Been a bit hectic the past few days, but looking forward to putting up some exciting stuff in the next few days!

Many blessings!

I’d like to share a passage with you that applies nicely to what you’re about to read. It also applies to your finances, so you’ll see it again soon. Please take a moment to absorb it’s wisdom.

“But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.” (Deut. 8:18).

Neither of us can do anything without the Lord. That includes producing or creating wealth. The sooner we realize the truth of this statement, the sooner we can begin to amass our wealth, which in this particular post, may seem to be a rather unconventional wealth…but it’s the most important wealth there is. It’s the wealth Jesus died for on the cross.

A little about the flip side of wealth…

“Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it.” (Ps. 39:6)

“For all can see that wise men die; the foolish and the senseless alike perish and leave their wealth to others.” (Ps. 49:10)

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.” (Matt. 6:19)

There are a lot of other verses we could take a look at, but for the moment, these are more than enough. You’ve likely heard the expression that no one has ever seen a hearse pulling a U-haul…or that you can’t take it with you when you go. Let’s think about our wealth for a moment. During this life, our treasures are subject to an awful lot…damage, theft, destruction. But don’t stop there. Let’s think about our lives…and our passing from this world. What WILL we take with us? We won’t take our houses, our cars or our money. But look how dearly we hang onto those things while we’re here! Like they will really make a difference when we’re gone! And all that stuff we accumulated through the years is going to be left to someone else or tossed in the trash.

We came into this world naked and without any possessions at all, other than the skin that covered the bones we were born with.  And we’ll leave with even less. When we leave this world, we won’t even take our skin and bones with us! That stuff is going six feet under, to return to the dust of the ground. We will leave with NOTHING! And there is NOTHING that we can take with us…no money, no homes, no cars, no cute t-shirts with funny sayings, no flip-flops or cellphones…no NOTHING! We can’t even take a snack to nibble on along the way. There is NOTHING that we can take with us when we leave this world!

Or is there?

When you stop to give it a little thought, there really is one thing we can take with us. That one lone  thing should serve as a guide as to the wealth we should be trying to amass during our brief stay here on earth. What is that one thing? What is the one thing that God will allow us to bring into His presence when we enter? Other people. Go back to Matt. 6 and look at verse 20. What do ya suppose Jesus was talking about?

“But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.” (Matt. 6:20)

How do we store up treasures in heaven? By taking the one thing God will allow us to bring with us…other people. Keep in mind, if you will, Matt. 6:21:

“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Where does your heart lie? What kind of wealth are you creating and building in this life? Where do you keep your treasures? Are they the kind you can take with you? Or the kind that must be left behind…to go to someone else once you’re gone? Now, granted, it’s better to get to heaven broke than to not get to heaven…. but think of how awesome it would be to have a few treasures waiting for you when you get there!!

We can all prosper. We’ve all been given that promise by God. He has given us the power to produce wealth. What we do with it is up to us as individuals.

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With that in mind, let’s move on a little farther on this thing. God has promised us prosperity. Yet, if you look around, sometimes you have to wonder where all that prosperity is! All of us have seen brothers and sisters in the Lord struggling to make ends meet. Many of us have been there ourselves…and are still there! Why aren’t we seeing those promises of prosperity manifested? Or…on the other hand…maybe we are seeing them and we just don’t realize it!

Part of the problem is in our limited definitions. When we think of wealth, we automatically think “money.” It’s the way we’ve been taught. When we have a lot of money, we have a lot of wealth. We’re RICH! But…what do we do with that money? One of two things. Either we hang on to it for one reason or another, which in essence, serves no real purpose…or we spend it…sometimes wisely and often times, not. We either spend it to aquire TRUE wealth…food, shelter, etc…or we spend it on things that we probably really shouldn’t have spent it on anyway. Either way, the money has no value other than the value of the objects we purchase with it.

Generally speaking, we associate prosperity with money. The more money we have, the more prosperous we are. I would challenge you to be transformed by the renewing of your mind here.

For instance, if nothing else was ever produced on earth, and each of us was stuck with what we had right at this very moment in time, would you rather be stuck with millions of dollar bills, or storehouses of food? Which, then, would be more valuable? The money or the wealth? I suggest that maybe most of us really are prosperous…maybe it’s just that we don’t realize it because we’re so accustomed to the defnitions and the vocabulary of the kingdom of the world. If you’ve got some food in the cabinet, my friend, you are prospering! If you’re dry when it rains, you have a bit of wealth in your possession, whether you “own” it, or not. If you can stay reasonably warm when it’s cold, you have an abundance that many don’t have. You, my friend, are prosperous!

A little more about wealth. How about, as mentioned in the last post, fruit of the womb? Do you have family? Do you have friends? If so, then you have wealth and prosperity! You have something that was put here by God, as opposed to the false “wealth” of the world…a dollar sign printed on a piece of paper. In the next post, I’d like to expand on this one source of wealth a little more, but for now I’m just going to leave it at that.

There’s something I’d like for you to think about concerning wealth. You will never own the home you live in. If you work all of your adult life and pay mortgages every single month until the note is paid off in full, you will still never own that property. Don’t believe me? Stop paying your property taxes and see how long you remain in it! The kingdom of the world wants you to THINK you own it, but you don’t.

“The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it…” (Ps. 24:1)

It all belongs to God. Who gave anyone the right to buy OR sell ANY property? God gave Abraham land. He gave Abraham’s descendants land. Jesus is preparing a place for you in the TRUE kingdom that really WILL be yours! It’s already got your name on it and it’s just waiting for you to come claim it and move in! But YOU will NEVER own ANY property here on earth! If the bank doesn’t own it, the government does. If they want to build a road through your living room, it doesn’t matter if you “own” your home…there will be a road through your living room! Need proof? Just watch the news or read a few newspapers. It may not happen often, but it happens.

There’s nothing wrong with wordly wealth…nothing wrong with money or material possessions or owning property. But I’m no longer convinced that’s prosperity. I do believe most of us THINK that’s prosperity. But that’s because we need a little renewing of the mind. I believe you can be prosperous making $5000 a year. And I believe that if you make $10 million a year, that doesn’t make you prosperous. God has promised His kids prosperity. He’s already given it through Jesus. All we have to do is accept it and make it ours.

Chances are, you’re already wealthy…you just may not know it. Stay tuned for the next post. It might be the one you need to find your prosperity!

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Ok, now before I get started, I’d like to point out one tiny little thing…when you become (or became) a Christian, your life, most likely, did not magically and instantly become a fairy tale dream come true! I’m not here to tell you that it SHOULD have. The Bible is clear that we’ll have trials and tribulations, and that not everything will always come up roses…and even if it did, ya can’t have roses without thorns. But it DOES promise you that he will never leave you or forsake you, and that you already have the victory in Jesus.

What that means is,  your victory has already been given to you.  All you have to do is make your way to the winner’s circle to pick up your prize. Along the way, you might get pricked by a few thorns, but as long as you keep going, you’ll make it to the winner’s circle…and the prize will be so great, you won’t even have vague memories of the thorns! Now, I felt like I had to say all that so I could say this:

God has promised us, as His kids, prosperity. He would not have done so, if being prosperous was a sin! Today, all I’m going to do is share some of these promises with you. As time goes by, even though you may not be experiencing prosperity at the moment, hopefully, you’ll see how all this ties together.

“Walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.” (Deut. 5:33)

“The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God, so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today.” (Deut. 6:24)

“Just as it pleased the Lord to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please him to ruin and destroy you. You will be uprooted from the land you are entering to possess.” (Deut. 28:63)    Ok, so this one isn’t a promise. I included this one to show you that it pleased the Lord to make them prosper!

“Then the Lord your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land.” (Deut. 30:9)

“Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you.” (Job 22:21)

“Who, then, is the man that fears the Lord ? He will instruct him in the way chosen for him. He will spend his days in prosperity, and his descendants will inherit the land.” (Ps. 25:12.13)

“A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.” (Prov. 11:25)

“…but prosperity is the reward of the righteous.” (Prov. 13:21)

“He who pursues righteousness and love finds life, prosperity and honor.” (Prov. 21:21)

“A greedy man stirs up dissension, but he who trusts in the Lord will prosper.” (Prov. 28:25)

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jer. 29:11)

These are just a few examples of the promises God has made to us. Now, I know there are some die-hards out there that will still refuse to believe that God has promised us prosperity. They’ll argue that those promises are Old Testament, and therefore have no bearing on Christians today because we live in the New Testament. They’ll argue that the promises were made to the Jews, or to Abraham or to other specific folks…and that’s fine.

But God didn’t decide His promises of the Old Testament were void once Jesus died on the cross…in fact, He added more and greater promises through that sacrifice! If He made the promises to Abraham, that’s GREAT, because we’re Abraham’s descendants! If they were made just to the Jews, that’s totally awesome too, because once we accept Jesus as our Savior, WE become Jews ourselves (Rom. 2:29)! The Bible is the LIVING Word…that’s what’s so fantastic about it!

How about, then, this  from the New Testament?

“Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ…” (Rom. 8:17)

Now let’s go back to Rev. 5:12:

“In a loud voice they sang: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”"

Jesus was slain to receive, among other things wealth. We are co-heirs with Christ. And THAT is New Testament, no matter how ya cut it!

The thing is, not everyone has received their inheritance…but everyone HAS been given the promise!

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“The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.” (Matt. 26:11)

Before we look at the promises of prosperity for those in Christ, it’s important that we take a look at something else, too…the poor.  With one single verse, Jesus has taken the mystery out of one thing: In spite of the Lord’s promises of prosperity, the poor will always be here among us. How come? First of all, the promises of prosperity were made specifically to God’s kids. Non-believers are not heirs to that promise, even though many of them become wealthy in their lifetime, many will also be poor. Secondly, there are many Christians that live in poverty, as well.

The question is, if God has promised us prosperity, why are so many missing it? Did God lie? Or maybe he meant we would be wealthy and prosperous in heaven, but, here in THIS life we just have to suffer along with everyone else?

Well, we know God didn’t lie. And while I’m sure we’ll have wealth beyond compare in heaven, I’m just as sure that he never intended for us to wait til we get there to receive it. I’m also sure we’ll never know the full answer or answers as to why so many Christians live on limited means…but maybe we can know SOME of them. And if we can know SOME of them, maybe we can help somebody, somewhere, overcome the obstacles they face to reach the other side…freedom in Jesus!

Some of us may remain in poverty because of generational curses…things they don’t know how to break free from…but I think a lot of us remain where we are because of our lack of understanding and knowledge of the promises God has already fulfulled to us through Jesus! (Actually, these two things go hand in hand). I’d like to share some things with you…food for thought…that may help shed a lil light on what I mean.

“In a loud voice they sang: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”" (Rev. 5:12)

Jesus was slain, in part,  to receive wealth. Did you know that? And since we are co-heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:17), then we received wealth as a result of his sacrifice, too…it’s not something we’re GONNA get…it’s something we’ve ALREADY gotten…just like our salvation. We don’t have to wait til we die to get it, it’s already ours! We just need to figure out how to see it manifested in our lives. Which leads to the next part of this post…some steps we can take that may help manifest a change in our lives, not just in the area of finances, but in all areas…things that might help us to find a little more of our freedom in Jesus! In the next post or two, I’ll share with you so many promises of prosperity from God that it can’t be denied…but for now, if you would accept it as a reality, we’ll move along.

There are three things that I believe limit us, as Christians, not just in our finances, but in many other areas, as well. The first one, of course, is knowledge. If you don’t know it, you surely can’t believe it or act on it. The second thing is faith. And the third thing is having a better understanding of how the enemy and his kingdom work against us! Some of the habits we’ve developed are so subtle, yet so powerfully captivating, that we don’t even realize we’ve endangered ourselves!

Now, I”m gonna shift gears here for just a minute, and we’ll get right back to this…and hopefully we’ll tie it up a little for this post. The single most important event in a person’s life is receiving the salvation that is freely offered in Jesus. NOTHING else a person can do will affect his or her  future like this one single event. Now Paul wrote…

“That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Rom. 10:9)

This is where this thing is going: If this statement is true, that if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that “Jesus is Lord,” and that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved…if this statement about the single most important event in your entire life  (past, present or future) is true…then how true must it be of lesser events, too? What I mean by that, is this: that if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that you’re poor…you will be. Or that if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that you’re sick…or that you’re worthless, or that the situation is hopeless…

How many times have we proclaimed that…

“I can’t afford it.”

“We never have any money.”

“I’ll guess I’ll always be poor.”

“There’s never enough money to pay the bills.”

If you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart…wow!!! And if we didn’t believe it in our heart, we wouldn’t be confessing it…

“…For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” (Matt. 12:34).

WOW! Now that’s Jesus, himself, making that statement! And we don’t even realize we are condemning ourselves by our words! How come? Because we’ve been so conditioned by the kingdom of the world…

While we’re on the subject of money…let’s take a quick look at how it deals with freedom in Jesus! This one particular aspect of freedom in Jesus could be studied for a good long time, as can each of the others. For the sake of time, we’re gonna look at some basic information here, but try not to get too terribly bogged down, so we can move on to some other things that are just as important, if not more so!

First of all, we all know that money is NOT the root of all evil…the LOVE of money is (1 Tim. 6:10).

“Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income…” (Eccl. 5:10).

Money, itself, is not “evil”…rather, it’s a tool that can be used for either good or evil, depending on who is in possession of it and how they choose to use it. With that said, it’s also fairly evident that God loves to bless his kids with prosperity. In the last post, for instance, it was pointed out that Abraham was a wealthy man. Abraham was not, by any means, the only wealthy man in the Bible. In fact, the list of wealthy followers of God is a long one that includes Jacob, Job, David, Solomon… countless others…great men of God that were blessed with great wealth! There’s a passage in John that hints that Jesus, himself, may have been blessed with a degree of wealth.

“When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.” (John 19:23)

In today’s society, even with so many things done by machine, how much would a seamless garment cost you (assuming you could even find one!)? A seamless garment. Think about that for awhile…how was it made? Who made it? How did Jesus come by it? Either someone thought enough of Jesus to offer him this garment, that was surely an expensive article of clothing…or Jesus bought it for himself. If it was given as a gift, Jesus didn’t refuse to take it because it was expensive…he accepted it! If he bought it for himself, then he obviously had enough money to buy it! Now there are all kinds of directions we could go in here, and all of them would make interesting studies, but for the moment, just realize that however he came to possess it, Jesus owned that seamless garment!

In other words, it’s perfectly acceptable for kids of the King to have and enjoy nice things without feeling guilty over them. At the same time, we’re warned against greed and selfishness, and encouraged to share what we have, whether a lot or a little, with those in need. The gospels proclaim the fact that it’s hard for a rich man to enter heaven. How come? It’s not because he’s rich…but because he’s selfish and greedy! Wealth is perfectly acceptable in the kingdom of God…in fact, as we shall see, it’s not only acceptable, but it’s a promise from God to his kids! (Noooooo, this is not a “name it and claim it” type teaching, and it’s not promising everyone great riches…lol…it’s simply a look at what the Bible says about wealth!)

For instance…

“The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it.” (Prov. 10:22)

Now, I realize that that’s only one passage from the entire Bible, but this post isn’t about our prosperity as Christians…it’s simply taking a look at whether or not it’s ok for us, as Christians, to have wealth. The reason? So many people, Christians and non-Christians alike, think, for some reason, that having wealth is a bad thing or sinful. It’s not! NOT having wealth isn’t a bad thing either! It’s not what you have, but how you USE what you have, whether it’s a little or a lot. I really don’t want to hang around and dwell on this thing too much longer, cuz there’s so much more to learn about so many other things!

Before we move on, though, let me repeat one more time…wealth is not a bad thing. Lack of wealth is not a bad thing. Hopefully, in the next few posts we’ll be able to see how this ties in a little with the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the world!

First thing to keep in mind, is this familiar verse:   “No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matt. 6:24 KJV)

“Mammon,” in a lot of other versions is often interpreted as “money.”  While the definition of “mammon” is, indeed, money, I’d like to take a few liberties here to expand on something very interesting. If you will, look at “mammon” from a slightly different angle for just a few minutes…and if you’ll bear with me, I’ll try to explain how and where this thing is going!

To begin with, let’s look at the differences between money and wealth. Most of us have a tendency to think they are one and the same. But let’s look at it another way for a moment. Abraham was a wealthy man (Gen. 13:2). He was wealthy in livestock, gold and silver. In fact, according to that particular verse, he was VERY wealthy! We’re gonna break that down a little bit though. We’re not just going to say Abraham was wealthy and leave it at that. We’re going to look at HOW he was wealthy. Now watch this very closely…he was wealthy in livestock (wealth) and gold and silver (money). Did you happen to catch the difference in wealth and money? The gold and silver (money) made up a part of his “wealth”…but his true wealth was in his livestock.

You see, money is nothing but a tool used to gain true wealth. For instance, your money can “buy” oil to heat your home…but the wealth is in the oil…not in the money. You can’t heat your home with money! It’s just paper! Throw a few bills into your woodstove and see how long you stay warm! It won’t even take the chill out of the air! But use that money to buy a cord of wood and you’ll be warm for awhile. The wealth is not in the money, but in the wood.

How long would you survive eating your money? But you can live a lifetime by eating the wealth that your money provides…meat, veggies, fruits, bread. Money is not wealth. Money is simply a tool we humans use as a means of aquiring true wealth…things like oil, wood, food. Abraham was a wealthy man because he had livestock. He had money, too, but the wealth lay in his livestock! Now watch this…and this is cool…

God provided Abraham with his WEALTH. God created the animals and gave them into Abraham’s possession. God created oil and trees, wood and food…in other words, God created WEALTH. Now, it’s true that God also created gold and silver…but it is the WORLD that gave gold and silver it’s value as “money”…and it’s the WORLD that eventually decided that gold and silver should be replaced by “money.” Try eating a nugget of gold. In fact, make gold your diet for a few weeks. At the end of our experiment, you tell me…is gold true wealth? Or, better yet, let’s look at it this way:

“Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a day’s wages,and three quarts of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”" (Rev. 6:6).

In other words, a piece of bread will someday be able to buy a bag of gold. So you tell me…which one is true wealth? I’d rather have the bread! Now, there’s nothing wrong with money. There’s nothing wrong with silver and gold. God uses it to decorate! (Hmmmm. Here’s a thought…God uses gold like we use paint! But look how it causes human beings to act! People kill each other over a drop of God’s paint…amazing!) Anyway, the point here is this: God created WEALTH…again, food, water, oil, wood…and the WORLD created the idea of money.

With that in mind, “mammon” can be looked at as a product of the world…and with THAT in mind…let’s look one more time at Matt. 6:24 and see if we can tie this thing up a little:

“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and the world.”

See? It’s not about money. It’s about who you’re going to serve…where you’re going to live. Are you going to serve God and live in his kingdom? Or are you going to serve the world (which we already know is a lie, if you’ve been following these posts!) and live in the fake kingdom of the fallen prince? I’m not asking this in a judgmental way or in any condemnation at all! Please believe me…cuz I’m right here beside you, living in the same world you are.

I’m asking because I wanna live in the kingdom of God…and I would like to take as many people with me as I can…as many that are willing to make the journey with me. I’m tired of seeing people I care about getting stomped on by the devil…but it happens because we’ve been led astray and deceived by a world that is made up of lies…and we don’t even realize it! The thing is, now that we’re learning, we’re creating for ourselves a choice. A choice to remain in the lie…a choice to keep getting stomped on…a choice to keep being deceived…or the choice to  step out in faith, believing God for his promises that have already been fulfilled by the one and only TRUE King of kings…Jesus!

You WILL live in one or the other. You will either live in the world…or in the kingdom of God. There are no other options. Even to sit back and “not choose” is making a choice. Now, please understand…you don’t have to live in the kingdom of God in order to enter heaven when you leave this world. But you DO have to live in the kingdom of God if you want to experience true and complete freedom in Jesus until you make that final journey!

Remember…you can’t serve two masters. You can’t serve God AND the world. To not choose, is to choose. Want freedom? Then stick around a bit…we’re just getting started…

That’s the key to finding the kingdom of God. Abram believed the Lord…and he credited it to him as righteousness. God gave His own righteousness to Abram, simply because Abram chose to believe the Lord. You see, we can’t obtain righteousness on our own. Isaiah says in 64:6 that “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.” You and I will NEVER be righteous because of ANYTHING we do or don’t do. There’s only ONE way to obtain this righteousness, and that’s for God to give it to us. And He’s only gonna give it to us if we believe Him. Let’s look at this thing a little closer…

“Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.” (Rom 4:18-25)

Against all hope…I don’t know about you, but I’ve been in a few pretty hopeless looking situations along the way. Some were thrust upon me without my consent, and others were of my own doing. Regardless, the thing to look at is, like you, I’m still here. How come? Is it because I’m just so tough and resilient that I can’t be brought down? Of course not! I’ve been brought down. More than once. It’s because when the situation is hopeless…and when I’m taken down by the world…I’ve got somebody that lifts me back up.

“What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness? Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar.” (Rom. 3:3,4)

Whether I had faith in the situation or not, God was faithful. If it did nothing else, it taught me to believe God…to trust him to take care of whatever comes along (and, yes, sometimes it’s still hard!). I was frustrated in my search for the kingdom of God, because I was looking for something I already had…righteousness, peace and joy.

“The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.”

Remember the verse from Matthew? Seek first the kingdom of God AND his righteousness. You can’t find the kingdom of God without first obtaining his righteousness (even though it’s part of what makes up his kingdom). Why? Because if you don’t believe God, you won’t have his righteousness, OR peace and joy! For instance:

God says he loved you enough to give his only Son to die for your sins (John 3:16)…Do you believe God?

God says that if you receive him, he’ll give you the power to be his son or daughter (John 1:12)…Do you believe God?

God says that no one can pluck you out of his hand (John 10:28,29 KJV)…Do you believe God?

God says he has given you the power to produce wealth (Deut. 8:18)…Do you believe God?

God has promised to meet all your needs (Phil. 4:19) and to provide us with things for our enjoyment (1 Tim. 6:17)…Do you believe God?

He has not promised that we WILL BE healed…instead, he says we already HAVE BEEN healed (Matt. 8:17)…Do you believe God?

Those are just a few examples. The thing is, if you believe God, you already have his righteousness (notice he didn’t mention anything about you being perfect!). He’s already given it to you, because you believe him… just like he gave it to Abraham…just like he gives it to all of “us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.” Now you’ve got his righteousness.

Secondly, if you believe God, you already trust him to take care of you and whatever situations the kingdom of the world may throw at you. You may not like going through it, but he’ll see to it that you make it to the other side…even when it looks like it may be “against all hope.” And if you can trust God to get you through anything that comes your way, then you will experience peace, knowing that YOU don’t have to worry about it. He’s already got it taken care of.

Then, lastly, because you have his righteousness…and because you have his peace…the peace that passes all understanding! (Phil. 4:7), you have no choice, but to be joyful to be in his hands!

If you believe God…not believe IN God, because even the demons believe IN God…and they tremble (James 2:19)…but if you believe God and what he says to you…then you have his righteousness, and you have his peace, and you have his joy. And if you have THAT, then, my friend, YOU are living in the kingdom of God! The kingdom of God is within you…. (Luke 17:21)

Now that you know where the kingdom of God is, and how to find it, we’ll take a look at how to experience it a little more fully in your life. Refer back to these posts as often as you need to, because having an understanding of the things we’ve covered so far, is going to be important on how the rest of our study goes. I’m trying not to rush through this thing TOO fast, but I feel an urgent nudge to do a study on the end times (it’s drawing close REALLY fast!) and I’m not sure I have the time to do both at the same time! But it’s living in the kingdom of God that’s going to get us through the coming days, sooooooo….

Until next time, many blessings!

Now for the million dollar question: how do we find the kingdom of God? Where do we look? It’s not like jumping in the car and following the map to some little town out west….or is it? Maybe we HAVE been given directions on how to get there and just haven’t realized it! For a good many years, I was talking to God about that thing. “Lord, show me the kingdom…how do I find it? Where do I look?”  The answer, of course, was right there all along! I was trying to make it harder to find than it really is. As it turns out, it’s as simple to find the kingdom of God, as it is to receive his salvation through Jesus!

We’ve already read a few Scriptures about the kingdom of God being near…or being at hand. I think we’ve even briefly mentioned the passage that reveals its exact location!

“…nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:21)

Now, during my own search for the kingdom of God, I read this verse many times. But every time I looked inside myself, I found an awful lot of things…but the kingdom of God wasn’t one of em…at least not in a way I recognized. I had actually gotten a little frustrated (more than once) in my search, because it seemed like such an elusive place, this kingdom. How do you find something like that within yourself? You would think that the kingdom of God would come jumping out at you and stick out like a sore thumb, mixed in with all the garbage we have inside…but it didn’t. Not until the Lord showed me where to look…and if YOU’VE been searching for the kingdom of God, and having a hard time finding it, I’ll be happy to show you where it is!

The interesting thing, is that I had the answer all along. I just never had put it together! First of all, we have to realize that the kingdom of God is not a “what” or a “where” or even a “who”…it’s a state of mind.

“Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Rom. 12:2)   (Paul knew the kingdom of the world was our enemy…and that renewing our mind is a critical step toward freedom in Jesus!)

The kingdom of God is a state of mind. Watch this…

“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit…” (Rom. 14:17)

Now I knew that…but I had never put it all TOGETHER! The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Scroll back to the top. Matthew said to seek first the kingdom of God and what? And his righteousness! Seek the kingdom of God AND his righteousness. Then, the kingdom of God is within you. The kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. All that is good and well…but how do you put it together? How do I enter this kingdom? How do I find this righteousness? How do I get to the peace, and where the heck is the joy??? And all the while, it was so simple…

The “secret” is found in a single verse, way back in the beginning of the Bible…

The kingdom of heaven is where God resides. It’s the place Paul went to when he visited the “third heaven.” (2 Cor. 12:2). It’s where Jesus entered the tabernacle and poured out his blood on the altar (Heb. 9:24)…it’s where Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father (Heb. 10:12). That’s the kingdom of heaven. It’s in heaven!

The kingdom of God, though, is here on earth…sprinkled around the world. It’s a place of residency within the kingdom of the world, in which God’s kids can live until we make the journey to the kingdom of heaven. The problem is, on the outside, it looks just like everywhere else…because on the outside, it IS just like everywhere else! But on the inside….THAT’S where it’s all happening!!!

Like we discussed in the last post, though, not everyone can enter the kingdom of God. First of all, you have to be born again (John 3:3). Secondly, you have to receive it like a little child….

“I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” (Luke 18:17)

Now what exactly does that mean? I’ll try to help you relate a little, with my daughter’s help…

Right at the moment, she’s five years old. She doesn’t worry about how we’re going to buy groceries. She just knows she’ll have food when she needs it. She doesn’t worry about how the electric bill is going to be paid…in fact, she doesn’t even know what electricity IS…but she has the benefits of it at her fingertips every single day. I’m pretty sure she has never given even one thought as to where she might go to college, who she’s gonna marry, how to prepare herself for whatever job she may someday acquire. In other words, she has no worries. None.

What she has, is something many of us lack…a total and complete faith that today is gonna be alright, and tomorrow will be even better! She has not a single care in the world! She hasn’t LEARNED to WORRY! She hasn’t yet been corrupted by the kingdom of the world! She’s been exposed to it, of course…but she hasn’t spent enough time in it yet to have been hardened by its cynical ways. She’s pure in many ways…as far as faith goes. She knows when she’s hungry, there will be food. When she’s thirsty, there will be drink. When she flips the switch there will be lights. She doesn’t know all the how’s or why’s or what-makes-it-work type stuff. She doesn’t NEED to know. She just needs to know they’re there.

You and I, on the other hand, have experienced a bit of the world. We’ve been hardened a little…we’ve learned to be a little skeptical. A little cynical, maybe. We’ve learned to live by sight and experience, rather than by faith. That pure faith, for most of us, is long gone. And it’s tough to get back. But we’ve got to have the faith of a child to enter the kingdom of God. That pure, unquestioning, unpolluted child-like faith in our Dad, that my five year old has placed in me.

My daughter will learn that I’m not perfect. She’s already learning it. She’ll learn that sometimes, whether intentionally or not, I’ll let her down. But you and I have a father that IS perfect. We have one that will NOT let us down. Our problem is that we’ve spent so long being abused by the world, it’s hard to recapture that child-like faith. But its  something to strive for, because…”anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

A big part of God’s kingdom relies on faith (which we’ll come to down the road)…and faith is a matter of choice. Do you choose to believe God? Or do you choose to believe the world?

If you’ve been born again, you will someday join Jesus in the kingdom of heaven (Acts 2:21)…and that is what ultimately counts! But wouldn’t you rather spend your remaining days UNTIL THEN, residing in the kingdom of God, rather than in the world?

Stay tuned for the next few posts…cuz we’re gonna learn how to find God’s kingdom!!