By Pastor Chinedu Emmanuel
Matt 28:18-19 “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Some might conclude from reading the above Scripture that only Jesus has this authority. However, He also delegated it to His body, the church, which is His physical presence today. He said, “Go, therefore.” The word “therefore” means for this reason or consequently. So, what the Lord said can be accurately understood as: “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore (as a result of my possession of all authority) and make disciples of all nations.” This means that because Jesus now has all authority, He sends us out with the same authority to act in His name. If Jesus did not have all authority, He would not send us, as we would lack the necessary authority to face the challenges ahead. Jesus delegated His authority to the Church so we can preach the gospel in His name.
This Scripture below gives a clearer picture of the authority we have.
Luke 10:19 “Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”
How to walk in unity with Christ to cultivate dominion
John 4:13-14 “Jesus answered and said unto her, whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
The water Jesus gives springs up in us and produces eternal life, not the natural life but the new life from Christ the source of life who lives in our spirit. We don’t receive this by our might or merits. All we need to do is believe, acknowledge that we have it, and confess it with our mouths. Not acknowledging it will make it dormant and give your flesh dominance over you. Just like if you do not know you have money in your wallet, you will not put it to use even though you need money to make purchases.
This example will help drive this point home. The morning after I bought my first car, I got ready for work and began walking as usual leaving my new car parked in the garage! Though I had a new car, it did not do me any good. I had walked quite a distance when I remembered that I bought a car. I immediately walked back, got into my car, and drove it to work. Driving to work took little effort and was a lot more efficient than walking. A lot of Christians do the same thing. They try to obey God by performing all kinds of religious acts. The best and most efficient way to please God is to simply walk by faith. Remember, WITHOUT FAITH IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO PLEASE GOD! Acknowledge the new life you have, say so always, and expect it to manifest through you with no effort on your part.
Part of what comes out of you is the spirit of dominance. Faith is of the new man. The flesh cannot exercise faith and dominion. The new man rises in real dominion and commands in the Name of Jesus and it immediately produces results.
To live in unity with The Lord Jesus, you need to know Him and feed on His knowledge to also nourish your spirit. If you are not walking in agreement with the Lord, how can you exercise authority through Him? Many well-meaning believers don’t have a working knowledge of Christ and therefore cannot exercise faith in Him. We must be mindful of when our inner man is no more in deep fellowship with Jesus. A good indicator of this is that you begin to lose interest in studying the scriptures. You begin to give more attention to anything else but the Word. Some of the symptoms of physical illness are loss of appetite, sometimes weight loss, and pain. This also happens spiritually. When you aren’t in fellowship with the Holy Spirit, you lose appetite for the bread of life, you lose your love for his body. You are spiritually weak at this point just as a naturally sick person is weak and dehydrated. You cannot exercise authority in this situation. If you are in a leadership position at church, your words will not have conviction and power in them and will not give life. It will only give mental information. Everything is a struggle and boring to you. Prayers, reading the Scripture and going to church become distasteful, and you find fault in everything except yourself.
If you find yourself in this position, repent and go back to the Lord. Take responsibility for your own decisions and ask God for help. Then start feeding on the Scriptures so your spirit man will come alive and get into deep fellowship with Jesus again. Learn to confess the works of the cross for you always in your prayers and in public as a testimony. Be in fellowship with the brethren and listen to sound teaching. That will get you on fire again.
Jude 1:20-21 “But you, my delightfully loved friends, constantly and progressively build yourselves up on the foundation of your most holy faith by praying every moment in the Spirit. Fasten your hearts to the love of God and receive the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who gives us eternal life.”
An example of a prayer of consecration can be seen in Colossians 1: 6-14. Paul started this prayer by declaring that the gospel changed their lives ever since they heard and believed it. Then He prayed for what will help them produce good fruits. He was not urging them to try and do better but to simply HAVE MORE REVELATION OF THE TRUTH SO THEY CAN BEAR MORE FRUIT. How different from what we preach today! Lastly, He thanked God and confessed what Christ has done for them through the Cross. Do you pray this way? Or do we have a bucket list of physical needs? Do you acknowledge the things Christ did for you?
1 John 2:15-16 “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.”
The Bible instructs us to put on the new nature and be renewed as we learn to know Christ and become like Him. All we need to live a fulfilled Christian life is Christ in us. Christ is the power that works in us and the only hope of glory.
Pastor Chinedu Emmanuel is the Senior Pastor at Fountain of The Living Word Church, New Jersey.
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