Last week the Holy Spirit took us through an experience in understanding spiritual warfare strategy. He opened us to the secrets that guides spiritual warfare. And we understood that what we fight is not carnal, is not flesh and blood, we are fighting against the spiritual host of wickedness in the heavenly places. So, it is important for us in warfare to have the right perspective about our enemy. So, today, we will be moving forward along that same line and pattern that we threaded last week. We want to see how to rule in the midst of your enemies. Let us quickly go together to the book of Psalms 110:1-3.
1 The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” 2 The Lord shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of Your enemies! 3 Your people shall be volunteers In the day of Your power; In the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the morning, You have the dew of Your youth.
Psalms 110:1-3
From that bible passage above, it is important that we see the sequence of God’s word. “The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand.” Don’t be jumping up and down, do not get yourself busy looking for how to survive, this is not your warfare; the fight is not your fight, as we were told last week. The battle is not your battle; the battle is the Lord’s. And so, your responsibility is to sit at my right hand, says the Lord, and when you do this, I will get myself busy in making your enemies your footstool. So, the Lord is saying to you: what is my job? It is to make your enemies your footstool. What is my responsibility, it is to sit down. Did you see that?
Haven sat at the right hand of the Father, haven being made authority over the enemies, He is now entrusted with the responsibility of ruling in their midst. Isn’t that good? Isn’t that a great thing? Now what are we doing today? What are our realities today, is it compared with what the Lord has written concerning us? You see, what was true of Jesus, is true of each and every one of us that follows Him and believes in Him. You remember what the bible says in the book of John Chapter 1:10-12
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.
Now the same God, the same way He said to Jesus at the time, He told Jesus “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” The same way He said it to Jesus; He is saying it to us because we have been made children of God through Jesus. The way Jesus was eligible to partake in that word, because of His Sonship, you and I are eligible today because we have been made sons of God through Christ. So as God told Jesus to sit at His right hand, till He makes His enemies His footstool, the Lord is saying to you now. He is communicating the same word to you and I, “Sit at my right hand.” Don’t get yourself busy and worked up, moving up and down to figure out life, sit at my right hand. Where are you sitting today? This is a question that you must answer.
Let us quickly look at the book of Hebrews 12:2. It says “Looking unto Jesus…the son, through whom we are all made the children of God…the author, the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Now see the whole sequence. Jesus for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, He also despised the shame of that cross and now, He is sitting at the right hand of God. You see, the sitting requires you to endure, to despise the shame that could come with the call of God on your life.
You see, when we see men and women called into the Ministry, we see glory, but it does not always start like that. You can hardly find anyone that is one walking in glory today so to say, that has not at a point been in a situation that people questioned whether they were really called. But when the glory of the Lord fully radiates upon them, the questioning of the people about the authenticity of their call diminishes. I do not know the level that you are right now in your work of ministry. Are you at the level of Glory or are you at the level that is lesser than glory?
The word of the Lord to you is in that moment, are you ashamed or you are despising the shame. You see, if you will ever please God, don't forget God said about Jesus.."This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased." That is, He is pleasing me, He is not ashamed of me. Jesus said those of you that are ashamed of me I will be ashamed of you before my father. If you cannot be proud of God, how do you expect Jesus to stand for you at the end of the day. Stephen was confronted with challenge that was bigger than what many of us could handle. And at that moment, he stood for Jesus. He kept on speaking, he said "you stiff-necked people." he kept on declaring the counsel of God as they stoned him. Even in those moments, he said "I see the heavens opened, and I see one like the son of man standing at the right hand of the throne of God."
Though He was sitting, but He was standing for Stephen at this moment when Stephen saw the heavens opened, standing in ovation for Stephen, he was in a way applauding him, and celebrating his bravery and courage. This is a man that have chosen to die for the right course, a man that is not ashamed of the stoning, a man that is not ashamed of dying for the sake of Christ and so for this reason, Christ stood up for him in Heaven. And so, what you are going through today, is it such that Christ can rise up for you at the right hand of the throne of the Father that He is sitting on?
Towards getting to the right hand of the throne, you need to endure, you need to despise the shame. There could be numerous challenges in the course of fulfilling God's purpose for your life, you must endure it. It will not always be rosy, you must endure it. There will be times when you will be lonely, you must endure it. At other times, you might be hungry, you must still endure it as well. What about the times that you will be rejected by people, you must still endure it, And then you must despise any shame that comes.
Let us quickly see as well, the book of Revelations, there is a word from the Lord Jesus Christ to everyone of us. Revelations 3:14-22, it is about the Laodicea's church.
14 “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, ‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: 15 “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— 18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. 19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. 20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. 21 To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. 22 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” ’ ”
Note the sequence…."I overcame, and now I sat down." That tells you if you overcome, you will sit down with Him. How do you rule in the midst of your enemies, then you must endure. In the moment when you are going through tough times, you must endure it. When you go through things that appear shameful, then you must despise the shame. That is how you will overcome, and if you truly overcome in the midst of your enemies, then the Lord will cause you to sit on the throne. Remember what God said concerning Jesus in that Psalms 110 that we read? It says "The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool.” The Lord shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of Your enemies!"
This is the word of the Lord to you, it is a strong word to you and I and we must both accept this word and then run with it. The counsel of GOD for us is that we rule in the midst of our enemies and that we do not get defeated in battle and that we overcome, both men and women, pursuing the purpose of God on the earth. God is not raising an army of defeated people, who are crying foul every time they are defeated in battle. God is raising a people that are strong and great. If you are one of these people, then it is important that you understand the need for you to endure and despise the shame so that in your own moment of glory, the Lord will place you in that place of glory, at the right hand; a place of authority where you will rule indeed over nations and generations, pleasing God, fulfilling the counsel of God.
That is the plan of God for you and I. God has shown us that the battle is not ours, the battle is His. How do we fight it? We simply sit down at the right hand of God, we sit down in the place of complete trust in God, not allowing ourselves to be carried away trying to engage in a rat race of our generation, trying rather to find the will of God and doing it. You sit down with God, you sit down to learn at His feet, you sit down to know His will per time and do it. That is how to rule. It is not trying to fix life by yourself, it is about casting all your cares, just like Jesus said it, unto the Lord because He cares for you.
All your anxieties and burdens, cast it on the Lord. "Is there anyone of you that are heavy laden, Jesus said come unto me and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28-30)". That is the plan of God, He wants to give you rest, He wants you to rule in the midst of your enemies and the way to it is that you learn to also sit at His right hand, you learn to learn from Him and to submit your will to His will, you learn to trust Him and you learn to follow His leadership. That is how to do it. You must also learn to endure, endure hardness as a good soldier of Christ.
That is the plan of God! Endure everything that you are going through now, trusting God in the midst of it all. That is the plan of God, that is the will of God and that is the word of God to you and I, we must settle down to know the will of God. You know there was a time God said I didn't send these people but they run. Perhaps it was expected of them was to seat to know whether to do something or not to do it. It is not enough to run helter skelter trying to seek what to do, how do I please God…it is not like that! It is sitting down at His feet, learning from Him, learning to know what He wills and doing it.
I pray that God's grace will be sufficient for us. Thank you for the gift of your time and God bless you richly, amen!
