Destined to reign

Dear friends,

You are destined to reign in life because you are believers in Jesus Christ. You are called by the Lord to be a success, to enjoy wealth, to enjoy health, and to enjoy life of victory. It is not His desire that you live a life of defeat, poverty and failure. Whatever your vocation is, you are destined to reign in life because Jesus is Lord of your life. When you reign in life, you reign over sin, over the power of darkness, over depression, over poverty, over every curse, and over every sickness and desease. You reign over the devil and all his devices.

The power to reign is based entirely on Jesus and Him alone. Refere to the following verse:

Romans 5: 17 For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

The secret of reigning in life lies with receiving everything that Jesus has accomplished for us on the cross. The Bible states very clearly that we are to reign in life through Jesus Christ just by receiving two things from Him: the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness. God's ways are contrary to man's ways. Man thinks that God's blessings are based on his performance and good works. His way is not about achieving, but about receiving.

The world's system of success is built on the twin pillars: self-effort and dilligence. There are some "laws" that you have to abide by and some "methods and techniques" that you have to keep on practicing before there can be any results. We have been taught to focus on achieving, on doing and on relying on our self-efforts. We are driven to "do, do, do" and forgetting that Christianity is actually "done, done, done". Everything that we need to reign in life has been accomplished on the Cross. It is finished. The world tells us that the more we do, the harder we work, and the more hours we put in, the more success we will achieve. I'm sure that you've heard that you need to "pay the price" and "no pain, no gain".

We, believers, have taken the system of the world and apply it to their Christian life. Instead of depending of God's grace for His favour and blessings to flow, they depend on their self-efforts to try to deserve God's favour and blessings. You cannot earn God's blessings by your performance. God's blessings are are based entirely on His grace. His blessings over your life have to be undeserved, unearned and unmerited.

The above paragraphs are quoted from the book "Destined to Reign" by Joseph Prince. That book opened my "eyes" recently. I have read the Bible, in particular, the Old Testament, without proper context, i.e., without including Jesus and His works in it. I read so many verses that specified "conditional" blessings of God. Some of my favourite verses were from Deuteronomy 28. They have gone deep in my mind and my heart that I have to obey God and His commandments. Deuteronomy 28:1 “And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. I thought If I do not obey, I will be cursed. Deuteronomy 28: 15 “But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.

Yes, God wants us to be obedient to His words and His commandments, but it is in regards to receiving Jesus to be our Saviour and Lord, including receiving His abundance of grace and His righteousness. More importantly, God is interested in more than our obedience and submission, but in an intimate relationship with us. However, I have mixed up His command for "obedience" with His command to "fulfill the Law of Moses" of the Old Testament. Grace and Law do not mix. Galatians 5: 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. I have been keeping myself from God's abundance grace and blessing because I kept trying to mix grace and law, which is impossible. I acknowledge that Jesus is my Saviour and my Lord, but I was also trying to keep the Law of Moses to get His blessings and favour. Every time I broke the Law or comitted a sin, I felt like I had just lost the right for the blessings, and I had to repent to get that right again.

The moment you place the Law of Moses between you and God again, you are negating the finished works of Jesus, for if righteousness could come through the Law, then "Christ died in vain". Christianity cannot be reduced to an impersonal list of do's and don'ts.Righteousness, and everything else that comes with it, is a gift, not a reward for perfect obedience of the Law.

I have been righteous all along, not because of my performance, but because of His works. Jesus has never stopped the pouring out of the blessings for me. Christian life is a life of rest in Jesus Christ and His finished works (at the Cross). It is time to rest from your own effort and to enjoy Jesus, and you will reign in life. We need to live by such faith and led by the Spirit. Galatians 5: 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, [4] drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

I hope you receive the points I am trying to get across to you. Start receiving His abundance grace and His righteousness so that you will reign in life.

Dedo Suwanda