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Posted: 11/06/2009 at 2:25pm
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The Kingdom of God is a Kingdom of increase
By Charles Newbold
Isaiah 9:7 “Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of YAHVEH of hosts will perform this.”
John 3:30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.” John 3:30.
1 Corinthians 3:6-7 “I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that plants anything, neither he that waters; but God that gives the increase.”
2 Corinthians 9:10 “Now he that ministers seed to the sower both ministers bread for your food, and multiplies your seed sown, and increases the fruits of your righteousness.”
Ephesians 4:16 “From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplies, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, makes increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.”
Colossians 2:19 “And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increases with the increase of God.”
1 Thessalonians 4:10 “And indeed you do it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that you increase more and more.”
1 Thessalonians 3:12 “And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you.”
As we draw nearer to the end of this age, as we surely are, we can expect an increase of awareness of His kingdom. It is not that His Kingdom is increasing, but that our awareness of His Kingdom is increasing. He is causing the increase because He is a God of increase.
This principle applies: As He increases, we must of necessity decrease. We turn from self-fixation to fixing our eyes upon Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Heb. 12:2 (NAS). As His kingdom reality increases, the whole world around us decreases in importance to us.
We shall first become increasingly aware of His government. “And the increase of His government and peace” is upon us…and of His government and peace “there shall be no end.” His government is His Kingdom.
We will not find it surprising, therefore, as the days progress that we will experience a heightening of the awareness of His presence, His power, His word, His provision, His voice, His nature and character, His love, His grace, His mercy, His kindness, His judgments and His justice—all that He is and all that pertains to His Kingdom.
We will become increasingly aware of who we are in Him and who He is in us that we are citizens of His Kingdom. The importance of our earthly citizenships will surely wane.
We will become increasingly aware that we really have been made righteous by His blood and not by our own feeble works, and that this righteousness is increasingly reflected in our daily lives.
We will become increasingly aware of our separation (sanctification) from all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life because these things are not of the Father and of His Kingdom, but are of the world. 1 John 2:16.
We will become increasingly aware that we are lights in the world as He is the Light of the world. As the darkness gets darker, the light becomes more apparent. The light overcomes the darkness.
We will even become increasingly aware of the sounds from heaven. We will almost hear the four living creatures who never stop saying, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come." Rev. 6:10. The Kingdom of God is coming on earth as it is in heaven.
We will become increasingly aware that He, through the Holy Spirit, is working these things within us.
We will become increasingly aware of His sovereignty. We will see his hand at work in world events. We will see His hand in the rise and fall of world economies. We will see His judgments in the midst of political corruption. We will see His rod of iron overruling the rise of false religions. We will see His hand amidst the collapses of societies and the plummeting of morality. We will see His hand in times of joy and tragedy. We will see His hand in virtually everything. We will not fear these turbulent times because we know that He is the One who has orchestrated these things from before the foundation of the world, that He knows the end from the beginning. We will see these things because our vision has been telescoped to see the end as well.
We will not fear because we know that as He draws near to us, He is drawing us nearer to Him. While we watch Great Babylon falling, falling, we will hear Zion’s call to come out and upward.
We will become increasingly disdainful of the kingdom of darkness, sin, and all that exalts itself above the knowledge of God—this Babylon.
We will become increasingly aware of our authority as sons of God to heal the sick, cast out demons, and over all of the powers of darkness.
At the core of this increase will be an increase of faith. The less we “love” the world and the things in the world and the more we come to appreciate the Kingdom, the more our faith in God increases. “And the apostles said unto the Lord, ‘Increase our faith.’” Luke 17:5. Previously, we put too much stock in the world’s ability to perform on our behalf and that has always been nothing more than an illusion. Yet, this illusion gathered so thick that it clouded our view of the Kingdom.
His Kingdom is invisible to the natural eyes. We have to have spiritual eyes to see His Kingdom. Only those who have eyes to see and ears to hear will have this awareness. Therefore, not everyone will see these things.
Those who have eyes to see and ears to hear are those who have come to know their God. If we know the Lord, we will know His will and His ways. We will know who He is, what He desires, what He hates, what He feels, and what He is doing. We will be able to see Him at work in every day, in every way. If we do not know Him, we will not be aware of Him and, consequently, of His increase.
Spiritual eyes have to do with one’s intuitive ability to know, simply knowing because He has made Himself and His ways known and we have made ourselves knowledgeable of Him and His ways.
Most of all, we will have an increased awareness of His voice. He is Spirit; therefore, He speaks Spirit to spirit. It is the-Spirit-itself-bears-witness-with-our-spirit kind of a thing! Rom. 8:16.
We will have an increased “witness;” that is, we will know more clearly what He is saying to us. And we will have greater confidence in Him to perform His word, knowing that we have heard from the Almighty. “My sheep know My voice.” We must know that He wants more than anything to communicate with us as Father to His sons.
It is time for us to stop doing all the talking when we pray and do far more listening. Listening is a major part of an effective prayer life. Listen, because He is talking. Listen! For there is indeed an increase of His voice (His word) today for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear.
I, the messenger, am becoming increasingly aware that of the increase of these things of which we will become increasingly aware there shall be no end.
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Topic: The Kingdom of God is a Kingdom of increase
