2.The kingdom of God is peace. “Therefore being justified by faith (in the blood of Jesus) we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:1. I rejoice that we serve the God of peace. I have peace with all men. Peace is power. The enemy of peace is distraction. As human beings, we are easily distracted and lose our peace. At home, during the college football season, I will watch and pull for the Louisiana State University Tigers. When they playing badly, I lose my peace. In the past, I simply would turn off the TV and go outside and worship the God of creation. Football is not worth my peace. When someone offends me, I forgive. I simply let it go and keep my peace. No one’s offense is worth me losing my peace. Peace is power!
3.The kingdom of God is joy. We serve the God of joy. “In His presence there is fullness of joy…” Psalms 16:11. Joy is the DNA of our heavenly Father: There is no sorrow in God…no anxiety in God. There is no sadness in God, just gladness and joy! Joy is not the absence of trials or problems. Joy is the absence of defeat, despair, and depression. I have discovered that in much sorrow, there is joy. There may be weeping for the night but joy comes in the morning. When our lovely Lynne (my oldest daughter) took her life at 44 years of age, marvelous Mary and I wept a river. But the comforter came. The Holy Spirit bandaged our wounds and released great joy within our hearts. We sorely miss her but we look forward with anticipation and joy that we will see her again in Heaven. The joy of the Lord has become our strength. As vessels of joy, we bring the kingdom of God to the body of Christ. As vessels of hope, we declare throughout our nation that a better day is coming. Let’s rejoice in the great goodness of our Father!
4.The kingdom of God is not in word but in power. “For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.” I Corinthians 4:20. The kingdom of God is power to face the storms of life and to go through them. The kingdom of God is power to forgive all offenses and offenders. Yes it is! The kingdom of God is power to speak to your mountains and remove the resistance facing you. It is the power to overcome darkness and diseases, to love the unlovely, to bring Jesus to our generation. The kingdom of God is the power to stand against socialism, Islam, humanism, and the moral perversion of our nation; to engage the culture and take back our nation from the grip of principalities and powers. The kingdom of God is the power to reach the nations and win a world to Jesus; to heal and deliver the sick and the oppressed. “…But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you!” Luke 11:20. Once again, as it was written earlier, “Repentance is not complete until I see the King’s domain and my dominion over demons and diseases.” (Bill Johnson).
How to Experience or to Encounter the Kingdom of God
First of all, you must be born again, “unless a man is born of water and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God…the dominion of King Jesus…” John 3:5. In 1968, coming off an all-night drunk, I encountered divine authority. With no morals or merit, I came under the convicting power of the Holy Spirit. In the conviction, He gave me a clear choice between the kingdom of darkness and death, and the kingdom of light and life. He showed me the sins I cherished: the night clubs and drink, the party life, and the gambling habit. He gave me these as a reference point of repentance, repent ye, the kingdom of God is at hand. I hesitated because there is pleasure in sin but then comes the awful kick-back. My marriage and family were broken; my body was broken; and my finances were broken. I said to myself, “These sin pleasures are not worth it,” and I cried out, “Lord, help me! Lord, Master, Ruler help me!” I was convicted of sin, and when I said yes to divine authority and the saving power of my Savior, I was born into the kingdom of life, love, and light!
How do you keep experiencing the kingdom of God? How do you keep moving in His purity and power? First of all, it’s not for the lazy and the half-hearted. It is for the disciplined, for those who go on to know the Lord. “The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.” Luke 16:16. We must press into the kingdom. We must take up our cross of self-denial daily and follow Jesus. The kingdom of God does suffer violence. We live in enemy territory and there is much resistance because of the darkness and demons. We must take the kingdom by force. We must enforce the victory of Calvary, the blood for sin; the crucifixion for selfishness; the resurrection for the anointing; and the scourging for healing and health.
To keep experiencing and encountering the kingdom of God, you must take time out with the Lord, morning by morning. Daily, you have to sit at the feet of Jesus and experience His presence and His grace for the day. If you have little or no communion with the Holy Spirit, you have no grace or kingdom authority to overcome the darkness and the demons. If you consistently stay around problems or keep your mind on negative circumstances, you have no power to overcome. “I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.” I John 2:14.
Hurricane Isaac caused Lake Ponchartrain to flood the community I live in. In the small town of LaPlace and Reserve, 10,000 homes were flooded and the five buildings of the church and school I founded were under water. In the midst of the devastation, I became part of the staff and assisted in the recovery and rebuilding. After three weeks, I was spiritually, emotionally, and physically exhausted. In this exhaustion, I was having serious health issues with high blood pressure. I had no rest in the mind and no rest in the body. As I lay on a couch in my secret place, I cried out and these words of life came to me: “If I live in the past, disappointment and grief will overwhelm me. If I try to live in the future, fear and anxiety will torment me. So today, let His grace and joy keep me. For this I know, God is with me and God is for me.” Following that moment of waiting and communion, peace came back into my mind and strength into my spirit man and body. In brief, if you don’t wait, you don’t win. “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31. Let us rejoice, the kingdom of God has come and He dwells among us!
Chapter Two
Understanding Satan’s Nature and His Kingdom
To overcome our enemy or to be free from darkness and demons we must understand who our enemy is. We must understand his diabolic nature, that is to know how he moves against us to steal, kill, and destroy. First of all, Satan’s kingdom was and is established in pride and rebellion. You can read the description of his angelic glory in Ezekiel 28:11-15. His diabolical nature and fall is described in the angelic King of Tyre.
Before his fall from the kingdom of God, the devil was called Lucifer, the son of the morning. He was described as Mr. Music. Tambourines and pipes were in him. He was a majestic created angel that was filled with musical ability to worship the Lord God. He was also called the anointed cherub. Cherub is a being of angelic order connected with vindicating the holiness of God over the prideful sin of man. As recorded in Ezekiel 28:15-19, the Holy Spirit describes the fall of this majestic cherub from his glorious service to the Lord God. Lucifer got caught up in his own beauty and splendor. In the pride of his beauty and brightness, he became his own authority. In Lucifer’s fall, understand the principle of authority: God’s throne is established in authority! Jesus declared after His resurrection that “…all authority is given unto me in Heaven and in earth.” Matthew 28:18. Our Father sent Jesus to redeem man, to set men free from the power of sin, Satan and selfishness. Also, He sent Jesus to reconcile