Kingdom Living

The kingdom of God is not a sermon or a message. It's a lifestyle. It operates in your occupation because your occupation is your vocation. Many believers think the only place to work for the kingdom is a church, so they undervalue the mechanic's shop, the office desk, the insurance agency or the store counter. But a believer's boss is Jesus, and their workplace is a kingdom outpost. No one knows who will walk through the door next. Ananias had no title and no recorded history, yet he baptized Paul.

Why was a person born now, not a hundred years earlier or later? Because God intended them to manifest in flesh at this time. Believers often wonder when God will begin to use them, but if they woke up breathing, this is their time. If their purpose isn't being fulfilled, it's not because they're early or late; it's because they haven't recognized they are on time. Past failures, a hard childhood, an addiction or a difficult marriage do not disqualify anyone. They are part of the earthen vessel that holds the treasure.

In the parable of the pounds, the nobleman tells his servants, "Occupy till I come." The word means to do business. When he returns, he asks "how much every man had gained by trading." Kingdom prosperity comes to the church through commerce. Tithes and offerings were never designed to reach the world, and fishing the same pond can't yield more fish than are in it. An escapist mindset fed poverty; a kingdom mindset engages business.

The servant who turned one pound into ten heard, "Because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities." He wasn't made a preacher or given a pulpit; he was given authority because he had been faithful with money. This is the only place Scripture shows God giving authority over cities. Taking a city requires engaging its commerce, not just its churches. The servant who buried his pound lost even what he had, and was cast into "outer darkness": the loss of revelation that comes from refusing to go on.

It's common to hear of successful professionals who, after salvation, gave up their careers to preach and struggled ever after. God doesn't always call people out of business; often He saves them to transform business. Assuming the only calling is "get saved and become a preacher" comes from knowing only the priestly anointing and not the kingly one.

Godliness does not require poverty: Christ "became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich." Nor is it right for preachers to grow wealthy while the people wait for a blessing; both should prosper. Kingdom wealth begins with a changed mind, not a bigger paycheck. Zacchaeus climbed the tree a dishonest tax collector and came down a repentant man who knew what to do with his money. Sowing into every ministry that asks doesn't guarantee a harvest. Sow where God planted you, and pay your debts.

David was anointed three times, and his anointings map onto the tabernacle. The prophetic anointing (outer court) is the spirit of prophecy, the testimony of Jesus that comes when someone moves from darkness into light. The priestly anointing (Holy Place) is ministry among the candlesticks and showbread, where much of the church stops. The kingly anointing (Holy of Holies) is dominion and glory, an anointing that brings resources. It was fifteen years from Samuel's oil to the crown at Hebron: years of being hunted, leading six hundred rough men, pouring out water from Bethlehem's well as an offering, and encouraging himself in the Lord when everything was lost.

In the second dimension, prayer centers on "bless me, heal me, fill me, supply my need." But "my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory," and glory is the third dimension. "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness" (right order and alignment), "and all these things shall be added." Lay down your life and say, "Let the blessing come through me." Water can't flow through a pipe without the inside getting wet. Health, love and money flowing through a yielded life bless that life on the way. God withholds abundance from many because they've never committed to letting it pass through.

The fearful servant called his master "an austere man": hard, determined, unmovable. This isn't a picture of an angry God. It's a picture of a God so loving and so intent on each person's destiny that He won't let even them change His mind about who He knows they are. "I know the thoughts that I think toward you." God has made up His mind to establish His kingdom in the earth, a kingdom that reaches the world, and He is like an employment agency looking for candidates.

Many want a new level just to escape the current one. But no one advances to the next grade without passing the final exam. The job you resent may be where you're being tested, being shaped, or placed for someone who needs to hear about the kingdom. The real blessing isn't the emotional high at a service's end. It's the seed planted by the word that grows into new life, with the labor pains that birth always brings. When hardship comes, the kingdom response is to stop questioning God and pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done." Promotion comes from God.