Another issue of life that we can experience in this age is reigning in life. [Simply speaking, to reign is to exercise authority for God-to rule all things and in particular to deal with His enemy. We have repeatedly mentioned in the past that in the creation of man God has a two-fold intent and desire. On one hand, God wants man to possess His image that he may express God Himself. On the other hand, God wants man to represent Him with His authority in order to deal with His enemy. Therefore, when God created man, on one hand, He created him in His image and likeness that man might be like Him. On the other hand, God caused man to “have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth’’ (Gen. 1:26). This means that God gave man authority that he might reign for Him.]
[Therefore, from the point of view of authority, reigning is the final goal of God’s salvation. It is the summit of our spiritual experience. As for God, had He not saved us to the extent that we could reign for Him in the heavenly realm, the goal of His salvation would not have been considered fully accomplished. Furthermore, although this matter of reigning will not be completely realized until the coming of the kingdom and in eternity, yet today God wants us to have a beginning on earth. As for us, if any Christian has not yet reached the degree of reigning for God, he is not yet up to standard. A Christian who is up to standard has not only been delivered from sin, has overcome the world, has had his flesh dealt with and his natural constitution broken, has been filled with the Holy Spirit, and is sitting in the heavenly realm, but even more he is reigning with Christ in all things. Whether in God’s work, in the church, at home, or in any encounter in his environment, he can reign and rule over that which God wants him to rule. There must be such people gained by God that through them the authority of God can be executed and the kingdom of God can come upon the earth.]
Many times, when we see the evil situations in our school, in our neighborhood, in our city, in our country, and in the world, we may be sad, yet we do not think that anything can be done. This is not true. God has given us the authority to rule over the earth. We must exercise this authority. If we are still living in ourselves rather than in the life of God, we cannot even rule over ourselves. Our spirit will be dull and weak. But when we experience life and grow every day, our spirit will be so strong. In such a state, we would pray against all the negative things that are happening around us. We would bind the enemy in our schools. He is the one who is destroying so many young people through, drugs, alcohol, violence, boy-girl relationships (fornication), rebellion, laziness, and worldliness. Then we would pray to free our friends from these degrading, sinful, and evil things so that they may be saved through baptism into the Body of Christ. We cannot stand idle and watch them perish. We must exercise our God-given authority to rule over every situation, beginning today. This is the third issue of life.
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