Called to Reign: Living and Loving from a Place of Rest

by Leif Hetland

Him. In every step we take, we have the opportunity to represent shalom. We translate this word as “peace” in English, but it has the sense of much more—of the wholeness, completeness, and fullness of the Kingdom.

By resting in Him, we are seated with Him in heavenly places (see Ephesians 2:6) ruling with Him from the Father’s throne. He paid the price; we step into His inheritance as king.

him. In 1 Kings 5:4, Solomon remarked that he had peace on every side, and because of that security he was able to build, a city was transformed, and kings and queens came from all around to see and experience the fruits.

The father says, “Son, all that I have is yours. You could be in My presence in My home every day. The refrigerator is full. I have servants working out in the fields all the time. All I want with you is to come in and be with Me, but your value system has driven you outside. You are not defined by what you do. Why don’t you come home? Stop performing. Stop trying to accomplish things for Me. All that I have is yours. I have a heaven full of resources that are available to you. Come spend time with Me, and then when we go into the fields, let’s go together.”

They don’t realize that the Father owns the bakery. There will always be enough.

This was a major shift in my own life. I used to live from measure, from limitations rather than abundance, and going to the nations was a problem to be achieved. I know this story so well because it was my own story. I know how it is to be a prodigal son and a prodigal’s brother. So many times I wondered, “Why did this person get blessed and not me? Why did that person get healed but I didn’t? I’ve been faithful, I’ve been studying, I’ve been praying. I’ve stood in line all over the world waiting for people to pray for me to have these blessings. I’ve done all these different things, and here comes this guy off the streets getting all these good gifts—open-heaven experiences, miracles, all the things I’ve been longing for.” My heart and my attitude were focused on me and my lack.

kingdom. Chair 2 people are achievers, so they try to get the inheritance. In Chair 1, the inheritance gets you.

There are no limits to what we have been freely given: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Corinthians 2:9).

We have to train our eyes to see our inheritance in terms of destiny.

To put it more positively, if we understand, then value, then steward, and then multiply, we get authority.

The father in Luke 15 made a very significant statement to his son: “All that I have is yours” (Luke 15:31). That is the Father’s gift to us. It’s what He has restored. He provided for everything in Jesus’ finished work on the cross. What is true of Jesus is now true of us. He inherits all things (Hebrews 1:2), and we are His co-heirs (Romans 8:17). That means we inherit all things with Him.

The first part of Ephesians explains this beautifully.

Nothing is wrong. We are in that period of promise, when we know what we will be given but are growing in maturity to be able to handle the responsibility.

People who suddenly come into wealth often do not know how to handle it. They either have not been trained or do not have the maturity to steward what they did not work for.

There is quite a difference between children of blessing and children of inheritance.

Children of inheritance know how to steward and invest. We are not looking to use up the harvest as an expenditure. We are looking to increase it for our own generation and future ones.

The only way for inheritance to happen is to find your identity in being a son or daughter of the Father and pursuing intimacy with Him simply because He is.

REFLECTION Regarding the nature of inheritance, 10 scriptures are highlighted that help us to understand the dynamics of inheritance. Spend time reflecting on each of these scriptures, making note of what God is saying to you. Pay attention to how God uses scripture to teach us how to make our way through periods of promise to places of maturity. Reflect on what the concepts of the Kingdom Family Movement mean in your life and how you can become more a part of this family.

Elijah had been through many tests. Though he had freely received an inheritance, he had paid a price for the maturity required to steward it.

We have to go through a process of maturity so that we will handle the inheritance we receive in a way that helps us and does not hurt us.

It is yours—to inherit, but perhaps not yet to possess. You must learn to value what you receive so you can steward it well. Whatever you know how to steward, you know how to multiply. Whatever you multiply, you have authority over.

When you are in the Spirit, you can suddenly go places and do things. You and your family can live under an open heaven, and heaven’s resources begin to flow.

rest. Over the course of his life, he had learned the difference between God’s visitation and His habitation—not an encounter-to-encounter relationship but an awareness that God was with him always.

REFLECTION With a great deal of vulnerability, I shared the story of learning how to walk in my inheritance while in rehab by focusing on what I did have rather than what I didn’t. God truly took the resources He had put in my hands and multiplied them. Do you have resources in your hands that are not being multiplied because you see problems instead of promise? If so, hallelujah! You have resources from God. Now, ask yourself what you need to do in order to let God use them to the fullest.

We need to have the heart of Abraham, who bargained with God to withhold judgment (Genesis 18). The question is not how much darkness is in a place but the lack of light there. If we really understand our inheritance and know how to access it, we will be able to bring light into dark places rather than condemnation.

In the past, I didn’t know how to be a change agent. I was overwhelmed with the darkness because I could see no way to make a difference. When you love, you don’t ask God for judgment; you ask Him for solutions.

If you don’t love your city or country, you won’t get authority over it.

If the enemy knows that every time he attacks there will be a tsunami of love, the world will be changed.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS 1. Think of a time when you were in the midst of a dark moment in your life. Were you operating from Chair 1 or Chair 2? If your answer was Chair 1, make a note of how you were able to be in Chair 1 and keep it handy for future reference. If your answer was Chair 2, think about how you could have moved from Chair 2 to Chair 1 and be determined to use this strategy the next time you are facing difficult circumstances. 2. How do you understand the concept that we should attack the enemy behind the people and not the people themselves? How would this shift in strategy change the outcome? 3. Can you think of anyone, either in history or your own life, who dreamed with God in the midst of their darkest moments? What do you think gave them the ability to do this?

The land has already been given to us, but receiving it is still a process. We must learn how to come into position. We grow in maturity in order to take responsibility for our inheritance.

REFLECTIONS When we see with heaven’s eyes, we see promises instead of problems. Think of something in your life that you see as a problem, and then make your way over to Chair 1 and see it as a promise. If you are having difficulty changing your glasses or perspective, ask Holy Spirit to show you how He sees the situation. Using the example of Joshua leading Israel into the Promised Land and how it took 31 years, reflect on the length of time it is taking you to get to God’s promised land. Are you experiencing a process; a fight to get to where you are destined to be? What is God doing along the way to help you? To envision what the Father is seeing is to see things as a son or daughter of the King. From this position access begins to open up and inheritance begins to flow. What things in your life are you envisioning in the same way that God does?

ACTIVATION All of us experience seasons when it seems like everything is coming against the destiny God has for us. We feel like we should have made it to the Promised Land long ago and yet we are still struggling. When you are in the midst of a dry season it’s easy to forget the times of abundance with the Father. Why is it that dry seasons tend to make us take off our Songlasses? Take a few minutes and make a timeline of your journey to your destiny. Indicate the times of abundance and the dry seasons. Think about how you stewarded your seasons of abundance and how you navigated the dry seasons. Make note of those Chair 1 times when you were able to receive as a beloved son or daughter, and those times when you wandered over into Chair 2 and lost sight of who you are and who God is. Keep your timeline handy, referring to it when necessary, and adding to it as you go.

multiplying. I know that everything purchased on the cross was not given to me just so I could get to heaven but so heaven could get into me and the world around me. I know I was created with a destiny.

on identity answered the question, “Who am I?”

on intimacy answered the question, “Where am I in my wa...

inheritance answered the question, “Wh...

see, “What am I called to do?” because you do...

change. He carried something more than leadership; he carried a family culture.

When your inner environment changes, you start to become an environment changer. You live and move in the power and wisdom of love. You see people not for the way they are but the way they are going to be. Where others see a Saul, you see a Paul. You not only begin to step into your destiny. You help others step into theirs.

The destiny of the kingdom family was to create on earth the kind of love, honor, and unity that there is in heaven. After six days of creation, God breathed into dust and made a man who saw His face, heard His voice, felt His love, experienced His presence, and lived in His pleasure.

The Chair 2 tendency is to rest from work.

We are not designed to struggle with our identity, our intimacy, or our inheritance. We are simply to receive from the Father. Jesus said, “Freely you have received; freely give” (Matthew 10:8). Everything we do is going to come from Him, go through us, and go back to Him. Our destiny depends on our rest.

It isn’t what we do that makes us who we are, but who we are that determines what we do.

If we are who we are, what we do will flow from our identity.

authority. God gave them the assignment of taking what the Father, Son, and Spirit had in heaven and filling the whole earth with the same love, unity, glory, honor, peace, and joy. This is a family on a mission.

Adam and Eve’s destiny started well in a garden. There was no fear, insecurity, or guilt. The Father’s dream was becoming a reality. He had a family on earth that looked like heaven. We know it didn’t end up that way, of course, and yet God already had a plan for restoration before the foundation of the world. They lost their destiny. They moved into the wrong chair and began a journey to figure out who they were and whose they were. Their struggle is the same one most of the world is experiencing today in Chair 2 or 3 – living outside the culture of God. God’s goal is to spread the culture of His family across the earth.