An Overview of the Central Burden and Present Truth
of the Lord’s Recovery before His Appearing
Message Eight
Reigning in Life
OPENING WORD OF THE PROPHESYING MEETING
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
Rom. 5:17 For if, by the offense of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
21 In order that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Word of Appetizer
What is the highest attainment of pursuing Christ? In experience, what does it mean to reign in life?
The highest attainment of pursuing Christ is to reign with Christ in His divine life through His abounding grace. To reign in life is to conquer, subdue, and rule over Satan, the world, sin, the flesh, ourselves, and all the environmental circumstances.
In experience, to reign in life means to be under the ruling of the divine life. When we reign in life by being under the ruling of the divine life, we are delivered from the authority of darkness. When we are under the ruling of the divine life, we live in the kingdom of the Son of God’s love, where we are ruled and restricted in the sweetness of love. To reign in life is to subdue all kinds of insubordination; to reign in life is to have our hearts directed by the Lord.
Spiritual Burden
We need to enter into the experience of reigning in life.We were regenerated with a divine, spiritual, heavenly, kingly, and royal life; this life enthrones us to reign as kings over all things. In experience, to reign in life means to be under the ruling of the divine life.
The issue of our reigning in life, under the ruling of the divine life, is the real and practical Body life expressed in the church life. We need to live a life of the highest virtues for the Body life by reigning in
life.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
God’s complete salvation is for us to reign in life by the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness.
Reigning in life in Romans 5 is the key to everything in Romans 6.
The issue of our reigning in life, under the ruling of the divine life, is the real and practical Body life expressed in the church life.
Romans 16 gives us an excellent pattern of the apostle Paul in bringing all the saints into the blending life of the entire Body of Christ; it is in such a life that we can truly reign in life.
The Experience of Life
We need to enter into the experience of reigning in life. We were regenerated with a divine, spiritual, heavenly, kingly, and royal life; this life enthrones us to reign as kings over all things. When we are under the ruling of the divine life, we live in the kingdom of the Son of God’s love, where we are ruled and restricted in the sweetness of love.
To reign in life is to subdue all kinds of insubordination. A reigning spirit must be strong and living, active and not passive, positive and not negative, diligent and not loose.
Practice and Application
We must present our bodies as a living sacrifice. We should not be fashioned according to this age, but we should be transformed by the renewing of the mind.
We need to live a life of the highest virtues for the Body life by reigning in life. We should love without hypocrisy and love one another warmly in brotherly love. We should not be slothful in zeal, but we should be burning in spirit, serving the Lord. We should rejoice with those who rejoice, and we should weep with those who weep. If possible, as far as it depends on us, we should live in peace with all men.
We need to reign in life in imitating the apostle Paul to bring the local churches into the fellowship of the Body of Christ.
PROPHESYING TOPICS—TWELVE TOPICS PER WEEK
Day 1
T1 Our reigning in life is proof of our experience of God’s organic salvation (Rom. 5:10, 17)
(Please illustrate that how much we are saved in God’s organic salvation determines how much our reigning in life is manifested.）
T2 The reigning grace always follows the abounding grace (Rom. 5:17)
(Please illustrate that as grace reigns in us, we reign in life.)
Day 2
T1 A justified person should reign because he has the divine life, a kingly life, with which to reign (Rom. 5:17, 21)
(Why are we now able to reign in life as kings?）
T2 We must learn to exercise our kingship (Rom. 5:17, 21)
(Please illustrate with experiences that reigning in the divine life of Christ saves us from all kinds of insubordination, and it saves us from many kinds of negative things.)
Day 3
T1 Reigning in life in Romans 5 is the key to open up everything in Romans 6 through 16 (Rom. 5:17, 21)
(Enumerate what matters we are in presented in Romans 6 through 16 when we are reigning in life.）
T2 To participate in our divine sonship ultimately by reigning in life (Rom. 8:23b)
(Please illustrate that when we reign in life, we more than conquer the environmental hardships and sufferings by having God being for us.)
Day 4
T1 The issue of under the ruling of the divine life, is the real and practical Body life (Rom. 12:1-3)
(Please illustrate that each item of the living of the Body life in Romans 12—13 requires us to be ruled by the divine life to live to the Lord.）
T2 We need to live a life of the highest virtues for the Body life (Rom. 12:9-21)
(Please illustrate that we can have such a living for the Body life only by reigning in life.)
Day 5
T1 The first item in the pattern of one who is reigning in life is the preaching of the gospel (Rom. 15:16)
(Please illustrate that when we are under the ruling of the divine life, we will spontaneously preach the gospel.）
T2 One Body and one Spirit (1 Cor. 12:13)
(Why is the Body mentioned before the Spirit in Ephesians 4:4? )
Day 6
T1 Paul brought all the saints into the blending life of the entire Body of Christ by recommendations and greetings (Rom. 16:1, 3-4)
(Please illustrate that Romans 16 gives us an excellent pattern of the apostle in bringing all the saints into the blending life of the entire Body of Christ.）
T2 The first requirement for the practice of the church life is that we serve the church (Rom. 16:1)
(Please illustrate that [like Phoebe] we all must be the serving ones in the church life.)