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).

In Genesis 1, God created the heavens and the
earth. He created Adam and gave him a will of his
own. God gave him His faith and His life. He created
Adam to think His thoughts after Him. God breathed
into him the breath of life, and Adam became a living
soul. His mind and emotions came alive (Genesis 2:7).
Where would Adam have gotten any thoughts if
not from God?

He had God’s mind and God’s thoughts in him.
Then God honored him. The glory of God covered
him. He crowned him (Psalm 8:5). Who wears a
crown? A king—one in authority.

God delegated to man authority over all the earth,
and it filled Satan with envy and jealousy. He wanted
the authority God had given to man so he set out to
steal from Adam what God had rightfully bestowed
on him. You know the story, how Satan tempted
mankind into disobeying God. By doing so, man lost
to Satan what God had given to him. He lost glory. He
lost the honor. He lost the power to enforce authority
and dominion.

Satan was Lucifer, the anointed cherub, before he
fell from heaven (Ezekiel 28:14). He had been honored
with command over all of heaven’s praise and
glorious music. He was an archangel who had
command over at least one-third of the heavenly
host (Revelation 12:3-4, 9). But he wanted more;
and God had given what he wanted to man.

When Satan made his move to rob Adam, instead
of standing firm and obeying God, Adam went along
with his wife. To do that, he had to bow his knee to
Satan. It was a dishonorable act.

Adam dishonored the authority and dominion
God had given him. By doing so, he took off the crown
God had honored him with and placed it on the head
of Satan and bowed down before him. Later, Satan
said to Jesus: “See all these nations and their glory? I
will give them to You if You will bow down before
me. They have been given to me. They are mine, and I
can give them to whomever I will” (Luke 4:5-7).

Where did Satan get that authority and dominion?
From Adam. How was Adam able to do that? Because
they were his to give. They had been given to him by
God Himself. God had honored him.

It was a dishonorable act on the part of man. He
really did not own the earth enough to give it away,
but authority had been delegated to him. And God
honored his decision. God did not back down from
His Word to Adam. He would not be dishonorable
and demand that the crown of authority and dominion
He had given to man be returned.

Today, because of what man has done with his
God-given authority and dominion, God has had to
continue to honor certain things where Satan is concerned.
Why? Because God is not dishonorable.
God took an honorless, evil, lawbreaking, truthtwisting
being and defeated him on man’s level—and
He did it honorably. He did it without breaking the
law of heaven or of earth. He did it without breaking
His Word.

He confirmed it on Resurrection Day when
Jesus said: “All power has been given to Me, both in
heaven and on earth. Therefore, you go into all the
earth, and in My Name cast out the devil. Lay hands
on the sick, and they shall recover.” (See Matthew
28:18; Mark 16:15, 17-18.)

Once Jesus had redeemed the crown from Satan,
He immediately used it to crown His Church—the
Body of Christ. He crowned us with honor, glory and
dominion.

In Ephesians 6:13 we are told to take on the full
armor of God. What is the Lord doing? He is delegating
authority, endowing us with the honor that comes
from God only.

The honor that only God can give is dominion and
authority in the realm of the spirit. How did He convey
that honor upon us? How did He bestow upon
His Body, the Church, dominion and authority in the
realm of the spirit?

Think about what God has given us the authority
to do, to receive and to put under our feet. He has given
us authority in His Word. He is no respecter of persons
(Acts 10:34). That means that the promises God has
made in His Word, He has made to each of us.

He has given us authority over our physical
body and over the curse of the law. We are redeemed
from the curse. We have been endowed with power
and authority over Satan and his demons. We are
honored with the very clothing of war that Jesus
wore when He defeated all the enemies of hell—the
full armor of God.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries