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Let’s look at the kingdom of God:
Where is the Kingdom of God right now? Is it centered in the Vatican? Or in Rick Warren’s church? Or Joel Osteen’s church?
Asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He replied to them by saying, The kingdom of God does not come with signs to be observed or with visible display, Nor will people say, Look! Here [it is]! or, See, [it is] there! For behold, the kingdom of God is within you [in your hearts] and among you [surrounding you]. (Luke 17:20-21 Amplified Version)
The original Kingdom of God was deposited on earth in the Garden of Eden. That is where God placed the first Adam, who had a relationship with the Father, which allowed Adam to ask for anything he needed or wanted from the Father. His level of intimacy was that of a son.
The Father even told Adam he could eat from every tree in the garden, including the tree of life, so his basic needs were met. There was only one stipulation, just one law to follow: he could not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
Was the Garden of Eden a perfect place? No, absolutely not. Satan and his demonic angels had open access into the Kingdom of God and could tempt and deceive Adam and his wife, Eve.
And we all know how that story ended: with the fall of man and all of creation.
For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:19)
To restore the Kingdom of God on earth, the Father had to restore man’s standing before Him. Man was a sinner and God hated sin. Thus, man’s standing had to be changed into an acceptable one before Him, or a righteous position.
The term righteous is a legal term, not a religious one, and means to position oneself rightly. Therefore, when Jesus becomes our Lord, we are made righteous before God. And our righteousness allows us to inherit the Kingdom of God.
Now consider this, okay?
Because all of creation was –and still is – fallen and groaning for its freedom, the Father could not deposit the Kingdom of God in any building, location, or territory on earth in this era. None could ever possibly have met His holy standards of righteousness.
So, God did what looks foolish to all of mankind, He placed the Kingdom of God on earth within believers’ hearts.
Paul wrote about the treasure in earthen vessels, which parallels closely to the parable Jesus spoke:
The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. (Matthew 13:44)
A Garden of Eden was placed in believers’ hearts where the tree of life has blossomed into eternal life. A river flows from the throne of God to water our gardens and we can have fellowship with the Father at all times.
But in our new Kingdom of God gardens, Satan does not have access because we are sealed in Christ and protected until the day of our redemption.
(Excerpt from my book, Storming the Kingdom, an Amazon eBook.)
Thus, when people say that they want to advance the kingdom of God, it is done one person and one heart at a time.
(Continued in Part 7)
Click on to see MyGFA site.
Larry Who 
Dear fellow blogger!
Invite you to read my blog post about the Kingdom of God:
“The Bible says that we should put it first in our lives (Matt. 6:33) and that we should be preaching it to others (Luke 9:2). We pray for God’s kingdom to come on a regular basis, but if someone were to ask us: “Please, explain to me exactly what the Kingdom of God is”, would we know what to say?”
Read more: https://faithandencouragement.wordpress.com/2015/02/19/what-is-the-kingdom-of-god/
Vengaturreino,
Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate your input.
Thank you, Mr. Larry, for sharing about the Kingdom of God with us. Can you explain more about satan not having access to us? I am thinking that doesn’t’ mean we won’t be attacked? God bless!
Debbie,
Good question. Humans are three-part beings: flesh (or body), soul (or mind, will, and emotions, and our spirit (or spirit man). Satan has access to our flesh and our souls, but not to our spirits. So, he attacks believers in our body and souls, with most battles being fought in our minds.
Our Christian journey is supposed to be a constant building of our relationship with the Lord through intimate fellowship and study of the Word. By doing this, our spirit man is strengthened to defeat Satan when he wages warfare in our minds.
Sadly, most of us develop our souls and bodies rather than our spirits and end up being cannon fodder for Satan. Then, we scratch our heads and wonder why we keep losing spiritual battles.
Larry, this is such a great explanation and reply! Thank you! I am saving it and sharing it.
Debbie,
You are welcome. God bless you.
I cannot tell you how beautiful that analogy was for me! As I read it my mind was just flooded with beautiful passages of scripture…the tree that when Moses (in Exodus 15) threw it into the bitter waters made them sweet, the passages in John 4 and John 7 about the living waters, the passage in Revelation 22 about the tree with the healing leaves and the river and the throne…both the throne in Heaven and the throne in our hearts.
The word truly is alive and active. Thank you so much for sharing this.
Blessings,
Theresa
Moore to Ponder,
Thanks for your input. You have really blessed me. God bless you today.