Monday
Where Is The Kingdom?
Read Luke 17:20-21; Revelation 11:2-4
Where is God’s Kingdom? Do you know? Is it up, up and away into the wild blue yonder? Oh, I know where it is; it’s high above the world so high like a diamond in the sky. No, that’s not it. Hey, I’ve got it! It’s to infinity and beyond!! This how I believe a lot of people see it. They see the kingdom as a far off place.
Some Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom would come (Luke 17:20). You can’t see it, replied Jesus. But Jesus also said, "The kingdom of God is within [NIV footnote: among] you" (verse 21). Jesus was the King, and because he was teaching and performing miracles among them, the kingdom was among the Pharisees. Jesus Christ is in us today, too, and just as the kingdom was present in the ministry of Jesus, it is present in the ministry of his church. The King is among us; his spiritual power is in us, even though the kingdom is not yet operating in its full power.
We have already been brought into God’s kingdom (Colossians 1:13). We are already receiving a kingdom, and our proper response is reverence and awe (Hebrews 12:28). Christ "has made us [past tense] to be a kingdom" (Revelation 1:6). We are a holy nation (1 Peter 2:9)—already and currently a holy kingdom—but it does not yet appear what we shall be. God has rescued us from the dominion of sin and transferred us into his kingdom, under his ruling authority.
The kingdom of God is here, Jesus said. His audience did not need to wait for a conquering Messiah—God is already ruling, and we should be living his way now. We don’t yet possess a territory, but we do come under the reign of God.
Tuesday
Have You Entered The Kingdom?
Read John 3:3, 5
Entrance: The word simply means coming into full possession or enjoyment. Just think of the blessings of the Kingdom. The Kingdom is a place of abundance, wealth, health, peace and joy. God’s manifested presence with us without ceasing; God’s blessed rule and dominion over us established, so that His heavenly will is done in us and by us; God’s mighty power descending upon us, so that through us Christ can do His word of saving souls. Into a life in which these blessings are your daily experience, you can enter even now. That life has been prepared for you, and is promised; it is waiting for you. You can enter even now by faith. As an army conquers and enters a city, so many a one struggles and fights and seeks to take the Kingdom by violence. And he fails. We can only enter by faith. As Joshua brought Israel into the land of promise, and Jericho fell without a blow being struck, our Lord Jesus waits to bring us into the good land. It was He who from heaven gave the disciples their abundant entrance into the Kingdom; it is He who still by His Holy Spirit will lead each one of us in. We cannot begin to come into possession until we understand what God was saying in John 3:3, 5. We must believe and accept Jesus for who He is and we must be born again. The church has been focused on getting people born-again so they can see the Kingdom but have not taught them how to enter the Kingdom that has been prepared for them. (John 3:3 Born- 5 enter) the entrance has been prepared. Have you entered in?
Wednesday
Revelation Light
Read Matthew 16:17-19; 1 Corinthians 2:10-13; Hosea 4:6
Revelation light comes from God’s Spirit. God has given us His spirit to reveal to us the truths of heaven. In Matthew 16: Jesus says, “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
A key is a tool that empowers us to open and shut doors, or bind and loose chains. The kingdom of heaven is God’s royal power, His dominion, the right and authority to rule. Jesus gave us the tools to exercise His right and authority to rule on earth, as it is exer¬cised in heaven. What are we to rule? We’re to rule over the circum¬stances of our lives. And how are we to rule? We’re to use the keys Jesus gave us. We’re too loose what should be loosed in our lives and bind what doesn’t belong.
We can identify what is to be bound and what is to be loosed by looking to heaven as our example. Re¬member, we are to have things on earth as it is in heav¬en—the same structure and system on earth that exists in heaven. Heaven is a place where the walls are made out of jasper, the gates are made out of pearl, and the streets are made out of gold. It’s a place where only good exists. There is no sickness, no sorrow, no fear, and no lack in heaven.
Thursday
Declare The Kingdom
Read Luke 4:18-19; Matthew 10:26-27
We have heard time and time again that what you say with your mouth is very powerful. For much too long a time we have said things with our mouth that should never have been said. Christians need to be aware of their thoughts and what their mouth is saying. A few days ago I saw documentary on the Czars of Russia and one of the czars was known as Ivan the Terrible, the thing about Ivan was that even before he was born he was cursed by the church, all of his childhood he was cursed and told how horrible he was. When we were in Russia this year we got to hear firsthand about the atrocities that Ivan committed…….he truly lived up to the words that were spoken over him.
Our words should be words of encouragement radiating love and compassion, just as Jesus’ words. We should declare what the word says about us and about others. Declare the things Jesus said and You will be declaring the Kingdom. Be conscious of the words you are speaking. Talk and think positively. If negative words brought forth one such as Ivan, imagine what the right, positive words of God will bring forth.
Friday
God Is A Giver
Read Genesis 49:19-20
God is good and He is a giver of good things. People have been taught wrong things about God. Instead of learning about a God who wants only good things for His children, they have been taught about an angry God who takes things away from His children. He is not an angry God. He is love, laughter, fun and giving. If there was something you really wanted but didn’t get, talk to God about it. He understands and he will have something even better for you. If you lost something and couldn’t find it, pray about it. God hears and has something better for you. His thoughts and ways are better than ours. He knows what is best for us. Be thankful for all He has given you.
Father God is very rich. Everything belongs to Him but He doesn’t want to just give us things for our pleasure. His best gifts are the ones that draw us to Him Some of His gifts are healing, salvation, deliverance, wisdom, wealth and many more. His greatest gifts were Jesus and the Holy Spirit. His very best gifts are eternal things. By Barbara Goddard
The Weekender
Living In The Kingdom
Read Mark 4:30-32; Matthew 6:33
God wants us to know there is a way of living that we should enjoy as citizens of heaven. Matthew 6:33 in¬structs us to seek out, learn, understand, and take time to know the kingdom of God. We are to seek out God’s kingdom and His righteousness above anything else. This means seeking out His ways of doing, being, and operating.
How does God’s kingdom work? Jesus describes this for us in Matthew, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. God desires you and me to experience His will here on earth, exactly as it is done in heaven. Whatever is God’s will in heaven, it is supposed to work that way on earth too.
That means it’s vital for us to know how God operates, and for us to operate as He does. Again in Matthew, Jesus makes it clear that the things we need and desire to live well on earth will be added to us when we oper¬ate according to God’s kingdom principles. We are to adopt God’s way of being and doing. Then the things we all seek—homes, debts paid, good jobs, cars, peaceful relationships with family and friends, and every other good thing in life—will be added to us.
Jesus taught us how to live in the Kingdom here on earth while He was here with us. He came declaring the Kingdom, preaching and teaching the Kingdom and he demonstrated the Kingdom through the miracles he preformed while He was here. He said that we were to do the same thing. He sent the helper here to enable us to do all things.
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