Reigning in Life

You have been adjusting. Adjusting to the low-grade pressure, the familiar heaviness, the feeling that this — right here, the ceiling you keep bumping — is about as good as it gets. You don’t even realize it anymore. You just keep moving.

Bishop Beau Barton opened Sunday with a story about a night in the hospital. They treated an infection he had been carrying without knowing it. Two days of antibiotics and he woke up thinking — oh my. I’m alive. And he realized he had been filtering everything through that infection without knowing it. He didn’t realize how debilitated he was because he just kept moving.

That’s where most believers live. Not outside the kingdom — inside it, grinding through, making heaven. But never walking in the fullness. Debilitated and not knowing it. It doesn’t have to be that way.

He Didn’t Just Come to Save You

Jesus came and gave his life so we could be redeemed. Washed clean from our sin. Reconciled to the Father. Peace with God through Jesus Christ. All of that is true. But for most people inside the kingdom, that’s the full extent of their understanding of why Jesus came. It’s part of the mission — it’s just not the whole truth.

“For if by 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.”

— Romans 5:17 (NKJV)

Reign. That word means you dominated. It’s subjected to you. Jesus came so that this life we have in this world is subjected to us — and the Spirit of God that lives in us — subjected, submitted, forced to obey. That is supposed to be our normal position. Not something we achieve after enough spiritual growth. The position we hold because of what Jesus already did.

Sin Came Through One Man’s Choice — Not Through God

People want to blame God for the way the world is. But go to Genesis 1 and over and over God steps back from what he created and says — that’s good. There was nothing created by the hand and the voice of God that was not created good. Including humanity.

“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.”

— Romans 5:12 (NKJV)

Just as Adam sinned against God and brought sin into the world, Jesus through his righteous obedience brought righteousness into the world. One man’s choice broke it. One man’s obedience fixed it. That is what you are standing in right now.

You Started in the Same Place

Adam was formed sinless. Jesus was born sinless. Both had to face decisions — whether they would obey the will of their Father or their own will. They just made different choices. And because they made different choices, different consequences got passed down generationally.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

— 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV)

You were just as sinless as Jesus was when you were born again. I don’t care what your mind tells you, what other people tell you, the excuses you want to make. The reality is either this word of God is true or it’s not. Just because your mind hasn’t caught up to what God actually performed in your life does not undo the truth of what Christ accomplished on the cross. We stand at the same crossroad Adam stood at. The same one Jesus walked up to and said — not my will, but yours.

You Are Not Sinning Accidentally

When we do sin — when we choose the wrong thing — we are not sinning accidentally. Not if we are born again. We are overriding the Spirit of God that brings conviction of sin and is telling us, don’t do that. Override it enough times and you go numb to it. You give yourself full permission. You say this is just who I am, this is how I am, this is the way it’ll always be. And you shut down the voice of conviction in your life. That is not freedom. That is a warning sign.

But here is the beautiful thing. The blood of Jesus is still available.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

— 1 John 1:9 (NKJV)

When you walk that out in sincerity and truth, you immediately return to that place of being perfect, holy, without stain before God. You don’t work your way back. You confess. You receive. You get up. You keep walking. As that becomes your pattern — as you begin to submit to this long enough — your life begins to actually conform more and more to the life of Jesus.

The Abundance of Grace Is Already in You

“In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.”

— 1 John 4:9 (NKJV)

He wasn’t just sent here so we’d be saved from our sin. He was sent here that we may live through him on this earth. The second you were born again — you’re not looking for it. You’ve got it. So yield to it. Agree with it. Ask God to activate it in your life.

You are not like Adam — you’re like Jesus. Because Adam didn’t have the Spirit of God dwelling in him. You do.

A Note for This Week

Name one area where you have been defaulting to old patterns and giving yourself permission to stay there. Call it by name. Then ask the Spirit to show you what reigning looks like in that specific thing. Read Romans 5:17 out loud once a day this week — let the language of reigning, not managing, not coping, not surviving, become what is familiar to you. And if you failed somewhere this week, do not let condemnation keep you down. Confess. Receive. Get up. That is how sons and daughters walk.