The Power of God’s Invisible Kingdom!
Several articles prove that the church has lost its power to impact our modern world. Even Rev. Chuck Swindall commented that we are the least impacting organization as a church in our times.
28 % of all US adults declare themselves “Nones” meaning that they have no relationship with religion or the church. 20 % of them are agnostic, 17 % atheist, and the remaining 63 % have “Nothing in particular.”
13 % of “Nones” believe in the God of the Bible, 56 % believe in “Higher Power” while 90 % have “seldom” or “never” attended a church service.
The reason is that the mainline denomination of Protestantism from decades ago had slowly departed from Biblical truths – denying the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, the authenticity of the Word of God, the miracles of the Bible, and the virgin birth of Jesus! There are other factors such as redefining marriage and making the Holy Scriptures gender-neutral, all of which have painted the picture that the churches have nothing distinctive or authentic to offer compared to the secular world that we are living in. Many believers are disillusioned with churches and the leaders that they looked up to are abandoning the truths of the Bible.
47 % of the “Nones” don’t like religious organizations, and 30 % have had a bad experience with religious people. Even the Gen “Z” s (age 11-26) feel disconnected from the church as do the older group of ages 28-43. It is a generation that does not reject spirituality but is looking for “authenticity, clarity, more information, and truth.”
The modern church comes out as “mean-spirited, judgmental, and angry.” Someone said, “We know the gospel message itself is already offensive, but we do not want to be offensive as we teach the gospel.”
All of this is just a preface to what I am presenting – God’s Kingdom remains invisible, and the people who remain faithful to God’s Kingdom will present an authentic and powerful God to the world around them. While the visible religion and even the church have all problems, God is looking for those who belong to God’s invisible kingdom and represent Him in all His power and glory.
Join me as I explore the power of our God’s invisible kingdom (the invisible Church) that will make a powerful impact on our families and our neighbors.
God’s Kingdom is Represented by the God of Manifold Mercies!
The Levites prayed as the people confessed their sin with fasting and prayer under the leadership of Nehemiah: “Even when they made a molded calf for themselves, and said, ‘This is your god that brought you up out of Egypt,’ and worked great provocations, yet in Your manifold mercies You did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of the cloud did not depart from them by day, to lead them on the road; nor the pillar of fire by night, to show them light, and the way they should go” (Nehemiah 9:18-19). They further prayed: “You delivered them into the hand of their enemies, who oppressed them; and in the time of their trouble, when they cried to You, You heard from heaven; and according to Your abundant mercies You gave them deliverers who saved them from the hand of their enemies” (Nehemiah 9:27).
God is a God of mercy, abundant mercies, and manifold mercies. The very first character by which God revealed Himself to Moses when He showed him His glory was “Merciful God!”
God was merciful to forgive Israel repeatedly when they sinned and were unfaithful to Him, a strong quality we lack today as Christians. We have become so judgmental that we are not merciful to people. Someone said: “Justice gives you what you deserve, Mercy DOES NOT give you what you deserve, but Grace gives you WHAT YOU DO NOT DESERVE!”
In the above truth, we, the believers, have become judgmental in the name of “Justice.” We have not shown mercy or grace to unbelievers as God shows Himself. That’s why the world perceives us as “mean-spirited, judgmental, and angry.”
I am merciful because I am continuously receiving a lot of mercy from my God. The power of God’s Kingdom belongs to those who experience the God of Manifold Mercies in their own lives so much that they don’t dare to judge others but to show them what God Himself has shown them – Mercy, Manifold Mercies, and Abundant Mercies!
God’s Kingdom is Filled with the God of WISDOM!
The creation by the wisdom of God: “O Lord, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all. The earth is full of Your possessions” (Psalm 104:24).
Apostle Paul makes this powerful declaration: “To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all see what is the fellowship (stewardship, dispensation) of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; to the intent that now the manifold (variegated or many-sided) wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities (rulers) and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him” (Ephesians 3:8-12).
“Manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church!” – Wisdom is lacking in the church. Apostle Paul also wrote to the Corinthians: “We preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block (offense) and to the Greeks (Gentiles) foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (I Corinthians 1:23-24).
Both “Power” and “Wisdom” are lacking in the church to the point that we no longer share the God of miracles, signs, and wonders, but water down the truth to be politically correct and to appease the ears of the listeners. We are finding out that the listeners are no longer listening, and the people are no longer responding.
Hema shared a powerful message on wisdom from Job 28: “Man puts his hand to the flinty rock and overturns mountains by the roots. He cuts out channels in the rocks, and his eye sees every precious thing. He dams up the streams so that they do not trickle, and the thing that is hidden he brings out to light. But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Man does not know its worth, and it is not found in the land of the living. The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’ and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’ It cannot be bought for gold, and silver cannot be weighed as its price…From where, then, does wisdom come? And where is the place of understanding?... Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding” (Job 28:9-15, 20, 28, ESV).
From the above passage, man has the knowledge to dig for gold, silver, and precious stones, and be wealthy through that knowledge but still lack wisdom that only God can supply. The wealthy and the most powerful in the world lack wisdom because wisdom begins with the fear of God. The compromised church also has settled for material blessings, and the modern knowledge for advancement MORE than gaining WISDOM through fear and submission to the Lord!
It is time “now the manifold (variegated or many-sided) wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities (rulers) and powers in the heavenly places, according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord!”
People around us must find in us something that they cannot find in all the wealth and knowledge of this world – Manifold, Variegated, Many-Sided Wisdom of God!
God’s Kingdom is Led by the God of GRACE!
Apostle Peter admonishes us to be good stewards of the manifold grace of God: “But the end of all things is at hand; therefore, be serious and watchful in your prayers. And above all things have fervent love for one another, for ‘love will cover a multitude of sins.’ Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles (utterances) of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion (sovereignty) forever and ever. Amen” (I Peter 4:7-11).
God is gracious and we must serve one another as God enables us “as stewards of the manifold grace of God!”
God’s grace for salvation: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8). Let us never forget as we communicate with others that it is God’s immense grace and not the works that saved us. That same grace will save them as well.
God’s grace sustains us in our weakness. Apostle Paul’s own experience: “And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet (beat) me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And (Jesus) said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore, most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (II Corinthians 12:7-10). Let us be gracious to not condemn the people who are suffering with a “lack of faith,” or with “sin in their lives,” for their sufferings but pray and pray earnestly that God’s sustaining grace will sustain them as it has sustained us in our weaknesses.
God’s Grace Empowers us to Stand and Finish Strong: “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:1-2). Grace that abides and abounds in us helps us to function in the tasks we are unable to function with our abilities, and to finish strong in our calling!
Grace demands humility. God gives grace to the humble but resists the proud and the arrogant. The more grace we receive the humbler we become. When we communicate with the world, let us communicate with humility and with a grace that recognizes that we are not who we are without the sustaining and abounding grace that God has gifted us with to function in our offices. Then, the world will listen and respond to the power of the invisible kingdom of God on earth.
God’s kingdom is Filled with God’s LOVE!
The church is falling short in this most powerful attribute of God – LOVE!
“Justice gives you what you deserve, Mercy DOES NOT give you what you deserve, but Grace gives you WHAT YOU DO NOT DESERVE!”
We are judgmental but not forgiving.
We want God’s wrath upon all those whom we dislike without showing mercy!
We do not want God to grant His grace that He has bestowed upon us!
Most importantly, we do not show love because we have not received divine love from God that transforms us!
Apostle Paul writes: “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying (building up) of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love” (Ephesians 4:11-16).
Paul said two important things:
· “Speaking the truth in love!”
· “Grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ!”
When we grow up in all things – Receiving Mercies, Wisdom, Grace, and the Love of God – we will SHARE with others what we have received from God.
It is a simple fact that we have become a bitter, judgmental, wishy-washy, mean-spirited, and angry church because we are truly exhibiting before the world that we have received nothing from God. No one will step into a marketplace filled with just snakes and scorpions unless they want to be bitten and die there.
The church must experience the divine love of Christ Apostle Paul declares: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35, 37-39).
The Power of God’s Invisible Kingdom that People Will Seek:
· Is Filled with the Manifold Mercies of God to Forgive People and Reach them With Compassion!
· Is Filled with Wisdom to Discern but not to Judge to Offer a Solution without Preaching or Condemning. Remember to Speak to Unbelievers as You Would Speak to Believers!
· Is Filled with God’s Manifold Grace that we Have Received and are Still Receiving. Let us Have a Gracious Look, Gracious Communication, and Gracious Interaction with Humility. Remember, Humility Draws People to You, and Arrogance and Pride Chase them off!
· Is Filled with God’s Immeasurable and Unfathomable Love, Divine Love, to Speak the Truth in Love and Not with Condemnation and Certainly Without Compromise!
I pray that God will indeed draw people into this nucleus of people walking in God’s Invisible Kingdom filled with Mercies, Grace, Wisdom, and Love because these qualities of God exalt Christ, and when Christ is lifted, He will draw all people to Him.
Prayer
“Heavenly Father, I love You and adore You and bow down before You. I confess that I, We, have failed You by not being the powerful and holy instrument(s) you have ordained me(us) to draw people to You. Forgive me, Lord, as I crave to grow more in You, in Your mercies, grace, wisdom, and unconditional and divine love. Fill me, Father, with Your divine presence to draw people to You. Help me, Lord, to stand before You when You call me home, to have with me my family, loved ones, and a vast group of people I have touched with Your love and power. I desperately need You, Lord, to move by the power of Your love and grace in my generation, and the generation yet to come. Please revive us, O Lord, by Your matchless and sovereign mercies, grace, and love. In the Most Wonderful and Precious Name of Jesus, I pray. Amen! Amen!!”
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John Jeyaseelan
Global Prayer Center | prayer | 701 Bill France Boulevard, Daytona Beach, FL, USA
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