The Kingdom of God is a Family, Governed by the Father

Proverbs 18:1-2 A man who isolates himself seeks his own desire; He rages against all wise judgment. 2 A fool has no delight in understanding, But in expressing his own heart. NJKV

The nature of the Kingdom of God is the very nature of a family. The Father is birthing and raising sons in His own image to represent His Glory accurately and to carry out His family business with joy and responsibility.

He is not raising fools!

A man who isolates himself seeks his own desires – not The Father’s desires. We get into trouble when we operate in life making unilateral decisions as we isolate ourselves and endeavor to insulate ourselves from God’s principles and ways. One of God’s primary principles in His Kingdom is actually quite simple – His Kingdom belongs to Him and He governs His Kingdom through the heart of The Everlasting Father. The Kingdom of God has nothing to do with isolationism and unilateral decisions. The scripture clearly declares that an isolationist seeks his own desires and he rages against all wise judgments, all wise counsel. God establishes His Kingdom Order in the way He establishes it – for a very good reason – His ways are the best ways! How do I know this? The Bible Tells Me So !

He wants His sons to grow up into the very image of the perfect son, Jesus Christ. Jesus loves what the Father loves and hates what the Father hates. Make no mistake about it dear friend, God loves righteousness and He hates sin and iniquity. He loves obedience and He hates rebellion. The word isolate or separate in this scripture gives the picture of someone who refuses submission and breaks through all restraints, at all cost, to gain the supposed freedom instituted by rebellion. The isolationist believes a lie! The truth is that rebellion cannot ever produce real freedom. True freedom comes through submission to the Father by surrendering all rights to Him and His ways. We are literally called to submit to God, His Word, His Will and His Presence in absolute surrender! We bow the knee, we surrender our human agendas and pursuits, in exchange for His Will, His Ways and His Presence in our lives!

Paul bowed his knee to the Father of the Lord Jesus Christ to enter into the divine purposes of God’s will for his life. We are commanded in Romans 12:1-2 to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to The Father. This is holy and acceptable to Him; this is our reasonable service – the least we can do. The meaning is that the first priority given to each of us is absolute surrender to The Father and His will! As we obey this command, we are transformed and conformed to His Image – the Image of Christ Jesus and, we model or manifest the glory of God on earth through His surrendered life within. God wants us to understand His Heart and His Ways of performing His Will. We will talk about these ways in subsequent articles. Suffice it to say that the first step is to simply surrender to Him and His wise counsel as Father God!

The person who isolates himself is on the fast track to seeking the desire of every human being not in submission to The Father – that desire is rebellion and independence. The life governed by self will is simply a life of arrogance. These are strong words, I understand, but it is the truth. Why do I know this? The Bible tells me so! The writer of Proverbs goes on to say, “ A fool has no delight in understanding, But in expressing his own heart.” We live in a generation, a foolish generation that is in love with itself and enjoying an illicit affair with human rights and human opinions. A fool delights in his own opinion and the joy of expressing his own opinion is an even greater delight – he hates true understanding.

God is calling us to Repent – He is calling us to think differently. Why? We are called to repent and think differently because His Kingdom is here – now. His Kingdom is accessible and He desires sons conformed to the perfect image of Jesus Christ … A son who simply says, “ Not my will, but Thine be done”!

Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. NKJV

Jesus is knocking and calling out … who will hear Him?

Even more importantly, who will open the door for Him to come in?

Pastors, will you open the door of your congregation to Him?

Will you let Him enter and enjoy the reward of His suffering, by setting a table before you for a heavenly meal of fellowship?

Behold, I stand at the door and knock …. Open the door!