Secondly, we must have the desire to reign. This means that we must positively and actively reign for God, ruling over all things. Once we have the position of ascension and order, we may reign. If our experience has reached this stage, we ought to reign. Some brothers and sisters, however, have neither the thought nor the desire to reign. Their spirits are loose and lazy. They neither care for the difficulties arising in the church, nor inquire about the problems springing up in the Lord’s work. They simply allow Satan to work and destroy at will. Hence, though according to their growth of life they are able to reign, yet in reality, due to their laxity and unwillingness to reign, they still cannot obtain the experience of reigning. Therefore, if one desires to reign, his spirit must not be lax or timid, but willing to exercise God’s authority and positively and actively deal with all the works of the enemy. Thus, God’s authority will immediately be manifested in the church, and many rebellious and unlawful matters in the church will be subdued.
In the church today, we lack the kind of people who desire to reign. Therefore, many situations which should not exist often arise. For example, some of the fellowship and breaking of bread meetings are weak and confused. Some of the brothers and sisters should have prayed, but they didn’t; some should have spoken, but they withheld from speaking. On the contrary, many unnecessary prayers and meaningless testimonies were released. The meetings thus are disturbed, and the brothers and sisters are not edified and lose heart toward meetings. This condition is mainly caused by those who should have reigned but did not reign. They have just behaved like bystanders, allowing others to act in the meetings in whatever manner they chose. They even regard such a way as being very spiritual, not by man’s doing, but by the Spirit’s move. As a result, they cause the church to suffer great loss.
We often say that certain meetings are very dead and depressed. This kind of depression comes from Satan, because Satan is the devil, who has the authority of death. Therefore, whenever a meeting is dead and depressed, it means that Satan is reigning there as king. At that time, someone should rise up to reign for God, either by a word, a hymn, or a prayer to control the meeting, change the atmosphere, and release the life of God, thereby swallowing up Satan’s death.
Satan works not only in meetings, but also in many lives. Sometimes he sends unnecessary poverty or sickness. If we live in the realm of ascension, we can tell which poverty and sickness is permitted by God and which is inflicted by Satan. Once we have discerned the matter, we must learn to reign by denying and opposing the poverty and sickness inflicted by Satan.
Furthermore, if we have had some experience in spiritual warfare, we can see that all things tending either to disrupt God’s works or disturb the church are the deeds of demons. For example, sometimes in the meetings some are dozing, others have wandering thoughts, or children are running around. All these are the work of the demons. Even some prayers and messages are also the works of demons. Actually, anything in this world, except that which is moved by the Holy Spirit, can be said to come from evil spirits, that is, from demons. Hence, how we need men who are willing to rise and stand in the position of ascension and order, men who will positively and actively exercise authority for God to rule over all the confused and lawless situation and destroy the antagonistic works of the enemy! We must not be like old Eli. In 1 Samuel 3 we see how he was indifferent and in deep sleep. One who is indifferent and in deep sleep cannot reign for God. If we want to reign, our spirit must be strong and positive. A reigning spirit must be strong and living, active and not passive, positive and not negative, diligent and not loose. One who has such a spirit not only keeps the position of order and submits to God’s authority, but also has strong faith and exercises God’s authority consistently in the position of ascension. Thus he reigns and rules over his environment, over his work, and over all the meetings and affairs in the church.
In order to reign, we must express our attitude in three directions: firstly, toward God; secondly, toward Satan; and thirdly, toward persons, events, and things. Take for example a brother in the church who does not behave properly. The reigning ones need to go before God and express their attitude, saying, “Lord, concerning this brother who misbehaves in such a way in the church, we neither agree nor approve.” Then they need also to declare to Satan that this comes from his disturbance, and they are opposing and judging it. Finally, if necessary, they still need to solemnly express their attitude toward the persons, events, and things concerned, saying, “We do not agree and will not allow this matter to take place.” When we express these attitudes, God will work and manifest His authority. Many times God’s working depends on our attitude expressed toward Him. When a person lives in sins and the world, God will not respect his opinion. But when one has reached the position of ascension, his opinion will be greatly respected by God. When one reaches the realm of ascension, his opinion is almost the same as the mind of God. Therefore, he can be active and express his attitude, and God will respect him and trust him and reign through him.
Therefore, with regard to the goal of God’s salvation, we need to reign for Him. With regard to our growth in life, we also need to reach the stage of reigning. With regard to Satan’s unlawfulness, we need even more to rise and reign. In view of this we ought to take heed to learn this lesson well. Although this experience is considerably high and deep, yet since we already have some beginning in the second and third stages, if we continue to seek diligently, the Lord will bring us into the realm of reigning. May the Lord be gracious to us!
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