It is regrettable that although many of God’s children know that God’s life is in them, they have not seen the requirements of God’s kingdom. It may be that some do not fully understand the Lord’s word regarding this matter. How can God’s children know that God’s life is in them yet neglect the kingdom requirements? One time a sister asked me, “Is the Lord Jesus in me as life?” I said, “Yes.” Then she asked, “Is the life of the Lord Jesus not powerful?” I said, “Yes, it is powerful. There is no question about this.” Then she continued, “I have a problem. You know that I am definitely saved, that I truly have the Lord’s life in me, and that the Lord’s life is powerful. However, there is a temper in me that I can never overcome.”
I then asked her, “What temper?” She replied, “I have been married for several years, and everything has been fine except my temper. Before I was saved, I realized that it was a problem. I believed in Jesus mainly in the hope that I would stop losing my temper. I knew that in myself I had no way to restrain my temper. In a gospel meeting I heard someone say that the life of the Lord Jesus is powerful and that if we rely on Him and receive His life, we can overcome our temper. It is because of such a gospel that I believed in Jesus. I am truly saved and have the Lord’s life. The first two weeks after I was saved, this life was truly powerful, but it has not worked since then. I always pray and ask the Lord to strengthen me that I may not lose my temper. However, the more I pray, the more I lose my temper. Now I even doubt that I truly have the life of the Lord Jesus and that His life is truly powerful. Moreover, my husband teases me, saying that after I believed in Jesus, I was fine and did not lose my temper for only two weeks, and that now my temper is worse than before.”
She told me that she was very sad when her husband teased her, but it seemed impossible for her not to continue believing in Jesus. Something within laid hold of her, making it impossible for her not to believe in the Lord Jesus. If you asked her not to pray, she would be unable to fulfill your request; if you asked her not to read the Bible, she would be unable to do that; if you asked her not to go to the meetings, she would not be able to stay away from the meetings. However, she could not overcome her temper. What could she do? I believe that many people have this kind of experience.
Some people are troubled by smoking; they are unable to stop smoking. They say that they cannot overcome even a small cigarette. A brother once told me, “In the past I heard someone say that once he was saved, the life of the Lord Jesus was so powerful that it got rid of his cigarettes. I also believed in Jesus, and from the time that I was baptized, I have attended the Lord’s table meeting every Lord’s Day. Why do I still smoke? Very often before the Lord’s table meeting, I smoke heavily at home. After half an hour of smoking, I am satisfied, and I go to the meeting. Can it be that even the life of the Lord Jesus does not have the power to solve my problem?” Many of us have similar problems.
I asked the sister who wanted the Lord to help her not to lose her temper, “Since the day of your salvation, have you ever consecrated yourself to the Lord and allowed Him to rule in you? To do so, you must tell the Lord, ‘Lord, from now on, I am not my own; I am Yours. Lord, may You be the Lord and King. I give myself to You. I give You the permission to be enthroned in me and be the King of kings in me.’ Have you ever told this to the Lord?” She replied, “Frankly, I do not have the boldness to pray like this. After I was saved, I heard messages about consecration, but I was afraid to consecrate myself, because once I consecrate myself and the Lord Jesus truly comes to reign in me, what shall I do? This is not a joke. This can be compared to the fact that before I was engaged to my husband, I could make all the decisions myself, but after our engagement I was accountable to him in everything and had to hand over everything to him. Now whatever he says is final. Therefore, if I give myself to the Lord Jesus, I know that I will not be allowed to joke. If the Lord comes to reign in me, He will tell me, ‘You must not do this, and you must not do that.’ What shall I do then? This is serious; hence, I have not dared to consecrate myself to Him.”
I continued and asked her, “How do you live as a Christian?” She said, “I know that the Lord has saved me and that He lives in me as my life. I also know that I should consecrate myself to Him and allow Him to be the Lord, but I dare not do it. Therefore, I use my own effort in everything, and when I fail in anything, I ask Him for help. For example, because I cannot overcome my temper, I ask Him to help me overcome my temper.” After I heard this, I laughed. I said to her, “The Lord Jesus is not cheap. You cannot buy Him with the small price that you pay. The Lord Jesus will not be your Savior according to what you desire. You ask Him to help, but He will not help. You must ask Him to be the Lord. You need to give yourself to Him, allow Him to be the King of kings, allow Him to set up His throne in you, and allow Him to reign in you. In this way all the problems will be solved easily. If instead of giving the ground to the Lord Jesus, you reign over everything, and you pray and ask for His help only when you have a problem and cannot get through, it is impossible for Him to help you. He will not do such a thing; He never gives help to people. Rather, He desires to be your life within you so that He may meet the requirements of the kingdom Himself.”
I told this sister that the kingdom requirements were a matter of the Lord’s reigning in her and that she needed to give the throne and authority to the Lord and allow Him to establish His kingdom in her. I said, “Strictly speaking, today the Lord does not care to be the Savior in us; He cares to be the King in us, desiring to set up His throne in us and make us into His domain. He desires to make us His kingdom that He may reign in us. Hence, He has placed the highest requirements on us, and He would not allow us to lose our temper or even to have a small impure thought. He desires to reign in us and rule over our being. He is never loose; He requires us to be perfect as God the Father is perfect. If your desire is only to stop losing your temper, He will not help you. He does not require you merely to refrain from losing your temper, for this is too low; rather, He requires you to allow Him to rule in you, reign in you, and establish His domain in you.”
I continued, “Sister, do you want to be saved by Him? Do you want to know His resurrection power? Do you want to know the power of His life? If so, you must submit yourself before His throne and have a time to give yourself to Him, telling Him, ‘You are my Lord. You are the King of kings. I give myself to You that You may be the King and the Lord in me. All that I am is Yours; the ground and the authority in me are Yours.’ If you give yourself to the Lord in this way, allowing Him to gain the ground in you and reign in you, you do not need to worry about whether or not you will lose your temper, because your temper will be His responsibility. As long as you submit to His authority, ruling, and throne and allow Him to establish His kingdom in you and make you His domain, everything related to you will spontaneously be His responsibility.”
This sister absolutely believed this word, but she still had a hesitation within. She told me, “I believe your word. There is no doubt about it. However, if I allow the Lord to reign in me, and He actually reigns in me, what will happen to me?” This is our situation. We ask the Lord to reign in us, which means that we want Him to reign in us, yet we wonder what will happen to us when He actually reigns in us. Are we asking Him to be our King merely out of politeness? If so, we are deceiving ourselves and others; we do not actually want Him to reign in us.
Every one of us more or less has this kind of experience. In fact, many people today still do not have the boldness to consecrate themselves to the Lord. Others may have only a partial consecration. Such persons do not have a thorough consecration and dare not have a complete consecration. This is because they think that after they consecrate themselves completely and Jesus is enthroned, they will be finished. After they are saved, many Christians have this kind of experience to one degree or another.