The Bible shows you that you have some areas of your life over which you must rule.  God has set up everything in the universe under rule.  God rules over the kingdoms of men [Dan 4:32].  The sun and the moon rule the day and night [Gen 1:16].  Rulers rule over their kingdoms.  And they have men of authority under them and over others [Dan 6:1-2].  God tells rulers how they are supposed to rule [2 Sam 23:3].  The centurion was a man under authority [Matt 8:9].   Under captains there are rulers of 1,000’s, 100’s, 50’s, and 10’s [Ex 18:25].  All of this rule is going to remain until 1 Cor 15:24, when the Lord put down all rule.  But until then, if you God has commanded you to rule, then you are to rule.

You are to rule over:

Your Spouse – Gen 3:16; Eph 5:22-23 [1 Pet 3:1].  Contrast these verses with Is 3:12.  In Gen 3:6, Eve sinned and following her sin, Adam sinned.  Eve was the help meet for Adam but he was not given specific instructions to rule over her until after she and he sinned.  A woman needs power on her head [1 Cor 11:10].  She is the weaker vessel [1 Pet 3:7].  She is not to be given authority over the man [1 Tim 2:11-12].  Husbands, you have to rule your wives.  You are the one who will give account of how you handle this God-given responsibility.  And you must rule your family [Eph 6:1-2, 1 Tim 3:4-5].  This command from God is rejected by the world and so it can be difficult, at times, to maintain the rule.  You have to work at it and you can’t turn it over to someone else. 

Your Sin – Gen 4:7; Rom 6:12 – when David committed adultery with Bathsheba he said, “I have sinned.”  He didn’t blame anyone else and he didn’t call it anything other than what it is, “sin.”  Today, the world doesn’t advocate ruling over your sin.  The world doesn’t even call it sin.  The world teaches that you are the way you are because of your genetics or your environment and, therefore, you are free to be whatever you were made to be.  In other words, your sin rules you; that is your orientation.  You need to rule your thoughts; otherwise, they will rule you.  You need to rule your lusts; otherwise, they will rule you.  You need to rule your pride.  The Lord holds you responsible for your sin so you must deal with it [2 Cor 5:10].  It is too easy to say “in my flesh dwelleth no good thing,” [Rom 7:18].  Of course, that’s so.  But you are to walk after the Spirit [Rom 8:1] and you are to “mortify the deeds of the body,” through the Spirit [Rom 8:13].  You deal with your sin by God’s grace!  And you deal with it my not making provision for the flesh [Rom 12:14].

Your Spirit – Prov 25:28; 16:32 – today, your spirit is often manifested through your emotions.  And your emotions are like a roller coaster; sometimes up and sometimes down.  You must rule your own spirit.  You are to put away all bitterness, anger, wrath, and malice, you are to be angry and sin not, you are to deal with and overcome your feelings of loneliness, depression, fear [2 Tim 1:7], anxiety and so forth.  For the life of me, I have yet to figure out how to be angry and not sin.  Every time I get angry, I sin.  So, I have to constantly seek ways to diffuse anger before it ever erupts.  I had to change my driving habits, for instance, just so that I wouldn’t be stressed out and more easily angered by other drivers.  Often, you have to deal with the things that affect your spirit to safeguard your spirit.  That’s why, when you rule your spirit, your life is typified by a fortified city, rather than a city with its walls broken down.

Conclusion: You must rule over your spouse, over your sin, and over your spirit.  These are things that the Lord has commanded you to do.  God will help you but he is not going to do it for you.