Sunday, June 17, 2018

Don’t Just Sit There, Reign

Hello everyone,

For some time now, my heart has been stirred to really understand what the Bible says our inheritance in Christ is and how to fully appropriate it in our lives. If we can get this settled inside us, I believe we can use it as a platform to do the work of God with great power and authority. Our desire is to see the miraculous, supernatural force of God’s power at work not only in our own personal lives, not just in the lives of those in our immediate sphere of influence, but to have the reach far greater than we could have ever dreamed or imagined. Why? Because we are living in the time where it’s crucial for the manifestation of God’s power to be seen everywhere! The sleeping giant, called the church, must rise up in the authority, power, and dominion of God, to shake this world, hold back the tide of evil and bring in a mighty harvest of souls before we go to be with Jesus.

Now don’t say this isn’t for you, if you are a born-again child of God, or you feel His tug on your heart to know Him as your Saviour, you must see and understand the life Jesus desires for you to live here on earth. It will revolutionise everything about you! Having said that, I cannot over-emphasise that the life of power we can have has everything to do with our personal, inseparable connection with the Holy Spirit. Our intimate partnership with Him involves our full commitment to see His will lived out in us. It’s all about reigning with Him in victory! So, if you’re ready for change and a shift to go to another level in your walk with God, today is your day!  

For those of you who want to surrender your heart to Jesus before we go further, Romans 10:9-10 says, “...if you acknowledge and confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and in your heart believe (adhere to, trust in, and rely on the truth) that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” Verse 13 says, “For everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord [invoking Him as Lord] will be saved.”

If you do believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that He died on the cross to carry the weight and penalty of your sin that has separated you from truly knowing God. And you believe that He rose again from the dead, victorious over sin, so that if you believe in Him and receive Him into your heart, He will not only wash away your sin and make you in right standing with Him; He will come, by His precious Holy Spirit and make His home in your heart. If that is what you desire, then say this prayer out loud now, with your whole heart, believing every word you say…

"Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for what you did on the cross over 2000 years ago;  I believe You are the Son of God, and that You died for my sins and rose again on the third day. I believe You are Lord and I ask You to come into my heart, remove my sin and live in me. Become my Lord and Saviour, and fill me with Your precious Holy Spirit. I surrender my life to You now. Teach me to walk in Your ways and baptise me with the power of Your Holy Spirit. I believe I receive You now, thank You Jesus. I am Your child, washed clean by Your blood and filled with Your Spirit of power and peace. Amen"

Hallelujah! Welcome to the family of God. Now you can come on this journey with us.

Let’s read a scripture I have often referred to, Ephesians 1:17-21, “[For I always pray to] the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] knowledge of Him...”.  Stop right there - did you notice God wants us to have a deep and intimate knowledge of Who He is? So before we go any further, if that’s what you are truly desiring, then expect to really know God more by His Holy Spirit as we walk together in His Word today! Look out for every reference to His nature and how He feels about you in the scriptures we are going to read. I can guarantee you won’t find anything indicating He is mean, selfish or egotistical; in fact, you’ll find the very opposite to be true.

Let’s keep reading, verse 18 says, “By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints (His set-apart ones)...” There is a hope God has called us to and it has to do with us sharing or partaking in Jesus’ glorious inheritance. The Word says His inheritance is our inheritance. Since the word hope means an earnest expectation: Christ’s inheritance in us is something we can press into and, by faith, expect to live in now.  

How is this possible? When Jesus died and rose again, He secured the legal right for us to live in His inheritance now, before we get to heaven one day. Hebrews 9:16-17 says, “For where there is a [last] will and testament involved, the death of the one who made it must be established. For a will and testament is valid and takes effect only at death, since it has no force or legal power as long as the one who made it is alive.” When Jesus gave His life as a sacrifice for our sin, His life blood had to be shed to make the testament or legal agreement for our inheritance valid and effective. Then, the moment He rose from the dead and took His rightful place next to His Father in heaven, Jesus was given all authority, power and dominion, and the Name that is above every other name. The moment we accepted Him as our personal Lord and Saviour, the Bible says we became one spirit with Him (1 Corinthians 6:17) and since we are now in Him, and He is in us, what He has been given has become ours too!

Too good to be true? Well, take a look and see for yourself: verse 19 of Ephesians 1 says, “And [so that you can know and understand] what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power in and for us who believe, as demonstrated in the working of His mighty strength, which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His [own] right hand in the heavenly [places].  Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and every name that is named [above every title that can be conferred], not only in this age and in this world, but also in the age and the world which are to come.” 

Now, take a look at Ephesians 2:4-5, “But God—so rich is He in His mercy! Because of and in order to satisfy the great and wonderful and intense love with which He loved us, even when we were dead (slain) by [our own] shortcomings and trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with Christ; [He gave us the very life of Christ Himself, the same new life with which He quickened Him, for] it is by grace (His favour and mercy which you did not deserve) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation).”

What does all this mean? It means your salvation is far more than a ticket to heaven, my friend. It’s the very life of the victorious Christ, alive in you to live and reign with Him now. He has made us partakers, partners with Him, by the very same power that has made Him alive!  The same power that raised Christ from the dead, lives in you (Romans 8:11) and it’s there for a purpose! 

Verse 6 says, “And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together [giving us joint seating with Him] in the heavenly sphere [by virtue of our being] in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed One).” It’s completely possible for our spirit man, who is inseparably connected to the Spirit of Christ, to be seated with Him in heavenly places - the place where, together, we have full authority and reign - while our natural bodies are here on earth.  

Verse 7 says, He did this that He might clearly demonstrate through the ages to come the immeasurable (limitless, surpassing) riches of His free grace (His unmerited favour) in [His] kindness and goodness of heart toward us in Christ Jesus. For it is by free grace (God’s unmerited favour) that you are saved (delivered from judgment and made partakers of Christ’s salvation) through [your] faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [of your own doing, it came not through your own striving], but it is the gift of God;”

Jesus expects us to live and reign with Him right here and right now - and has given us everything we need to do so! The power of God is a real, tangible force living inside us. Just knowing and understanding this truth is enough to set you on the right course of victory and power.  

Did you remember to take careful note of the references to God’s good character and how He feels about you? Every part of our reigning with Christ is held together and fuelled by His unexplainable, overwhelming love for us. 

What kind of God is this that would give us all of Himself, including every aspect of His glorious inheritance, when we least deserve it? This love is what I choose to receive, and know, and live in. So I choose to receive, and know, and live in Him - because He is love.

Next week we will look at the authority we have in Christ Jesus!

All my love,

Jen

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