WORDTIPS: KINGDOM SIGHTED
I would like to bring 3 verses from the Bible for us to know clearly about the beginning and the end of our lives.
i) He chose us even before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4).
ii) God says that He knew us before He formed us in the womb (Jeremiah 1:5).
iii) There is a kingdom that He is preparing for us from the foundation of the world (Matthew 25:34).
From point (i) we can infer that we are not new to God. Maybe we were new to the world, our parents and society. But even before the world was founded, we were in the thoughts of our Creator.
From point (ii) we should know that it was God who gave us a physical form and sent us into the world. Is it a permanent place? No, everyone on earth knows that our life on earth is very temporal. None on earth, no matter how wise and talented he is, can confidently say that he can live life for this much years. It is God who sent us to this world and He knows how long we’re going to live here.
From point (iii) we come to a conclusion that our life is not going to end just here on earth as we die, but we have an eternal habitation prepared for us, which was planned by God at the foundation of the world.
So, everyone to whom I am addressing, we are on point (ii), that is we were in the thoughts of God. Now, He has given us a physical form which is very temporal and we are marching towards an eternal habitation.
Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:1-10, says that our physical body is like a perishable tent, in which we are burdened and groaning. There is a heavenly abode waiting for us which we are now wearing on us so that we don’t feel naked. Only when we are clothed with the heavenly dwelling, this mortal being will be swallowed up by life. God has given us the Holy Spirit as a deposit to guarantee what is to come. So, we are called to live by faith and not by sight, pleasing God always, knowing that we are going to stand before the judgment seat of God for anything good or bad that we did.
So, today let us focus on what to see and what not to see as kingdom citizens. We are to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). Faith is the assurance of what we hope for and the certainty of what we don’t see (Hebrews 11:1). We fix our eyes not on the things we see but on the unseen. For all that we see – even our afflictions, our failures, our shames and reproaches are temporal and all that we have not seen but have been promised by God are permanent (2 Corinthians 4:17-18).
AFFAIRS NOT TO NOTICE:
1. BEWARE OF FOOD-TRAP
Food was the first bait that man was caught into. All along the Scripture we see people fighting for it – Esau for the red pottage, Rachel for the mandrakes, apostles in serving food, etc.
Every tree in Eden was pleasant to the eyes and good for food (Genesis 2:9). But Satan induced Eve to eat on what God had forbidden, and now that very tree seemed good for food and pleasant to the eyes to Eve (Genesis 3:6). So, beware! Are we fighting for food? Is food overtaking us? Are we lusting after it? Are we aware of how Esau lost his birthright in exchange for the red pottage (Genesis 25:30-32)? Yes, we will be tempted with food when we are really hungry and fainting. Even Satan tempted Jesus when He was hungry after fasting for 40 days. But Jesus overcame it by the Word (Matthew 4:1-4).
2. CAREFUL ABOUT THE EYES TRICKING LIFE’S MAJOR DECISIONS
Let us not walk according to the desire of our eyes. For God will bring to judgement in everything we do (Ecclesiastes 2:10; Ecclesiastes 11:9). Samson wanted to have a young woman of Timnah for his wife, when his parents were displeased to have a woman from among the uncircumcised Philistine. But he was stubborn in having her for she was pleasing to his eyes (Judges 14:1-3). So, they went to marry that woman. Now, Samson posed a riddle to the bridegroom’s companions, which they could not solve until the seventh day. They threatened Samson’s wife to persuade her husband to reveal the riddle to her. When Samson unveiled it to her, she released it to her people and they in turn made him known. Samson got furious and went back to his home town. Samson’s wife was given to one of his friends. When Samson came back after a few days and asked for his wife, her father said that thinking that Samson had left her forever, he gave her to one of his friends (Judges 14:1-15:2).
Let us please wait and walk according to his will in all our major and minor decisions of life, especially when it comes about our life partner, career, our dwelling place, etc. We see Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the plains of Jordan were well watered like the garden of Egypt and like the garden of the Lord (Genesis 13:9). But we know what happened to that city. The Scripture says that God has appointed times and boundaries for our habitation (Acts 17:26). Don’t we have to hunt after his will rather than following the cravings of our eyes?
3. CAUTIOUS ABOUT THE EYES LEADING TO SIN
Potiphar’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph and called him straightaway to bed with her (Genesis 39:7). The sons of God saw that the daughters of men were fair and took them for their wives and this is where we see God regretting for making men and his heart was deeply troubled (Genesis 6:1-6). Job says that he has made a covenant with his eyes and he cannot think upon a maid (Job 31:1). The psalmist requests God to turn away his eyes from beholding vanity and to quicken him in God’s way (Psalm 119:37). We can always share God even about our sexual desires. Nothing is hidden from His eyes, but everything is naked and exposed to His eyes to Whom we shall give account (Hebrews 4:13). He can understand our every feeling and help us. He is holy and wants us to be holy too.
4. BEWARE OF TAKING NOTE OF OTHERS’ FAULTS
When we look into the speck in our brother’s eyes, we are inviting God to look into the beam in our own eyes. None of us are perfect. So let us not judge others so we will not be judged by God (Matthew 7:1-5). Adam charged Eve and also God for giving her to him. Eve alleged the serpent but the serpent remained voiceless. Let us bear with one another and forgive others for any grievance we have against them as the Lord forgave us (Colossians 3:13).
5. DON’T FAIL TO NOTICE GOD’S WARNINGS
When Lot and his family were warned by the angels to God to flee Sodom and Gomorrah for the Lord was to destroy it, Lot went his two sons-in-law who were pledged in marriage with his daughters and urged them to hurry out of that place. But in their sight, it seemed that Lot was mocking them (Genesis 19:14). Let us not fail to take note of God’s warnings.
6. DON’T EVALUATE WITH THE SCALE OF MEN
God had promised to give the land of Canaan to the Israelites. It was factual that the men of Canaan were very strong, they cities were fortified and large and the men were like giants. But, none of these facts prevented them from inheriting Canaan. They saw themselves as grass-hoppers before them, which thwarted them from getting access into the land (Numbers 13:28-33; Hebrews 3:19).
7. MAN’S PRECISION MAY NOT BE GOD’S EXACTITUDE
When there was no king in Israel, every man did that which was right in his own eyes (Judges 21:25). The Word of God warns us not to do so (Deuteronomy 12:8). God likens this act to whoredom. He wants us to remember His commands and obey them (Numbers 15:39). The way that seems right to man may end very drastically (Proverbs 14:12)
8. BEWARE OF THE COUNSEL OF MEN
Ahithophel’s advise which once was like the counsel of the word of God, now too seemed right to Absalom but it cost his life (2 Samuel 16:23- 17:4). Zeresh, the wife of Haman and some of his friends advised him to erect a pole of 50 cubits to hang Mordecai on it, but it turned out that Haman himself was hanged on that pole (Esther 5:14). So, let’s beware of taking the guidance of men. We see that king Ahaziah’s mother was a wicked counselor and he headed towards destruction (2 Chronicles 22:3-4). Wicked counselors plot evil against the Lord (Nahum 1:11).
AFFAIRS TO NOTICE
1. FEAR OF GOD
The wicked have no fear of God before their eyes (Psalm 36:1). The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 8:33). Having said everything, Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes 12:13 about his final conclusion which is to fear God and obey His commandments for this is the duty of every man. So, the wisest man on earth says that the beginning and end of our life with God lies in the fear of Him. As we walk with the Spirit of God, He gives us the fear of God (Isaiah 11:2).
2. GOD THROUGH HIS WORD
The people of God are instructed to speak the Word of God as we sit, walk, lie down or get up, to tie them as reminders in our hands, as frontlets between our eyes to write them on the door posts and gates (Deuteronomy 6:5-8). We know that the Son of God is the Word of God (John 1:1-2). So, let us pray that God opens our eyes to seen the wonders of His Word (Psalm 119:18). The pure in heart will see God (Matthew 5:8). Those who are led by the Word of God in their situations are already seeing God.
3. GOD FOR HELP
Let our eyes be lifted to God, the Maker of heaven and earth for our every help (Psalm 121:1-2). Let not our eyes fail as we look in vain for help, as we watch for help from a nation that could not help (Lamentation 4:17).
4. THE DYING SOULS
Jesus instructs us to lift our eyes and look at the fields that are ready for harvest (John 4:35). Jesus sees the people with compassion because they are harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd (Matthew 9:36).
5. GODLY GUIDANCE
When Joseph uncovered the dream of the Egyptian Pharaoh and also recommended them to collect grains during the fertile years to have in store for the upcoming years of famine, Pharaoh and his officials found that the Spirit of God has His abode in Joseph. So, his proposal seemed good to them and they made him in-charge of Egypt (Genesis 41:35-38).
6. GOD’S PROMISES
God took Abraham outside and asked him to look towards heaven and count the stars if he was able to, and that his descendants would be so (Genesis 15:5). God also promised Abraham that his descendants would be like the stars of the sky and as the sand on the seashore (Genesis 22:17). God instructs Abraham to look around from where he is – to the north and south, to the east and west. He further asks him to get up and walk through the length and breadth of the land, and He would give it to him and his descendants (Genesis 13:14-17). These promises were given when he did not have even one foot of ground for his own, and when he had no child (Acts 7:5). So, even when he was ripe in age and Sarah’s womb was dead, he did not consider them but could picturize the promises of God, foreseeing the stars, sand of the sea, the lands north, south, east and west. Through that belief he received his promises from God (Romans 4:18-21). Let us also have before our eyes, mind and thought not all that is happening around us, but the promises of God so that we will have them all one day. Joshua was asked to tread the land, speak and meditate on the Word of God before inheriting them (Joshua 1:3, 8).
HOW TO BE KINGDOM SIGHTED?
i) Through prayer (Ephesians 1:17-19)
ii) Through the Word of God (Psalm 19:8)
iii) Through anointing (Revelation 3:18)
WHAT DOES GOD SEE?
i) If men are good or bad in His sight (Ecclesiastes 2:26). Noah – righteous before God (Genesis 7:1). Zechariah and Elizabeth (Luke 1:6), King Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 31:20-21)
ii) The heart of all people (Acts 1:24; 15:8; 1 Kings 8:39; John 2:24; 1 Samuel 16:7)
iii) The unfading beauty of our heart and it is so precious to Him (1 Peter 3:4)
GOD HAS SEEN WHAT WE HAVE NOT
We know that faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). We will lose heart if we don’t believe to see the unseen goodness of God in the land of the living (Psalm 27:13). None but God has seen or heard that which He has prepared for us who wait on Him (Isaiah 64:4). Let us know for sure from this verse that though we have seen things happening, God has seen them. He has uttered them and they will surely come to pass. Let us wait on Him with expectancy. He will come down in unexpected time (Isaiah 64:3). God bless you!
