ENFORCING THE KINGDOM 2
(week 19/11)
OLUBI JOHNSON
In our article last week, we saw that the Kingdom of God was the dominion of God in our wills, minds, emotions, bodies and circumstances to enable us have right doing, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. We also saw that this dominion has to be enforced.
This week, we will see how to enforce the Kingdom.
How then do we enforce the Kingdom?
By diligent use of the weapons of our warfare: the blood, the Word and the power of the Holy Spirit.
Revelation 12:11 NKJV: And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
We use our spiritual weapons like soldiers use guns: they clean them, they load them with bullets and then they fire them to kill or overcome their enemies.
So we ‘clean’ our hearts frequently (at least once every 6 hours (Dt. 6:7, Mk. 13:35) throughout the day by the blood of Jesus by confessing our sins:
1John 1:7-9 MKJV: But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. (8) If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (9) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
We ‘load’ our hearts with the life of God using the name of Jesus and the Word of God:
John 6:63 NKJV: It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
2Peter 1:4 NKJV: by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
John 20:31MKJV: But these are written so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you might have life in His name.
Then we ‘fire’ by the spirit by praying frequently, effectually and fervently in tongues with all kinds of prayer and travail:
1Corinthians 14:2 KJV: For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; howbeit in the Spirit he speaketh mysteries.
Ephesians 6:18 MKJV: praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching to this very thing with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.
James 5:16 AMP: Confess to one another therefore your faults (your slips, your false steps, your offenses, your sins) and pray [also] for one another, that you may be healed and restored [to a spiritual tone of mind and heart]. The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].
As we diligently practice these things we will pull down strongholds, cast down imaginations and bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ and so enforce the Kingdom in our lives and those in our sphere of operation.
2Corinthians 10:4-5 AMP: For the weapons of our warfareare not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds, (5) [Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One),
A good example of this is what Esther and Mordecai did in Persia: by fasting and prayer they released sufficient spiritual power to bring the thoughts of King Ahasuerus and Haman to the obedience of Christ: to align with God’s will for the situation: causing Esther to find favour with the King, Mordecai to be honoured by the King and Haman to be humiliated and subsequently destroyed by the King (Esther 4-6).
Later on we see Esther and Mordecai ruling Persia with the King’s permission: causing God’s will for the Jews in Persia to be done on earth as it was in heaven:
Esther 8:7-8 AMP: Then the King Ahasuerus said to Queen Estherand to Mordecai the Jew, Behold, I have given Esther the house of Haman, and him they have hanged upon the gallows because he laid his hand upon the Jews. (8) Write also concerning the Jews as it pleases you in the king’s name, and seal it with the king’s [signet] ring–for writing which is in the king’s name and sealed with the king’s ring no man can reverse.
So in Persia for Mordecai, Esther and all the Jews we see God answering the prayer the Lord Jesus taught us to pray in the New Testament:
Luke 11:1-2 AMP: THEN HE was praying in a certain place; and when He stopped, one of His disciples said to Him, Lord, teach us to pray, [just] as John taught his disciples. (2) And He said to them, when you pray, say: Our Father Who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name, Your kingdom come. Your will be done [held holy and revered] on earth as it is in heaven.
So by using the weapons of our warfare in the same way we can and should enforce the Kingdom in every area of our lives: will, mind, emotions for righteousness, peace and joy; physical bodies: for healing and health; finances for material prosperity; and good, godly governments in our nations (Hebrews 11.33).
