How to become successful in the Kingdom of God, part 1.

1st of October

Many of the principles in the secular world are contrary to the principles in the Kingdom of God because the world is under the dominion of the devil and secular people are often ruled by their fleshly nature.

When Jesus came to this world, He lived out the nature of His Father. No one had ever seen God, but Jesus was the most pure image of God Himself.

Many of the Jews would not accept Jesus since they expected another Jesus. They thought He would come as a king and would rule over them, a king who would come with power and in splendor, but Jesus came as a servant. He was riding into Jerusalem on a donkey. He did not come with a big army and with lots of servants. HE HIMSELF WAS A SERVANT. It says in Matt. 20:28 that the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many. In Mark 10:45 Jesus went as far as to sacrifice His own life for the sins of the World. In Is. 53:4+5 we read that He bore our griefs and sorrows. He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities and the chastisement for our peace was upon Him and by His stripes we are healed.

Jesus left the Glory in Heaven to come down to this earth full of sins and sicknesses and full of selfish people driven by their own desires. He was used to be in Heaven where they had streets of gold, but He was willing to come down to poverty and dirt here on earth.

Jesus helped people all the time while He was here on earth, but more than that HE SERVED THEM. I am writing this while I am in India. Here you can see that servants or a younger member of the family touch the feet of an elder. It is not seen everywhere, but in certain cultures. This is to show respect. Jesus was the King of Kings, but He bowed down and washed the feet of the disciples. It should have been the other way around and Simon Peter did not want to accept this from Jesus, but Jesus said in John 13:8 “ If I do not wash you, you have no part in Me.” Jesus says in verse 14 that the disciples also should wash one another’s feet. In order to wash someone’s feet, you have to bow down. This is a symbolical act as well. IN ORDER TO BECOME SUCCESSFUL IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD ONE HAS TO BOW DOWN BEFORE THE KING OF KINGS AND TO SERVE EACH OTHER.

It is written in 1.Pet. 5:5 that God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Verse 6: “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.” If we are proud, God is against us. I do not want to have the Living God against me. I want His love and grace. I am actually totally dependant on it. When we humble ourselves before God, He will exalt us in due time. You might be waiting for God to exalt you, but maybe it is not the due time. Maybe God sees that you are not ready for it. Maybe you still have some pride in you or give yourself honor for something that only God could do. Jesus told His disciples that they should not boast of delivering people from demons, nor for seeing people getting healed, but they should rejoice in the fact that their names were written in the Book of Life. We are doing the easy job of laying hands on the sick, but God is doing the difficult job of healing. We command a demon to leave, but it is the Name of Jesus and His victory on the Cross that forces the demon to leave. We must never take the honor away from Jesus. Our choice is to be obedient to the Word of God, but we must realize that we are helpless without the name of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit.

I have recently met young men who wanted to serve God. They thought they knew everything and were very puffed up. They were not willing to do the hard work, but looked upon themselves as spiritual leaders. These men will never become successful in the Kingdom of God since they are not willing to start as servants. If you do not have a servant’s heart, you are not a follower of Christ. I am not saying that you are not a Christian. That is not for me to judge.

The needs of people were always the first interest of Jesus. He healed and delivered. He fed over 5000 people. He restored the dignity of fallen women. He raised people from the dead and most of all: HE FORGAVE PEOPLE THEIR SINS. Jesus was not respected for His look, but for His deeds.

DEATH BRINGS LIFE. This is a principle from the Bible. Jesus had to die in order for us to inherit eternal life. When you crush a mustard seed, a lot of oil is coming out. You must not forget that a mustard seed is the smallest seed. The same goes for us. UNLESS WE ARE CRUSHED, THE ANOINTING CANNOT WORK IN AND THROUGH US. THE ANOINTING CAN ONLY FILL AN EMPTY VESSEL.

The Bible says in Gal.5:24 that those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. This is a daily act. In Matt. 16:24 Jesus said to His disciples: “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.” I constantly hear that people want to become like a known preacher and that is fine, but I always ask if they are willing to go through the same problems, the same sacrifices, the same false rumors, the same attacks. People say: “I want to be like Jesus.” Again I say: “Are you willing to serve all the time, fast 40 days and sacrifice your own life? Most of the people are not willing. Remember the story about the rich young man in Mark 10. This man had kept all the commandments, but he was not willing to give away all of his riches. We might give some of our lives to Christ, but not all. We want to keep some for ourselves. We forget that the more we sow, the more we reap. I am not saying that we should not live a normal life. Many are called to have a family, to work in a secular job, clean their homes, cook food etc. That is not selfish, but it says that whatever we do, we should do it as for the Lord.

Paul says that if we live, we live for Christ and we die, we die for Christ.

In the world we live for ourselves, but in the Kingdom of God, we live for others.

I know that many Christians have become rich out of selfish motives and not from Godly principles, but these riches will not last long. It is not wrong to have money. The Kingdom of God needs a lot of money in order to function. God has actually raised up people to sow into the Kingdom of God. It is the heart behind the money that matters.

BE A SERVANT OF GOD AND HE WILL BLESS YOU RICHLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mother Else