Living in the Kingdom Part 1
Living in the Kingdom Part 1
| Hebrews 10:19 | Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, |
| 20 | By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh |
The concept of living in the spiritual Kingdom of God while still in the flesh on this earth was foreign to the disciples of Jesus. They were expecting a literal Kingdom of God to be established in the earth. However Jesus clearly said that His kingdom was not a material kingdom it is a spiritual Kingdom.
| John 18:36 | Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence. |
Jesus while upon the earth walked in two realms, namely the heavenly and the earthly. Jesus clearly indicated that it was possible to live in both words, but He also said that this was hard for His disciples to grasp.
| John 3:12 | If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? |
| 13 | And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven. |
Spirit Soul and Body
Man is not just a physical being, there is a part of man which is spirit. This is the invisible man within us, sometimes referred to as “the hidden man of the heart”
| 1 Peter 3:4a | But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, |
| 2 Corinthians 4:16 | For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. |
Our inward man is a spirit being; it does not exist in time but in eternity and has all the capabilities of a spirit being. When a person dies and their spirit leaves their body the spirit of that person is a complete person in spirit form, a spirit being. Now once out of the physical body that spirit can see clearly in the spirit realm. It can see angels, demons, and can travel at the speed of thought. In other words it lives in the spirit world as a spirit. Even when still inside you; your spirit is aware of the spirit realm, but because we are so dominated by our physical body with its senses of sight ,hearing, touch, taste, and smell, and our natural mind which is an enemy of God and His realm we do not perceive what our spirit is perceiving hearing, and seeing. The question now arises how do we meld with our spirit so that we perceive what it perceives? How can we live in these two realms while still on this earth? We are told to come before the throne of God with our requests, how can we do this? Kingdom living requires that we have access to both the Kingdom realm of God as well as this physical realm.
| Hebrews 4:16 | Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. |
| 2 Corinthians 3:18 | But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. |
| 2 Corinthians 4:18 | While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. |
The bible also tells us that it is possible to taste of the powers of the age to come while still in the flesh on this earth Heb 6:5. We are told very clearly that the Lord wants to become our friend. John 15:14. The question is how do we become friends with an invisible spirit? The Apostle Paul gave us a clue to this when he said:
| 2 Corinthains 4:18 | While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. |
Paul said it is possible to look at things which in the natural are unseen. These two realms the spirit and physical exist together; one is unseen to the natural eye and mind the other is clearly seen by our spirit. The problem is we have lived so long in the natural realm that it has become the only real realm to us.
Out of the body experiences
There are many well documented out of the body experiences which have occurred when the spirit has left the physical body. In these experiences it becomes clear that when in the natural physical realm, only the physical world is visible. However, but when a person’s spirit leaves their body both realms are visible. Angels can clearly see at the same time our physical world as well as the spiritual realm. As I said before when Jesus walked this earth he also was walking in the spiritual realm at the same time. This interaction between the natural and spiritual realms were common such men as Elijah, Moses, Enoch, the apostle Paul and the apostle John.
The imprisoned spirit
Our spirit sometimes referred to as the hidden man of the heart, dwells within us. Even tho the Holy Spirit is joined to our spirit, our spirit is still somewhat imprisoned behind the barriers of our soul and body. Deep within us, our spirit lies buried and imprisoned behind the bars of unbelief, carnality and rebellion, and our soul life predominates. As carnal Christians we live in a purely physical realm unable to access and walk in the Kingdom realm of God. This is the experience of the majority of Christians. However this is not normal Christianity as portrayed in the bible. Walking under an open heaven is Gods norm for us. This is where Jesus walked when He was on earth; He had continual access to the Kingdom of heaven.
| John 1:51 | And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man. |
The apostle Paul had problems with the Corinthian church which had some very real soulish problems.
| 1 Corinthains 3:1 | And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. |
| 2 | I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. |
| 3 | For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? |
The carnality in the souls of these Christians limited them to a walk with God that was described them as being just babies. This was a church that moved in the gifts of the
Spirit but they did not have a walk with God. They had an outer court relationship with the Lord. They knew nothing of intimacy and relationship with the Lord. Jesus warned us about this kind of Christian walk when He said this.
| Matthew 7:22 | Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? |
| 23 | And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. |
Jesus here was not talking about occultists, He was talking about Christians. Jesus preached the Gospel of the Kingdom; it was not the gospel of the church. He told us to pray thy kingdom come in this earth as it is in heaven, and in these words He encapsulated the essence of kingdom living. We are to live here as we would live if we were in heaven. We are talk here in a way in which we would talk in heaven. Our citizenship is in heaven and we are ambassadors to a foreign planet earth. We are supposed to act as we would in heaven. We are going to see more and more people taken to heaven so they can see and understand how heaven operates and they will come back and teach us here on earth how we should live. We cannot live in the Kingdom realm and walk in carnality as well, the one excludes the other. As Christians we have to come into a new way of living, namely as citizens of heaven.
| Peter 1:22 | Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: |
The purifying of the soul is linked to obeying the truth; what truth? The truth of the commandment Jesus gave in Mathew 22. Unfeigned love
| Matthew 22:37 | Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. |
| 38 | This is the first and great commandment. |
| 39 | And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. |
Compatibility the issue
The problem lies in the incompatibility between our soul and our spirit. When our soul is in harmony with our spirit the bars are removed between our spirit and soul and our spirit is free. In our spirit is the very nature of God, which the bible tells us, is love. The very spiritual DNA of God was placed in our spirit at the new birth and we became a new man. The problem is our soul was not changed. The new birth is instant; the saving of the soul is progressive.
| Peter 1:22 | Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: |
The purifying of the soul is linked to obeying the truth; what truth?
The truth which Jesus spoke the in Mathew 22. Unfeigned love
| Matthew 22:37 | Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. |
| 38 | This is the first and great commandment. |
| 39 | And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. |
In order to walk in the spirit with the Lord our soul (mind, emotions and will) have to be pure. The level of soul purity to a large degree determines our ability to walk with the Lord. Our spirit has difficulty communicating with our soul when our soul is not pure.
As our soul become purer the veils begin to be removed and the realm of spirit becomes more real to us. This unity between our soul and spirit is vital if we are to live in the Kingdom realm, it is the pure in heart that see God.
Blessings
Neville Johnson April 23, 2010
| !! Living in the Kingdom Part 2 A Renewed Mind
| Romans 12:2a | And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, |
I am sure that most of us have never really understood the power of agreement. Jesus said if two of you agree it shall be done Mat 18:19. This is a remarkable statement which we tend to take far too lightly. Inherent in this statement is the very power and essence of creation, the ability to create is firstly anchored in agreement. What we agree with is firmly stamped on our mind and our internal reality, what we believe defines the nature and reality of our external reality.
This principle of two agreeing goes much deeper than just two people agreeing on something. In a sense we are made up of more than one person. The bible talks about the soul as a living person. Genesis 2:7. We are told that we can have a righteous soul; 2 Peter 2:8. The bible tells us that the soul can end up in hell, Matthew 10:28.
We also know that man is a spirit, a living spirit with total awareness and personality. When we are born again the Holy Spirit is joined to our sprit, this mystical fusion of spirits is described as a joining.
| 1 Corinthians 6:17 | But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. |
The word joined here is the Greek word Kol-lah which has the means to become part of to meld with. We become connected to God and His life by this joining in our spirit. I often puzzled over the scripture which says,
| 1 Corinthians 2:16 | we have the mind of Christ, |
We are told that the sprit searches the deep things of God.
| 1 Corinthians 2:10 | I thought how can this be true? I struggle to know the mind of the lord. I eventually I came to understand this knowledge; this mind of Christ is in our spirit. Now the obvious question is, how do we get the mind of Christ to our mind our soul so that we can perceive and understand it? This is where the power of agreement comes in. |
When our spirit and mind agree it shall be done. This does not disparage the concept of two separate people agreeing on something, it just takes it to another level. When your heart and minds agree, it shall be done. The problem is getting our mind to agree with our spirit. Your spirit is joined to the lord and knows the mind of the Lord, however in order to have our mind receive that which our spirit knows our mind has to be renewed.
Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind
This word transformed is the Greek word metamorphoo from which we get the English word morphing from. This Greek word is made up of two words Meta which mean s to modify and Morphoo which means to re-fashion. The same word is used for the transfiguration of Jesus Transfigured … metamorphoo. So we see in order to experience transfiguration our mind had to be renewed. Only then can we know the good and acceptable and perfect will of God Romans 12: 2.
God clearly said that His thoughts are not our thoughts, yet the Apostle Paul said that we have the mind of Christ. The Old Testament saints were not internally joined to the lord in their spirits, but we are, and we know things that our mind cannot know the things of God without it being renewed.
We are an open heaven
We need to realize that our spirit exists in the spirit realm, in a realm where time and space does not exist as we know it. When the Apostle John was in the spirit on the Lords day in Revelation 1:10 his spirit was in the realm where God lives and exists. He saw the lord and heard his voice and was taken to heaven and shown many things that were the mind of the lord. Your spirit is the doorway to an open heaven. There is a lifeline between your spirit and the Kingdom realm. The doorway is your spirit, deep calleth unto deep, and your spirit knows the mind of Christ. In order for your mind to comprehend the mind of Christ it has to be renewed. There is a veil of unbelief that stops you perceiving the spiritual realm of the Kingdom of God. This unbelief is layered with false concepts, unbiblical philosophy, and lies; this secular mind stops you perceiving the Kingdom. The majority of the Christians today do not believe that they can walk with God as Enoch did because they have believed a lie and this mindset becomes a stronghold of demonic deception.
| 2 Corinthinas 10:4 | (or the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; |
| 5 | Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; |
Secular reasoning will keep you out of the reality of the Kingdom realm
| Romans 8:7 | Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. |
Our mind has to be brought to the place where it agrees with God’s Word and Gods ways. Learning to live and have communion with the Lord in the so called unseen world is the power source of our life, it connects us to the Lord in a tangible way.
| Galations 5:25 | If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. |
The Lord does not invade our world we have to enter His realm, we are told to come before Him. We have to walk in His world and only our spirit can do that. Jesus said only believe all things are possible if you believe. Mark 9:23
How many time have you read that scripture and still do not believe that you can walk with God in a real tangible way? The veils of unbelief are so entrenched in our lives that it takes a radical commitment to believe in order to begin to remove them. This radical commitment to believe is the first step to a renewed mind; it begins a process that will eventually end in transfiguration where your mind and spirit become one, finally agreeing and bringing you to the place where nothing is impossible for you.
Seeing is not believing, believing is seeing
| Hebrews 11:3 | Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. |
This radical commitment to believe what God word tell us builds a new Godly stronghold in our mind and opens the way for the mind to begin to be renewed
Blessings
Neville Johnson Thursday, April 29, 2010