Hi Folks!
Remember last week’s message where
the kingdom is within you (i.e.: inside of the true believer). The Lord
Jesus himself declared that…
Being confident of this very thing,
that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of
Jesus Christ Phil 1:6
For it is God who works in you both to
will and to do for His good pleasure Phil 2:13
God is able to do a good work in us and
through us because the power of His Holy Spirit is living on the inside of the
believer. There is wonderworking power on the inside
Now to Him who is able to do
exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power
that work’s within us, to Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus…
Eph 3:20-21a
To them God willed to make known what
are the riches of the glory of the mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ
in you, the hope of glory Col 1:27
There is glory in the Church not because
of us but because of Him. It is He that is doing the good work in and through
us and He is doing it for His glory, by the power of Christ Jesus. Hallelujah!
In the spiritual realm there are only two
kingdoms that are at work in this world. The kingdom of light that is at work
through the Church and the kingdom of darkness that is at work through the
rest that are not a part of the Church. It is a matter of light and darkness,
two opposing kingdoms, two opposing forces. There is no light in darkness and
there is no darkness in light. This is one way Scripture characterises the
kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan… “light” and “darkness”. The
Bible says that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. It can
also be said that the Devil is darkness and there is no light in him. Just as
there is no lie in the Lord in that He is the Truth, the Way and the Life,
it can also be said that there is no truth in the Devil, as he has been a liar
from the beginning as our Lord has said. God is the Head of one kingdom - the
kingdom of love and light, and Satan is the head of the other opposing kingdom
- the kingdom of darkness and of all that is evil.
You can see already that the two kingdoms
are opposite of each other. One is good and one is evil. One is right and one
is wrong. Only God’s kingdom is based on truth and will endure throughout
eternity. The kingdom of this world (Satan’s kingdom) is temporary and will
soon pass away with all that is evil. In the ages to come our great God will
reign in everlasting righteousness and evil will forever be done away with.
The devil and all of his crowd will be banished from the presence of the Lord
for eternity and will be tormented day and night in the lake of fire.
The moment a person is born from above and
becomes a member of God’s family, he or she is transferred from the kingdom
of darkness to the kingdom of light. But after our salvation from sin we are
to learn of the new kingdom we have been born into and live the way of its
King. For we were once darkness and lived according to the kingdom of this
world, i.e. we lived the way of its master the Devil whether we knew it or
not. Now we are to live the way of our new master Jesus according to His
way of doing and being right. As our Scripture from Matt 6
declares, if we will seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His
kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), then all
the things the people of this world are trying to earn and live their whole
lives for, will be automatically added to us who believe. Seeking to live by
the rules and standards of God’s kingdom first (before anything
else), will enable the Lord to add all the things into our lives that the
Gentiles are seeking… such as food, shelter, peace, happiness, security and
love.
I hope you are desiring to live by the way
of the Lord’s kingdom even more since beginning to read this letter. We
should often stir ourselves up by way of reminder that we are not of this
world (the world’s system) but we are children of light and that we have
been born from above, praise God! I will leave you with a few more thoughts
that are Biblical that will help you see how different both kingdoms are, and
that a daily concerted effort and a continual renewing of our minds with the
Word of God is vital to bringing ourselves into constant awareness of the One
we love and of Who’s kingdom we belong. It’s time to arise and shine in
the midst of a dark world of increasing hopelessness and bring the light of
Jesus onto the scene.
Here are some of the ways of the kingdom
of God, which are quite opposing to things we may be used to in this world,
but is normal life in the kingdom of love and light…
·
The way up is down
·
Before honour is humility
·
The greatest shall be the least
·
The first shall be last
·
The humble will be exalted, the self promoting (the
proud) will be brought low
·
Give and it will be given (the world says hold on to what you
have)
·
Enter as a child (or you can’t enter at all)
·
Be a God pleaser (not always popular and pleasing to man)
·
Selfless (not selfish like the world)
·
A giver (not a taker like the world)
·
Serving (not “having to” but we get to serve others, a
pleasure)
The people of this world’s system are
wanting wanting wanting because they are never satisfied. The flesh can never
get enough pleasure and will seek for more and more gratification in some way.
But the people of the Kingdom will be content with what they have on their way
to where the Lord will have them go, because the Greater One lives on the
inside and will be with them forever.
God bless you
David
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God’s Way of Doing
For the Gentiles (heathen) wish for and crave and diligently seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows well that you need them all. But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides
Matthew 6:32-33