A Break from Self-Focus
I believe that all human beings need a break from self-focus. It has always appeared to me that when I focus on myself, I’m not very happy, but when I get focused on a cause, a purpose, or helping others, I’m happy. The focus that makes me happiest is the kingdom of God.
The kingdom of God is the actual government of God the Son, by God the Spirit, for the glory of God the Father. To be directly governed by Christ in you and be inwardly led by the Holy Spirit is to personally experience the kingdom of God.
“The kingdom of God is at hand.” (Mark 1:15) Christians need to be trained and released to hear and obey King Jesus, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” The time and place to train and release Christians to hear and obey King Jesus is anytime and anyplace they gather in His name. When people gather to each one be governed by Christ in you the kingdom of God appears.
The kingdom of God isn’t some distant, far away thing. It’s “God working in you . . . to fulfill His good purpose.” (Philippians 2:13) It’s “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27) It’s being “led by the Spirit.” (Romans 8:14) It’s direct God’s inner government of your life!
Jesus preached the inner government of God. (Matthew 4:23) So should we. (Luke 10:9) The resurrected Jesus spent 40 days talking to His first disciples about the inner government of God (Acts 1:3) before He ascended into Heaven. I believe that the risen Jesus wants to build His Spirit-led, participatory town hall meeting (His ancient Greek ekklesia) on the rock of direct, personal revelation from the living God and give it the keys of the inner government of God so that it can bind up self-focus and pride and loose humble loving obedience to the presence of King Jesus. (Matthew 16:17-19)
The Good News of the inner government of God is supposed to “be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations.” (Matthew 24:14) Paul proclaimed the inner government of God and taught about Jesus with great boldness. (Acts 28:31) If you are experiencing the inner kingdom of God, don’t be silent. Testify about it! (Acts 28:23 & Revelation 12:11) Shout it from the rooftops and through social media. (Matthew 1027)
If you will begin to daily follow and obey the living Jesus as your Lord and King, you will begin to know and experience the mysteries of the inner government of God. (Matthew 13:11)
The government of God is invisible. It can’t be directly seen by the human eye, but it is revealed in and through people who hear and obey the Spirit of the risen Jesus Christ. (Luke 17:20 & 1 Corinthians 2:9-10) To be governed by God requires childlike humility, openness, and honesty. (Matthew 18:1-5) The invisible government of God is available (Mark 1:15) to those who will repent (surrender to and align with God’s presence and will) and believe in (rely and depend on) the good news that the risen Jesus is “the way, the truth, and the life.” (John 14:6)
The inner government of God is a hidden treasure. (Matthew 13:44) It’s the “pearl of great price.” (Matthew 13:45) It’s infinitely more valuable than all that you will ever have.
The inner government of God is like a mustard seed. It seems tiny, but if tenderly cultivated it grows into God’s mighty tree of life within you! (Matthew 13:31-32) The inner government of God is like yeast. If you will humbly receive and consistently obey it, it will work through all the flattened dough within you and cause it to rise with God’s life. (Matthew 13:33)
The inner government of God that we humans lost because of our sin has been restored to us by the blood of Jesus (Ephesians 2:13) so that we can now take it back by the force of spiritual weapons “casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:5, Matthew 11:12, & Luke 16:16)
The inner government of God isn’t about just calling Jesus Lord. It’s about actually doing God’s will. (Matthew 7:21-23) The purpose of trials and tribulations is to cause us to surrender more and more to the inner government of God. (Acts 14:22) Unless you obey God from the heart instead merely having a Pharisee-like “form of godliness, but denying it’s power,” you’ll never experience the inner government of God. (Matthew 5:20 & 2 Timothy 3:5)
The Headship of God’s government on earth belongs to Jesus Christ and to no one else. (Ephesians 1:22) The government of God is without human hierarchy. (Matthew 20:25-28) Continually surrender to the salvation, power, and inner government of God and to the direct authority of the living Jesus Christ. (Revelation 12:10) People who are persecuted for obeying God and doing His righteousness are blessed because their first loyalty is to the inner government of God instead of to a mere human government. (Matthew 5:10)
The kingdom of God isn’t a government of this world. (John 18:36) It takes place inside of and in the midst of humble, surrendered, and obedient Christ-followers. (Luke 17:21) The government of God isn’t religious duty. It’s right living that avoids the things that produce guilt, complete inner peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. (Romans 14:17) To enter the kingdom of God is to consistently do the will of the Father. (Matthew 7:21)
People who harden their heart and ignore their conscience are running and hiding from the inner government of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-10) People who follow their own thoughts, feelings, and desires are rejecting the inner government of God. (Galatians 5:19-21)
The inner government of God isn’t about words and sermons. It’s about God’s presence and power. (1 Corinthians 4:20) Live your life “worthy of God, who calls you into His kingdom and glory.” (1 Thessalonians 2:12) Always make it your first priority to live in full obedience to the inner government of God and to His right way of living. Then everything else will take care of itself. (Matthew 6:33).
God promised His inner government to those who love Him. He “chose the poor of this world to be rich in faith.” (James 2:5) Full ongoing surrender to the inner government of God brings you into “a kingdom that cannot be shaken,” and causes you to be thankful and to worship God with “reverence and awe.” (Hebrews 12:28)
To be governed by God requires being “poor in spirit.” (Matthew 5:3) It’s easier for people who are broken by their sin to surrender to God’s inner government than it is for religious people. (Matthew 21:31-32) Financial prosperity makes it very difficult to be governed by God instead of by money. (Matthew 19:23-30)
When demons are cast out, the invisible government of God is eager to move in. (Matthew 12:28) “Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” (James 4:7-8)
No matter where they are in the world, people who hear, follow, and obey the risen Jesus are living in the kingdom of God. (Luke 17:20-21) Jesus spoke about the greatness of John the Baptist and then said that even the least person who is governed by “the kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.” (Matthew 11:11)
Jesus wants His followers to announce, proclaim, and demonstrate the invisible government of the living God. (Luke 9:2) We are called to be fishers of men: 1) To catch people’s attention; 2) To train them to be ceaselessly led the Spirit and governed by the kingdom of God; and 3) To release them to follow and obey Jesus wherever He guides them.
If you won’t receive the inner government of God like a child, you won’t be able to experience it. (Mark 10:15) God wants to rescue you from the kingdom of darkness and transfer you to the government of Christ His Son while you are still living on earth. (Colossians 1:13) Before you die and step into eternity, Jesus wants the kingdom of God to come to you. (Matthew 6:10) To experience and surrender to the inner government of God is to be “born again.” It is to be “born of the Spirit.” (John 3:3-8)
God gladly offers to govern you from within. (Luke 12:32) The question is: Will you surrender your heart and let Him? People who are living under the inner government of God “are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you (they) may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9) I would love to persuade you to begin to be inwardly governed by God and His kingdom. (Acts 19:8)
Let Jesus replace your inner tyranny of the accuser’s “shoulds” and shame with the palatable heart promptings of His presence and peace that Scripture calls “the kingdom of God.” The more we seek first and learn to live under and unceasingly obey the inner government of God, the more we will manifest the fruit and the gifts of the Spirit. Then the inner accusers will begin to leave us one by one as we bask in God’s presence. “The kingdom of God is not meat or drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
