To Know Is Kingdom
Discipleship is a huge thing for me. As I have mentioned before, my heart hurts for people who go to a big ‘evangelical’ meeting, say the ‘sinners’ prayer and then are thrown back out to the wolves to fend for themselves. I have a deep, deep, deep desire to see people be discipled and walked through the process of true, biblical salvation and transformation - to help them see that the Kingdom of God is in them. In order for the church to truly disciple people, the church first has to be a disciple themselves!
Like I said, my heart has become so heavy with the message of true salvation. I’ve blogged about it, taught about it and talked about it to several people. I believe God is opening eyes to see deeper than what many of us have been taught.
I keep going back to Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ and I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!”
It says in verse 28-29 that people were astonished because Jesus taught as one with authority.
Jesus isn’t messing around and I believe we are in a season that He’s done with His bride messing around.
I have been doing a lot of studying on the kingdom of heaven and I firmly believe that the kingdom of heaven is within us. The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy, it is His character, His power, His authority IN us so that we can walk in it on the earth!
Here’s the problem, in the above verse it says that not everyone who calls Him ‘Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven and we have a lot of people out there claiming Him as Lord but not walking in relationship. But look at it further, people will say they did all these amazing things in His name but still not be able to enter, why? Because its about surrender, relationship and love.
First, He said… “except those who do the will of the Father”. The only way we can do the will of the Father is to be fully surrendered to Him. To be in constant communication, constantly abiding and constantly seeking His Word. Many people can do things in the name of Jesus and still not be fully surrendered to Him but if we want the fullness of the kingdom of heaven in us it’s going to take a full surrender.
In Luke 9:23-24 Jesus tells us… “Whoever wants to be My disciples must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for Me will save it. “
In other words, we have to be willing to DAILY surrender to His purpose, His will for our lives. We lay down our own fleshly desires and move forward into His desires for us. This is what a true disciple of Jesus Christ does, and it takes true relationship and abiding IN Him in order to follow Him.
Think about the original disciples for a minute. They were in the middle of their work days when Jesus walked by and called out to them. They laid down their nets (that would be their way of life, their income, their family business, their life long training) in order to know Jesus and follow Him.
Think about Jesus! I am almost positive at the age of 33 Jesus had fleshly desires. The Word tells us that Jesus became FLESH and dwelt among us. He did this to be an example to us and when I see that He became flesh, I believe that means He even had to lay down His own desires in order to fulfill His ultimate purpose which was to die for you and I! To take all of our sins and sicknesses upon Himself as He hung beaten and bruised on a cross but that’s not where it stopped! He died to give us so much more.. The kingdom of God!
Jesus and His disciples didn’t play with their purpose and God’s will and neither should we!
“I’m going to be completely honest here… today it could read… “He was in the church, and the church was made through Him and the church did not know Him.””
Second, He said, “I never knew you” …. Knew – ginosko – to know absolutely, to feel, to perceive, to understand, to have full knowledge. This my friends takes relationship.
John 1:10 is a very real verse for today… “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.”
I’m going to be completely honest here… today it could read… “He was in the church, and the church was made through Him and the church did not know Him.”
The church (I am talking about the body of Christ not a building) and the world are so much alike today that He is not recognized because He is not known. I was asked a question last night that I had already been thinking about but it was confirmation to me… “When the presence of Jesus lives IN us, why are we singing songs saying ‘I am waiting for your presence’ or ‘we need your presence’, etc.?” I explained that people are no longer in true relationship, knowing and understanding who Jesus is IN them and because of that they don’t realize that He’s already there, He’s actually waiting for us to discover that. I also went on to explain that I believe that the spirit of Jesus is IN us but there’s also the tangible presence of Jesus that will walk into the room and those who recognize it (because they KNOW Him) will receive what He’s there to give in that moment.
His glory will enter a room and there will actually be people who miss it!
If we are going to call ourselves disciples then we must become disciples! As the body of Christ, we have such a strong mandate in this world… To bring the kingdom to earth. To disciple others until the culture of this world looks like the culture of heaven. We can not do this if we aren’t truly disciples ourselves. A disciple is sold out, all in, abides in Him and unselfish! We have to get to a place where we KNOW Him and every aspect of His character and this can only be done through 24/7 contact and communication. To know is kingdom!
Philippians 3:10 Paul said... "That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection..." This is my desire, to truly know Him and the power of His resurrection!
Third, He said, “Depart from me you who practice lawlessness.” I have taught on this before but let’s look at it again.
Matt. 24:12 says “because lawlessness is increased, the love of many will grow cold.”
Lawlessness – a violation of the law, transgress the law.
What is the law?
Romans 13:8 says “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law…. Vs 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
James 2:8 “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you do well.”
Mark 12:33 tells us that loving God with all our heart, understanding, soul and strength and to love our neighbor as ourself is more than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.
WOW!
In 1 Corinthians 13 we are told this… If I speak in the tongues of men and the tongues of angels but have not love, I am a clanging cymbal. If I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, if I have all faith so as to move mountains, but don’t have love… I AM NOTHING! If I give away all I have and give my body to be burned but have no love, I gain nothing!
‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ and I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who did not LOVE!”
God is love, those who KNOW Him LOVE! The will of our Father is to LOVE without judgement.
The Word tells us that Jesus was a man of compassion, love, forgiveness, patience, humility, passion, yet savage, bold, confident, full of knowledge and so, so, so much more! He walked in righteousness, peace and joy and that is the kingdom of God!
Romans 14:17 “The kingdom of heaven is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit!”
We can not enter into His righteousness, peace and joy if we have no love. God is love and we are created in His image.
Like I said at the beginning…
Jesus isn’t messing around and I believe we are in a season that He’s done with His bride messing around.
We have to break the dams stopping our love flow, we have to stop walking in bitterness, anger, pride, arrogance, fear, shame, guilt and all the things opposite LOVE because if we don’t then we are a useless bride and our flow is stopped.
I encourage you today, let the Holy Spirit come in and do some house cleaning! Get your heartbeat in sync with our Fathers and get to know Jesus Christ through His Word! I want to know Him so well that I recognize His tangible presence when He enters a room, that I recognize Him in others who know Him well and that others know Him after spending time with me because HE IS IN ME and I KNOW HIM!!
Our entire being hangs on the balance of relationship with Him… Our identity, our destiny, our influence and our relationships with others.
Father help us to refocus, reset and realign with You! I ask that You forgive me for not walking fully in the love that you created me to walk in. I repent for being judgmental, impatient, fearful and angry at times. I ask for a new hunger for You, the knowledge of Your very being and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Father I ask that You guide my footsteps into the purpose and plans that YOU have for me. I choose to lay down my own desires, my own will and my own agenda to You and I say YES to whatever You ask me to do. I just want to know You in ways deeper than I ever have. I love you Father and I choose to love Your children… all of them! In Jesus name. Amen.
November 5, 2018