Some Kingdom Principles

In the last post we started our journey toward becoming more observant to what God is attempting to communicate to us through the circumstances of life. Before we go too deep into specifics we should take a minute and consider a few foundational principles of how God goes about bringing understanding and growth into our lives.

You might ask; why is this so important?  The point is, so many of us have become totally dependent upon the teachings and "words" of pastors, teachers, and prophets.  I am absolutely convinced that this is one of the biggest problems in our modern churches.  As teachers we should be helping others learn how to communicate  with God on their own.  Isn't this the principle that parents apply to their own children?  How many parents would be happy feeding and taking care of their children for life?  Why is it then that we have created a system where spiritual parents are content feeding and "parenting" their spiritual children for life?

As we move toward becoming spiritually mature adults, we must remember that Kingdom Principles are usually 180 degrees opposite our typical human perspective. I am sure we could all list some examples but lets name a few.

• The world tells us that if we are selfish and "take care of number one" we will have the greatest satisfaction in life. On the other hand, God tells us that when we lay down our lives for others we experience the greatest sense of love. Since nothing could give us greater pleasure than being filled with love, we come to understand selfless is fulfilling while selfish is empty. 
• Some of us have been told that it is the man's responsibility to provide for and protect his wife and family. This puts a huge burden on men and actually puts them into the position of being "God" to their wife and children. Isn't it true that in the big picture of things, the man can never be held fully responsible for providing for or protecting his loved ones. Instead, our greatest role in the lives of our family is to lead them to trusting God for their provision and protection. As men move toward this understanding we become free to work hard, do the best we can, and trust God to be God. If our wives and children come into this same understanding, we work together through the circumstances of life understanding that ultimately God is in control and has us right where He wants us in our journey toward unity with Him and others. 

With a few examples behind us let's look at the form of teaching and learning that we have all come to know and understand. According to the worlds systems teaching is brought about as the one with the greater knowledge shares the knowledge, understanding, and skills with the student. In this process the student learns and grows. Since we know that Kingdom Principles are almost always 180 degrees opposite worldly principles, we have to ask; how would we expect God to grow people toward greater knowledge? Would it make sense that God would design a system where the student would teach the teacher? Just the thought of that makes no sense at all. Since it makes no sense to our logical minds we must be onto something. I know that sounds crazy, but it really is true.  If we want to discover the mystery of these things we must step out of the box created by the world's systems and our flesh based logic.

Here are the biblical principles that help us come into an understanding of exactly how God's system of learning works. First of all, the entire foundation of the New Testament is that revelation is given by God, in His timing, and to whom He chooses. As such, we are incapable of "teaching" anyone anything.  All we can do is present information.  If their eyes are to be opened and understanding granted, it comes through the work of the Holy Spirit.  Secondly, in the scriptures shared in the last blog, we see that God brings hardship upon the student as the result of the transgressions of the teacher. Because we know that God loves us, we must ask Him why He would do such a thing. The truth is, true teachers care deeply for their students. When a student goes astray a true teacher will search their heart and soul in a desire to see what they did wrong, what they would do different, and how they could go about helping the student get back on track. In the teacher's time of prayer over these things the Holy Spirit will grow the teacher, the teacher will be refined, and the teacher will become more Christ like. As the teacher grows God releases revelation to the student and both teacher and student grow. As Christ's ambassadors to the world we must accept that we were chosen by God to be the "teachers" for the world, and all those hurt and lost people, well, they are our "students".

With this understanding we start looking at all their dysfunction a little different.  How many of us are willing to look at what they are doing, how are they acting, and where is God attempting to grow us closer toward Him as we look at the pain of their lives? I encourage you to take a minute and share some of what you see going on in the world around us and ask what God might be trying to tell us through it.

Let's challenge each other to come together in unity and explore your questions together.  As the Body of Christ this is what we should be doing; this is what we need to be doing.  Are you willing to post a simple statement back?  To challenge other Christians to throw in on what God might be trying to tell us?  Here are some examples we could start with:  Abortion, Gay rights, war, persecution, removing prayer from the schools,......  Let's challenge each other and see what we can find.  Remember, we are looking inward, not outward.  This isn't about them.  This is about us.

Didn't God tell us that when "His people repent and return to His ways, He will heal their land".  If we want God to heal our land we need to start thinking like He thinks.  It starts with asking, "Dear God, what are you asking us to repent of?"

God bless and I look forward to some great discussions.