“For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5v17)
When we recieve God’s free gift of grace through Christ we immediatly become part of Gods kingdom and as such share in His royal rule. Grace is much more than just having our sins forgiven and being qualified to go to heaven. This verse states that all recieve grace are enabled to reign in this life! Many Christians live life always striving just to “get by”, worried about what tomorrow is going to bring. But when we recieve grace we receieve God’s “abundant provision”. In the Kingdom our source is different to that of the world. Our source is not the government, the banks or our job, but our source is Abba, Father – the God of more than enough. In Jesus we have abundant provision and do not lack for anything.
As kings and priests in the Kingdom of light, we can now reign in this life. That means that overcoming is not some future hope in heaven, but can be a present reality. “to reign” in this verse means “to live like a king”, that means to have dominion and authority over disease, the devil and our circumstances.
The Greek word here for “reign” is actually the same word used about Jesus’ Lordship! This is the wonder of Gods grace, that we are seated in heavenly places far above all principalities and powers. We share in the victory of Jesus and have been given the same power, authority and kingdom that He himself posses’.
As Christians we should never be ok “under the circumstances”. The circumstances should be under us! As Christians we are not called to grow the church, that is Jesus’ job; we are however called to grow the Kingdom. We can not do that by living in defeat, mediocrity and passivity. It’s time to rise up as the kings that we are, and start to reign in this life. As we start to take authority over what we should have authority over, Gods’ kingdom will start to advance and the dominion of Jesus’ start to spread throughout the nations.
In the French revolution there was a young prince who was taken captive by the revolutionaries. They decided that rather than exectute him they would tempt him with such sinful pleasures that he would become so corrupt and carnal that the monarchy would be a laughing stock. But whatever things they threw at this young man he refused to give in to the temptation. Finally they asked him why we wouldn’t give in. The prince replied “I am a son of a king, I refuse to live like that!”
Next time the devil tempts you to live in defeat, and tells you to give in, remind him that you are the son of a king! Remind him that the grace of God has enabled you to reign in this life and then rise up, in the power of the Holy Spirit and faith in God’s word and be the victororious warrior He has saved you to be!
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