May 11: THE DAILY

“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. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Revelation 3:21-22

Each of the seven letters ends with a promise to him who overcomes. This heavy emphasis on overcoming is purposeful, for it is the daily action of trust and obedience that is necessary for human character to develop as God intended. This is exactly why Daniel was shown that our archenemy would work through people to do away with this daily aspect of our development (see Daniel 8:11-13, and notice that most translations have added the word sacrifices, but it is not in the original manuscripts). In place of this daily interaction, there are man-made instructions that include occasional rituals, traditions, celebrations, and perhaps confessions to a priest once a year, while living a life that daily tosses aside any instruction that does not fit in with the culture.

This world places divisions between people where there should be none. But the Lord is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34), and He desires to make all people His family. The family of God is a royal family. Those who genuinely believe and follow Him are told that He has made us kings and priests to His God and Father (Revelation 1:6). In a spiritual sense, He has already raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6). The promise that Jesus makes to “sit with Me on My throne” is readily understandable in the near-Eastern culture. A throne was more like a couch, and the word picture presented is easy to visualize. It may be helpful, as you make daily decisions based upon your knowledge and understanding of His written word, to visualize yourself sitting right next to Him in a place of royal authority.

The Spirit of God enlivens the mind of a person whose commitment to the Lord is a wholehearted one. He will never—ever—lead a person to live in a way that is contrary to the written word. Let us not lose the awareness of our crafty enemy whose goal is to drive us in a direction—any direction—that is off the course of a heaven-bound one. Beloved, make sure that your daily intake of nourishment for body and soul is according to the high standard of heavenly royalty.

So how do we overcome? Christ overcame the world and won the war between good and evil, not by attacking, but by laying down His life. Submission to His Father’s will led to setting Satan’s captives free. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every other name (Philippians 2:9). Do you have a testimony of submission to the will of God according to His word? We are personally invited to be joint heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17) and “to sit with [Him] on [His] throne”. Our life is meant to be an invitation to others.

And they overcame [the devil] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death. Revelation 12:11