KINGDOM OF GOD

By Jemima Rayan

The Kingdom of God is a place when God reigns. The Kingdom of God is an invisible kingdom because God is invisible. The kingdom of God is an eternal kingdom. Jesus said, 'The kingdom of God is within you' (Lk 17:21). The kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost (Rom 14:17). The purpose of our Lord Jesus coming into this world is to see the Kingdom of God built in everyone.

The whole ministry of Jesus was centered on 'The kingdom of God'. Whenever Jesus preached to the gentiles, taught his disciples, He was mentioning about the Kingdom of God. The majority of the parables were about the Kingdom of God. When the disciples asked Jesus 'How to pray'? Jesus taught, Our Father in heaven...Your kingdom come... So we need to dig deep to know more about the Kingdom of God.

Basic perspectives on the Kingdom of God:

Repentance and Transformation:

Repentance is a determination to turn from sin to God. It is a change of mind that leads to a change of destiny. That involves change of attitude. There are three major phases in our lives: Birth, childhood and adulthood. In the same way, there is a parallel in the spiritual realm too.

'He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love' (Col 1:27, 28). Here, we see that we no more belong to Satan's kingdom but we belong to God's kingdom. There is a 180-degree shift in our life. It is from darkness to light.

Birth: We are born into the Kingdom of God the moment we invite Jesus into our lives and accept Him as our Lord and Savior (Acts 3:19) Being born again is renouncing sin and turning from sin toward Christ the Savior.

Growth: We need to obey and yield to the Word of God consistently in order for us to growth in Christ (James 1:21-25) Spiritual growth depends on the spiritual input. That is the word of God. We have to go from milt to meat. For the newborn babes, we give milk. In the same way, the Bible says, 'as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow' (1Per 2:2). But we cannot stop there. We should become 'meat eaters' which means getting stronger in the Lord.

Bearing fruit: Jesus wanted His disciples to go and bear fruit and that their fruit should remain (John 15:16). This verse talks about maturity. Fruits cannot be seen in a tree unless it is mature. In the same way, God wants us to mature in His word. Jesus came to the fig tree looking for fruit. A Christian should focus much on a 'fruit bearing life' than anything else. The World is looking at Christians for morals and values.

Our role in the Kingdom of God:

Some of our roles in the Kingdom of God are to be Citizens, Ambassadors and Soldiers for Christ. Let us see what the Bible talks about each of these roles.

Citizens:

Our citizenship is in Heaven (Phil 3:20). Though we are in this world, we are not of this world. We are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God (Eph 2:19). We are not sojourners in the kingdom of God without the right to citizenship. For a Christian, the ultimate residence is in heaven. This world is a foreign land for us. We are like travelers here. God wants us to know that and live with that thought. We belong to Heaven!

Ambassadors:

An ambassador is a 'representative'. We are ambassadors for Christ (2Cor 5:20). We are sent into this world for a purpose. We represent Christ. We are commissioned by our Lord Jesus to preach the gospel to this dying world that we are living. Paul says, 'I am an ambassador in chains' (Eph 6:20) Paul was called to suffer for Christ and for the sake of the gospel. So, we must strive to be like Christ in every way.

Soldiers:

We are soldiers in Christ's army. Christ is the Commander in Chief. Paul says in 1 Tim 6:12,' Fight the good fight of faith'. Paul says, being a Christian is not always bed of roses. We are constantly fighting against our carnal nature, opposition from the world and Satan. Yet God has given us the 'power to overcome'. The whole passage in Eph 6:10-20 talks about how to do a victorious warfare and how we can stand strong in the power of His might. 'We therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ' (2 Tim 2:3)

We as children of the most high God, have a high calling. Each one of His children has a role to play. God does not have dummies in His Kingdom. We should become 'kingdom builders'. If you have not identified your calling yet, that is no problem. Start with prayer. You begin talking to the Lord and then, the Lord will talk to you. Write down the names of your unsaved loved ones and begin to pray for them consistently. Pray them into the kingdom of God! We need to start somewhere. Time is running out! Much needs to be done! God wants His children to be rich in heaven with lot of treasures. Every time you intercede you lay up treasures for yourself in heaven.

May the Lord use us mightily to build His Kingdom. Amen