowly became willing to learn
HOW to operate, to listen and to follow - spiritually, instead of physically.

I am Still learning, of course!
But, I am not overtly running any more. (The war is won, but the battles Rage-on ; )

.
3) Who among us is even willing to admit how cozy we are in our small and narrow, exclusive cocoon?

I have only enjoyed a cozy cocoon a few times in my life - and then, not SO cozy, for not so long...
But, I have had times where I wish to God I could stay and play and at least kinda FIT-in... longer. 

For the last several years, though, I have experienced more True community and acceptance than I ever have, amoung others doing their spiritual work.

Although, I can now own, there has been a tear right down the middle of my being-ness in the world, and in my ministry - that God is NOW healing.

This is getting long - I am putting the rest in another post

in LIFE! Wendy

I have been singing lately, like we did when I was a teen in house church... way back in the day ; )
Here I Am Lord, by Dan Schutte and the Saint Louis Jesuits

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Neutrality: spiritually focused, in this physical world

What do I mean by Neutrality?


Neutrality is
a Practice,
a way of BEing,
a Blessing of God.

Neutrality is
being in the world,
but not of the world.

Neutrality is
not being carried-away-by our own (or others) survival instincts, emotions, sexual impulses, controlling tendencies, thoughts, expectations, judgments, ego… 

Neutrality is
Not being run-by the body/flesh and it’s agenda.
Rather, it is being spiritually focused, in this physical world.

Neutrality is
a way of being that makes it easier to Be:

• here, now, 
• in present-time, 
• experiencing God and spiritual reality;
• staying-with the challenges, the intensity of bodies and life.

Neutrality is
a choice, to let go of attachment and resistance,
as well as the “buttons” in our system that have us re-act instead of act.

I believe one of the essential distinctions
that can help us understand ourselves, each other, the world, the bible, the message of Jesus, and the leading of God for each of us…
is the difference between Body/Physical and Spirit.

Although Paul spoke of this a lot, as did Jesus,
generally, it is not an essential part of our Christian mindset or our spiritual practice.

For most folks that I know, the practice of Neutrality
is the beginning of experiencing / distinguishing:
- beyond the cacophony of the physical/body - senses, thoughts, expectations, actions...
- into the experience of spiritual reality - soul senses, mystical experiences, divine leading, spiritual shift.

.
Before Neutrality,
we are tugged all over by all the stuff I listed above, and much more!

Neutrality is a safe place for active soul-opening,
a whole new WORLD of spiritual Amazing-ness:

• the Fruit of the spirit that Paul lists is just the beginning of our blessings.
• the Adventure of communing with God and being led by God, makes the excitement of this world pale in comparison.
• the enjoyment of Life, Abundantly! that Jesus promised us is here for the taking.

Neutrality is Completely not Apathy - far from it.
It is the beginning of getting our free-will back,
and from this place our ability to choose to follow God begins. 

because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot,
I am about to vomit thee out of my mouth

So, is Neutrality being lukewarm?
I hope you can see that they are SO not the same, in my language.

When I read the Message to Laodicea, in Revelation 3,
what I hear is a church that is lost in physical-focus, pretending to be spiritual, but not:

‘Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked

IMO, this is a physical vs spiritual sentence.

From physical focus/identification, we can get ground-down:

• “life goes on, long after the thrill of living is gone”
• “life sucks and then you die”

But, in spiritual focus/identification, we are in Life, Abundantly!:

• Walking with Jesus, in alignment with God…
• Operating in the Kingdom of Heaven /  the Reign of God

This is ANYTHING but boring… one gets nowhere near lukewarm - tepid.
(And to get here, I believe Neutrality is KEY.)

Each week I watch dozens of folks play the spiritual game;
Over time, I have watched hundreds of folks do it.
It is an EXCITING way to live!
(if anything, a bit Too exciting at times ;)

I hope this helps understanding about what I mean by Neutrality.

And that there is spiritual passion which is different from physical passion
BOTH ARE GREAT - But, which do we chose to follow?

From my perspective,
we can savor life IN the body/world,
but not OF the body/world,
with Neutrality as our practice.

All we gotta do is CHOOSE:
then Ask and Receive...

Blessings on your path!
; ) Wendy

Spiritual Safety is a Choice

Responding to a question about About Spiritual Attack:

From my perspective, being in alignment with the needs of my body, with my self as spirit and with God: is a Spiritual Choice. I support and build 'muscle' around this choice with beneficial spiritual tools and I build 'muscle' by attention and practice. I handle attack from outside energies which are 'not in alignment with God' regularly and assist others to do so as well.

Preferably I work with folks on tools and practices to choose what affects them and what energies are allowed in their own personal space. There are Many 'hooks' that allow outside energies in: beliefs, emotions, habits... If I leave the door to my house open regularly, I am more likely to get robbed, it is like that...

Unfortunately, many of our religious and spiritual traditions don't give us the tools and a beneficial place to stand when the storm comes.

The real protection is to Know my space is my own, as a gift from God as part of my spiritual birthright, to allow in the energies that serve me, and choose to let go of the energies that don't serve me. To Believe spiritually that my life is mine to spiritually co-create, and have the Faith to ask God and Jesus and Angels for assistance.

Most of us don't operate from this spiritual perspective all the time, and are hampered by our physical focus, thoughts, ethics, emotions, etc. In that case, a human spiritual guide is very helpful and meditation tools and practices are vital. In my tradition we utilize many practices for protection and safety, such as grounding, centering, body of glass (energetically inviting non-attachment and non-resistance) etc... WAY too much to write in this little box.

BOTTOM LINE - we are spirit a part of God. We co-create our challenging experiences as well as our enjoyable ones. Consciously creating with God is the way to change our creations around our bodies and our lives. Until one is masterful in acting as spirit, spiritual practices assist us to go in our desired direction.

There is no magic bullet around this. But, if I could find one relatively simple thing to do that works for many folks, I say, try a practice that we call 'Matching'. Allowing ourselves to spiritually learn from Jesus, and asking for his assistance can work well for some. Just like children, we spiritually learn through monkey-see-monkey-do.  So, notice that Jesus is near you, ask him to assist in general and specifically around spiritual freedom and safety, ask him to assist to resonate as he does... intend to harmonize with him (this is spiritual application of the musical/physics truth of sympathetic resonance) and ask Jesus to assist you to make this so. Allow yourself to match his energy system... Of course, ask for God's help and for God to send angels as well...

In this practice we are consciously saying: YES, I want to be like Jesus.  As Hebrews exhorts, we choose to play this game:

fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith

That's a very short answer, from my experience...

....

A friend responded:

Its funny u bring up this topic of spiritual attack--i was having a discussion yesterday with someone about "the evil eye"--and while its an old wives tale so to speak i can see some credence to it, like people out there looking upon you in bad ways that could send some negative energy your way that you would have to deal with

I said:

In my experience,
There is non-beneficial energy that comes at us.
We can allow it to hurt us, When we believe in its power over us. When we are full of 'hooks': resistance, hate, fear, victim-pictures, etc ad nauseum...
Or we can be high-energy, and clear, and grounded, and spiritually senior and amused at all the drama: and allow it to pass right on through.
Either way, it is our personal spiritual choice. We Can be Free, Safe and living in Ease and Power that is our birthright! ...or not ; )

A friend responded:

yes that i know-- i was wondering more on energy that was coming at you that you were not aware of-- like i post i am getting something and how happy i am and then next thing i know i am not getting it anymore------ can someone cause that or is that just a stretch?

I said:

From my perspective it doesn't matter a lot if I am conscious about what THEY are doing, or not: it only matters that I allow shift.

That is one of the values of practice and clearing in meditation: so in everyday life, when the 'sh*t hits the fan', spiritually I can clear and be in charge - instead of dancing to someone else's 'tune'.

'can someone cause that'?
Yes, absolutely; and ultimately I am at cause for it, or not. Do THEY get to call the tune in my space, or do I?

If I get full of mud, maybe someone threw it at me, or maybe I fell in my own mud-puddle; but the real question is: do I choose to take a shower or not? And, do I choose to avoid the mud-puddle and possibly the habitual-mud-thrower the next time I walk down that street, or not? There are no right answers here: but lots of learning opportunities ; )

have dominion

And God blessed them, and God said unto them,
Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it:
and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air,
and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
Genesis - 1:28

My non-Judeo-Christian friend asked:

"...Can someone who studies the bible give me their take on this??"

And I responded:

I love this question of yours, thanks for sharing it!

It is really cool for me when a particular scripture or quote gets stuck in my craw.

Usually there is a big gift for me in that, but sometimes it takes weeks, months or years until I receive the fullness of that gift. 

I hope you receive great gifts from this one, in due time.

Here are some of my thoughts about these verses:

From my perspective Jesus spoke directly to these verses in Matthew 18:18 (NAS):

Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.

I notice that Jesus was mind-blowing-ly radical about the kind of authority that we humans have. 

For example in John 20:21-23 (NAS):

So Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you."
And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.
"If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained."

In my experience, it is not usual for Christians to see these verses I just quoted as necessarily related to your question, but I do, very much so.

From my perspective, Jesus incessant focus, his main message was The KINGDOM:

the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of God. 

But, I believe the use of this translation ‘kingdom’ diverts us from the truth with which Jesus was so committed to enlightening us.
I believe Young’s Literal Translation gives a much better picture for us about what he is pointing to. Let me give an example:

For Luke 17:20-21, the King James version, and most other translations, say something like this:

And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

But look how Young's Literal Translation translates the same verse:

And having been questioned by the Pharisees, when the reign of God doth come, he answered them, and said, 'The reign of God doth not come with observation; nor shall they say, Lo, here; or lo, there; for lo, the reign of God is within you.'

the reign of God – what does this mean?

See addendum for dictionary definitions of reign, sovereign, sovereignty, and dominion.
I posit that these words are all pointing in the same direction: 

sovereignty: 'what I say, goes'.

From my perspective, 
The REIGN of God – this is the sovereignty of Spirit.
Again: the reign of God is everywhere, all realities, all the time – God/Spirit is Sovereign.

Meanwhile, this does not seem to be so on a physical level – what is the deal in earth reality? 

Many lay the horrors of this world at God's 'feet'. 

This is known by some as the 'problem of evil'. 

Some ask: 'why do bad things happen to good people?' 

This is an issue for many, a major stumbling-block for some.

Although I spent most of my life blaming God for the pain and the difficulties in my life, 

and the ways of the world (and the church!) which I judged as ridiculous and wrong;  

I no longer hold God responsible for these things anymore.

I believe this world is given to US - you and me.

Our time on this planet sometimes feels like a curse, in which we all strut and fret our time upon the stage;

it sometimes feels like a challenge as we all fall down and we all get up - over and over and over again. 

But ultimately this world is a gift beyond all reckoning. 

Not only do we get to enjoy 'sex and strawberry pie' as my teacher used to say. 

But, we are also learning to crawl, and to stand, and then to stumblingly walk, and to eventually run. 

Savoring and Serving in this Amazing world.

We are blessed to engage our Unique Process of Soul Maturity, Teleios 

REALizing who we are in God, into our body, life, world...

So, the more we fall on our asses, all the better, because this is our primary learning strategy - well, at least for me YMMV _ LOL

Just as Jesus learned. Paul said of Jesus in Hebrews 5:8-9 (Darby): 

though he were Son, he learned obedience from the things which he suffered; and having been perfected, became to all them that obey him, author of eternal salvation;

So...
I believe this world is OUR playing field – all of creation, is the human Game. 

All the parts of creation are our cohorts. 

 This is to what I believe the ultimate meaning of the verses about dominion in Genesis are referring.

Seems to me, Christians tend to call the sovereignty which God gives each of us, free will. 

In my tradition, we believe this means that the 'world' within me and around my body is mine. 

In my practice, I define this as MY SPACE: my birthright, given to me by God, and I place for me to practice sovereignty /authority. 

 I like to think of it this way:

We are fortunate to live in a time when we teach our children, and continue to learn ourselves: 

my body is MY body. 

My body is mine to do with as I please. 

I have say about who touches my body: when, where and how. 

If someone transgresses my physical boundaries, that is not acceptable, and I have the right, power and responsibility to do something about that. 

 I can physically ask for help, and be hopeful to receive it... 

Of course, things can happen to my body to which I do not consciously consent. 

This is not optimal, but it does happen. 

Still, it is very empowering to know what happens to my body is Supposed to be up to me.

In a similar way, what happens within my space: my energy, my thoughts, my feelings, my beliefs, my stuck-ness and my ease, my resisting or my aligning with God, my allowing myself to experience or not experience the presence and communication and blessings of God: 

This is ALL truly my choice on a spiritual level. 

No one can take this away from me, 

although I can give it away... 

If someone or something transgresses my boundaries in my space, that is not acceptable, and I have the right, power and responsibility to do something about that. 

I can ask for spiritual help, and be assured of receiving it...

When I allow myself 'what I say, goes' in my own space, my tradition calls this seniority. 

I have all the say about what happens in my space. 

 

This information was a big surprise to me when I first exposed to it, 

and honestly it has turned my world upside-down. 

I am still getting my sea-legs around seniority, 

but I must say, it is very empowering to know what happens in my space is ultimately up to me.

To exercise my free will as a spiritual adult, 

to allow myself to have agency & authority in my own space, 

is my greatest challenge and my greatest reward. 

And when I am exercising Sovereignty in my own space, 

the world inside me becomes a different place, and the world outside me changes as well...

.
So, in this way, human beings have free will to manifest what we choose. 

We have been given sovereignty over our inner world, 

which reaches into our outer world, and effects all of creation.

The question is: what do we do with this authority?

We are made in the image of God.

From my perspective we are so blessed here on this sandbox-earth to have the opportunity to learn and grow and mature in our lives, into spiritual adults. 

To come to our unique wholeness / maturity in God. 

Engage our Unique Process of Soul Maturity, Teleios.   

Realize who we are in God, in our body, life, world...

You shall be teleios, therefore, as your Heavenly Father is teleios. - Mat 5

and have dominion.

So, we can grow into exercising in our lives, in THIS world / time-space reality, 

as God is in all the worlds/realities. 

Today, we can allow ourselves to be monarchs in our own space, 

as God is Monarch in all space / time-space realities.

AGAIN: what do we do with this authority?

If you look to the right, in the light blue bar: you can see a bunch of scriptures. 

I believe many of them point in this direction:
We are to be in this world as Jesus was in this world.

Jesus is our role-model for who we can be in this world; 

Jesus is the first of many.
Paul says in Romans 8:29 (NAS):

For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;

We ARE the en-flesh-ment, the embodiment, of the Christ. 

Paul says it like this: 1 Corinthians 12:27 (NAS)

Now you are Christ's body, and individually members of it.

Therefore:
We are to shine God and be God in this world.

One would not know it by looking at modern Christianity, but Jesus was clear on this, quoting Psalms, in John 10:34 (NAS):

Jesus answered them, "Has it not been written in your Law, 'I SAID, YOU ARE GODS '?

That is the game we get to play, 

that is the game the world needs us to play.

My tradition teaches: when we heal ourselves, we heal the world. 

AGAIN, in a different language: 

when we allow a beneficial dance with God, 

when we allow God to help us heal and shift and grow into who we really are, 

those around us can do these same things more easily, 

and all the world (all of creation) changes…

Paul addressed our dance with the world / creation / this time-space reality, 

in this way in Romans 8:16-22 (BSB) {I chopped out some parts to focus on my point}:

The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.  And if we are children, then we are heirs: heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ...

The creation waits in eager expectation for the revelation of the sons of God... that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until the present time. 

So to re-cap; so far, I am asserting:
Regarding what is called human being’s dominion in this reality:

1) I believe this is pointing to the spiritual authority (my tradition calls this seniority) to which we are called, in each of our own lives and in the world around us.

2) I believe we are called to create and to utilize our spiritual power and authority (seniority) in our inner lives and therefore in our reality/world, as God utilizes God’s own creativity, power and authority in all realities.

3) I believe we are to be in this world, as Jesus was in this world.

4) I believe as each of us exercise our spiritual dominion, all of us change, and the world changes.


AND THEN,
when we we have the opportunity to exercise our spiritual dominion in alignment with God, 

delightful and miraculous things happen inside us and outside us. 

 This ripples out in all directions. 

In this way, we all come more into alignment with God and God's bountiful flow of grace and blessings. 

We each come more into alignment with and in experience of our own individual and unique Wholeness in God; as well as our Oneness in/with God in All things. 

God's will is done on earth, through our own free will.

And so, Jesus taught us to pray (and I believe to ask God's assistance in US doing this), in Matthew 6:9:10(YLT):

thus therefore pray ye: 'Our Father who art in the heavens! hallowed be Thy name.
'Thy reign come: Thy will come to pass, as in heaven also on the earth.

When we exercise our spiritual dominion in alignment with God: 

All creation is blessed. 

The earth is blessed. 

Every living thing that moveth upon the earth is blessed.  

We are blessed. 

God is blessed.

We are blessed to the the vehicle

- of Light, Love, Truth, Spirit in this world 

- Manifesting the reign of God, Realizing heaven on earth 

amen and hallelujah, Wendy


****************

here are American Heritage Dictionary definitions for reign, sovereign, sovereignty, and dominion.:

reign
(rān) n.
1. Exercise of sovereign power, as by a monarch.
2. The period during which a monarch rules.
3. Dominance or widespread influence: the reign of reason.


sov•er•eign
(sŏv'ər-ĭn, sŏv'rĭn)
n.
1. One that exercises supreme, permanent authority, especially in a nation or other governmental unit, as:
1. A king, queen, or other noble person who serves as chief of state; a ruler or monarch.
2. A national governing council or committee.
2. A nation that governs territory outside its borders.
3. A gold coin formerly used in Great Britain.
adj.
1. Self-governing; independent: a sovereign state.
2. Having supreme rank or power: a sovereign prince.
3. Paramount; supreme: Her sovereign virtue is compassion.
4.
1. Of superlative strength or efficacy: a sovereign remedy.
2. Unmitigated: sovereign contempt.


sov•er•eign•ty
(sŏv'ər-ĭn-tē, sŏv'rĭn-)
n., pl., -ties.
1. Supremacy of authority or rule as exercised by a sovereign or sovereign state.
2. Royal rank, authority, or power.
3. Complete independence and self-government.
4. A territory existing as an independent state.


do•min•ion
(də-mĭn'yən)
n.
1. Control or the exercise of control; sovereignty: "The devil . . . has their souls in his possession, and under his dominion" (Jonathan Edwards).
2. A territory or sphere of influence or control; a realm.
3. often Dominion (Abbr. Dom.) One of the self-governing nations within the British Commonwealth.
4. dominions Christianity. See domination (sense 2).

✫*¨*.¸¸.✶*✫*¨*.¸¸.✶*¨✫*¨*.¸¸.✶*¨.¸¸ . ✶*¨

Lastly, if you want to read more about having dominion, from a more traditionally Christian Point of View, I highly recommend to you Watchman Nee - he was Very committed to Christians exercising Dominion in the world.