“Taking the
Kingdom by Force”
If you desire to be a soldier of the
Cross, as soon as your day begins you must fervently seek the ‘kingdom of God’ with great earnestness
and ardent zeal exerting the maximum physical and spiritual strength of spirit,
soul and body. This is what the Lord Jesus Christ meant when He spoke these
Words:
“And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven
suffers violence [as men earnestly/zealously seek to enter], and the violent
[earnest/zealous seekers] take it by force” (Matthew 11:12)
This agrees with His earlier command to
His disciples:
“But seek ye first
the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these
things will be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33)
Entering the kingdom of God
occurs as we seek the King with all our heart by praying and spending time
sensing His presence. The key ingredient is a pure heart that is willing to
spend the time necessary to enter into the holy of holies and seek His face as
the prophet Jeremiah writes:
“Then shall ye call upon Me, and ye shall go and pray unto Me, and I
will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek Me and find Me, when ye shall search
for Me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:12, 13)
The Lord Jesus gave us
His manner of seeking the Father:
“And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, He went out
and departed into a solitary place and there prayed” (Mark 1:35)
He reveals this same great zeal and
earnest desire to commune with His Father in private in order that He might
receive His marching orders for each day. It was His first priority! He went
out into a place where He could spend the time to totally focus upon communing
with His Father.
He did it all for our example showing that
He too as the God-Man went to His Father who supplied Him with the necessary
comfort and communion, and, since the Lord Jesus was “in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin” it was also
necessary for Him to receive instruction from our Father in order that He might
be tempted/tested/perfected/matured as the God-Man in the area of
testing/temptation:
“Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He
suffered; And being made perfect/mature as a Man, he became the Author of
eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him; Called of God an High Priest
after the order of Melchizedec.” (Hebrews 5:8-10)
The previous verse shows that it was during
the Lord Jesus’ agony in the garden when He communed with the Father concerning
the Cross and His coming suffering for our sin that His perfection/maturity as
the God-Man would become complete although He was never disobedient nor did He
ever sin:
“Who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and
supplications with strong crying and tears unto Him that was able to save Him
from death, and was heard in that He feared” (Hebrews 5:7).
So, as we, who are also called of God as
priests, yield ourselves to Him in order that He might make us
perfect/mature/complete as His men, we must begin our day with an intense desire
and an earnest zeal to ‘take the kingdom
by force’ and walk with the King throughout the day as we minister to
others for His sake!
This walking/communing with the King on a
continual basis can only be accomplished through the power of His Holy Spirit
Who lives within us. But, it is also necessary to be obediently filled with the
Word of God in order to be filled with the Holy Spirit as the Lord Jesus
taught! You want to be filled with the Spirit?...Be filled with the Word of
God!:
“The Words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit they are Life.” (John
6:63)
This one simple phrase from the lips of
our Lord indicates the importance of internalizing the Word of God. It is the
only way to feed the Holy Spirit of Christ the diet He so longingly wants and
deserves! He lives within each one of us who have been born-again/born from
above (John 3:1-7) according to the Scripture!
Paul also indicated the necessity of
internalizing the Word of God in order to be filled with the Holy Spirit:
“And be not drunk with wine wherein is excess but be filled with the
Spirit: Speaking to yourselves in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing
and making melody in your heart to the Lord; Giving thanks always for all
things unto God and the Father in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians
5:18-20)
“Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and
admonishing on another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with
grace in your hearts to the Lord. And
whatsoever you do in word or deed do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus, giving
thanks to God and the Father by Him.” (Colossians 3:16, 17)
These parallel passages show the necessity
of the Word of God being internalized in order for the servant of God to
minster effectively underlining the necessity of marking, memorizing and
meditating on the Word of God. This supplies the Holy Spirit with the necessary
food to harmonize those songs and hymns and spiritual songs which is the
internal singing ministry of the saint! (Psalm 119:54)
From Moses through the Psalms and Prophets
it is explicitly taught that if we expect to please God, we must
Mark, Memorize and Meditate on the precious
Word of God:
“And these Words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart”
(Deuteronomy 6:6)
“This Book of the Law shall not depart out of thy mouth but thou shall
meditate therein day and night that thou may observe to do all that is written
therein, for then thou shall make thy way prosperous and then thou shall have
good success.” (Joshua 1:8)
“But his delight is in the Law of the Lord and in His Law does he
meditate day and night.” (Psalm 1:3)
“Thy Words were found and I did eat them, and Thy Word was unto me the
joy and rejoicing of my heart.” (Jeremiah 15:16)
“Meditate upon these things, give thyself wholly to them; that thy
profiting may appear to all.” (I Timothy 4:15)
These verses are just a
sample of the dozens of verses in Scripture that show God’s emphasis upon
having the Word of God in our hearts. David’s often memorized passage is
especially important to young men who want to serve the Lord:
“Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto
according to Thy Word. With my whole
heart have I sought Thee: O let me not wander from Thy Commandments: Thy Word
have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee.” (Psalm 119:9-11)
The soul that has been freshly cleansed by
the Word of God through the precious Blood of Jesus Christ
(I John 1:7-9) is a soul that can
be greatly used by Lord! Keeping fresh accounts continually will give the
servant of Christ great power from the Holy Spirit as He leads and directs in
ministry to others.
This practice is a must if the servant of
God is to win ‘Souls for Jesus’ which is our battle-cry! That leads us into the
spiritual battle that we all face if we want to be on the front lines for the
Lord. Our “adversary the devil as a
roaring lion walks about seeking whom he may devour” (I Peter 5:8) at all
times, in all places, with all of his wiles.
But, we have the victory! The Lord Jesus
Christ has won the war with the devil on the Cross and all we have to do is
enter the battle and clean up after Him in the small skirmishes He leads us
into as we go to battle for Him. Because we are in a fierce spiritual battle it
is necessary that we listen to His voice and not be deceived.
There are many voices screaming for the
servant of God’s attention. The voice of the world causes many to fall by
seeking after things in the world’s garbage pit…it is all RUBBLE and will be
burned up in the day of His Coming. So, if you have yielded yourself to serve
the Lord you must reject the allurement of the world!
(II Timothy 2:3, 4)
The voice of the flesh goes to battle
against the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:17) causing the would-be servant to
succumb to the desires/lusts of the flesh (I John 2:15-17). If he falls to
either of these two enemies he will open himself up to the many ‘Doorways of
the Devil’. But, the surrendered servant can face this daunted enemy.
The voice of the enemy comes in varying
forms, but if we commit to internalizing the Word of God we have ‘The Offensive
Ammunition’ (Ephesians 6:17, 18) to defeat the devil for the Word of God and
Prayer supply us with the ability to effectively try the spirits and fend off
the devil’s attempts to bring us down:
‘Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits to see whether
they be of God because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby
know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is
come in the flesh is of God; And every spirit that confesses not that Jesus
Christ is come in the flesh is not of
God: and this is that spirit of antichrist whereof ye have heard that it should
come; and even now already is in the world. Ye are of God little children, and
have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you than he that is in the
world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world
hears them. We are of God: he that knows God hears us; he that is not of God
hears not us. Hereby know we the spirit of Truth, and spirit of error.’ (I John
4:1-6)
The young man/soldier of Christ will be
victorious in the army of the King if he is willing to “crucify the flesh” (Galatians 5:24) by
“dying daily” (I Corinthians 15:31)
thereby “taking the kingdom by force”. This
seemingly monumental spiritual task becomes a light thing as we draw upon the
power of the Holy Spirit through internalizing the Word of God which supplies
the faith necessary to give complete victory.
The Apostle John explains and underlines
this necessity for victory over our ultimate enemy, ‘the wicked one’ through the indwelling Word of Christ:
“I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong [in the Lord
and the power of His might], and the Word of God abides in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.”
(I John 2:14b)
In summary, it is clear
that if we desire to be victorious servants of the King of kings we must first
be in continual communion with the Father by consuming the Word of God which
will give us the sure-fire victory in the Lord’s battle for souls. As we daily
spend the time necessary to “take the
kingdom by force” through the leading of His Holy Spirit we can effectively
win and minister unto ‘Souls for Jesus’ which is our battle-cry!
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