The Kingdom Of Heaven Is Not A Democracy

The Holy One calls to me this morning. Wrestles can seem so dark to my mind like the watches of the night just before dawn. But when the Holy Spirit speaks the darkness gives way to light and that Light is Truth.

Today His word to me corrects any misconception I might have about His ruling authority.  "The Kingdom of Heaven is not a democracy!"

Oddly enough, this brings a smile to my face and a joy to my soul. I have been caught up with all that is going on in the world of politics and feel a great frustration in my "righteous" spirit as the people and so called majority have voted for the principles of darkness to govern this nation. 

I have been arrogant in past thinking that our democratically operating Republic could handle all the challenges coming against it.  While I believe that this (our form of )government based on the wisdom of our founders according to their guiding principles of faith in the One True God, is the best government ever established on earth, I am brought to the truth that no external government of men is sustainable given the degree of evil that lies within the human heart. 

Sin is a reality of humanity and evil has a grip on every man or woman ever born.  Eventually depravity will take over and external government will fail.  Today the Lord has taken me deep into the subject matter of the Kingdom of Heaven. 

Living my temporal life in a place governed by the rule of the majority, even with its good founding principles locked into a constitution, I find that evil can conquer and over-rule through deception so that we, as a people, can actually be led by consent to surrender all that makes us free.  Literally speaking, we can vote our way into bondage and become slaves to a system that thrives on wickedness.   

Religion is no different in concept than our "democracy".  Its the rules and our observation of them that make us feel secure.  What a shock it is to our entire sense of well-being when we realize the government is our enemy and our observation of rules is not enough to keep us safe.  

It took the 1st coming of Christ to straighten out our thinking and reveal the Kingdom of Heaven to our darkened minds.  At the time of His 2nd coming He will execute judgment on all that stands in opposition to the Kingdom of Heaven and His ruling authority as King.

At the time of His 1st coming, Rome was the governing authority in the world and the Scribes and Pharisees were the technical ruling authorities over the Jewish people.  Unwilling to surrender their power, they rejected the One who gave them the law of God that they were misusing to maintain their sphere of influence and ruling authority over the nation of Israel. 
  
Jesus came to bring the good news of  His Kingdom AKA The Kingdom of Heaven and to invite all to become its citizens.   His Kingdom is an eternal Kingdom but operational in the world of that time and is still operational in our world today.

The Kingdom of Heaven is an upside down Kingdom in the realm of human thought.  We must give to get, serve to rule and die to live, all exceeding backward and upside down to the ruling authority of our flesh.  Yet the good news about the Kingdom of Heaven brings love, forgiveness, healing and peace to everyone who accepts the truth and believes that Jesus is the King.

Jesus taught people everyday about the Kingdom of Heaven and God whom He called, Father.  Then one day He said to the Pharisees, "The Kingdom of God does not come with your careful observations, nor will people say "here it is" or "there it is" because the Kingdom of God is within you."  Luke 17:20. 

His words reveal that something transformational needed to happen in their thinking.  In their careful observation of the external law they had failed to deal with the Godly conviction set by the internal one.  The internal spirit of the law which should bring about goodness and mercy had been over-ruled by the external letter of the law that brought hypocritical adherence and legalistic judgment. 

The Kingdom of Heaven is first established in the heart and the Kingdom of Heaven is a place of choice. 

The good news of the Kingdom of Heaven is all about the Creator's unconditional love for the individuals He created to be in a personal relationship with Himself.  The good news of the Kingdom is that all are welcome and can become a citizen by recognizing and pledging personal allegiance to the King of the Kingdom of Heaven.  That King is Jesus. 

Man by nature is a rebel of God's kingdom authority and presses for independence from it. The good news of the Kingdom is that God is willing on His end to bring humanity back under the safety of His governmental ruling authority after we come to deal with our rebellion  of it.  

The Kingdom of Heaven is a government that operates under God's Sovereign authority.  Jesus brought to humanity the good news of the Kingdom of Heaven, not the good news of "the church" or the good news of the "USA".  It was not the good news of Rome or the good news of the Pharisees that He brought us. 

The good news of the Kingdom is that God is willing to take over the government of humanity in a personal way, one life at a time. The Kingdom of Heaven is a perfect place that operates in perfect order and that brings perfect peace.  For us to be ready to enter we must be ready to live in surrender to the ruling authority of the Kingdom's King: Jesus.

Jesus said, "Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. "  Matt 4:17.  What was He telling us to repent about?  Was it last night's binge?  Or lying about your last sick day to the boss? Actually It is neither and both for each is merely a reflection of the evil sin nature that rules our flesh in opposition to the rule of God. 

It is not the individual sin acts that Jesus came to die for, it is the wholesale sin nature that lives in rebellion of God's Sovereign authority that He was crucified to end once and for all.  Accepting His death as a substitute for our own, we agree that the rebellious nature must die in order for us to receive the blessing of eternal life.  We agree to give him our pathetic rebellious nature in exchange for His Holy One.   

Since His death on the cross, those of us who have surrendered our lives to Him, now come under the ruling authority of His Spirit from within.  Sin is no longer our Master and we have the ability to reject all the temptations to live in independence of God. 

Why is that such good news?  Because the Kingdom of Heaven is the ultimate place where man, created in God's image belongs and can find peace and security for all eternity. People back in the day of the first coming of Jesus misunderstood his words and his mission.  They thought He came to set up an earthly kingdom as an alternative to Rome.  However in reality He came to reveal the Kingdom of Heaven in earth which is first internal and initially established in the heart.

The Kingdom of Heaven is just that: A Kingdom.  It is a form of government that is under the ruling authority of a king.  It is a monarchy.  We do not get to vote and the opinion or rule of the majority holds no power.  When we speak of Jesus as the "King of Kings" that describes Him as the ultimate of all authorities.  But this is where the rubber meets the road in our lives as Christians. Is Jesus Christ our ultimate authority?  And do we yield to His authority in all aspects of our life?

We are constantly being tempted and are contiguously barraged with the challenges to act apart from our Kingdom's Heavenly Authority here on earth. All of us fail and that is why repentance is so huge an issue  Repentance re-establishes the chain of command and Kingdom authority when we rebel or fail to seek the Lord's directives and act independently in our lives.

Today, the world does not acknowledge the Kingdom of Heaven nor will it yield to our King yet.....the day is coming when every knee with bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

I am thankful for the wonderful privilege to be a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven and to bow before my King Jesus here in the earth realm.  Today, the Holy Spirit brings me the sweet reminder that unlike with the government in the USA, the goodness and mercy and peace of the Kingdom of Heaven can never be voted away.

The Spirit is calling.  Can you hear Him?

       
        
          

The Power Of Our Words***

The Holy One calls to me this morning.  He has an urgent message that He wants to convey and one that I need to hear:

"The power of life and death is in the tongue, so speak life".

The Holy Spirit brings this message with a deep caution and a reminder to me of how all things came to be.  Our mysterious Creator God brought all things originally into existence through the power of His spoken word.  Even if we choose not to believe in that truth, our unbelief does not change it. 

However our unbelief in the raw power of the spoken word can impact our lives.  As I look around I see all the evidence that confirms the truth. His message to me continues:

"Beware of what your spoken discouragement sets into motion and guard your words."

It is a shock to realize how easily the enemy of our souls can manipulate life and circumstances through all of us human "vessels".  One of the primary manipulation tools the evil one uses is emotional manipulation.  The devil understands how our emotions can rule our lives and provides ample emotional challenges that send us into fits of discouragement, hopelessness and  despair.

The "hook" is not in the emotion itself but rather the words we speak when we are in that hard emotional place.  Words of discouragement spoken in times of despair can become a form of a curse since we begin to agree with the evil and destructive agenda of the devil whose goal is to separate us from the love and goodness of our Creator God.

In John 10:10, Jesus tell us that the "thief" comes not but to rob, kill and destroy, but He (Jesus) comes that we may have life and have it to the full. 

The enemy of our souls understands the principles of the Kingdom of Heaven even better than we do since he was once a "guardian Cherub" full of wisdom.  Ezekiel 28:14   He is an ancient being turned foe who became an antagonist against God and His created and all that God has said is "good".

The enemy's ultimate goal is to keep humanity separated from our Creator.  He knows first hand the spoken word of God and our legacy.  He knows how men and women are made in God's image, and how the redeemed have been given authority and power to destroy the works of darkness, which is his evil agenda. 

The devil has limited power so he schemes to get us humans to speak (with the power of our own words) in agreement with what he has plotted and planned and thereby work to destroy ourselves and the good things the Lord has planned for us.

If we do not guard our words, we can inadvertently, unconsciously, but ever so powerfully orchestrate our own dreadful circumstances by merely agreeing with the negative things we see and feel as a final and inescapable reality.

James 3:9 says of the tongue, "with the tongue we praise our God and Father and with it we curse human beings (including ourselves) who are made in His image".

I take that word "curse" to mean not just derogatory statements we make about each other but also to set up a contradictory image of our Divine purpose that is good, though an oppression of darkness that is not good nor according to our Godly image in creation.

Fortunately there is a "limit" to the power of the tongue when we make rash comments, speak harsh commands,  or pass ungodly judgments against people in our lives.  I wonder how careful we would be if every word we speak brought a visible and immediate result.  Would we tell others to "drop dead" when they annoy us?  Would we tell those who garner our temporary anger to "go to hell"?

Even if the careless words we speak do not appear to impose a life curse, what if they create a dark atmosphere over the lives of the ones we see fit to "curse" and what if we will be accountable one day for such brutal and oppressive words?  The Bible says we will.

Then there is that personal issue:  what if our spoken discouragement in a moment of frustration actually impacts what can become a life struggle for someone else?  How much will our worthless words spoken over our children set them up for difficulty in their lives?  How much does our derogatory self-talk initiated by the enemy's accusation of our character,  hold us bound to a life of defeat?

What if we look at our circumstances then declare and confess that "nothing will ever change", or "the situation is hopeless", or "I cannot believe that any good thing can come of this'"?   What if we, by our very own words, in contradiction to God's words about us, have executed what translates to  curse and even worse, a death warrant over what might have been a very powerful witness of God's true and Divine intervention?

The sorrow of that possibility breaks my heart for myself and others struggling in bondage to our own declared fears and discouragement.  So today I will take a look at the things I have spoken.  I will ask the Holy Spirit for the reminder of those negative, careless, worthless words I have released over myself and others.  I will take responsibility for the negative words and revoke them all in Jesus Name.

As I think about what may be “true”, according to what I see, the Lord puts up a caution and a place for discernment.  I must not focus on the weaknesses and faults or failures of others or myself even as the brutal truth, but rather use the knowledge of such “truth” as a call to prayer and to petition the Lord to be our strength in weakness.  Then I can speak the good will of Heaven over all that I see or fear.   

Today I will appeal to my Lord for discernment to know what needs to be corrected and I will also ask for Divine discretion in the words I choose to use from here on out.

I purpose to think on whatsoever is true, noble, lovely, praiseworthy, admirable and according to the list of good things that goes on and on, and then I purpose to speak the very life of my Savior and the power of His good Name over all I see.

The Spirit is calling.  Can you hear Him?                           

     

Thy Kingdom Come***

The Holy One calls to me this morning. There is an assault on my peace that has for a while choked out my hope.  Today hope has been revived as the Holy Spirit teaches me more about His Kingdom. His voice fills my spirit ears:

"The Kingdom of Heaven is material as well as ethereal."

This is a message of hope since the evil one floats the deception that the Kingdom of Heaven is only a future place of the sweet by-and-by and not a present place for the situational day-to-day.

To make His point, The Holy One reminds me of His word that reveals a kingdom where streets are paved with gold and has dimensions.(Rev 21)  Even if the graphic picture is not one we can wrap our finite minds around, the description of it is provided in material terms. 

But then the King who came to earth to show us the way and the only point of entry into the Kingdom said, "The Kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, "here it is" or "there it is" because the Kingdom of God is within you".   
Luke 17:20-21

As I ponder the words spoken and written, I realize how I can be out of balance in my thinking and not operate in the total truth about the Kingdom of Heaven AKA God's Kingdom. 

Jesus, in teaching the disciples how to pray, said to pray in this manner: Our Father Who is in Heaven, Hollowed ( Holy) be Your name.  Your Kingdom come and Your will be done in earth as it is in heaven".  Then follows the prayer petition of provision, forgiveness, protection from temptation and deliverance from evil. (Matt 6:9-13).

I always wondered why there was the word "in" earth and not "on" earth in the KJV. Some translations have transcribed that word as "on" earth which makes more sense to our human minds.  Unless, that is, we come to grasp and understand that the "ethereal" earth kingdom is the place where the invisible enemy resides and does his best to corrupt the physical/material earth with his depraved agenda.
 

Sickness and disease, lust and murder (all death spirits) are on the list of the evidences of a dark kingdom that festers in our material/physical world but really originates in the ethereal realm.  These are the works of the devil that Jesus came to destroy and then to teach us how to do the same.

This has caused me some faith issues and exposed some underlying unbelief that needs to be resolved with regard to miracles and Divine intervention. I am so thankful that the Holy Spirit leads me into all Truth and is patient for the time it takes me to grasp what He is trying to teach me.

The importance of today's message has to do with following Truth that leads to the structure of Divine authority and that opens the way for Divine intervention in our material/physical world.
 

Jesus came to show us the Father as well as the Kingdom of Heaven and how it operates.  Jesus was in total submission to the Father's Will and that put Him in perfect balance in both the Heavenly Kingdom and the earthly one.

Jesus said that He only did what He saw His Father in Heaven do and only spoke what He heard His Father in Heaven speak.  This defines the structure of Kingdom  authority that Jesus came to demonstrate and then teach.

All that Jesus did in over-ruling the conditions associated with life in our earthly realm, were according to what the Kingdom of heaven offers all its citizens.  This visual picture of the Kingdom of Heaven was given because we as individuals must choose where we will spend eternity:   Will we choose to ultimately live with the Creator God in His kingdom or reject Him and choose to live somewhere else apart from Him.  Jesus came to offer the better choice by the demonstration here on earth of what life is like there, in the Kingdom of Heaven.

By and through miraculous intervention (the evidence of the miracles here on earth) Jesus calls us to believe:

In the existence of the Kingdom of Heaven!

In the One True Holy God of all Creation whose Kingdom it is!

In the fact that His death through crucifixion and His life through resurrection is the only way to enter the Kingdom of Heaven!

Those of us who believe and are, by choice, already citizens of the Kingdom of our God,  are now in a position to be a witness to:  His Divinity (as our God), His life (as our King) and under His authority (as our Lord).

We are to live our lives here on earth as servants of our King,  as a beloved child of our Heavenly Father and in the structure of Divine authority that comes from honoring the Lordship of Christ and His Holy Spirit who dwells within us.

When we are in right alignment with those factors in our mortal existence we can see and experience the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth, and then, through our lives, others can see it as well.  The importance of our coming into right alignment can never be underestimated since our life is to serve as the "evidence" of His love and care that can cause others to come to believe and receive Jesus as their own personal Savior, Lord and King.

As I let the Truth saturate my mind, heart, soul and spirit, I am reminded of a visual that describes the Body of Christ in ways that are similar to how a human body moves and operates.  We are all members of the Body of Christ and like our body parts.   In our physical body the head is where all information is received and stored and where all our outward actions are first initiated.  Christ is the Head of the Body and all our actions must be initiated by Him.

As a part of the body I must report to Him what is going on from any and all threats I am aware of to any and all needs that might require an action to be taken for the good of the entire Body of which I am a part. I am to convey all the challenges and respond to His directives for His Godly, Kingly, Headship directive and reaction.

Taking this visual helps me to grasp the bigger picture of my role and ultimate accountability with the Lord's authority to act.  I cannot move on my own for that is like a spasm in the body and the representation of a body part taking independent action that is not fully connected to the Head.  The Church can be a well functioning body in a graceful motion and purpose given by the Head or it can be a spastic disconnected set of body parts.

The Kingdom of Heaven truly begins in the heart of the individual.  As we each give Jesus the Lordship over our personal lives then we can become a well functioning part of the bigger Body of Christ moving in concert with all the other parts reporting to and taking directions from the Head whereby the blessings of the Kingdom of Heaven can then flow to and through us.
 

As we report to the head and receive His directives for our function, the Body of Christ will no doubt experience and manifest more of the earth shaking delightful things Jesus brought to earth as evidence of the Kingdom of Heaven.  Things like Divine healing and deliverance, the bind given sight, the deaf given hearing, the lame given mobility and even the dead restored to earthly life.

Today, I am thankful that my hope has been revived with the truth about the Kingdom of Heaven. To acknowledge with thanksgiving the Lordship of my Jesus and take all things needed to my Head, is the plan and prayer for this day.   But I know I must first yield to His authority and directives in my personal life and then I can wield His delegated authority as He tells me what to do.  This is the challenge. 

So I pray:

Abba Father

Holy is your Name

Your Kingdom come

Your Will be done

In earth (through me)

As it is done in Heaven

All for You and in Jesus Name!

The Spirit is calling.  Can you hear Him?