We need to keep our being fully open to the Lord to enjoy His dispensing, for God’s complete salvation is for us to reign in life by the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness, as we practice the restriction and limitation in the divine life.
This week in our morning revival we come to the topic of, Reigning in Life.
This implies some kind of warfare, for in order to reign, we need to overcome particular obstacles and reign.
Genesis tells us that God created us in His own image and caused us to have dominion over all the created things.
In v. 28 He said that man is to have dominion over the earth and subdue the earth.
God wants man to subdue the earth, for there’s a warfare raging in the universe between God and Satan, and man needs to be on God’s side to subdue the enemy.
God is looking to man to exercise the subduing function, that is, to exercise dominion; He wants man not only to express and represent Him but even more, subdue the enemy and reign in life for God.
When we consider the matter of reigning in life, we may think that this is something beyond us; we may think that only a certain few people can reign in life, those who are very mature in the Lord, toward the end of their life.
The very expression, reigning in life, may scare or intimidate us a little bit.
But we need to take courage, for this is our inheritance; reigning in life is for us to enter into today and to partake of right now.
On one hand, we have received the forgiveness of sins from the Lord; on the other hand, we have received an inheritance. It is our divine right, as children of God, to experience and enter into the reigning in life.
Actually, reigning in life is not an optional matter, nor is it just for some few saints; it is for us all to exercise and practice today.
By the Lord’s mercy and grace, we want to be able to reign in life over every negative thing!
When the Lord gains a group of people who reign in life and experience the matter of reigning in life, the Body of Christ is experienced in reality.
Reigning in life also implies the matter of kingship; it is not reigning as kings over people and having servants, but it is reigning in life over anything that is negative.
Every New Testament believer is both a priest and a king.
First, it is our right and responsibility to contact the Lord, enjoy Him, partake of Him, and minister to Him, being filled with God and bringing God to man.
Second, it is our right and responsibility to reign in life, that is, to be a co-king with Christ ruling over anything that is negative to bring in the kingdom of God.
This is part of our rights and our inheritance.
Receive the Abundance of Grace and of the Gift of Righteousness to Reign in Life
According to Rom. 5:17, just as death reigned through the one because of his offense, much more we who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. Amen!
God’s complete salvation is for us to reign in life by the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness.
Due to Adam’s sin, death reigned; if we enjoy the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness, we will reign in life.
Verse 21 goes even further to say that grace reigns. So when we enjoy this abundance of grace, we will reign in life, because grace reigns in us.
These two matters, grace and righteousness, match the forgiveness of sins and inheritance in Acts 26:18; on one hand, we have forgiveness of sins (righteousness) by God’s judicial redemption, and on the other hand, we have the abundance of grace (an inheritance).
![Brothers, I do not account of myself to have laid hold; but one thing [I do:] Forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before, I pursue toward the goal for the prize to which God in Christ Jesus has called [me] upward. Phil. 3:13-14 In order that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom. 5:17](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Brothers-I-do-not-account-of-myself-to-have-laid-hold-but-one-thing-I-do-Forgetting-the-things-which-are-behind-683x1024.webp?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "Brothers, I do not account of myself to have laid hold; but one thing [I do:] Forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to the things which are before, I pursue toward the goal for the prize to which God in Christ Jesus has called [me] upward. Phil. 3:13-14 In order that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Rom. 5:17")
The abundance of the gift of righteousness refers to God’s judicial redemption, and the abundance of grace refers to the processed Triune God with His wonderful organic salvation.
In His complete salvation, God wants us to reign in life by the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness.
If we look around us, there’s a shortage of grace in the world today; what reigns is death, not grace.
Death is prevailing. Whether it is a war-affected area or not, every area on earth is affected by death, and death prevails everywhere.
Sin and death are reigning. But if we enjoy the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness, we will reign in life.
Reigning in life is the full experience of the organic salvation of God (Rom. 5:10, 17, 21).
We thank the Lord for His judicial redemption, based on which we can enjoy His organic salvation.
Our organic salvation is something that is continual, something that is lifelong.
Micah 5:2 indicates the goings forth of the Lord; these are continuous, for His life is continually growing and spreading.
The Lord is the real vine, as in John 15, and this vine is full of life, vibrant, vital, active, and spreading and growing all the time.
He entered into humanity and became a human being like us; He lived a human life, and through His death and resurrection, He continued to grow in humanity.
Through His Spirit, He is now growing and spreading, and whoever believes into the Lord Jesus is part of the Lord’s goings forth.
He is the seed of life within us that is growing and spreading and going forth.
This going forth activity, which is the nature of the divine life, brings us into this organic salvation.
May we enjoy the gift of righteousness and the abundance of grace so that we may reign in life!
The gift of righteousness is for God’s judicial redemption, and grace is for us to experience God’s organic salvation (Rom. 1:17; 5:10).
The gift of righteousness is God’s judicial redemption being applied to us in a practical way (3:24, 26).
Grace is God Himself as our all-sufficient supply for our organic salvation (1 Cor. 15:10; 2 Cor. 12:9).
For us to reign in life, we need to receive the abundance of grace. on the side of the grace of God, there is no shortage; grace flows in abundance.
The shortage is on our side. There is an ample supply of grace, but do we receive the abundance of grace?
Grace is available in abundance, and God as grace flows freely toward us from the throne of grace.
We need to come to the very God who is grace and just enjoy Him as grace again and again until we’re filled with grace and grace overflows from us.
When we are filled with the enjoyment of Christ as grace, grace fills us and abounds in us, and grace reigns in us.
When grace reigns in us, we reign in life.
May we ask the Lord to make us the best receivers, the best enjoyers of the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness so that we may reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
May we seek not to be a better brother or sister but to be better receivers, better enjoyers of grace.
Only by receiving grace and enjoying the abundance of grace can we reign in life through Christ.
It is not by knowing more doctrines and teachings, nor is it by being outwardly perfected or corrected; what avails is not anything that has to do with improvement or correction, but our opening to the Lord.
We must be filled with the abundance of grace so that grace may reign in us and we may therefore reign in life.
When we remain open to the Lord as grace and are filled with His grace, allowing His grace to overflow in us, we will reign in life over sin, death, and Satan.
These three, Satan, sin, and death, are working within us; instead of trying to defeat them, we should just come to the throne of grace and enjoy Christ, open ourselves to Him to be thoroughly filled with grace so that we may reign over them in life.
Lord Jesus, we are willing to remove any hindrance so that we may be fully open to You. We want to keep ourselves directly open to You to be filled with You as grace. Amen, Lord, we come to the throne of grace to receive and enjoy the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness. We stop our striving and struggling and we simply want to enjoy grace! Make us the best receivers and enjoyers of grace! Hallelujah, grace as a river flows abundantly from the Lord on the throne of grace! We come to You again and again, Lord, to just receive and enjoy grace! We open to receive and enjoy the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness so that we may reign in life! May grace reign in us. May we be so filled with the enjoyment of grace that grace reigns in us and we reign in life! Amen, Lord, keep us open to You, receiving grace and being filled with grace to overflowing!
As we Receive the Abundance of Grace, we need to Practice the Restriction and Limitation in the Divine Life
The highest attainment of pursuing Christ is to reign with Christ in His divine life through His abounding grace (Phil. 3:13-14; Rom. 5:17, 21).
As we receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness, enjoying the Lord with His abounding grace, we spontaneously reign in life. Amen!
This is on the positive side. On the negative side, we need to be subject to God and be humble toward God so that we may withstand the devil.
We reign in life, but this reigning is under God as the King and the Lord. The enemy’s strategy is, even as we aspire to reign in life, that we would not be submissive to the Lord.
To overcome the enemy, however, we need to bring ourselves into submission to the Lord.
We honour Him, we give ourselves to Him day by day.
By opening to Him and praying to Him, we indicate that we are not but He is.
We need Him. In our prayer, we humble ourselves before the Lord, and we depend on Him, being subject to Him.
To reign in life is to conquer, subdue, and rule over Satan, the world, sin, the flesh, ourselves, and all the environmental circumstances (Rom. 8:2, 25-27).
At the same time, however, we need to practice the restriction and limitation in the divine life (Matt. 8:9).
There is a need for us as believers in Christ who enjoy an abundance of grace to practice the restriction and limitation in the divine life.
Reigning in life doesn’t mean that we are the king in our household; a husband may think he’s the king and his family is the castle, but this is not how things really are.
The real king is the Lord Jesus.
For us to reign in life – which is part of our inheritance as believers – we need to practice the restriction and limitation in the divine life.
![But the centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not fit for You to enter under my roof; but only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my slave, Do this, and he does [it.] Now when Jesus heard [this,] He marveled and said to those who followed, Truly I say to you, With no one in Israel have I found such great faith. Matt. 8:8-10](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/But-the-centurion-answered-and-said-Lord-I-am-not-fit-for-You-to-enter-under-my-roof-but-only-speak-a-word-683x1024.webp?resize=400%2C600&ssl=1 "But the centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not fit for You to enter under my roof; but only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, Go, and he goes; and to another, Come, and he comes; and to my slave, Do this, and he does [it.] Now when Jesus heard [this,] He marveled and said to those who followed, Truly I say to you, With no one in Israel have I found such great faith. Matt. 8:8-10")
We see this in Matt. 8 in the story of the centurion who came to the Lord and asked Him to heal his servant, but he insisted that the Lord doesn’t need to come to his house but just say a word.
He said that, even as he himself was a man under authority, the Lord could just speak a word with authority and the sickness would leave. What faith is this!
The Lord Jesus had authority and was reigning in life because He Himself was under God’s authority, and this was sensed and seen by the Roman centurion.
The Lord did nothing out of Himself – He didn’t speak, work, or do anything of Himself, but did everything from the Father, even as the Father did things in Him.
He was there to take care of the Father’s will, honour the Father, do the will of the Father, speak the words of the Father, and do the work that the Father gave Him to do.
He practiced the limitation and restriction in the divine life, and He was a man under God’s authority.
He lived in this way, accepting the limitation of the divine authority. So there was a reigning in life with the Lord Jesus, for He subjected Himself to God’s authority.
When we speak of reigning in life we not only want to overcome all the negative things but even more, we ourselves would accept the Lord’s limitation and be under His inner rule and reign.
There’s a great need for us to receive the abundance of grace to reign in life, and there is a great need for us to practice the limitation and restriction in the divine life.
Lord Jesus, we want to learn to practice the limitation and restriction in the divine life as we receive and enjoy the abundance of grace. We open to You, dear Lord, from the depths of our being, so that we may be filled with God as grace. We want to live by grace, allowing the divine life within us to rule in us, reign in us, and limit us from within. May we be those who accept the limitation of the divine authority and not do anything apart from the Lord’s inner restriction in the divine life. Amen, Lord, may grace reign in us. May the enjoyment of Christ rule and reign in our being. May we be under the rule of the divine life within us so that we may truly reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. Grant us to learn, dear Lord, to accept the Lord’s limitation in all our situations and circumstances, so that we may truly reign in life!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ray Mulligan in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Romans, pp. 509-510, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, An Overview of the Central Burden and Present Truth of the Lord’s Recovery Before His Appearing (2023 July Semiannual Training), week 8, entitled, Reigning in Life.
- Similar articles on this topic:
– Saved from all kinds of insubordination, a portion from, To Be Saved in the Life of Christ as Revealed in Romans, Chapter 1, by Witness Lee.
– Reigning in Life, prophesying outline via, Church in Chennai.
– Greeting the Lord in the Morning, testimony via, Living to Him.
– Receive grace by Him, a portion from, The Normal Christian Faith, Chapter 6, by Watchman Nee.
– The gift of righteousness, a song via, Hymnal.net.
– Christ as the seed of life sown in us to grow in us for God’s building, article by Ed Marks in, Affirmation and Critique. - Hymns on this topic:
– God’s complete salvation / Is based upon His righteousness and through our faith. / By the two divine transfers: / Out of Adam into Christ / And out of the flesh into the Spirit. / In the one spiritual union of the / Spirit of Life with our spirit / Forming a mingled spirit. / For us to reign in life by the abundance of grace / and of the gift of righteousness. / For us to reign in life by the abundance of grace / and of the gift of righteousness. (Song on, God’s complete salvation)
– Today we must learn to submit to His throne, / How to have a strict life and His government own; / His authority then we’ll be able to share, / O’er the nations to rule with God’s Son as the heir. (Hymns #947 stanza 3)
– ’Tis by this Spirit that we walk and act, / We have our being, think, and see all things; / We’re now within this Spirit! What a fact! / This Spirit to us all God’s fullness brings! / So now we have to set our mind on Him; / Each day, each hour, our mind on Him must be; / That by this Spirit we’d be saved within / By life and reign in life eternally. (Hymns #1198 stanzas 8-9)
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Life-study of Romans, pp. 509-510, by Witness Lee
The Normal Christian Faith, Chapter 6, by Watchman Nee
This morning I was impressed that we need to receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness so that we may reign in life!
Also, we need to practice the restriction and limitation in the divine life, being under the Lord’s sovereign rule and authority.
Praise the Lord! 😃🙋🏽🙏 Amen!
Amén brother!
What a joy that we can rein in life in all things by the uncreated, eternal Zoe life!
Oh may we turn to the mingled spirit to reign in life!
Hallelujah! 😃
Amen! Remove any hindrance to our enjoyment of grace!
Thank the Lord we have Your life in us and You are reigning in us.
We want to be those reigning in life!
To reign in life is to conquer, subdue, and rule over Satan, the world, sin, the flesh, ourselves and all the environmental circumstances. This requires us to practice the restriction in the divine life!
In experience, to reign in life means to be under the ruling of the divine life! Lord make us those who are under the ruling of the divine life to reign in life!!
Amén, dear Saint.
May the Lord remove everything that hinders Him from us and make us holy as He is.
It is through the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness that we reign in life – over Satan, sin, death, the world and all environmental circumstances – through Jesus Christ.
We are thankful for the procedure of judicial redemption, having been reconciled to God but our need today is to be saved organically in life so that we would be ones reigning in life.
Yes, the impossibility by our natural being can be possible by the life given Spirit.
So, we can reign upon sin, death and Satan.
This reigning can be also at any time and everywhere.
The gift of righteousness is for our judicial redemption, whereas grace is for organic salvation to reign.
Hallelujah brother.
We are blessed to enjoy & experience God’s organic salvation in order that we may be saved in His life.
How much we’re saved determines how much our reigning in life is manifested. Our abundance of grace is the Triune God Himself.
His life enables us to reign over all things. We need to receive grace again & again until we are filled with grace.
The reigning grace always follows the abounding grace. Only when grace overflows from us can we experience the reigning of grace.
We must fight against the temptation to consider the reigning in life as an impossibility. This reigning is greater & higher than being saved in the life of Christ.
May the Lord remove all hindrances from our being so that we would be filled completely with Himself.
Listen to the audio version of this article,
Dearest Lord Jesus, we thank you that you are the onlyone that can be a Christian, Lord l heard this word but now l see how much we are nothing without you ,and can do nothing but sin .Lord we come humble before you asking for your grace fill us with your HOLY Spirit so we will be your expression in our daily life and truly reign in life.oh Lord you are the only life, apart from you there’s only death, fill us unto overflow that you may be glorify in the church come Lord Jesus come 🙏