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.” Amen.

Some might conclude from reading the above Scripture that only Jesus has this authority. But He also delegated it to His body; the Church. The Church is His physical body on earth today. He said, “go you, therefore.” The word therefore simply means for this reason or consequently. So, what the Lord said can accurately be written like this “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 the possession of all authority and as a consequence of it) and make disciples of all the nations”. Meaning since I now have all authority, you can go because of it and use it in my name! It can also be said that if He did not have all authority, He will not be sending them because they will not have the needed authority to take on the challenges that will arise. Jesus delegated authority to His 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 EXERCISE DOMINION:​

• • LIVE IN THE SPIRIT: Living in the spirit means to have the new spirit of Christ by being born again so that Christ can live through you. Understand that Living in the Spirit and being in the Spirit are different. Being in the spirit means the Spirit of God comes upon you to use you to perform an act. He takes over your life and uses you to perform that act. Living in the spirit means allowing the new man (the born-again spirit, the life of Christ in your inner man) to take control and become the dominant life through you that people can hear and see. This is what the Scriptures say about this inner life that Jesus came to give.

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.

• • WITHOUT HIM, YOU CAN DO NOTHING! John 15:4-5 “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”

We can do nothing apart from Christ Jesus. I pray that every believer will know this truth and have it engraved in their hearts! Trying to do this and that to please God apart from Christ Jesus is all flesh and will profit us nothing. We cannot exercise any meaningful authority of the Kingdom of God without Christ. We cannot bear fruits of the new life (called the fruit of the spirit) without Christ. He is the source of this living water residing deep in our new man where He now lives. His life reaches out to us; the branches and produces visible fruits. How much effort does a branch make to produce fruit? All that is needed is for the branch to stay attached to the VINE and life will continue to flow through it giving it all it needs to produce fruit. Similarly, all we need do is stay attached, grafted to Him by faith. Believe every good work He has done in you to be true and permanent. Believe you are a new creature, your old sinful way was crucified with Christ and you now have a new nature working in you to will and to do the good pleasure of God and produce a harvest of good deeds.

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.

• • KNOW THE PLACE OF THE WORD: One reason why many fail and lose spiritual battles is ignorance of the truth. This brings us to the third point on how to exercise dominion through Christ Jesus. Every Christian must discover the place of the word of God in their Christian walk. The knowledge of Christ Jesus is indispensable. Here is what Paul said about this very important truth.

Philippians 3:7-11“Yet all of the accomplishments that I once took credit for, I’ve now forsaken them and I regard it all as nothing compared to the delight of experiencing Jesus Christ as my Lord! To truly know him meant letting go of everything from my past and throwing all my boasting on the garbage heap. It’s all like a pile of manure to me now, so that I may be enriched in the reality of knowing Jesus Christ and embrace him as Lord in all of his greatness. My passion is to be consumed with him and not cling to my own “righteousness” based in keeping the written Law. My only “righteousness” will be his, based on the faithfulness of Jesus Christ—the very righteousness that comes from God. And I continually long to know the wonders of Jesus and to experience the overflowing power of his resurrection working in me. I will be one with him in his sufferings and become like him in his death. Only then will I be able to experience complete oneness with him in his resurrection from the realm of death.”

 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.

• • MAKE TIME TO MEDITATE ON THE WORD AND HAVE COMMUNION WITH GOD:

We have communion with the Lord by studying the scriptures, meditating on them daily, and making out time to pray especially in tongues. We should learn to say prayers of consecration often instead of always praying for our physical needs.

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.”

 The verses below exemplify a prayer of consecration.

Col 1:614 “This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace.7 You learned about the Good News from Epaphras, our beloved co-worker. He is Christ’s faithful servant, and he is helping us on your behalf. 8 He has told us about the love for others that the Holy Spirit has given you.9 So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.11 We also pray that you will be strengthened with all his glorious power so you will have all the endurance and patience you need. May you be filled with joy, 12 always thanking the Father. He has enabled you to share in the inheritance that belongs to his people, who live in the light. 13 For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, 14 who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.”

 The writer starts 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?

• • DON’T CONFORM TO THE WORLD: Do not be entangled with the things of this world. Stay spiritually alert or you will become prey to the world and the devil who rules it. To be entangled with the things of the world is to put your entire focus on worldly things at the expense of the things of God. This will hinder you from exercising dominion! The flesh and the world will disconnect the flow of the new life through you and hinder the revelation of Christ.

Col 3: 1-3 “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 2 Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. 3 For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.”

 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.

Col 3: 11 “In this new life, it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.”

Pastor Chinedu Emmanuel is the Senior Pastor at Fountain of  The Living Word Church, New Jersey.