Have you ever found yourself saying, “I’m not really in a position to be able to help you right now.” Maybe it’s a financial need of a friend and you aren’t in the position right now financially yourself to help them. Or perhaps you said, “I’m not sure what my position is in this matter.” As the parent of adult children, you may feel you are no longer in the position to tell them how to dress or how to live their lives.
I find that many Christians today fall into the same problem of not knowing what their position is in Christ. Now that they are saved, they feel stuck somewhere in between the position of being an unbeliever and the position of heaven being their future home. Where does that leave us today? If you don’t know your position in Christ, you will not walk in it obviously. You will stumble along trying to figure it out. You’ll either be like the person who isn’t in a position to help others or you’ll be like the person who doesn’t feel they are in a position where they can do anything to help others.
Romans 5:17 (TPT) “Death once held us in its grip, and by the blunder of one man, death reigned as king over humanity. But now, how much more are we held in the grip of grace and continue reigning as kings in life, enjoying our regal freedom through the gift of perfect righteousness in the one and only Jesus, the Messiah!” We’ve been born again into a royal family and given the position to reign in life as kings. We’ve been made free to reign. Free from the tyrannical reign of sin and death. But we’ll never walk out this freedom or confidently walk in this position if we don’t even know we have it or that it belongs to us. That is why Satan has tried to keep your true identity and position buried for hundreds of years. He does not want you to know who you really are and what a high position you hold.
What is your position in Christ? Glad you asked. Ephesians 2:6 in the English Standard Version gives us the answer: “and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” I find you either have one of two responses when you read that. One is, “That’s nice (yawn).” or Two, “Wait a minute. That can’t be. Let me check another translation to try to get a clearer understanding on this.” So, you try The Passion Translation and read, “He raised us up with Christ the exalted One, and we ascended with him into the glorious perfection and authority of the heavenly realm, for we are now co-seated as one with Christ!” (TPT)
Wow, this definitely falls in the category of giving us more than we can ask or think, doesn’t it? I would have never thought to ask Christ to share his throne with me! And if I had thought of it, I wouldn’t dare have asked. Sounds sacrilegious or blasphemous! But there it is in black and white. It is there in the perfect Word of God. Maybe you have read it a million times but never really saw it. I want you to see it today with fresh eyes. Here are three things this verse tells us about our position in Christ.
God raised us up. We don’t place ourselves on the throne. We don’t try to usurp the throne. We aren’t rebelling and taking over. We aren’t trying to talk God into it. He gladly gave us this position. It is His idea! I know... what was He thinking?!
This is His will for our lives. We will actually be disobedient to not take the rightful place that He wants us to have of ruling and reigning. Maybe you think you’ll be humble and not accept the position, but that would be shirking your responsibilities. That would be saying that what you want or think is more important than what God wants or His view on that matter. I also believe that if you don’t step into this position that was assigned to you, you’ll have a sense of being unfulfilled in life. It’s your destiny. It’s in your spiritual DNA.
We were raised up. Our position in Christ is one of high position. Deuteronomy 28:13 NIV “The LORD will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the LORD your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.” Have you ever heard anyone say, “Under the circumstances, I am not doing very well lately.” Our attitude, if not our answer should be, “What are you doing under there?! Don’t you know who you are in Christ?”
If life has been the pits for you, know that you have been lifted up out of the pit. (Psalm 103:4). The throne we share with Christ is in the spiritual realm. It’s in God’s kingdom. That, however, does not mean we wait until we get to heaven to have any authority or sit on the throne. We are on it now. We rule and reign in the spiritual realm which is the higher realm.
We are now co-seating with Christ. Oh, our religious minds are screaming, NO!, it can’t be! What God realizes is that sharing the throne with us takes nothing away from Him but only gives to us. It’s not like when there is only one piece of pie left and you share it with your spouse, each of you getting less than a full piece because you shared. It’s like when you have one child that you love with your whole heart and then you have a second child. Each child doesn’t get loved half as much. They each get your full love. Your love is multiplied, not halved.
It makes perfect sense that we are there with Christ. If you believe the other Scriptures that tell us we died with Christ and now we live with Christ, it is Him who lives through us (Galatians 2:20). He lives in us and we are one with Him. Well, if we are one, where He goes, I go. Where He is, I am. If He is on the throne, I’m on the throne. Jesus is the head of the Church. The Church is the body of Christ. Have you ever seen a head walking around without a body? No. Where the head is...the body is.
“So, if this is my position in life now that I am in Christ, why am I still 'under my circumstances'? Why aren’t I living in more victory?" For one, you may have never known this was your position. If you didn’t know it belonged to you, you can’t walk in it. And two, maybe you heard this before but it was just head knowledge and not heart knowledge. Until it gets down into your heart, it won’t do you much good.
The way to get it into your heart is to hear the truth of God’s Word over and over, renewing your mind to the truth by meditating on it. Visualize yourself in this position. Sit on the throne with Jesus and look down on your problems. See them as small as if you are looking down to earth from an airplane. See the problems from a higher, spiritual perspective. Pray to God and speak to your problems from this position.
Have you ever been given a new position at work but no authority to go with it? That is miserable. Next week we’ll talk about the authority we now have because we are in this position.
It’s not too late to sign up for the IN HIM: The Hope of Glory Bible study where we are looking at verses in the Bible that tell us other things about being IN HIM or in Christ, that will change our lives and allow us to start ruling and reigning here in this life like God intends us to do. Click here to learn more about the study - free version available!
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