Featured Article:
"Entering, Living and Building the Kingdom of God"
By: Rev. Dr. John Williams,
Founder/ President, IICM Inc., USA
Email: iicm@aol.com
Website: www.iicmweb.org
Introduction
The Bible talks about the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness. In the
Gospels we read that the kingdom of God was near around the time when John, the
Baptist was preparing the way of the Lord to come. Again, in the gospels we read
about the kingdom of God in different ways:
As we read in the Bible, Jesus established the kingdom of
light in the kingdom of darkness and also made a way for every one of us not
only just to know that it was near, not only for us to just see it, not only
just to enter into it, but also to live in it and rule it.
The Kingdom of God is a kingdom of peace and joy. In The Kingdom of God, God is
the King. The name of Jesus is referred to as the Prince of Peace and He is also
referred to as the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, which means that we, the
Christians or the Believers, are the kings and lords!
It is therefore, God’s will, that every one of us should live in peace with joy,
and as mentioned in Genesis chapter 1, we should literally exercise dominion
over the whole earth. In other words, we should live as kings and lords. When we
are in the kingdom of light, living as holy and righteous people, the works of
the devil can not affect us in any way whatsoever. We should exercise the
authority of God and literally live in the Kingdom of God while we are still on
this earth in the kingdom of this world. In other words, we should literally
live while we are on this earth and live in heaven on earth enjoying the peace,
joy, divine health, divine prosperity, divine power, divine wisdom, divine
creativity, etc. By ushering more and more people into The Kingdom of God
through salvation, we will be extending God’s kingdom daily by destroying the
kingdom of the devil.
What is the Kingdom of God?
The Kingdom of God extends as far as the east is from the west. The Kingdom of
God is the entire universe. Initially when God created the earth as well as the
sun and the moon, to give light in the day and in the night, it was more or less
earmarked from the part of the universe, for all the living beings God created
to live on it and also he created man not only to live, but to exercise dominion
over it.
It is disheartening to hear now and then that man, instead of enjoying the best
that he can on this planet earth, he is going beyond the boundaries of the earth
to explore the universe and so far, probably he has barely touched the surface
of some of the planets which are closer to the earth compared to the other
planets, which are literally innumerable and they are several million light
miles away from the earth. It was recently reported in the news and shown on TV,
something like a circular white light, in which as the days went by, right in
the middle, something similar to the cornea of the eye emerged, which the men on
this planet could see, and interestingly the news reporters referred to that
first as the unidentified object and then as the eye of the Lord. We know the
scripture that says that God is watching over us all the time.
The Kingdom of God is overlaid upon the
kingdom of this world, so far as we are concerned even though it is so vast and
extensive with no boundaries covering the whole universe. As we read in the
Bible, in God’s kingdom which is spiritual, there is also a throne room of God
and Arch angels, seraphim's and cherubim's are praising, worshipping and serving
God continuously, playing different roles. Further, the bible also talks about
the throne room of God. Concerning these angelic beings in heaven, we
should note that they far outnumber the number of men and women living on the
planet earth. Further, we should note that out of the 3 arch angels mentioned in
the bible by names such as Gabriel, Michael and Lucifer, Lucifer is described in
the bible as a very beautiful angel decked with rows of precious stones from
head to toe, such as sapphires, amethysts, emeralds, rubies, pearls, etc. Even
though he was given a lot of power in heaven, because of pride that gripped his
heart, he wanted to ascend even above God. When God became aware of what was
happening in the heart of Lucifer, he literally threw him out of heaven at which
time the bible says, that he literally took one third of the billions of angels
with him, who are called the devils, and Lucifer is called as the Satan.
However, the good news is, that two thirds of the angelic beings remained in
heaven with God, and are still there in heaven serving God. Because Lucifer was
thrown out of God’s kingdom, he was determined to work against God’s plans from
the very beginning of creation by tempting Eve to eat the forbidden fruit in the
Garden of Eden. As we know, because of the first sin committed by Adam and Eve,
God cursed them which is upon all mankind until today, namely for women to bear
children in pain and also to be subject unto the man as the tail, and so far as
men are concerned, to earn their livelihood by the sweat of their brow.
Therefore, we should know that millions of devils working under the direction of
Satan try to destroy every plan of God and to tempt man to commit every sin or
acts forbidden by God.
Now we can understand the reason why the entire world is being corrupted in
several ways and why there is sickness, sorrow, death, suffering, worry, fear,
etc. But as we know the good news is that God himself in the form of a man, came
down to this earth and re-established God’s kingdom of peace and joy on this
earth and made a way for every man to enter into it spiritually and to live a
spiritual life enjoying peace, joy, divine health, divine safety, prosperity,
etc even now while we are on this earth. This is the kind of life every born
again Christian should live and it is possible because Jesus has paid a price to
redeem us from the darkness of the world. Now the choice is ours and that is, if
we choose to follow the commandments of God without indulging in the sins of the
world, we can live literally in heaven while we are still on this earth.
It is our duty now to build the Kingdom of God in the
sense, we should usher more souls into it through the preaching of the gospel,
resulting in salvation of them by believing in Jesus Christ, referred to as the
son of God. When He was in the human form, when He came down from glory and
carried the sins of the world and made a way for the sinners in this world, to
truly repent from them, to live for God, in holiness and righteousness, have a
burden for unsaved souls, and to share the gospel with them in order to lead
them from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light.
When once a sinner is saved by grace, he becomes a part of the kingdom of God
and he will continue to be a part of the kingdom as long as he lives a holy and
righteous life, and continues to serve God by preaching the gospel, in one of
the several ways in which we can, with a burden for them, can usher them into
God’s kingdom through the experience of salvation.
Therefore, every believer or Christian should realize that it is the duty of
everyone of them to play a role according to God's will, by finding their
niche in the body of Christ which is the Church. In the human body, every organ
or part has a specific role to play. So also, in the body of Christ, everyone
that has been created by God, has a specific and unique role to play, regardless
of their color, race, occupation, education, etc. God is more interested in
revealing the specific will of God for each person than the people of this earth
are interested in discovering God’s will for their lives. It is the role of the
leaders and pastors to help each individual not only to discover God’s will for
their lives but also to fulfill them and only through which, they will have
absolute satisfaction, joy, thrill and blessings in this world. Nothing is more
exciting on this earth than to discover and fulfill God’s perfect will. As we
see in the lives of the important characters of the bible such as Abraham,
Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Noah, David, Moses, Joshua, Solomon, Ezekiel, Isaiah,
Daniel and other great men of God whose names are mentioned in the Old Testament and in New
Testament such as John, Mathew, Mark, Luke, Paul, James, Philip, Andrew, etc. If
we find our niche in the body of Christ no matter where we live in terms of the
country, cultural setting and members of which church, it is important that we
are in the perfect will of God. This is the real success, excitement and thrill
and this is the most fascinating and fulfilling life.
When we are in the right place doing the right things, maintaining our
fellowship and communication with God, we have nothing to worry about or fear.
Conclusion
When we get a true revelation about God’s kingdom, even as one reads this
article prayerfully and with an open heart, God will reveal the truths about his
kingdom or in other words, will enlighten our spiritual understanding about God
and his kingdom, and help us to not only to enter into it, but also keep
building it and nothing else on this earth will be more thrilling or satisfying
but to be continuously engaged in kingdom living and kingdom building!
-The End-