ADVANCING THE KINGDOM
(week 46/16)
OLUBI JOHNSON
Romans 14:17 NKJV: for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
The kingdom of God is the TOTAL DOMINION OF GOD’S nature and character of righteousness (right doing), peace and joy by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Now, advancing the Kingdom means increase the scope of God’s dominion from our spirits to our souls: wills, minds and emotions; bodies; circumstances and environment.
We see this truth in
1Thessalonians 5:23 KJV: And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This advancing of the Kingdom starts AT FIRST internally from our spirits, then into our souls, then into our bodies, and finally into our circumstances and environment where men can see God’s dominion.
Luke 17:20-21 KJV: And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: (21) Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
However, as the Kingdom advances it will GRADUALLY BECOME visible in our bodies, circumstances and environment like it was with the Lord Jesus.
Matthew 12:22-28 NKJV: Then one was brought to Him who was demon-possessed, blind and mute; and He healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. (23) And all the multitudes were amazed and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” (24) Now when the Pharisees heard it they said, “This fellow does not cast out demons except by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.”(25) But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. (26) If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? (27) And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. (28) But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come (or has been made manifest or visible unto you) upon you.
Matthew 8:23-27 NKJV: Now when He got into a boat, His disciples followed Him. (24) And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. (25) Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” (26) But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. (27) So the men marveled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”
The TIME has now come for the church to advance Kingdom from our spirits, into our souls (manifesting the ability of the mind of Christ: the redemption of our brains); bodies (life of God being made manifest in our mortal bodies: the redemption of our bodies (2 Cor. 4.10,11)); into our circumstances: doing the works the Lord Jesus did and greater (Jn.14.12).
The fact that the TIME IS NOW has been indicated by the passing blood moon tetrad of April 2014-September 2015:
Luke 21:25-28 NKJV: “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; (26) men’s hearts failing them from fear and the expectation of those things which are coming on the earth, for the powers of the heaven will be shaken. (27) Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. (28) Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift your heads, because your redemption draws near.
These signs and the distress of the nations: Nigeria with the kidnapping of the Chibok girls coinciding EXACTLY with the start of the blood moon tetrad; the brexit vote in the UK, the unpredicted earth-shaking win of the US election by Donald Trump; in addition to the wars in Syria and Iraq, Russian aggression and show of force in Ukraine and the Baltic states and Syria: all point to the fact that this redemption of our physical bodies is very close.
In fact the recovery of 21 of the Chibok girls EXACTLY 2 years and six months (Est.2.12) after their abduction is spiritually significant as it is indicative of the fact that the spiritual war in the heavens over Nigeria that INTENSIFIED with their abduction at the onset of the blood tetrad EXACTLY on April 14 2014 is NOW BEING WON by the Zion church in Nigeria to become a glorious church purified by the washing of the water of the Word (Eph.5.26) to be presented before the Lord in the redemption of our physical bodies as Esther was prepared and purified to be presented before King Ahasuerus as typified in
Revelation 12:7-8 KJV: And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, (8) And prevailed not;…..
Revelation 12:10 KJV: And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, NOW is come salvation, and strength, and THE KINGDOM of our God and the power of His Christ….
Esther 2:12 NKJV: Each young woman’s turn came to go in to King Ahasuerus after she had completed twelve months’ preparation, according to the regulations for the women, for thus were the days of their preparation apportioned: six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with perfumes and preparations for beautifying women.
Ephesians 5:25-27 NKJV: Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, (26) that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, (27) that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
So we are NOW to advance the Kingdom from our spirits, to our souls, bodies, circumstances and environment using the blood (Heb.13.20-21; 1 Jn.1.7-10); the Word (1 Jn.2.5; 2 Pet. 1.4-10) and the power of Holy Spirit (1 Cor.14.2, Eph.6.18, Rom.8.26).
Matthew 11:12 AMP: And from the days of John the Baptist until the present time, the kingdom of heaven has endured violent assault, and violent men seize it by force [as a precious prize–a share in the heavenly kingdom is sought with most ardent zeal and intense exertion].
2Corinthians 10:3-5 NIV: For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. (4) The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. (5) We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Selah!
