Good morning family of God!
It is imperative that we do not belittle the WORD OF GOD and think we can produce fruit for THE KINGDOM in these last days. There is a way to live and thrive in THE KINGDOM OF GOD. God has abundantly supplied our needs through HIS WORD. We can reap benefits beyond anything that the world has to offer by aligning ourselves with THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
Colossians 1:13 says,
- He has delivered us from the kingdom of darkness and translated us into THE KINGDOM of His dear Son…
Family, we are living in a different KINGDOM now, (once we became born-again) and in that NEW KINGDOM, there are new ways of doing things.
First of all, walking in this NEW KINGDOM means walking by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7), and it is so important that we know that faith works by love (Galatians 5:6), so we must live a life of love towards the Lord and towards one another.
Secondly, it is imperative that we follow the instructions from Romans 12:1-2. It says,
- And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice – the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship Him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
See, our newly created spirit does not want to sin, which causes a conflict within us, but our old, sin nature left residue within our souls (mind, will, and emotions). This is why it is so important that our souls (minds) be renewed with the WORD after salvation. In other words, we have to change our thinking by making it agree with GOD’S WORD. When a Christian allows their un-renewed mind to lead them, they will have a hardened heart. After our heart is hardened, we will not even feel the conflict going on inside of us. This leads to us having a reprobate mind. If we ignore the WORD, we are allowing the flesh (the unrenewed soul) to determine how we live here on the earth.
Thirdly, it is important to remember that we are created in the image and likeness of God. Genesis 1:26-27 says,
- Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So, God created man in His Own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
We are made in God’s Own image and He gave us dominion over all the earth, so any time we try to be anything other than His original blueprint for us, our attempts will end in frustration.
Forth, we should guard against letting the world’s philosophies infiltrate our minds, influencing us to seek worldly traditions instead of God’s truths. Colossians 2:8 AMP says,
- See to it that no one carries you off as spoil or makes you yourselves captive by his so-called philosophy and intellectualism and vain deceit (idle fancies and plain nonsense), following human tradition (men’s ideas of the material rather than the spiritual world), just crude notions following the rudimentary and elemental teachings of the universe and disregarding [the teaching of] Christ (the Messiah).
Everyone has a philosophy. It is the lens through which we view the world. It filters all the decisions we make and all the attitudes we embrace. Spiritually, it is dangerous to disregard the Scriptures and let ourselves be carried off by the world’s intellectualism.
See, what we think influences what goes on in our hearts. Eventually, we become what we think. Proverbs 23:7 says,
- For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.
So, whatever philosophy we choose to accept will determine the condition of our hearts. We must guard our heart. The spiritual condition of our heart affects the quality of our lives. Proverbs 4:23 says,
- Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.
We cannot guard our heart without guarding the way we think by actively rejecting worldly philosophies and adopting God’s way of thinking.
Fifth, know that we are fighting a spiritual war; one that is for the control of our way of thinking. The WORD OF GOD breaks the strongholds that the world tries to establish in our mind. 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 says,
- For though we walk in the flesh, we do nor war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ…
Know this: Whatever society deems okay and acceptable does not necessarily line up with the WORD.
1 John 2:15-17 says,
- Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.
Finally, when we fix our mind on Jesus, we will be renewed and transformed so that we can discern His plans for our lives. Jeremiah 29:11-14a says,
- “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find Me. I will be found by you,” says the LORD.
Living in the kingdom,
Lisa Gordon
Assistant Pastor
Jesus City Church