Following Christ by studying the Bible and putting it into practice and spending lots of time each day praising, thanking, and loving the Lord will lead to supernatural joy, peace, love, and a sense of glory beyond imagination. However, it will not be easy at first. There will be a lot to overcome while keeping yourself disciplined and pressing into a deeper relationship with God and greater blessings too. You will need to continually invite the Lord and his transforming power to come into different areas of your life to transform your mind, soul, and heart from the old kingdom and old “fleshly” habits into his kingdom with godly habits by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Our Purpose in Life
The only reason we exist is to glorify and please God and to advance his kingdom as his ambassadors and his children on earth as it is in heaven (as it says in the Lord’s Prayer). We were not created by God to selfishly fulfill our own purposes and just consume his resources. Now that Jesus ascended back into heaven and gave us his Holy Spirit, we as Christians have been given responsibility and stewardship and authority over the earth to establish his kingdom as representatives of heaven.
We are here to develop our faith and advance his kingdom by bringing all mankind together into unity under Christ.
How God’s Kingdom Works
Everything in God’s kingdom works by the seed-harvest principle. Seeds represent the word of God or an act of faith and the soil represents man’s heart. When you plant a seed of faith or begin trying to apply a biblical principle, the best result you can expect to see at first is nothing. This is the opposite that what is taught by many “faith” pastors asking for donations. When you plant seeds in your garden the same thing happens. Nothing. You can go out day after day and nothing appears to be happening. This is the way a relationship with God usually works when first trying to develop it. Whenever you start praying or praising the Lord (or developing a biblical principle in your life or sewing a tithe or gift into a ministry) the best result you can expect early on is nothing! If the soil in your heart is hard at all, which is true about most of us, then the process is harder. In this case, man could trample your seed or birds (the devil) could come and give your trials. But these are actually proof that you are doing the right things and you are a child of God! Perseverance in faith through trials and believing there will be a harvest is a primary way to develop our faith.
Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. – NIV
We Have Been Given the Keys to the Kingdom
When we become born again, the Lord gives us the keys to his kingdom. This means that we have the authority to loosen or release and walk in every promise that God has given to us according to his will.
Matthew 16:1 “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” – NIV
From Glory to Glory
As you develop in faith and intimacy with God, you will feel more and more consistently like you are existing in God’s glory and going from glory to glory. It’s like being on a different plane of existence above it all with a constant feeling of supernatural elation (i.e. love, peace, and joy, etc.) But, you need to keep your mind in the Kingdom with Kingdom thoughts. You are not in the old fleshly temporal life anymore. You have entered into eternity. Think about 1,000,000 years from now and looking back at your time on earth. Laugh at your momentary trials as though you were now way in the future.
1 Corinthians 2:9 “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” — the things God has prepared for those who love him – NIV
2 Corinthians 3:18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. – NIV
Following God’s Will
When you get direction from God, it will be as though a vision of God’s peace is opening before you. God’ peace does not mean a feeling of earthly comfort. When Jesus was in Gethsemane he obviously did not feel comfortable when thinking of going to the cross to be nailed to it. Yet he had a peace about it and he also felt joy as he looked forward…. For the joy set before him he endured the cross… -Hebrews 12:2, NIV
Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. – NIV
When you get a human vision of doing something you want in your flesh, you won’t get the same supernatural sense of God’s peace. You might feel a human sense of comfort or some other human emotion other than God’s peace. It is very important to learn to discern the direction of God.
Advancing God’s Kingdom
The golden rule, love your neighbor as yourself, is the “point of the arrow” and the “fuel” of Kingdom advancement.
In whatever situation you find yourself, either secular or Christian, you are there to solve problems and to advance the Kingdom. God’s primary goal is to bring everyone into complete unity under Christ. Therefore, peacemaking is something that should always be on your mind as your primary objective. Another word for peacemaking is team building or teamwork or unity, etc.
There are three areas of love that are always involved in advancing the Kingdom. They are building up others, acceptance of others, and humility towards others. Hurt and anger produce the opposite of these. When a person is angry in the “flesh” they feel self-righteous and want to tear down, reject or pull away form another person.
In everything you do even with your enemies there should be an attitude and intention of building up, acceptance, and humility. These three simple attitudes and intentions will invoke the power of the Holy Spirit to go before you in love and advance his kingdom. Obstacles will move out of your way as long as you are also following the leading of the Holy Spirit and staying in his will of peace and love.
Whoever Comes Against You Will Benefit You
Isaiah 54:15,17 whoever attacks you will surrender to you…no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me,” declares the LORD.- NIV
Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. – NIV
Your Enemies Will Fall Before You
When you are operating in the Spirit, anyone who comes against you will be defeated before you.
Psalm 64:8 He will turn their own tongues against them and bring them to ruin; all who see them will shake their heads in scorn.
Exodus 23:22-23 If you listen carefully to what he says and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and will oppose those who oppose you. My angel will go ahead of you and bring you into the land of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites and Jebusites, and I will wipe them out.
Anything and Everything Works for Your Good
If you are walking in the Spirit according to God’s purpose then everything works for your good. However, if you are not sure if you are walking in doubt or you are just doing what you want to do, then this is not necessarily true.
Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Ungodly Discouragement, Fear, Worry, and Anxiety, etc., Are False
The Lord commands in many scriptures: “Do not be discouraged”, Do not be afraid”, “Be anxious for nothing”, “Do not worry”. Therefore it is a sin to do these things. Since everything works for our best, there is no reality in any of these things. They are simply idolatry and we should eliminate them from our lives and thoughts and communication by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit.
Nothing Can Touch Us Unless it Will Glorify God and Raise Us Up
In John 7 Jesus brother’s were mocking him and taunting him to go into a Jewish feast. However, the temple guards were swarming around looking for him to capture him. He went right into the feast, obviously by direction and timing of the Holy Spirit, and stood up right in the middle of it and challenged everyone. Then he left and no one touched him! Imagine doing this crazy sort of thing. Would you walk right into a hostile environment, if the police and other people were swarming around looking to capture you, and then stand up in plain view and loudly start speaking and challenging everyone? Nothing can touch you when you are in God’s will and dwelling in praise and prayer in the secret place of the Most High.
Psalm 91 :1-16, 1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” 3 Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. 4 He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. 5 You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, 6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. 7 A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. 8 You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. 9 If you make the Most High your dwelling– even the LORD, who is my refuge– 10 then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent. 11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; 12 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. 13 You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent. 14 “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. 15 He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. 16 With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation.” – NIV
The basic principle: We are infinite, immortal beings given the keys to heaven to bring God’s kingdom on earth and nothing can touch us that is not going to bless us as long as we are in God’s will and flowing in his living water. And how do we do that? We love and praise him continually and for at least an hour of concentrated time each day. All “bad” things and trials work together for our good in God’s kingdom. Whatever the devil does against you ends up to advance God’s kingdom and advances you too! if you are walking in the Spirit, have forgiven everyone, and are in God’s will. Thus, rejoicing in trials and hardship in reality occurs because you know that whatever bad happens is to your advantage and to advance the Kingdom through you! God glorifies you every time the world or the devil try to tear you down as you glorify the Lord.
Why does God protect us? For one reason: obeying the first command to love the Lord with everything we’ve got!
Psalm 91:14 “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.”
Look at every situation as an opportunity. When anyone comes against you, don’t skip a beat. Expect an opportunity. Expect a miracle. Seek God for wisdom. When we have a bad boss or a bad president or bad governor or anyone else we think is bad, wake up! There is an opportunity ready to happen for those who love God and are called according to his purposes and who do not accept any fear, worry, anxiety, or discouragement.
2 Corinthians 10:5 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. – NIV
Action Plan! Get into prayer and praise and loving the Lord with all the time and energy you can put into it. Seek Holy Spirit transformation in every area of your life. Get together with others and hold each other accountable to doing all these things. Proclaim all of these promises and keep following the scriptures as you watch them slowly come into reality in your life. You will do mighty exploits for God.
We love the proclamation that says: “(Psalm 37:23) The favor of God causes us to be in the right place at the right time.”
This is what we have experienced in our lives. We could give you example after example of kingdom advancement. If we act in faith and God’s love in the flow of the Living Water of the Spirit, according to the scriptures below, the kingdom is always advancing before us and around is. Period. We are placed in any and every situation to do one thing: advance His kingdom for his glory.
Evil only has two choices (Ezekiel 47):
1. Be transformed into good (by the Living Water coming out of us).
2. Get pushed out of the way (into a smelly marsh by the Living Water).
That’s it. The kingdom advances and nothing can stand before it if we do everything right!
Many times failure occurs because we have left out a thing or two. Here are some verses that may be helpful as necessary tactics for God’s blessing/reward that are actually commands from the Lord so we don’t even need to pray about if we should love others by doing the following, but we pray and ask the Lord how to do it in each circumstance.
According to the unity Venn diagram in the WorldRevival.com plan…
God’s love is always expressed in three basic attitudes/actions:
1. Acceptance of others (the way Jesus accepts everyone: repentance, turning to Christ, following Christ).
2. Humility towards others.
3. Building up others (like a sports coach encouraging and correcting).
Luke 6:35 “But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.”
Romans 12:20 On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”
A way to test this is may be: What if someone asked our enemies if we have done good unto them, could it actually be shown that we have done good unto them?
Here’s one of the biggest problems I have found in successfully advancing the Kingdom… We don’t communicate in a biblical way and so we don’t have success. Here are some important verses:
Proverbs 26:5 Answer a fool according to his folly, or he will be wise in his own eyes.
Matthew Henry’s commentary has this interpretation of Prov. 26:5: “We are to fit our remarks to the man, and address them to his conscience, so as may best end the debate.” In other words we turn peoples words and arguments around against them end any argument in love, like Jesus did.
Proverbs 18:7 The mouths of fools are their undoing, and their lips are a snare to their very lives.
So again all we do is communicate like Jesus did. He took the things people said and used their own words against them in love to end an argument….
2 Corinthians 10:5 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.
How do we demolish arguments, etc., using these scriptures?
Example: “Abortion is a woman’s choice.”
Our Prov. 26:5 response to abortion activists: “Are you not stereotyping women as unable to reason and are you not assuming they are just irrational and emotionally-driven if you block them from gaining more knowledge and information about their bodies, etc? How is an ultrasound machine not showing the ultimate respect for the intelligence and enlightenment of women to make rational choices?”
Our Prov. 26:5 response: Hey, let’s make the name of our clinic. How about: Boston Center for Pregnancy Choices!
Example 2: “Gay marriage is about celebrating diversity.”
Our Prov. 26:5 response: Isn’t male and female diversity of the sexes? Thus, one man one woman is the ultimate celebration of diversity! How are two men an example of diversity?
There is No Resistance to the Kingdom of God
Luke 21:15 For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.
Apparently, the expectation of correct words gained through biblical principles, like Prov. 26:5, etc., by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, will remove any resistance! Thus, in reality there is NO resistance out there to the Kingdom advancing. Maybe the Church has failed so miserably to advance the kingdom simply because we do not Hear, Listen, and Obey.
No resistance means that the Kingdom advances!
Psalm 64:8 He will turn their own tongues against them and bring them to ruin; all who see them will shake their heads in scorn.
Action! Let’s go out and believe these things and practice this kind of communication.
