When we declare that our God reigns, we declare His sovereign, supernatural power over our lives. When He rules our circumstances and situations, nothing is impossible.

The Lord shall reign forever and ever. (Exodus 15:18)

Space is a subject of immense fascination for me, and I doubt I’m the only one. I think it has something to do with the sense of vastness and of unexplored territory. On one hand, it reminds us that we are little more than a tiny speck in all that endless space. But it also affords us a glimpse of the measureless I AM of God and His immense creative and sustaining power. Whenever I look at images of the universe, I’m reminded that He holds all of this in the palm of His hand. It is purely by His will that everything is and remains. Our God reigns over all of this. And then, in the midst of all this, is still able to discern the tiny speck that I am and know the exact number of the hairs on my head at any given moment.

The supernatural significance of God reigns.

We live in a world ordered and controlled by various natural laws that God has put into place. He has done this for us, because in our natural lives, we need the boundaries. Scientists discover and reveal various truths and laws that help us to explain and make sense of our world. Many of these, we simply take for granted. The sun rises and the sun sets. It’s what happens. The seasons follow one another according to a specific order. If something doesn’t get water, it will ultimately die. All of these things are absolute truths in the natural world and we cannot live here without acknowledging them and being shaped by them. After the fall, the devil became the prince of this world. For a limited period, he rules this world and has some measure of control, even over creation. But God still reigns over all.

What we lose sight of sometimes is that our natural world exists within the greater context of the spiritual world. The natural does not govern the spiritual. The spiritual that governs the natural because God is spirit, and He created all. His original intent wasn’t to have separation between the world and His eternal existence. But sin and rebellion through mankind’s choices created separation. This, however, doesn’t alter the truth that God reigns. It simply means that He has allowed the outworking of the free will choices made by mankind. But He has also made a way to ensure that the supernatural is able to enter and impact the natural. That way is Christ. The cross is the divine bridge that empowers the natural with the spiritual purposes and power of God. God hasn’t abdicated. He’s simply allowed us to exercise our choices for a limited period.

The natural significance of God reigns.

It’s pretty awesome if we look at the beginning and the ending as portrayed in the Bible. At creation, we see a perfect world untouched by sin, trial, suffering, pain, or any other human condition. Then, the new world God has promised is as perfect. In other words, His original plan hasn’t changed at all. What He intended at the beginning, He still intends at the end. The fundamental difference, however, relates to the choice of mankind. At the beginning, mankind chose to rebel against God and so lost his perfect environment. In His grace and mercy, God allows us to once again choose whether or not to be restored to His perfect plan and the glorious world that is to come. Whatever we choose, though, on the last day, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord and that God reigns.

While the rule of Satan makes extensive use of the natural and the flesh, God’s rule is supernatural. The kingdom of God isn’t a visible kingdom with boundaries and measurable, defined territory. God reigns in us by His Spirit, and in doing so brings the supernatural into our natural environment. While the natural still exists within the supernatural – that which is eternal – the supernatural now exists within the natural. God’s presence is now in believers, not in the world as an outside environment. The significance of this is enormous. It means that we now choose to either walk in the natural or in the supernatural. We walk by self or by Spirit. We’re still in the natural world for as long as we live, but the spiritual power and purposes of God are available to impact our lives from within us.

God reigns is an unchanging truth.

Ultimately, our choice should be a no-brainer, but it’s seldom as easy as it should be. That’s because the natural keeps waving the flag of free will and holding back what we’re not ready to relinquish. The reality is that nothing we do, say, or choose can alter the absolute truth that God reigns. He has from the beginning and will at the end. He created all there is and rules all there is, and that includes every single human being. We can choose whether to accept His reign in us or not, but our choice has consequences. If we decide not to acknowledge His rule, we can have no part of the world that is to come. We can convince ourselves that there is no coming judgement or even that God doesn’t exist. But believing a lie doesn’t make it the truth, as many will tragically discover.

It’s an incredible privilege that the almighty God of the universe so graciously enables us to live in His supernatural kingdom even here in the natural world. The moment that we accept that God reigns, He establishes His kingdom and rule in us. We’re transformed into sons and heirs, citizens of the kingdom of God. I don’t think we always fully comprehend the magnitude of this privilege and the power it releases in our lives. Resurrection life in Jesus has nothing natural about it at all. It brings a supernatural restoration of all that God intended for His people from the very foundation of the world. But all this is based on the single unchanging truth that God reigns. Kingdom life and restoration is only possible in the kingdom. We cannot access or receive these unless we walk as citizens of heaven, acknowledging the sovereign rule of God.

Assurance in knowing God reigns.

The Bible warns of many things in end times. Natural disasters, depraved society, suffering, and deception are but a few. At a very basic level, there is no longer any stability in the natural world. Changing weather patterns are an obvious example that even the natural laws God has put in place are being manipulated and eroded by the force of the spiritual battle raging on earth. Every single day, we are confronted with tragedy, trials, persecution, and suffering. Our world is in crisis on every level and there is nothing we can do on a natural level to change or repair it. The reason for this is that Satan is putting on the big squeeze. He knows he’s running out of time, and he also knows God reigns. He has a limited window of opportunity in which to seduce mankind to share his eternal damnation.

Though we live in the natural world, the battles are supernatural. Most believers know this, yet we continue to deal with them in the natural. The ‘rules’ that govern our natural world become our framework rather than the supernatural ‘nothing is impossible’ of God. Declaring the truth that God reigns creates an enormous spiritual shift in the battle. It removes us from the limitations that hinder us and leave us defeated and releases the supernatural power of the kingdom of God in and through us. Even more powerful is the truth that He reigns forever. He’s not here today and gone tomorrow. He’s both infinite and absolute. Submitting our lives, our circumstances, and ourselves to His rule makes everything subject to His will and purpose. This is what ‘the battle belongs to the Lord’ means. When we give Him control of the battle, we open the way for supernatural victory.

God reigns in every detail.

Our God sees all, from the magnificent, unmeasured universe to the smallest hair on our heads. His is not a selective kingdom. It shows no favourites and excludes no detail. He starts His rule in us at the moment of salvation. From there onwards, He extends His rule as we yield more and more of ourselves to Him. In essence, He is ‘remaking’ us in preparation for the perfect world. At the beginning, He made the world then made man. This time, He makes us ready then creates the world. The focus isn’t on the environment but on the people. If we find ourselves struggling against seemingly insurmountable odds, it’s time to declare that God reigns. Better yet, He reigns in every tiny detail. There is nothing too big or too small for Him to release His supernatural kingdom power into. When God reigns, nothing is impossible.

Thank You, Lord, that Your reign is both sovereign and eternal, the only absolute assurance in all the chaos and uncertainty of life. We declare, this morning, that You reign forever and ever, that Your kingdom is without end, and that with You, nothing is impossible. Show us those things that we need to submit to Your lordship and grant us the grace to do so. We bring all our circumstances, situations, difficulties, and suffering and surrender them to Your rule, trusting in Your faithfulness and Your omnipotent power in every single detail.