The Kingdom of God
"Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, 'The coming of 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
The late Dr. Myles Munroe, former senior pastor of Bahamas Faith Ministries International, wrote a book called Kingdom Principles: Preparing for Kingdom Experience and Expansion. In the book he describes the difference between religion (do's and don'ts) and the Kingdom of God that Jesus taught in the Bible. He calls the Kingdom of God "the foundation of God's plan for mankind." (p. 81)
Jesus mentions the "kingdom of God" or "kingdom of heaven" about 85 times in the New Testament. In fact, if we read the entirety of Jesus' teaching in the New Testament, we will find He spent nearly all of His time on earth talking about the Kingdom!
Why then is the kingdom so misunderstood? What is the kingdom exactly?
According to Merriam-Webster online dictionary, a kingdom is: "a politically organized community or major territorial unit having a monarchical form of government headed by a king or queen." In this case, the King is our Father God in heaven. From this we can gather that true Christianity has a lot more to do with a perfected and uncorrupted form of heavenly government than it does with religion.
Dr. Monroe goes on to say, "Life in the kingdom is really about returning to the governing authority of God in the earth and learning how to live and function in that authority." (p. 158) Because of Jesus, we are now in the process of gaining back what was lost in the Garden of Eden. (Genesis 3)
Repentance and our acceptance of grace through Jesus Christ unlocks the door for us to enter God's kingdom. But, it doesn't stop there. Jesus teaches about many keys that, when activated, unlock the power of heaven in our own lives.
There is so much we can learn about God's kingdom. Ask the Lord to show you His kingdom and the part He might have you play. He desires that we pray, "Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:10) and that we seek first his kingdom and his righteousness (Matthew 6:33). He promises that "all these things will be added to us" when we do.
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