The first step to get into the unexplored territory of the kingdom of God is to become a believer. How do we know that a person is a believer?
First, he is a doer of the Word of God. Whatever is written in the Bible, he lives by it. A person is not a true believer if he is not a doer of the Word.
Second, there has to be a transformation in his life. Transformation is defined as the state of being transformed or changed in ‘character’ (i.e., from the character of the devil to the character of God). Man is created in the very nature of the character of God. But when man fell to sin, he was influenced by the devil in terms of his character. That is why he needed to be transformed.
You may believe in God but still not be considered a true believer because people who believe in God are not necessarily ‘doers’ of the Word of God. That is why I said, you may believe but still not be a believer, because a believer, the real one, is a doer of the Word. It is always easy to believe but is hard to be a doer of the Word.
A believer is also an established person and a ‘tested’ one. He is not easily shaken. As a believer, your belief does not come from God but from you. It has to be a product of your personal decision. God will not force you to believe, he will just help you do it but the final decision belongs to you, whether you believe or not. You’ve got to earn this first title! Once you earn this one, the next six titles will come from God, not from you anymore. In other words it will be ‘conferred’ to you.
A believer receives his reward, his provision and his healing by believing, and his believing comes from understanding. Understanding is very important in the kingdom. You get nothing in the kingdom unless you understand first. Someone quoted “you can’t have it in your hands, unless you have it in your mind.” Understanding means understanding the principles of the kingdom or the keys of the kingdom. The kingdom can only be operated through principles. When we speak of faith, which is another word of believing, it is not a “risk” one to operate as other people used to say.
But it is a sure way to get something. People define faith in line with the concept of “risk” because they don’t understand about the principles of the kingdom. In Filipino, they call it “basta!” which in English means “just”. But there is no such thing in the kingdom. Jesus easily operated His faith because He understood the principles of the kingdom. He never risked His faith. He called the centurion ‘a man of great faith’ because that man understood the principles of the kingdom (Luke 7:1-10). What I am saying is that the principles of the kingdom of God had similarity with the Roman government and that is why the centurion understood those principles. The centurion had dialogued with Jesus Christ. It was not easy to have dialogue with Jesus Christ at that time, if you did not understand the principles of the kingdom. Daniel and friends (Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego) may have risked their lives but not their faith because they understood the outcome of their faith.
The problem with the many so-called Christians today is that they quote several verses in the bible hoping to get results but their efforts are in vain because they don’t understand the principles of the kingdom. When you understand the principles of the kingdom you are very calm when problems arise. Just like Jesus Christ, he was so calm when problems arise because he had a solution for every problem.
The principles of the kingdom of God are too much for every problem in this planet earth. If you operate these principles, you are a sought-after person just like Jesus Christ. People are forcing their way into him. Jesus Christ became man though he was God. He became like us. He operated the power of man, not the power of God which was written in Genesis 1:26 “Let us make man in our image and our likeness and let them rule.”
So what Jesus exercised was the power of man which was given by God. Therefore he had no advantage over us, as far as ‘being man’ is concerned. The only advantage Jesus had over us was that he knew and understood every principle of the kingdom. In fact, Jesus said to his disciples:
“I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” (John 14:12)
So you see… we can greatly surpass the miracles Jesus has done if only we operate the principles of the kingdom. This is the most exciting stage in any man’s life in this planet earth, when he begins to operate these principles. No more worries, no more doubts, no more fear, but full of confidence that results in peace and a life loaded with joy. He is never shaken anymore by problems or frustrations and daily pressures in life because he has the keys of the kingdom.
