By Michael Adekoya – “For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ” Rom. 5:17.
Dear Reader, in creation and at redemption Kingdom Citizens are meant to reign in life, we are meant to shine, we are destined to be on top, in charge, in control, to be overcomers, to rule, to take dominion and to be more than the conquerors. We are not redeemed to be battered, defeated, trampled upon by the Devil, life challenges, poverty, sicknesses, diseases, confusion, depression, discouragement, hopelessness, worry, anxieties and fear. But these days even among the Kingdom Citizens, all these negativities are too rampart and exceptionally common.
Is the Bible or the above quoted passage of the Scripture lying? No! God forbid. The Scripture cannot be broken. Sometimes our problem for not reigning over life situations can be narrowed down to our lack of submission. By submission, I simply mean the action or fact of accepting or yielding to a superior force or to the will or authority of another person. It means to yield, to consent, to comply or to surrender.
The Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-21) like a lot of us thought the way to reign in life is by declaring independence from his father. When he experienced problems, lack, loneliness, homelessness, fruitlessness, sleeplessness that he came back to his senses, then went back to his father, he was restored and he began to reign over poverty, loneliness, homelessness, struggle and life challenges again.
My friend, is that not like your situation right now? You think you can run your life alone apart from God? As fish cannot survive outside water so there is no human being that can survive on his own without God. Since you have disconnected yourself from God, what have you achieved? Do you have peace, joy, clear-cut progress or any unusual breakthrough? How long will you tarry to go back and submit to your Heavenly Father to make your current unpalatable situations to become things of the past? As soon as the prodigal son went back to submit to his father’s authority, rulership and control, he began to reign again. My friend, you too shall reign again in the Name of Jesus. But go back to you Father today!
To reign in the Kingdom, we must submit to the King of the Kingdom. The sons of Sceva in Act 19:11-16 did not submit their souls to the King, they attempted to cast the evil spirit out of a demon possessed man, they suffered serious beating for their action. No wonder the Bible says, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Jam. 4:7. If you refuse to submit to God’s word and authority, you cannot exercise any authority over the devil. The Centurion in Matt. 8:5-9 knows what it is to exercise delegated authority by being under another higher authority. You cannot refuse God’s authority over your soul and be a person of authority, you cannot rebel against the word of God for the devil to obey you. You cannot be refusing the voice of the Holy Spirit and be a voice over the kingdom of darkness. You cannot be submitting to the devil and expect him to submit to you. My friend, don’t delay your suffering, be wise like the prodigal son today.
Apostle Peter would have laboured long without any success (Luke 5:4-7) if he had not submitted to the words of Jesus. Despite his experience as a fisherman, despite his expertise in fishing business, despite the sophistication of his fishing boat and his fishing net, he laboured all night without catching any fish, but finally when he submitted to the words of his Creator, at one attempt, he had a net breaking catch. My friend, what is God telling you to do? What is His Word telling you not to do? Please obey today for your own betterment, success and breakthrough. When the Prophet’s widow submitted to the instruction of the man of God, she was catapulted from poverty to abundance within a short time (2Kings 4:1-7). What are the godly instructions you have been ignoring, postponing or rationalising? Submit to it today and become a testimony.
Naaman has had a preconceived method of God in mind when he went to the man of God for healing. He would have missed his healing if he had not yielded or submitted to the divine method given to him by the Prophet of God, Elisha (2Kings 5:10-14). My friend, God’s method for you for an accomplishment may be different from yours, it shall be wise if you can submit to His unfailing, unshakable, immutable and unstoppable methods today rather than your own preferred uncertain and unproven methods. To conquer and subdue the obstacles ahead of your promised land, submit to Lord of Hosts – the Chief Commander, the Air Marshall, Admiral Jesus. Thank God for Joshua, he would not have been able to overcome the heavily built wall of Jericho if he had not surrendered and submitted to the Commander of both the Heavenly and Earthly Armies (Josh. 5:13-15). Do you want to overcome the obstacles on your way to greatness, submit to Jesus today!
Jesus Himself did not attain earthly greatness without submitting to His Heavenly Father (Phil. 2:5-11). Jesus submitted His will, His rights, His privileges, His glory unto His Father to the point of death and thereafter, He was highly exalted above all creatures, situation, powers and principalities. He has shown us an example, let’s follow the same so as to achieve the same result. Submission doesn’t mean you are weak. Submission doesn’t mean you are stupid. Submission doesn’t mean you are unwise. But shows you are clever! It shows you want peace, it shows you know the way up, it shows you are on your way to greatness and to reign in life and it shows you understand the Biblical principles of attaining excellence in life.
We are therefore, commanded to let this same mind be in us like that of Jesus (Phil. 2:5). With the same mind in us, husbands and wives should submit to one another (Eph. 5:22) for peace to reign in your homes. Children should submit to their parents to be well with them and to reign over untimely death in life (Eph. 6:1-3). Isaac knew that his father Abraham wanted to sacrifice him, still he submitted to his father’s will to be carried out (Gen. 22). No wonder, we are referring to the God of Isaac today. Parents submit to your children too. If Naaman had not yielded to the instructions of his slave housemaid and his servant respectively, he would have missed his healing (2Kings 5:2-4, 13). Submit to your superiors at work as commanded by the Scriptures (1 Pet. 2:18), not only to your Pastors in the Church but also to your unbelieving, wayward, ungodly, discriminating, racist and biased bosses at your working places too. Superiors, you are commanded by the Holy Spirit to submit to your subordinates as well (Eph. 6:9). As Kingdom Citizens we are enjoined by the word of God to submit to the laws of the land (Rom. 13:1, 5-6). Submit to the traffic regulations, obey traffic lights, don’t drink and drive, follow the speed limits, etc for your Driving Licence to last. Pay your taxes, don’t get the benefits that you are not entitled to and so on to avoid spending years behind the bars. My friend, also submit to the instructions of you your Doctors, Accountants, Lawyers and other professionals that are not against the Bible. By so doing, you shall not be defeated by some avoidable, unprecedented and unnecessary situations and circumstances of life.
In conclusion, what is God telling you to do? What is He telling you not to do? What is the Holy Spirit telling you to run away from? What do we know it’s wrong that we are doing? What is your spouse, children or people around you telling you are not good that you refuse to change? If we are still holding on to our King Agag, (1Sam. 15) it shall be difficult for us to reign in life. If we are walking in disobedience to God’s word, Satan cannot obey our voices. If we are moving close to the world, we cannot move closer to God. Amos 3:3 – two can not walk together unless they agree and if we do not walk with God we can not work the devil out of our lives. To be who God wants to be and to rein in life, total submission to God is in-negotiable. Remain blessed!
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