Destined to Reign - In This Life
By Connie Jones
Today's blog is by Igniting Hope's Associate Director, Connie Jones. She has been on our staff for seven years. Connie is an itinerant minister, has certifications through John Maxwell, and is starting a course July 1, 2024, called Reigning in Life. This blog gives you a taste of the great revelations she has.
“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 [exercise authority and power] in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” Rom 5:17
Created for More
It’s no secret that we were created in God's image, in His likeness and nature, and given His dominion (Gen 1:26-28). But Adam and Eve forfeited their dominion and privilege as God's offspring. So, what does this mean for us now? What is God’s plan for us after sin has infected humanity?
I have excellent news! God never changed His mind; His intent is for us to embrace our victorious identity as His children of triumph, and through Jesus, our redeemer, our way to victory is settled.
Destined to Reign
We were never meant just to survive life - but to reign triumphantly in life.
Too often, living in triumph has seemed as far-fetched as mastering the Force (for you Star Wars fans). Yet Jesus said, “The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy, but I am come that you might have life and have it more abundantly” (Jn 10:10). This means He has come and will never stop coming to bring us His victory until it overflows every area of our life.
Developed to Reign
Jesus paints a picture that our life is to be full of His glory, and even though we have lived beneath the extravagance of His promise, He refuses to leave us void of the victory He paid for. He has given His word to build the reality of who we are. As we feast on His word and promises, revelation floods us, and we become more mindful of who He is and who we are in Him (our weaknesses and failures fade in the magnitude of what He can do and will do in us and through us). He is limitless. He is our portion. He alone is our victory. Where then are our failures? They are swallowed up in His Majesty. He has made Himself one with us. We no longer see ourselves separate from Him but as the dwelling place of all He is!
“If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?”
(Rom 8:31-32)
“And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”
(John 17:22-23)
Christ delivered us from the enemy’s power and made us one with Himself. Life will not go on as before. There’s a champion who bows to nothing, who lives in us. His name is Jesus. He is Triumph.
Like Abraham, we no longer stagger at the seeming impossibilities of life; we face challenges as ones sitting in heavenly places in Christ, in the very throne room of God. We have a new sense of godly dominion and do not cower before the defeated enemy. He is no match for Jesus, on whose authority we rest. Jesus is enough; He’s always been enough, and we are one in Him.
Identify with the Savior
We are no longer lost and broken but heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ. Jesus’ life is no longer an image of impossibility but an invitation to our reality—as “He” is, so are we in this world. He is the blueprint for who we are—the ones who have received the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness and are reigning in life in Christ!
Declarations of Victory
The victory of Jesus belongs to me
He who has begun a good work in me will complete it
He always leads me to triumph
I am an heir of God and joint heir with Christ
I am His masterpiece
I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus
I am the offspring of God
I reign in this life through the abundance of His grace and His gift of righteousness.