The Kingdom of God!

 

Chapter 141

 

 

Jesus said in Luke 17:20-21,

"And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you."

He also said in Acts 1:8,

"You shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and you shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth"

Our churches have taught us that we must witness to people and be a soul winner! It might shock you if I told you that it is impossible for you to save anyone! Jesus said in John 6:44,

 

"No man can come to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day."

 

What, then, did Jesus mean when He said in Acts 1, "You shall be witnesses to me?" Paul gives us the answer to this question in Gal. 5. 22, (NIV)

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness."

If the Spirit of the Lord lives within you, people will be able to see these fruits in you! I have had people ask me, "David there is something different about you!" I told them that I am a Christian and filled with the Spirit of the Lord and you can be like that also.

 

There are still a lot of preachers that preach hells fire and damnation to scare people to get them to come forward and accept Christ. Give me just one scripture where Jesus did this! Matt. 4:23 says,

 

"And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people."

 

Matt. 9:35 says that (NIV)

"Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness."

It says in Acts 4:33-34, (NIV)

"With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God's grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them."

Paul said in 1 Cor. 4:20, (NIV)

"For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power."

What has happened in many of our churches today where there are no signs and wonders following the teaching of the gospel of the Kingdom? I fear that we have fallen into the trap of unbelief. Paul said that faith comes by hearing the word of God. Where is our faith to believe that the Holy Spirit is the same today as He was in the days of the early apostles?

We pray and ask the Lord to do things that He told us to do. How many times do you see someone on facebook asking for prayers for a sick one and people responding that they will pray for those people? How many times have you seen someone respond by declaring them healed in Jesus' name? Jesus said in Matt. 18:19,

"Again, I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them by my Father which is in heaven."

Do you believe what Jesus said in this scripture? If you believe this and act in faith that our Father will do what Jesus said, then you can with confidence begin to praise Him for answering your prayer of agreement!

John said in 1 John 5:14-15,

"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us,whatever we ask,we know that we have what we asked of him."

Jesus told us in Matt. 18:19 what the will of our Father is and John told us that we can have confidence when we go before Him and ask according to His will! Do you believe that?

It takes faith to step out and declare someone healed. It also takes faith to allow the Holy Spirit to speak a word of prophecy or a word of knowledge to someone. You may say, "Well, I am afraid I might miss and say the wrong thing." Listen, the Holy Spirit never misses, and He lives within you.

Learn to humble yourself and step out in faith. Remember when Jesus came walking on water and the apostles saw Him. Peter said, "Lord let me walk out to you." The Lord told him to come on out and Peter stepped out of the boat and walked out to Jesus but when the waves hit him, he began to sink and cried out to the Lord to save him. Jesus rebuked him for his lack of faith. Matt. 14:22-32

Why didn't the other apostles want to walk on the water? They didn't have the faith that Peter had! When Jesus said to Peter, "Come!" Peter activated his faith and got out of the boat and began to walk on the water. However, when the wind and the waves blew on him, he began to doubt and as a result he began to sink. This is the reason so many churches never have any power. Because of unbelief and having been taught that these things passed away when the last apostle died. That is a lie from the devil that has kept the Church from overcoming him and putting him under their feet.

Jesus told His disciples in Acts 1:8,

"But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you!"

Paul said in Eph. 1:16-21, (NIV)

"I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come."

 

Paul said this to the Gentile people of Ephesus. This wasn't just spoken to the Apostles but was spoken to all who believe! We, as the Church, have not even began to express the power that we have in Christ Jesus and in His name! Why is this so? We begin with faith but when hard times come we allow doubt to come in and control our minds.

Paul said in 2 Cor. 10:3-5, (NIV)

"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."

 

Meditate on these scriptures and begin to step out in faith of what the Lord has given to us and be on the alert of doubt which will sneak into your thinking. Take authority over these thoughts of doubt and quote these scriptures to them.