Some brothers and sisters ask the Lord for help not only in spiritual things but also in material things in their living. They always pray, “Lord, bless us. The house we are living in is not very good; please bless us that we may have a better house.” They ask for the Lord’s blessing also on material things related to their eating, drinking, and clothing. However, the Lord told us, “Do not be anxious for your life, what you should eat or what you should drink” (Matt. 6:25). Rather, we should “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness,” and all the things we need will be added to us (v. 33). Many times God is merciful to us, but often He grants us His mercy without much joy. When a disobedient child asks his parents for something to eat, although the parents give him what he asks for, they do so without joy. This is because they know that if they refuse him, he will be hungry, but they know also that he is a disobedient child. This is truly the heart of every parent. When a child does not listen to his parents or behave according to his parents’ will, the parents are not happy, though they give him what he desires.
Many brothers and sisters have prayed to God, and it seems that God answered their prayers. However, He did not answer them happily. God knows that we are His children, and if He does not take care of us, we cannot live on the earth. If He does not take care of us, we cannot get through all our difficulties. He takes care of us, but He is not happy, because we completely disregard His authority, we do not care for His kingdom, and we do not allow Him to be the Lord. All we care for is ourselves. Hence, it is not pleasant for Him to answer our prayers. In Matthew 6:31-33 the Lord Jesus told His disciples that they should not seek material things because all these things are what the Gentiles are anxiously seeking. He told them that instead, they needed to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and allow Him to reign in them and establish His domain in them. In this way all their daily necessities would be added to them. They would be cared for by Him, would enjoy His riches, and would experience His power.
The manifestation of the Lord’s power and the expression of the Lord’s riches through us are based on His being able to set up His throne and establish His kingdom in us. When we have His kingdom and His throne in us, His riches will flow out from within us. When His throne is set up in us, His life will flow into us and become our inner supply. Today many brothers and sisters are not able to overcome sins. They pray again and again, but they still fail. They reckon themselves dead, but the more they reckon themselves dead, the more they are alive and unable to die. What is the reason for this? This is because they have not allowed the Lord to set up His throne in them. We must see that life flows out of the throne, and the supply of life is for the fulfilling of the kingdom requirements. Life is not merely for us to overcome the small problems related to sins but for the kingdom to reign in us.
A sister once told me, “I think that the hardest thing for me is the matter of dealing with my hired servants; it is truly not easy to treat them properly.” When the sisters feel that their attitude toward their servants is poor, and they do not have the peace within, they should earnestly confess to the Lord. Sometime later, however, they will find that they still cannot be kind to their servants. They know that this is not right, but no matter how much they pray, their prayers are in vain. Thus, they are greatly bothered. We must ask such a sister, “In your daily life, do you make all the decisions, or does the Lord make the decisions? Has the Lord set up His throne in you? Whose domain are you? If you are your own domain, you make the final decisions, and the Lord is not on the throne, then you should not expect that you will be able to treat your servants properly, for the Lord’s life will not help you; His life is not to meet this need of yours. Instead, the Lord’s life is for the kingdom requirements.” Therefore, the sister should not be concerned about how she treats her servants. Rather, when she goes home, she should prostrate herself before the Lord, give herself to Him, acknowledge His authority, receive His throne, allow Him to reign in her and obtain His domain in her, yield her inner being to Him completely, and say to Him, “Lord, from today on I am Your kingdom, Your domain. Your throne is in me. Please reign in me.” Then everything will be solved. She will experience life flowing and supplying her within, and she will spontaneously be kind to her servants. This is amazing.
All the enemies will be defeated by this. When Christ is on the throne, all the enemies will fall. However, when we are on the throne, all the enemies will rise up. This was the story with the children of Israel. In the Old Testament when the children of Israel allowed God to be their King, all the enemies around them fell and were subdued. However, whenever the children of Israel forsook God, rejected God’s authority, and acted according to their own will, their enemies all rose up. As a result, the holy city was trampled, the holy temple was destroyed, the Ark was captured, and the people of God became captives. The principle is the same today. We should never expect that God will come to help us; He never offers such help. Rather, He desires to rule and reign in us, to obtain His domain and establish His kingdom in us. There is no need for us to pray, to beseech Him, or to look to Him. As long as we give Him the throne and the domain in us, receive Him as the Lord of all and the King of kings, take Him as our King and our Head, and submit to His authority, all the enemies will fall, and all our problems will be solved.
At that time we will see that God’s life is in us, the throne is set up in us, and life is flowing out of us and becoming a supply of power to us. Then it will be easy and sweet to love not only our servant but even our enemy. We will be able to take the way that men cannot take, live a life that men cannot live, and do the things that men cannot do, for with men this is impossible, but with God this is possible. God in us becomes the “possible” One; He becomes our life and our supply.
Therefore, we need to see that His salvation, His gospel, is for Him to obtain a domain, to make us His kingdom, that His Son may be enthroned in us and be the Head and the King of kings in us. The solution to all our problems depends on our giving ourselves to Him so that His kingdom can become a reality in us. The reigning of Christ is our exercise, and the throne of Christ is our living. If this is our experience, we will immediately see the supply of life satisfying the requirements of the kingdom and enabling us to do what man cannot do. This is what is meant by Matthew 19:26, which says, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”