Jesus' mission was to come to cleanse us from sin by paying the price for that cleansing. However, His purpose went beyond that. He cleansed us from sin so that we would qualify to live in the Kingdom of God. That is what he preached.
Matthew 4:17
“17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.””
The Apostle Paul preached the Kingdom of God to the people in Rome.
Acts 28:23-28:
“23 So when they had appointed him a day, many came to him at his lodging [in Rome] , to whom he explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets, from morning till evening.
24 And some were persuaded by the things which were spoken, and some disbelieved.
Notice in verses 25-27 below, Paul quotes God in Isaiah chapter 6 wherein He speaks to Isaiah that only the desperate and the honest will see the Lord and His Kingdom.
25 So when they did not agree among themselves, they departed after Paul had said one word: “The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers,
26 “saying, ‘Go to this people and say: “Hearing you will hear, and shall not understand; And seeing you will see, and not perceive;
27 For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.”’
28 “Therefore let it be known to you that the salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will hear it!””
God has made it clear in many Scriptures that the Kingdom of God is reserved for a certain type of people.
In Isaiah chapter 6 God told Isaiah that the people would not hear and see God until they became desperate. Then in Mark 4:11 Jesus quoted Isaiah 6:11-12.
Mark 4:11-13 (Amplified Bible):
11 "And He said to them, 'To you has been entrusted the mystery of the kingdom of God [that is, the secret counsels of God which are hidden from the ungodly]; but for those outside of our circle] everything becomes a parable,
12 In order that they may [indeed] look and look but not see and perceive, and may hear and hear but not grasp and comprehend, lest haply they should turn again, and it [their willful rejection of the truth] should be forgiven them.
13 And He said to them, 'Do you not discern and understand this parable? How then is it possible for you to discern and understand all the parables?'"
Are you ready?
Are you ready to turn from the emptiness of this world's system? Are you ready to say no to the new world order, the antichrist spirit? Are you prepared to even be persecuted for the sake of determining to live your life in God's Kingdom? Then cast your entire life, your entire well-being on the Lord, through the Word and the Holy Spirit. This must be your desire: God's will and His will only in your life, faith in His Word, living a life of love, forgiveness and godly sanctified character. Make an altar in your life right here and now, make that irrevocable commitment, whatever it takes and wherever it leads. You will never regret it!
Are you ready to endure affliction?
I certainly do not make a doctrine of this, as so much of what God does and how He does it remains a mystery. However often we must endure affliction to become very fruitful. I will cover this in more detail in a later chapter.
Acts 14:22:
“22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.””
Genesis 41:52:
“52 And the name of the second he called Ephraim: “For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.””
Ephraim means, double affliction [ash heap], double fruit.
Isaiah 54:11-13:
“11 “O you afflicted one, Tossed with tempest, and not comforted, Behold, I will lay your stones with colorful gems, And lay your foundations with sapphires.
12 I will make your pinnacles of rubies, Your gates of crystal, And all your walls of precious stones.
13 All your [spiritual] children shall be taught by the LORD, And great shall be the peace of your children.”
You must be able to hear God speak.
The first requirement for living within the Kingdom of God while on this earth is to hear God speak to you. That is because the Kingdom of God is based upon bearing fruit according to the Parable of the Sower in Mark chapter 4. As Jesus said in that parable, you can only bear fruit if the Word of God is sown as a seed in your heart. That seed can only be sown as a result of your hearing God speak.
It may seem strange for some that God would speak directly to a mere human being. However, that thinking comes from a lack of knowledge of God's heart. Originally, God's man Adam heard from God very clearly. He was to approach the Tree of Life (the Word of God) daily in order to have fellowship with God almighty. This was God's original plan for humans.
After Adam and Eve decided that they did not need to hear God speak for every one of their needs, but rather trusted in their own soul power (The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil), they lost that close intimacy of hearing God daily. They ceased living in God's Kingdom and began to create the kingdom of this world through their children. Adam and Eve's children originated murder, and things degenerated from there.
Gut level honesty and truth is an absolute requirement for hearing God speak.
We covered this in the previous chapter, but I cannot emphasize it enough. Refer back to Mark 4:11-13 above and it is clear that God hides Himself and His divine revelation from those who are not totally honest and do love the truth. This is requirement number one, and it is absolute!
You cannot be totally transparent with everyone, but you can and need to be totally transparent and "naked" with God. You must honestly come before Him with the good, the bad and the ugly that you sense inside of you. When you do so, He is quick to remove, or forgive those things that qualify as sin. You are immediately cleansed and qualified to be in His presence and to hear Him speak to you.
Notice, the first requirement is to make sure that you do not willfully reject the truth! In previous chapters we spoke about people being deceived by the leaders of the new world order. Another label for these people, or person, is the antichrist spirit, or the Antichrist. If you willfully reject the truth, there is a guarantee that you will be deceived the antichrist spirit.
Desperation is the another primary qualification entering into the Kingdom of God.
Recall in the previous chapter that Isaiah really did not receive a clear view of the Lord and the Kingdom of God until he became desperate. Another one of my favorite stories about desperation and the Kingdom of God is in Matthew chapter 19 which describes the Rich Young Ruler and his lack of desperation. Then in Matthew chapter 20 Jesus is recorded as speaking to His disciples about just who will receive the Kingdom of God and when,
Are you desperate enough?
Why then do so many complicate Christianity? Why do so few walk the way of the Kingdom and so many miss the mystery? Why is it sometimes so difficult to convince Christians to do whatever is needed to see Jesus, to take up their cross, to hear the Word, and trust that it will do God's work for their lives and for God's Kingdom?
Jesus gives us a very simple answer. I have seen people all over the world get a hold of this and I have seen people totally miss it. I pray that all who read this will catch it.
In Matthew 19 the Rich Young Ruler confronts Jesus. Jesus knew that he had much to trust in; riches, fame, position, religion, etc. He advised him to give it away if he really wanted life. The man would not give up what he had worked for and earned for what he could inherit. Think about that! The man refused what Jesus asked of him and Jesus was grieved because He loved him.
Then the disciples got anxious about how could anybody enter the Kingdom. Jesus told them a parable to answer their concerns. Matthew chapter 20 contains a parable about a man who owned a vineyard and went to the market place to hire workers for the harvest. 1
He hired the first man for one denarius a day. This was for a full day's work. I submit that he hired the strongest and most able of the five men. This was Man #5
At the third hour he returned to hire more help and asked Man #4 to work a partial day and he would pay him fairly.
At the sixth hour he did likewise. Man # 3.
At the ninth hour he did likewise. Man # 2.
At the eleventh hour he returned again. Man # 1.
He asked Man # 1 why he was still there. The man answered, "Because no one would hire us." He went out and worked for one hour.
First, these men were not lazy or they would not have been sitting in the employment agency all day. Most likely this one-hour man was the least able of all. Perhaps he had a physical or mental handicap. I submit that he was the weakest of all. Remember, this parable is about the Kingdom of God and how and when people receive it.
When pay time came, the master called the one-hour man first, Man # 1. He called the all day man, Man # 5, last, saying, "So the last will be first and the first last. For many are called but few chosen."
The one-hour man received the Kingdom of God in the here and now and brought the Kingdom to earth, as in the Lord's Prayer. Perhaps Man #5 went to Heaven when he died and received the Kingdom at that time. But the one who had nothing else to trust in received it now.
What was the manifestation of receiving it now? If you are a one-hour man, you will trust only in hearing the Word of God while fellowshipping with Jesus to supply everything you need for life and godliness – see 2 Peter 1:2-11. While we ministered this in a Spanish speaking country the group of leaders really got it. They came up with a theme and carried signs reading, "El Hombre una sola hora." The one-hour man! "We are one-hour people," they shouted. Are you desperate enough to call yourself a "one hour person" and shout halleluiah?
Many people in this world are desperate, but not all desperate people are broken.
I submit that the one-hour man was both desperate and broken. Broken means that one has come to the place that he/she knows that there is no help available from any human being or agency, not even from one's own abilities.
Notice that the one-hour man remained in the employment agency. He was not out begging, or trying to manipulate people to support him. Applying this to your Christian walk, it means that unless your Lord does something, you are done for, you are lost!
The one-hour man "waited" on the Lord.
Isaiah 40:28-31:
“28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.
29 He gives power to the weak, And to those who have no might He increases strength.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, And the young men shall utterly fall,
31 But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.”
Here in the above Scripture is a great and precious promise to those who wait, in a godly sense, on the Lord Jesus to deliver them from the helplessness. The word wait does indeed include the meaning to hopefully expect, but it also has in its root the idea to purify while waiting. I also like to define it as an active waiting not so much as a passive state. When a server in a restaurant is "waiting on you," he/she is bringing you what you have ordered what you desire. That is another way to wait on the Lord.
Wings as eagles.
The word renew in verse 31 above means to replace, not to make better. I can personally testify that as we wait on the Lord in our desperate state, that He indeed gives us eagle wings. Eagles peer into an oncoming storm and rather than run from it, they lock their wings with an amazing built in lock that God has given them. Their body and their wings become like an airplane. Then they wait on the storm. The leading edge of the storm winds hit them and lifts them up higher and higher, without any effort on their own. They go way above the storm and actually look down on it as they playfully glide without effort. I have been in that position many times since 1979, and can testify that it is real!
Humility is required to enter the Kingdom of God. Children, very young children, who are dependent upon their parents have not yet fully developed the attribute of pride.
Mark 10:15:
“15 “Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.””
James 4:6, 7:
“6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.”
7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”
Choosing the Kingdom of God over Mammon is another requirement for operating in the Kingdom of God.
Children have not yet developed the attribute of independence. Independence requires a person to rely on Mammon. Mammon simply means having confidence in earthly treasures, or in other words, increase of any kind that is not through the fruit bearing process in the Kingdom of God. For instance, when one uses their own energy and intellect in order to earn enough money to become independent, without having an intimate relationship with God, that is Mammon. This does not infer that we are not to use our talents and work hard. The Bible says if we don't work we shouldn't eat. What I mean is that God has given us the provision of bearing fruit for our earthly provisions. He does use our natural talents and hard work, however those talents and hard work are not what produces results. For example, the lad in John chapter 6 who showed up with two fish and five loafs of bread was indeed out working. However, the thousands who were fed were not fed simply because of his hard work. That is impossible. The thousands were fed because of the increase manifested by Jesus.
When I got saved in 1979 I had reached the end of trying to make my financial life work. I had some mild successes, even some very good ones, but they were not lasting nor were they satisfying. Thank God for that! I then involuntarily became "a child" no longer able to make Mammon work for me. When that happened, I learned about God's provision of fruit for my daily needs. Indeed, ever since I have died daily to my own abilities to support myself financially. I have continually died daily to my abilities to make ministry work. International School of The Bible (ISOB) is a work of God, not of mine. I was the lad in John chapter 6 who gave the little that was in my basket to Jesus, and am still watching Him do miracles! In John chapter 6, Jesus fed the entire community with this lad's bread and fish. Remember Old Testament Joseph. Through his afflictions he not only fed the community, as did the lad, but all the nations of the world were fed through Joseph's afflictions and obedience.
Matthew 6:19-25,33:
“19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal;
20 “but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
21 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.
23 “But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing?”
“33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
Another ingredient for hearing God speak is to develop your relationship skills with Him.
In any human relationship the parties must strive to understand one another and develop a relationship. Many people talk to others but are not heard. Many people think they are listening, but they really do not hear. This is especially true with the Lord because we do not communicate with Him in the same way we do with other humans because our physical senses are not the main things that are involved. Plus, He is God not man, and we need to respect His holiness.
Breakdowns occur in marriages often because the parties do not take time to develop relationship skills. Men relate different than women, and male and female languages are very different. The parties must strive to listen, be sensitive, and be caring enough to put the other person first. Self-centerness cuts off accurate communication. If you put the other person in first place, then the relationship can develop and the parties can hear one another.
Following is a list of relationship skills that have been effective in my life, my wife's life, and the lives of many others. In addition, you may refer to our online lesson The Flowing River. See the web link below.1
1. Make a firm decision to pursue the relationship. Offer yourself completely to God. Meditate on Romans 12:1-2. This is our blood covenant response to a mighty blood covenant offered to us by God.
2. Take time to listen: You must take in His Word. Words are blood covenant containers. The Word of God is Jesus Himself; it is not a book of promises to pick and choose from. The Word of God should be pursued as a regular and daily relationship skill and should be looked at as listening to your Lord, Jesus Himself. Ask Him to speak. The Word is supernatural and it produces faith in the same way natural food produces energy. Jesus said that He is the true manna that gives eternal life. Write down what you feel He is speaking.
3. Take time to speak: Your words. Two-way journaling and being gut level honest is an important way to increase your relationship with God. Write down exactly how you feel. Honesty with your blood covenant partner Jesus will cause your sin to go on Him. You cannot and will not overcome any issue in life without this gut level honesty. We suggest two-way journaling. This is a great way to allow the "flow" of the Holy Spirit to speak to you personal and intimate things. First, get in a quiet place, set your mind on Jesus, and begin to worship Him. You write down what you want to tell or ask Jesus. Then write down what you hear in your spirit. At first, there may be some mistakes, but through faith and practice, He will be real to you.
Ways to discern whose voice you are hearing.
God's voice: Affirms, corrects, direction (truth).
Self's voice, or our flesh: justifies, rationalizes, denies and projects or blames others.
The Body of Christ: Fellow believers, pastors counselors. Be careful to not depend solely on this.
Quiet time: Holy Spirit's voice. (Psalm 139:23-24, I John 1:9).
Accountability Partner: Often it is wise to have a trusted friend who will be bold enough to hold you accountable for issues in your life.
4. Take time to speak: His Words. The antagonist, Satan and his assigned demons, constantly are on task to come against your effort to relate to Jesus and to overcome. Only you can resist them. Jesus gave you the authority and responsibility to speak His Word against them. God told Joshua in Joshua 1:8, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”
One idea for doing this is:
Read Psalms and Proverbs by the day. You should read ALOUD five Psalms every morning. Use the system of the calendar, i.e., on the 3rd of the month read Psalms 3, 33, 63, 93 and 123. Also read Proverb 3. In this system the student will read all Psalms and Proverbs every month. Using this system renews the mind, speaks the Word to Satan, and allows the suffering student to relate his/her emotions to the Psalmist's. Provisions can be made for months with 31 days, and for Psalm 119.
Also be sensitive to the Holy Spirit Who will give you a Word of warfare for a particular situation.
5. Meditation. Meditation on the Word is very important and extremely valuable. I quoted Joshua 1:8 above which tells us to meditate day and night. Psalms 1:2-3 says, “But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.”
Meditation on the Word displaces and replaces your carnal thinking which is a major feat. It also allows the Word to get down deep into your heart. The word meditate is related to a cow chewing her cud. She chews it, swallows it, regurgitates it, and then starts the process over again, and again, and again. This will allow the Word to go deeply into your heart, and will give the Holy Spirit an opportunity to speak something personal to you from the Word.
6. Fasting. Fasting is an important discipline. There are many types of fasts, and I will not cover that subject here. The main advantage of fasting is that it denies the strongest desire of the flesh, to eat. In doing so one is able to hear the Holy Spirit better. Remember, the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh, Galatians 5:17. I have read that when a person is hungry, even his/her natural hearing is better.
7. Obey God. We also covered this in the previous chapter, but it cannot be overemphasized. Ask God to give you something simple, something small every day that you may obey. It may be just encouraging another, it may be not driving down the same street that fed your addiction; it may be confessing your sin to Him. It may be taking a thought captive, or forgiving someone, or perhaps giving a financial gift.
This is a big thing! John 14:21-23 says that when we obey His Word that He will reveal more and more of Himself to us. Once you have "seen" Jesus, relationship with Him will no longer be a discipline, but it will be a passionate pursuit.
John 14:21-26 Amplified Bible:
21 The person who has My commands and keeps them is the one who [really] loves Me; and whoever [really] loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I [too] will love him and will show (reveal, manifest) Myself to him. [I will let Myself be clearly seen by him and make Myself real to him.]
22 Judas, not Iscariot, asked Him, Lord, how is it that You will reveal Yourself [make Yourself real] to us and not to the world?
23 Jesus answered, If a person [really] loves Me, he will keep My word [obey My teaching]; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home (abode, special dwelling place) with him.
24 Anyone who does not [really] love Me does not observe and obey My teaching. And the teaching which you hear and heed is not Mine, but [comes] from the Father Who sent Me.
25 I have told you these things while I am still with you.
26 But the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf], He will teach you all things. And He will cause you to recall (will remind you of, bring to your remembrance) everything I have told you.
As you continually go through the process I described above, God will heal your inner wounds, dissolve your strongholds and "stinking thinking," and conform your character to the character of Jesus. The more you become like Jesus, the more you are blessed and are a blessing to others. Make that your life's ambition!
God never asks for our ability.
The following is quoted from Watchman Nee.
God asks for our inability; He asks only for our inability. He does not require power from us, but looks for our weakness. His demand of us is not to be full, but empty. Furthermore, He does not accept our resistance, but instead waists for our submission.
1 Corinthians 1:27-29 says,
“27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;
28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,
29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.”
Fruit bearing is not the result of keeping oneself intact; it is casting oneself helplessly and hopelessly upon God. Unless we hate our soul life, with its natural ability, wisdom and virtue, we will not be able to bear much fruit. It is only after we cast aside the natural strength that comes from our flesh and accept the hand of God with a broken heart that we are able to bear fruit.
If we are truly raised with Christ and joined to His resurrection life, we will naturally bear fruit on earth. We cannot have resurrection life without the death of our old natural life. The very purpose of resurrection is to bear fruit. This is the natural result of resurrection.
Numbers 17:8 says,
“8 Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses went into the tabernacle of witness, and behold, the rod of Aaron, of the house of Levi, had sprouted and put forth buds, had produced blossoms and yielded ripe almonds.”
This is the pathway to entering the Kingdom of God.
