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Freedom to Rule and Reign Now
By Ron McGaltin
The kingdom age is upon us. Spiritual eyes and ears are opening to see and hear the coming of the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. The kingdom of God is at hand and the New Jerusalem, Bride of Christ lifestyle is coming down in the hearts of maturing sons of God. The religious church emphasis age is passing away, and the kingdom of God reality is coming forth. Cataclysmic changes are before us, and the glory of God is appearing in the company of saints growing together in spiritual kingdom reality. Christ Jesus is among and within the sons of the kingdom by the Holy Spirit of God.
The Gospel of John, Chapter 1, teaches us that Jesus was the Word and became flesh and dwelt among us. That same Jesus was crucified, resurrected from the dead, ascended to the right hand of the Father, and returned to the earth at Pentecost in the Holy Spirit, not just to dwell among us but to actually dwell within believers. To abide in the Word we must abide in Christ; we must abide in the Spirit of the resurrected Christ. Only as we walk in the Spirit can we be delivered from walking in the carnal mind of the flesh (Gal 5:16). Only as we abide in Him and He within us by His Spirit can we know the truth and bring forth His ways of life in all aspects of life in the world.
We can rule and reign with Him now in this life as we yield to His Spirit and renew our minds from our carnal and religious church-age ways to His righteousness and kingdom-age ways (2 Tim 2:12) (Rev 5:10). His thoughts are higher than our thoughts (Isa 55:8-9). He must live in us and produce His thoughts, His way of thinking and doing. We shall live by the faith of the Son of God, or we shall die by our carnal minds (Gal 2:20) (Rom
8:13).
Joy vs. Carnal Pleasure
John 15:7-10: If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you abide in my love you will keep My commandments, just as I abide in My Father's love and keep His commandments. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.
Joy is an inner excitement of peace that endures. Joy is peace excited. Peace is joy at rest.
Carnal pleasure never brings lasting joy.
Certainly carnal pleasure is fun for a short season, but it will soon be gone leaving emptiness until the next participation in an activity of fleshly pleasure. This is true for the nations of the world, just as it is true for individuals. The world, without the joy of the Lord strives to obtain the ingredients for carnal pleasures.
One of the greatest natural carnal pleasures is to be greater than others, to be number one, to be better than other people. People involve themselves in conflicts that range from simple parlor games, to great sports activities, business ventures, and full-out wars in an attempt to be greater and to have more than others.
Individuals strive against individuals, families against families, tribes against tribes, and nations against nations, all in an effort to be number one and to take the things that others have for their own carnal pleasure. The more riches one can obtain and the more luxury one can purchase, the more carnal pleasure one can have. I once saw a slogan on a shirt that read, “He who dies with the most toys, wins.” I later saw another one that read, “He who dies with the most toys, still dies.”
The second greatest carnal pleasure is probably sexual stimulation and activity. The world has moved steadily toward immorality and sexual perversions in its search for satisfaction from carnal pleasure. Just as common, if not more so, is the practice of overeating for carnal pleasure. Recreational immorality and recreational eating are common forms of seeking carnal pleasure to replace the joy of the Lord that is lost from not abiding in Jesus.
One of the most severe forms of seeking carnal pleasure is the abuse of drugs and alcohol. For a short season one can alter the body chemistry with drugs and alcohol in such a way as to deceive the brain into a peaceful and pleasurable kind of feeling. But just like all other carnal pleasures, it does not last. More and more is required to get the same feeling as the addiction grows into a life-controlling bondage.
In the kingdom age men and women are learning that abiding in Jesus, in His Word, and in His love causes His joy to remain in them and their joy to be full, and it dissolves the lust for carnal pleasures. The joy of the Lord is our strength to overcome the bondages of addictions to carnal pleasures and to walk in true freedom.
The intense drive for carnal pleasure is destroyed by Christ in us. (Col 1:27)
When we truly abide in Him and He abides in us, ruling over others, being number one, having more things, sexual immorality and perversion, recreational overeating and all other carnal pleasures pale in the light of the inner joy of the Lord.
Personal freedom of the individual eventually leads to national freedom.
Spiritual freedom leads to moral freedom and then to financial freedom.
Political freedom will eventually result from the masses continuing in personal freedom.
Only by abiding in the ways of God through Christ Jesus can freedom come forth in the world.
Someone has said that freedom is never granted by the oppressor. There will indeed be a great cost in obtaining freedom in our world. Throughout natural history many have died in an attempt to gain and maintain a pseudo freedom or independence. Even many of those fighting for a pseudo freedom were not free themselves, but they were servants to one form of carnal pleasure or another or some form of humanistic or religious philosophy of government. Subsequently, many who have won the wars for freedom have then imposed their own brand of bondage upon others.
The cost of freedom began with the death of Christ Jesus on the cross and the martyrdom of the first century apostles. No man can number the multitudes of godly men and women who have been slain and shall be slain as the war for freedom on the earth roars toward a climax and end. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but spiritual for the pulling down of strongholds.
2 Cor 10:3-6: For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.
For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.
The war is won or lost in the mind and hearts of men.
The true oppressor is not white over black, or republican against democrat, or Gentile against Jew, or Protestant against Catholic, nor any other human or natural thing. The true oppressor is the spiritual enemy of God and man. The devil uses all of these differences to inflame prejudice, fear, and strife in an attempt to rob the world of freedom. The enemy desires to control and to become number one, equal to God (Isa 14:12-14).
The good news is that Jesus has completely defeated the devil and now lives in believers to destroy all the work of the enemy (Col 2:15) (1 John 3:8b) (Luke 10:19a).
The bad news is that people of the world have been deceived and entrapped into seeking carnal pleasure, instead of delighting in the Lord and experiencing the Joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord will overcome the enemy’s ability to corrupt the individuals life, and thereby take away all of his ability to steal freedom from the world.
Neh 8:10b: Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."
The devil has only the power given to him by the people of the world. God has given dominion to man and has defeated the enemy.
God has not rescinded His position of giving dominion on the earth to man (Gen 1:26-28). Man lives or dies by the decisions that he makes. God will not intervene without man’s agreement. The plan and work of God on earth is not completed without man’s participation.
God had to become a man, the man Jesus, to carry out redemption and the plan of God on earth. Only man had the God-given authority to dominion in the earth, and it was necessary that redemption come through a man. Jesus was that man and now can live in man by the Spirit of Christ and carry out the will of God on earth. Only with the agreement and participation of men will it be done, and only by the indwelling presence and power of the resurrected Christ can it be done.
Man, by his collective majority decision to turn from the ways of God and from abiding in Christ to seeking carnal pleasures, has given power to the devil. The beautiful but cunning serpent of Genesis Chapter Three, who tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden, has become the ferocious fiery red dragon of Revelation Chapter Twelve, by the power given unto him by the people of the world.
Can Christ, in His people, reclaim the world?
Is it possible that man now has the potential of Christ within to completely bind the enemy’s power and bring forth the plan and will of God on earth, that the destruction of evil is now within the potential of Christ in man?
Is it possible that the Word of God is true and that good can overcome evil? Could it be that the Spirit of Christ bringing forth His love in His people throughout the world can bring forth righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit and overcome the evil of the world?
If we look at the problem, the multitudes of evil men who are bent on destruction, and the great deceptive philosophy of seeking carnal pleasure that rules men around the world, certainly it does not seem possible to the natural mind that evil can be defeated and the kingdom of God can and is coming forth into our world. Looking at the giants in the land is exactly what the enemy wants us to do (Num 13:32-14-1).
The victory waits only for men to have faith and believe the Word of God. Faith comes where there is righteousness, peace, and the joy of the Lord. Faith in God cannot be strong in carnal pleasure seekers. The prayers and faith of righteous men will unleash the power of God, and the great apocalyptic cataclysmic events of the book of Revelation can greatly alter the entire scheme of things in the world. The great outpourings of the Spirit of God upon His mature sons can bring forth renewal, and people can repent of seeking carnal pleasures and turn to God by the millions.
Yes, it may be a bloody fiery road to the freedom of the World, but God can protect and deliver His children. The kingdoms of the world will become the kingdoms of our God (Rev 11:15). We will rule and reign in the earth with Him (2 Tim 2:12). We will overcome the evil one by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. There is nothing too hard for the Lord (Gen 18:14).
Rev 12:11: And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
Keep on pursuing Love. Love never fails
and His kingdom never ends.
Ron McGatlin
http://archive.openheaven.com/ - archive.openheaven.com
mailto:basileia@earthlink.net - basileia@earthlink.net
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