WHAT IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD?
More and more people are mentioning the Kingdom of God nowadays, which is the most wonderful evidence that the spiritual alarms, trumpets and sirens are definitely working! However, do we all understand what it actually means? Some think the Kingdom is a physical location or some invisible pie in the sky called Heaven..but it’s much more than that. The Kingdom of God is the unseen realm of righteousness, peace and joy that dwells within those who are submitted to Him through the power of the Holy Spirit..and it dominates the seen realm (Romans 14:17, Luke 17:20). The spiritual fruit of it (righteousness, peace, joy, etc.) cannot be observed with the physical eye, but has a distinct and lasting outward manifestation which speaks volumes..a language that is clearly seen and appreciated by all.
The Bible states in 1 Corinthians 4:19-20 that the Kingdom of God is not in word, but in power. Hmm..now here’s where many get confused. You see, just because one speaks about God’s kingdom doesn’t mean they are actually submitted to the “King’s dominion”. We are known by our fruit (which has nothing to do with produce or numbers might i add). It has more to do with the manifestation of power that comes through obedience. If the Holy Spirit does not bear witness to our word or lifestyle, then i’m afraid we’ll be heard by many but felt by few. Many will fall under the seduction of the tongue being easily influenced, but few will actually be transformed by the power of Christ. If we are lukewarm and only follow Jesus for the fishes and loaves, we will not be able to carry this kind of power. We’ll be too busy looking for trinkets and making a name for ourselves to even care.
Jesus spoke often about His Heavenly kingdom, saying things like, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). He preached more about obtaining spiritual things than physical things. Why? Because it is the nature of man to pursue the physical rather than the spiritual, but the spiritual is first and most important. God wants us to seek His kingdom and His righteousness first, because in doing so we automatically store up eternal treasure in Heaven which far surpasses anything we can ever achieve or gather here on Earth. If we shift our mindset in this direction, then He promised to add all the physical things our hearts desire as well. It’s about change and transformation. It’s about being conformed into the image of Christ..not about trinkets. Nor about controlling others or “manifesting” what we want. That would be witchcraft (which we are sternly warned to stay away from). Witchcraft works in reverse, causing us to pursue earthly things such as wealth and power through another means other than simple love and submission to God.
So you see the difference? A thin line that can be easily crossed by giving ear to the wrong voice. There is much more to be said about this topic, but i hope this helps us all to better understand God’s kingdom and the lifestyle we speak of in contrast to the world’s way of doing things. Satan is the god of this world. He desires to be worshipped and lures many into his dark kingdom through their carnal lust for the things of this world. As citizens of Heaven (the place of God’s abode), we are in this world but not from it. We are not to conform to it, but rather to dominate and conform it into the image of the Kingdom from which we came. This is our earthly mission. The kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our LORD, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever. Amen.
Shalom,
Shellie
