Having the right understanding about the Kingdom of God will transform every area of your life. When Jesus started His public ministry, the only theme He preached about was on the Kingdom of God. When His disciples continued His ministry that was the same theme they were preaching and teaching about.
It is not natural for us to have Kingdom mindset. In Democracy, the people have power. The people are the ones who put their elected leader in place/ position of power. The people are the ones who determine the rules and regulations and the elected leader will implement the rules. Rules can be changed according to the will of the people. The power lies with the people, so much so if they are not satisfied with the leader anymore they have the right to impeach them.
It is not so with the Kingdom of God. A kingdom is governed by a king. It is a theocracy system. The definition of Kingdom is a King who has authority over a dominion. One king has the absolute power over all the territory in the kingdom. When the wrong person is In power, the people will suffer. You have what we call a dictator, just like Hitler. However, when the righteous and the right King is in power, there’s peace, joy, and prosperity for the people in the Kingdom.
In His Kingdom, He owns everything, including the subject of the Kingdom.
That’s why in John 15:16, Jesus said, “you did not choose Me, but I chose you and I appointed you to go and bear fruit and that your fruit should remain.”
There are 3 important lessons I would like to share regarding the Kingdom of God.
When you understand these 3 lessons, it will liberate you, it will transform your life completely beyond your wildest imagination. When you understand these 3 points, your life will be filled with passion, power and purpose. He wants you to understand about them. That is why He talked and taught so much about the matter of the Kingdom.
- The Kingdom of God is not about Rules and regulations but it is about relationship.
The Kingdom of God is all about a true relationship with God and with others. It is not so much about observing a set of rules and regulations.
In Exo 19:10-11, the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments and be ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.
But in Exo 20:18-21, the people’s response was heart breaking.
“Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.”
Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.
For the Israelites, as long as they get to enjoy the blessings and the miracles, they couldn’t care less about God who gave them the miracles.
Exo 33:1-3
The Lord said to Moses, “Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob… I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”
But we can see the difference between religion and relationship here. People of Israel had religion. Moses had a relationship with the Master.
Exo 33:15-17
And he said to him, “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?”
And the Lord said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.”
Moses knew God. Like what Abraham once said, “God is his exceedingly great reward”.
Has our heart been drawn toward the modern day idols of this world?
In your time of sadness/difficulty/ anxiety/ happiness/ loneliness/ boredom, who or what do you turn to?
Online shopping? Comfort food? Celebrity, even Celebrity pastors? Entertainment? Gadgets? Friends? Family? Work? Financial Success? Achievements?
Any of these things can become a modern day idol in our life. We don’t have to physically bow down to them… if in our heart, we are drawn toward them again and again, we want to have more them, want to become more of them. That is the definition of an idol. Our heart is an idol factory. Be careful what you’ve turned into an idol in your life.
In 1 John 2:15-17, Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
Brothers and sisters, do you have a personal relationship with Him? It’s not about going through some rituals or conformity to a set of rules. I had been a Christian for as long as I could remember, since the age of 12. However, for the majority of it, I was just a cultural Christian. I was going through all the religious activities but He was a God that is distant from me. I didn’t have a personal relationship with Him. When I started my business here in Malaysia, it was doing so well that without me realizing it, my business and career had become an idol to me. I was chasing after the rat race to become richer and richer. My heart had grown cold toward the things of God.
God taught me through allowing certain business failures that reminded me how easy for all these hard-earned money to be taken away just like that. Your career / money / success are not very good centres in your life, they can be taken away just like that. And when that happens, what will be left of you?
Today God wants to have a relationship with you. In the Kingdom, He is the master, He is your Lord. He is the centre of your life. Your life should be centred upon Him and His kingdom.
- Kingdom of God is not about Behavior Modification, but it is about Heart Transformation.
In Luke 18, we read an interesting parable that Jesus told about the difference between the two.
The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18)
9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
The Pharisee was concerned about how others look at them and that they have the appearance of being righteous and hence they looked down on everyone else. He was comparing himself to everyone else who did evil and all the worst sinners, thinking that by doing that, God will be impressed and justified his good behaviours.
But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’
And the Lord ended the parable by saying the tax collector went home being justified by God, not the self-righteous Pharisee.
One approached God through religion, the other one through repentance. One is concerned about how others view or look at him, while the other, the tax collector was only concerned about what God think about him.
Have you had an encounter with Jesus? One encounter with Him will completely change your life from the inside out.
Religion says do this and do that, don’t do this and don’t do that…. It is burdensome and tiring to follow all the rules. However, true transformation will produce fruits of good works that come out from the heart.
Zacchaeus was a transformed person after He had an encounter with Jesus. He gave up half of his wealth and promised to give back 4x as much as the amount he had cheated others. This was true repentance. It is always followed by an act of faith. He gave out of joy instead of sorrow.
The Samaritan woman in John 4 had a heart transformation after her encounter with Jesus. Sharing the Gospel was not a chore or a burden for her. Because she has had an encounter with the Messiah. She didn’t do it out of a sense of obligation. It wasn’t a must or have to. They want to do it. It came out a an overflow of joy of the grace they have received. You simply cannot give what you do not receive first.
Have you had this encounter with the Lord?
Last October, a friend of mine who grew up in a family of missionaries came to us and asked us if it’s possible for us to have her for a couple of days. In the end, it turned out to be a two-month stay. When she first stayed with us, she was very much involved with New Age thinking, meditation…. She was dealing with depression, suicidal thoughts and bitterness in her heart. This was despite of her missionary upbringing.
You might be asking, how could this be possible. Well, knowing about God is very different from knowing God Himself. She had memorized scriptures but didn’t really read the Word for herself. It was always what she was told by the leaders. Because of a certain hypocrisy she witnessed in the organization, she grew bitter toward them and the Word of God.
In the 2 months while she was staying with us, we had bible study with her, hours and hours of discussion and ministering to her and praying for her…. That was when the breakthrough started to happen. She started to read the Word for herself, and to pray to God…. She realized she had been deceived by the new age teachings and she came back to the faith. Now she loves her quiet time with the Lord and told us that her daily devotional was a very precious time to her. She became a completely different person now.
And She is now even reaching out to others who were just as lost as she was in the past.
True Christianity is about heart transformation, not about behaviour modification. Have you experienced this encounter with Jesus? If not, you need to have an encounter with Him today…
First of all, you’ll need to come before Him with a repentant Heart.
When you’ve experienced that encounter, you’ll never be the same again. Your changes will happen inside out. Religion is like taping fruits to a barren tree. It may look good for a while but not for long. True transformation will only happen when you’re connected to the vine. We’re the branches, He’s the vine. Only when we’re rooted in Him will we start to bear fruit for Him.
- Kingdom of God is not about Outward Appearance but of Power and Love
When you read the New Testament, you’ll see one common recurring theme. The one group of people who couldn’t get along with Jesus and who continually had problems with Jesus time and time again was the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. They were so blinded to the point that they even rebuked Jesus for healing the sick on Sabbath day. They continually challenged Jesus’ authority to carry out miracles of healing and deliverance. They even accused Jesus of operating under the power of Satan out of their jealousy!
The same theme continued on when the disciples of Jesus, such as Peter and John and Paul were carrying out miracles of healing and preaching the Gospel after Jesus’ resurrection.
In Acts 4, it was recorded that the priests, captain of the Temple guard and some of the Sadducees were very disturbed that Peter and John were teaching the people that through Jesus there is a resurrection of the dead. They arrested them and put them in jail. In subsequent chapters, we even read that they were beaten up and tortured because of the message they were preaching.
They were boiling with rage, jealousy and anger when they learned that the number of men who believed now totalled about 5000 people! Such blindness when a crippled man who had been lame for 40 years had just been set free and totally healed. Instead of rejoicing, they were mad.
Here’s another point worth-noting…. In Acts 4:13, it was said that The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, for they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the Scriptures. They also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus.
Can the same be said about us? That we are just ordinary men with no special training but they recognize that we have been with Jesus?
When you study the book of Acts, you will see that the early church operates in this supernatural love and power of God. They influence and impact the lives of many…. And God added daily unto them the numbers of those who were being saved. In 1 Cor 4:20, it is written that the Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. God can use ordinary people in extraordinary way.
The 2 things that will convince the world of our message are these: power and love!
Don’t try to impress people with your outward appearance, that you have it all together. We often have the notion that as long as we can show that we Have it all….finding success in your career, raising a child, maintaining solid relationships, and still finding time to take care of yourself and look and feel your best—a lot to balance even with all of the modern-day technologies designed to help us multitask our way through life. Then we have been a role model believer.
Don’t try to impress people, try to impact people with the real supernatural power and love of the Kingdom.
You may be able to impress people from afar…. Having appearance of godliness and success. However, real transformation only happen when you impact people from up close.
Brothers and sisters, the Bible says in 1 John 2:17 that the world is passing away, along with its desires, but whosoever does the will of God remains forever.
When you understand about the Kingdom, your heart will be gripped by its transformational power. You’ll not do business or life like usual anymore.
The Kingdom of God will become your obsession and your top life priority. You’ll be urgently pressing on to be a witness of the cross and the resurrection power available through Christ.
The anointing/ power and the Great Commission go together. It is a conditional promise that goes with obedience. Don’t argue, SHINE! You cannot conquer darkness by arguing with it. Just switch the light on. The gospel of Christ is the power of God for those who believe… Romans 1:16.
God wants to use you to be His light-bearer wherever you go.
Before the pandemic, I had been going to India several times for mission trips. I’ve experienced the power of God’s kingdom moving powerfully there in the midst of the darkness in the land. Many people saw vision, miracles of healing, creative miracles, even out of body experience, baptism of the Holy Spirit and salvation. These signs and wonders confirm he message of the gospel we brought to them. He has come to break the power of darkness and to free people from the bondages of sin, oppression and depression. It is His will to heal the sick and to set free those oppressed by demons. These two things will convince the world that our message is the truth. People are looking for the real thing. They’re not seeking religion. Unfortunately, the modern day churches have relied more and more on worldly and contemporary methods to draw crowd instead of relying on the power of the Holy Spirit.
Instead of relying on a few professional and gifted ministers to do all the work, the same Holy Spirit that performed signs and wonders through the apostles and the early church believers is still operating in and through us today! The same power that resurrected Jesus from the dead lives in us today.
Have you found yourself drifting away from the Lord and more and more drawn by the world and what it has to offer? Let us come before Him and cast all our idols before Him at the foot of the cross. He wants to have a personal relationship with you.
He wants to transform your heart. Have you had a personal encounter with Him? When you repent from you way of life and turn to Him, He will totally change the direction of your life. When the Kingdom invades your life, your life will never be the same again.
You will want to serve Him and shine for Him! He wants to use you as a vessel for the Kingdom. You are His light bearer in this dark world. He wants to give you His Holy Spirit to equip you for the work He has asked you to do. You are like a stone that He will drop into the ocean of humanity so that the ripple effect it creates will reverberate into eternity.