Ruling and reigning requires both submission and dominion. Without total submission to God (at least to the measure He holds us accountable in our growth process) we will not be granted legal access into the heavenly realms and dimensions. This is why Wisdom is one of the Gatekeepers. Conversely, if we are not walking in our authority, we will not be able to rule and reign. A victim cannot walk in authority. Someone who does not know their identity in Christ or who is ruled by shame or fear cannot walk in true authority (though they may walk in the counterfeit: control). This is why the soul must be healed and restored before we launch into these realms and dimensions. The flesh (whether it is self-righteous flesh or self-indulgent flesh) is still flesh. And flesh will always gravitate to the extreme that is most comfortable for the personality. Only the Spirit gives life and brings true balance.
A mature son of God is both YIELDED and PROACTIVE! To God, we are fully yielded, emptied out, with no agendas or false identities – clay that is moldable, an empty channel for Him to flow through. But in all other aspects, we are proactive, fully stewarding the life that has been entrusted to us, not led by our soul and not controlled by others, by the demonic realm or by our circumstances. Most people are on one side of the spectrum or the other, but the manifested, mature sons of God will be like the Roman centurion – under authority and in authority. It is James 4:7: submitting to God and resisting the enemy.
This is why children must be taught to submit (so rebellion does not capture them). But they must also be taught (age-appropriately) to govern their lives, to say yes and to say no with gradually less parental interference. Their gates must be nurtured in order to work properly.
Self-governing prevents us from abdicating the control of our lives to others through fear, avoidance, passivity or man-pleasing, enabling us to faithfully steward our personal gates and the gates of those things entrusted to us. Only then will we be given the responsibility of governing more far-reaching gates….. “first in Jerusalem, then Judea, then Samaria, then the uttermost parts of the earth” (Acts 1:8)!