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Training for Ruling and Reigning
Episode #707
06/21/2020
With Martha Kilpatrick and hosted by John Enslow
Special Guest: Joan Wentzel
This the continuation of a series of podcasts started in Episode #706
God wanting to reign and rule currently through me in my life, in my generation, and in my situation. And that’s my privilege of participation.
Martha:
My husband used to say that the best government is a benevolent dictator. The problem is you can’t find a benevolent dictator.
John:
There’s none good…
Martha:
God is called the, the potentate, the absolute Sovereign King. But, but He is…The Kingdom is a dictatorship and we have to get used to that. To qualify to be in that Kingdom you have to come under the laws of the King. And I don’t mean the Laws of Moses; the spiritual laws of the Son of God; the ways, the truth and the life of the Son of God.
So it’s, it, it, it’s your adventure. It’s my, it’s my adventure. It’s my mystery unfolding. It’s your mystery. What is He doing with you? If you cooperate with Him, you’ll get there and you’ll be, become what you never dreamed and you, what you don’t even know now will…When we see Him, we will know Him as He is and we will be like Him. That’s the promise.
So…
John:
We’ve give the, the privilege of it and that’s why I wrote in a post today that, that we’ve given the privilege of participation and, and I know that this is a kind of contested topic and subject but the fact still remains that this is, I am being set up to reign and rule with Christ and how He’s doing that is not just hoping that I make it. No, He’s, He’s wanting to live it through me. He wanting to reign and rule currently through me in my life, in my generation, and in my situation. And that’s my, that’s my privilege of participation.
Martha:
And responsibility…
John:
It is a…
Martha:
…and calling…
John:
It’s absolutely.
Martha:
…and privilege. You’re calling it a privilege.
John:
It is a privilege. But it is a total…
Martha:
Not…
John:
…responsibility.
Martha:
Yeah. And you don’t want to miss it…
John:
No.
Martha:
…because everything is aligned in place miraculously for you above and beyond anything we could imagine. There is every provision including the fact that Christ will accomplish in you what He wants to accomplish and all we have to do is get ourselves into His hands. It’s the easiest Christian life there could be even though there’s great suffering.
I’m about to write. Pretty soon we’re going to be able to have a week away and write and I’m going to be writing about the process of Joseph for one because it tells you the…All the secrets to ruling and reigning are in the Bible in picture form, in, in every form; parable form, stories. It’s all there. If you have your eye on the throne, then you see things in the completely different light. It changes your entire worldview. You see everything in terms of, of the King and the Kingdom and our process of becoming ready for such a destiny as that.
John:
Was it Joan that said it or where did we hear it the other day that Joseph was not even recognizable by his brothers because he had become so Egyptian?
Joan:
I was listening to a podcast or sermon by Lance Wallnau and he said that we don’t really realize that Joseph had been so taken completely from his family and trained in Egypt. He not only had the wisdom of all that training but he dressed like an Egyptian, he had the look of an Egyptian. He did not dress like an Israelite any longer because he had been taken from that. And I think it’s so interesting because it’s, it seemed that the government must come to us and Joseph received the government of God personally. And to me the kingdom is the government of God and therefore he was able to extend it over Egypt because he had come under it so personally through the acceptance of God’s sovereign training of him for his life.
Martha:
That’s fabulous. That’s great, Joan.
But you can see the school for the, for the Kingdom for ruling and reigning. You can see the school in Joseph’s life. How many people are rejected by their own family? How many are scorned for their calling? He, he told the brothers his dream and in exchange for that confidence that he shared with them where the sheaves fells down before him they took him out, sold him into slavery and considered that he would, he would die in Egypt and lied to the father that he had been taken by animals.
So there’s, there going to be many, many terrible trials in life for us to overcome and everyone can be beaten. And He is there as the coach to teach you, to guide you, to arrange everything so that…And you can only see this looking back. I have fifty years now and more that I can look back and I can tell you it’s possible to go through a life situation of some suffering, sometimes great suffering and become an overcomer in every situation including your worst enemy. And that is a life of adventure, of challenge, of process, and the stretching of painful progress.
John:
Well, one of the things that I saw that, that podcast or whatever it was and one of the things that really kind of struck me is he said that what if God had answered Joseph’s prayer to get out of prison and to make the baker or the cup bearer, he, he, whether he could make the cup bearer or the baker go and get him out of prison. If he had had his way, he would have gotten out of prison, he would have left and went back home to his miserable situation, and, and he would have thwarted his purpose. His purpose was to bring salvation and provision and…
Martha:
For the famine.
John:
For the famine that was coming.
Martha:
Uh huh.
John:
Absolutely. And, and in so if he had, if he had escaped and he had, he had thwarted the, the plan, he would have thwarted the actual purpose that he was set in place for. And that would have been horrible. And I thought, “Oh my gosh, how many times have we prayed, ‘Ok, please God get me out of this…
Martha:
Get me out.
John:
…situation’”…
Martha:
Uh huh.
John:
…when he’s literally training us for something so much higher.
Martha:
Uh huh.
John:
And that’s why the whole insular, isolated church is, is irrelevant because you’re basically, you’re trying to skirt out, “Ok, just don’t make it hurt!”
Martha:
Right. Don’t make it hard and don’t let, and don’t let me hurt and, and I will, if you don’t do it, God, I’ll find it myself.
John:
Right. And don’t make me dirty. I don’t to get dirty by the world. But God’s saying, “I want you, I want you to go reign and rule. I’m training you.” There’s a whole, whole purpose. Yeah, we are a bride and that’s where Christ’s bride which is absolutely the truth but we’re, we’re going to reign as king and queen.
Martha:
Uh huh.
John:
And this is as a guy talking, you know. I’m not the, I’m not the, the King in this situation. I’m a part of the queen. I’m a part of the bride. And, and, and that, that…Yes, but it’s a co-reigning. He wants us to co-reign.
Martha:
Uh huh.
John:
And, and so it’s not just about the love affair. That’s a huge part of it.
Martha:
Right, right.
John:
But that’s not the whole thing. He…And, and, you know, the militant bride some part of that kind of creeps me out a little bit, but, but a reigning, co-reigning bride I have no problem with that one.
Martha:
Uh huh.
John:
And that’s a beautiful process but it’s a work.
Martha:
Yeah. And, and, and when I write the book on this part I’m going to present Joseph’s life and I’m going to say this is not for the faint hearted.
John:
No.
Martha:
If you want, if you will get in it for the whole race not knowing where you’re going to end up, not knowing what you’re going to go through, if you will put your eyes on the end…A runner always looks at the end. Anybody with a goal looks at the goal, the end of the goal otherwise you won’t make it. But everything is provided and when you get weary in the race, God will see to it He lays you down in green pastures. There is absolutely no excuse for missing this fascinating school we’re in and we’re in it. Every Believer, every born again Believer is in this school. There’s no favoritism. It’s open. This adventure, this possibility is open to all. And everything is arranged. You’re carried. You’re…You may not see it at the time. Only looking back do you see. David did that all the time. He would write about his terrible situation and then he’d come to the end of it. Looking back he could praise God.
So we are born wired for this adventure of being transformed into the image of Christ and being trained, schooled, experienced in what it means to rule and reign. And I’ll tell you what the secret is. The one who reigns is the one who is the greatest, lowest servant.
John:
Yeah. Totally.
Martha:
That’s, that’s, that’s the thing He will want to form in all of us. When Abraham’s servant was sent out to find a bride, what he, what he looked for, he prayed to God and said show me at the well if anyone, if a woman volunteers to water my twenty camel with some two hundred judges of water then I’ll know she’s the one. And sure enough Rachel came and offered freely to feed his camels; had no concept of what it would mean to her life. That’s how it’s gonna to work. That’s the classic story to me. And it was, she was…God sends out the Holy Spirit and, and the Holy Spirit is searching for one who has the heart of a servant or who’s willing to be formed into a servant. So I’m giving away some secrets but there’re many more to savor.
John:
It’s beautiful.
Martha:
And so…And it…And like I say especially these last couple of years I know that everything I have passed through some of the most difficult years of my life ever in different arenas of suffering but He has brought me in each situation to see exactly what is required of the bridal disposition. And one of them lately there is no question but what is Your will, God.
John:
Yeah.
Martha:
That, that’s the only question you need the answer to. The only question you need to ask. And He will take everything away from you that will hinder you from your destiny. And you might cry and you might look as if leaving your, your life and say, “Oh well…” But God always produces and gives you more than you gave away. And there’s so much provision given me, unsearchable riches of Christ. How will we ever, ever, even begin to access all that He has put in place for us to, to run this race.
John:
Well the word constantly over and over and over re-emphasizes the, the true story and the true purpose. So, yeah, you do have Joseph and everything and Esther and all these, these people are just types and shadows so to speak of the ultimate story. They’re all pointing and saying this is part of the preparation. This is how it’s going to work.
Martha:
Uh huh.
John:
This is what is happening.
Martha:
Uh huh.
John:
And, and it’s, it’s wonderful.
Joan:
And even Jesus Himself we don’t really think of it but He had thirty years of preparation for three years of ministry. Thirty years were spent in a carpenter shop where he made coffins and built other things and just lived among a very large family with all the I can say carrying on that goes on with that and He lived a very ordinary, mundane life to be prepared to go out…
Martha:
Uh huh.
Joan:
…and for the ministry God had for Him. We…Moses we know forty years but we think of, we don’t really think of Jesus as thirty because He was a young man but all of that was His preparation and training…
Martha:
Uh huh.
Joan:
…for what God had…
Martha:
Oh great, Joan.
Joan:
…called Him to do on the earth.
Training for Ruling and Reigning – Episode #707 – Shulamite Podcast
Are we being trained for something much higher than our current situation? Yes, we are all being set up to reign and rule with Christ. Our lives are the training ground for this very thing and the establishing of God’s Kingdom rule on the earth.
