Hello, I’m Lonnie Robbins with God Today and Pure Life Counseling. Welcome. I want to talk today about trials being our training ground for ruling and reigning with Christ. There was actually a mandate that God first originally gave Adam and Eve in the beginning in Genesis 1. And He said, “God blessed them. And he said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and subdue it, have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air and every living thing that moves on the earth.” Difficulties and obstacles are an opportunity for understanding our sonship, our ability to rule and reign with Him here on the earth.
Jesus said, actually, “I’ve told you all of this so that you may have peace in me. Here on the earth. You’re going to have a lot of trials and sorrows, but take heart because I’ve overcome the world.” And Paul also said in Ephesians 1, he said, “Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realm has already been lavished upon us as a love gift from our wonderful heavenly Father, the Father of our Lord Jesus––all because he sees us wrapped into Christ.” This is why we celebrate Him with all of our hearts. God often has a higher view of us than we tend to have of ourselves, or even our situation. We know that God is working on our behalf to overcome every circumstance and situation in our lives. Peter writes that “everything we could ever need for life and godliness, it’s already been deposited in us by his divine power.” It’s so powerful, in 2 Peter 1:3.
Paul writes again. He says, “Now my beloved ones, I’ve saved these most important truths for last:” in essence, he’s saying, “Now listen up:” “Be supernaturally infused with strength through your life-union with the Lord Jesus. Stand victorious with the force of his explosive power flowing in and through you.” In essence, in all of your doing: stand, don’t give up. Stand. Why? Because the power of God is in you and flowing through you, and He’s teaching you something powerful in your life.
My son actually had a journey in overcoming fear and teaching him his authority. He was tormented as a toddler with night terrors that persisted for months, we did everything we knew to do. We fasted, we prayed, we worshiped, we declared, we did everything possible in our knowing and nothing would help. It still persisted. Then we heard the voice of the Lord whisper, “Teach him his authority.” When we taught him how to stand in authority as a son of God, the torment actually stopped. He stood and the tormenter fled from his room. He then ran to our room. He told us exactly what had happened, but it took time to build this continued confidence. And at first we held him, I took him to his room, we turned on the lights, looked under the bed, in the closet, tucked him in for the night, turned out the lights. But the next night looks something similar except we switched on the lights. He then looked around the room. We tucked him in for the night and turned out the lights. And the following nights were about the same, but more and more, he started doing things on his own, until finally he was able to do everything by himself. With the help of the Holy Spirit and the support of his parents, he was learning to stand with authority. And our journey of sonship looks something very similar. Our Father could do everything for us, but He’s choosing not to. He’s choosing to walk beside us, alongside us on our journey, helping us implement His rule, His Kingdom, being co-heirs with Christ. That’s why we’re ruling and we’re reigning with Christ. We’re heirs to the throne, co-heirs with Christ. And Jesus said it this way, “After all, it is his good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”
Whatever you’re going through, whatever obstacle seems like it’s standing up against you, God is actually teaching you how to rule, how to reign with Him, because this earth that we’re walking on, is now also our dominion to have rule and reign over, even as it was stated in Genesis 1. I want to pray for you today. God, I pray, and I thank you even for obstacles. I thank you for opportunities to show your strength on our behalf, that you’re teaching us to hear you to rule with you. You’re strengthening us and our inner most being to do all things, to stand. God, thank you for the opportunity to rule with you and our circumstances. They will not overcome us. You have overcome the world and it is your good pleasure to give us the Kingdom. Amen.