Reflected Light

The one who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat with My Father on His throne. Rev 3:21

Recently I was listening to some teaching on this passage in Revelation 3. Some of you may know that in the throne room with Jesus, there are also thrones for the 24 elders. But the amazing thing about those mentioned in Revelation 3 is that they are for anyone who overcomes – which includes you and me! Whilst this all sounds rather great, and the throne room must be massive to house that many people, it comes with an interesting challenge to us.

Personally, if I was faced with a difficult thing to overcome on the earth, I would love to know that if I triumphed and persevered, then I would get an amazing throne with Jesus! Who wouldn’t love that?! But having a throne comes with a responsibility. Daniel 7 verse 9 says:

“As I looked, thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days took his seat; his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames its wheels were burning fire. A stream of fire issued and came out from before him;
a thousand thousands served him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him;
the court sat in judgment and the books were opened.”

To have a throne is to sit in a place of judgment. But this judgment is not of people (no matter what they do) but against principalities and powers of this world (See Ephesians 6).

Now this means that one of our purposes in life is to judge the things of this world that are not of God. We are to co-labour with him in this and speak justice into situations and over ourselves, other people and places to bring judgment over evil. On a large scale, it is going to war in the Spirit and bringing judgement against spirits of violence or death over people and nations (particularly in places of war and unrest) or coming against spirits such as Leviathan which look to distort communication and bring chaos and disorder. Those called by God to be a watchman or an intercessor will particularly need to do this.

But on a smaller, more personal level, this is about being honest with ourselves and allowing the Holy Spirit to convict us of anything that is not of God and dealing with it. It is declaring that these things will not take hold whilst “on our watch” and therefore declaring the justice of God upon them.

Recently, I have been having issues with skip lorries. By issues I mean that in the last 4 days, I have encountered 5 lorries, all delivering a skip to a house and all who have blocked the road completely to do so. The first two I had to turn around and go on a much longer diversion, the third caused me to be late. The fourth made me frustrated and annoyed and the fifth…well I just laughed by this one! You see, God knows that sometimes I need things spelling out and when I don’t get it, he graciously repeats it again and again until I do. So, at the 5th lorry incident I said, ‘OK God, what does this show me?’ and that’s when the revelation came as clear as a sunny day!

You see, the people in the houses hired a skip to get rid of their rubbish and in the same way, we need to do this physically, emotionally and spiritually too. But in order for that to happen, the lorry needs to be horizontal in the road to deliver it, often blocking the way for traffic nearby. We must always clear our hearts, minds and souls of the rubbish that we collect over the days, months and years, but at times that means a temporary mess as well and a temporary inconvenience and pain to ourselves and often to those around us too, just like the lorry is to deliver a skip. But it is better to allow this temporary disruption and clear out that which is not of God, in order for our lives and our relationships – both with God and with others – to be healthier and more whole.

So how do we do this? Well, we must always start with Jesus and draw close to Him for we cannot do anything if we are not right in our relationship with him. But we must also start to ask the questions we don’t always wish to hear the answer to – questions about our hearts, our minds, our lives. What are the things that need changing and what must we break through? If we are to ‘clear out the rubbish’ and bring better order into our lives, there will always be things we will need to address and get rid of and we should bring judgment in the Spirit against that which is not of God and remove it from us. We must learn to stand against the powers of darkness and stand in our authority in Christ. Jesus has all authority and all power and those who believe in Him and who are filled with the Spirit share in His power and authority too. Through this, we can come to Him and work with Him to be an active partner in our lives. We do not have to accept the things that God does not accept. We do not have to believe our circumstances won’t change, or that our time is up! We need simply come to Jesus and ask for His help.

Do not delay and allow for any more time to be stolen. Ask the Holy Spirit today to reveal what the ‘things’ are in your life that need fighting against and banishing from you. What are the things that need clearing out, even if they cause temporary disruption? What have we believed and accepted in our lives as a given, when it is not the will of the Lord?  It’s time to ask God and have a clear out today.

Prayer:
Holy Spirit, I invite you now to speak to me and to reveal anything in my life that is not of you, whether it is thought patterns, lies, unhealthy habits or sin (wait for the Spirit to reveal something). I am sorry for allowing those things into my life and I repent for accommodating them. Renew my mind, Holy Spirit, and help me not to accept things that are not from you. In the name of Jesus I speak order into chaos and give you permission, Holy Spirit, to bring about a new way of thinking. Amen.

Photo by Jeremy Thomas on Unsplash