As I have reviewed the subject of personal sovereignty with you in recent months I have sought to open your eyes to the special privilege you have of doing business, directly and personally, with the God of all creation. Our greatest authority comes from the highest official – and so coming under the direct authority of God gives us authority that cannot be trumped by lesser beings.
True sovereignty, however, is not found in asserting personal rights, attending assertiveness training courses, defying authorities or the like. True sovereignty is all about you being in direct, personal relationship with God. He is the ultimate sovereign citizen of the universe. No-one can contend with His authority. When you are an intimate friend of God, falling at His feet and living only to do His will, you can walk in the fullest expression of your personal sovereignty.
Much of what others might think of as exercising their personal sovereignty may well be rebellion, arrogance, defiance against authority, self-will and ignorance. Please avoid such things.
Now, as I have pointed out, a person who truly walks in their personal sovereignty is able to exercise power and influence greater than governments, regimes and armies. That is the reason, I suggest, that evil regimes are so determinedly antagonistic to Christian faith and the Bible.
There is no more empowering experience and no more sure way to establish a person’s personal sovereignty, than to have them enter into personal relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. There is no more empowering resource than the Bible. When people live by faith in God, through Jesus Christ, committed to the Bible as the inerrant word of God, they are empowered and willing to exercise personal freedom like no other people. Evil regimes, therefore, run the risk that divinely empowered people will be able to challenge them in the same way Elisha challenged the King of Syria, or David brought down Goliath. No evil regime wants to have young people in its own domain who can exercise greater clout than the dictator, nor some lonely prophet who can topple their power.
Have you noticed that communist and other dictators are quick to ban the Bible, restrict Christian worship and punish people of faith? It is a trade-mark of many regimes. They ban the Bible and Christianity, because they are trying to do away with personal sovereignty.
Notice this quote from Horace Greeley: “It is impossible to enslave mentally or socially a Bible-reading people. The principles of the Bible are the groundwork of human freedom.” The ‘human freedom’ identified by Greeley is that right to stand before God. A person who can stand confidently before his maker is the freest person on the planet. He may be in prison, outlawed, or otherwise oppressed by man, but his soul and spirit are free, even freer than the dictators who incarcerated him.
Napoleon also recognised the incredible power inherent in the Bible and the faith that springs from it. He said: “The Bible is no mere book, but a Living Creature, with a power that conquers all that oppose it.”
For that reason Bibles have been taken to oppressed people, as part of the process of setting those people truly free. The Bible has the power to liberate souls, and consequently to liberate peoples and nations.
Note, however, that in the West there has been a subtle banning of the Bible. It is no longer allowed to be read in schools as it was when I was a boy. A weekly Bible lesson was conducted in my classes, by the school teacher, as part of the class curriculum. That small inculcation of the Word of God had its effect, especially when combined with the many other places where the Bible was spoken and its teachings propagated. But today much of that sowing of the Bible has been made illegal, and we have a generation more ready to succumb to tyranny than we had before. We have a people closer to losing their human freedom.
I, for one, am keen to propagate the Bible and its teachings. I also encourage every one to explore their personal sovereignty before God. I want whole generations committed to walking with God, according to the Word of God, living by faith in God, obedient to the will of God, empowered by the Spirit of God, so that they can build the kingdom of God and turn back the forces of oppression which aim to enslave them and their children.
I commend to you your personal sovereignty. Don’t let anyone ban it or rob you of it. Pursue God. Read the Bible. Put your faith in Jesus Christ. Humble yourself before God. And live the destiny God has uniquely created for you. I challenge you to do so, in Jesus’ precious and powerful name. Amen.
Sovereignty and Judgement
Personal Sovereignty is our inalienable right (something that cannot be taken from us) to stand before God. And that’s profound because it gives us an amazing personal value when we can stand before one who is of much greater authority than kings, presidents, magistrates, media magnates, military leaders and power brokers. I sense that if we could grasp the true significance of this incredible personal privilege it would impact our entire life.
Another way of capturing a glimpse of our personal sovereignty is to consider what happens in judgement. I’m not talking about what happens in your nation’s judicial system, but what happens at the end of time when everyone is judged before God. What happens is that, as I just gave it away, “everyone is judged before God”.
Did you get that? Did you catch the awesome significance of that fact?
If you were some lesser being then your parents might stand before God on your behalf, discuss your behaviour and make a deal. They may come up with a plea-bargain or some other construct, to which you are not really a party, but simply a pawn. If you were ‘owned’ by someone else then they could make you pay for things you didn’t do, or they could negotiate on your behalf, striking whatever deal they choose to make.
But that is NOT what happens at the Great White Throne of Judgement. On that day YOU stand before God, on your own, accounting for yourself, because you are a Sovereign Citizen. And, it’s not that you have something over everyone else. We ALL get to stand accountable before God, because we are all sovereign citizens. We all have the same right and privilege to stand before God and account for ourselves before Him. We each have the same opportunity to come before God and make a personal commitment that gives us the same eternal privilege that everyone has access to.
Your social standing, education, income, ethnicity, physical prowess or disability have no relevance when it comes to your personal sovereignty. Wicked King Ahab was advised of God’s judgement due to come upon him (see 1Kings 21:20-29). He was evil and deserved to be destroyed. But when he turned to God in prayer, even he was given a concession by God. He was worthy of destruction, yet he still had personal sovereignty and the right to come to God.
That’s how every one of us can come to God as a sinner. We are worthy of God’s eternal damnation, but we have the gift of personal sovereignty so we can come to God and ask Him for the grace which is ours through Christ Jesus. It’s as available to Saddam Hussein and Osama BinLaden as readily as it is to us. Even they, for their evils, have the right to stand before God and do business with Him.
I pray that you grasp something of the awesome possibilities God provides to you by allowing you to stand before Him and do business with Him. You are not subservient to anyone. Others will not determine your eternal destiny for you. You are given the grace to stand before God and to ask Him for what you will. He is not at your behest – you cannot make Him do what He does not want to do – but you can meet with Him and let Him do business with you.
Personal Sovereignty
This might be an unusual or foreign concept to you, but I think it is much more significant than you might at first think. It is a subject about which I have given thought over the years, but which has recently come back to my attention.
I note that the notion of sovereignty is linked to various political or social aspirations and I need to say up front that my interest in this subject relates to the concept as it applies to humans who stand before God. I do not understand nor pursue the case of those who seek to use the concept of sovereignty to counter the laws of their land. Having made that disclaimer, allow me to continue.
Here’s an insight that I think is exciting. We are created by God and given by Him a degree of personal sovereignty. That means we are able to be the King of our own life, in a measure. A king is called a Sovereign, because he rules over things. We are able to rule over ourselves and so we too are a ‘Sovereign’. We are each a sovereign citizen. In our most basic condition we have various privileges given us by God. These privileges are ours whether we are man or woman, adult or child, rich or poor, dumb or smart, pink, polka-dot or skinless. It is our principal sovereign privilege to stand directly before God and to be accountable to Him.
Now, to a person who is worthy of God’s wrath and judgement it may hardly be deemed a privilege to stand before God. But think about it. You, who ever you are, can present yourself before the Living Lord God of all eternity, the Creator of Heaven and Earth. You may not be able to get an appointment with your President, or even a local official, but you have the right to go WAY above their heads, directly to God, Himself. That’s Awesome!!
Further to that, no one can take that privilege from you. They can hate you, throw you in prison, beat you up, take your possessions, and do other heinous things, but they cannot take your personal sovereignty from you. They can never make you into someone who has to stand in line waiting for another person to talk to God on your behalf.
Now, some of you already have the cogs turning at about this point. Personal sovereignty is clearly something that is taken off people by various means, personal, political and religious. And, yes, we do actually have a Vicar of our soul. Vicar refers to one who stands in for someone else. Jesus Christ stands in on our behalf, especially in terms of standing in for our just punishment. Yet that does not deny us the right and privilege to exercise our personal sovereignty and to enter God’s presence and do business with Him.
Note my earlier remark about us having a “degree of personal sovereignty”. We obviously can’t resist the laws of nature. Nor can we overthrow the impact of our own sin. We cannot make God take us to heaven when we are worthy of hell. We can choose not to believe in God, but that has zero power over God or over us and our future. Our personal sovereignty is subject to God’s rule over us. Therefore it is also to be subject to those who God places over us. This includes our parents over their children and a husband over a wife. Personal sovereignty isn’t anarchy. It is the right to be who we were created to be, “under God”, which requires us to submit to every ordinance of God.
Next time I pick up this subject I’d like to discuss the moment when I probably took my first real step toward applying personal sovereignty, even though I didn’t understand the concept at that time. Keep an eye out for future posts on Sovereignty.