Copyright 2007 Myles Munroe

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CONTENTS

Preface

Introduction

Chapter One First Things First

Chapter Two The Danger of Misplaced Priority

Chapter Three The Exclusiveness of the Divine Priority

Chapter Four The Divine Priority Mandate
Chapter Five The Power of Righteousness

Chapter Six Righteous Positioning: The Key to Abundant

Kingdom Living
Chapter Seven The Benefits of Righteousness

Chapter Eight The Kingdom Key to Accessing the Things of

the Kingdom
Chapter Nine The Kingdom Principle of Addition

Chapter Ten Service: The Heart of Kingdom Culture

Chapter Eleven The Process of Entering the Kingdom

PREFACE

he number one priority of humanity is material

security. Pop singer Madonna made it to the top
of the music hit charts with a song, Material
Girl, that did not make much logical sense. The
song sold millions of copies around the world
including the United States, Europe, Africa, South America,
Canada, Japan and the Caribbean, and stayed on the top of
the charts for weeks.
The question that must be asked is why did this
seemingly unimportant subject attract so many people,
both young and old? I believe this phenomenon was due to
the fact that the lyrics of this simple song captured the
spirit of the age and the preoccupation of our and all
generations. Many adults who may not agree with the
personality, lifestyle, philosophy, or musical genre of the
pop culture cannot deny the truth this song expresses.
The entire world seems to turn on the axis of
materialism. Whether one lives in the shadows of poverty
of the industrial concrete jungle in the economic capitals of
the world, or sits on the corporate boards of Fortune 500
companies located on the 60th oor of an executive
building, or lives in a Third World country village, the
allure of materialism generates a magnetic eld which
causes people to sacrifice any and everything to obtain it.
The older generations of the worlds nations pursue
material goods at the expense of personal health, family,

marriages, wholesome morality and values, and spiritual

sensitivity. They build houses too big for families they lose;
buy expensive cars to drive to a job where they spend 16
hours a day; they buy designer clothing that gathers dust in
the closet; and, they join country clubs they have no time
to enjoy.
Many sacri ce their loved ones on the altar of temporary
pleasure and join the rat race in hopes of becoming the
big rat. Others purchase second homes they never live in
and buy complicated adult toys they never use.
Still others provide heaps of material goods for their
children who have no appreciation for the value or cost of
the goods, and apply the culture of use and toss reducing
the spirit of gratitude among the young. What a material
tragedy. It seems as if the philosophy of this generation is
founded in the belief that ones value, self-worth, selfesteem and self-concept is derived not from who they are
but from what they possess. Their life is measured by the
things they accumulate not who they are. They fail to
understand that we dont need things to have life, we need
life to have things.
Even more staggering are the children and youth of this
older generation. The culture of materialism is the driving
force of life for youth worldwide. The worlds of fashion,
music, sports, education, social status, and careers are all
driven by materialism. The explosion of the music-video
industry promoting the image of riches and a uence
aunted by young men and women who portray no record
of an honest days work further compounds the idea that
success in life is measured in terms of material wealth.

The success of television shows like Lifestyles of the

Rich and Famous strike a deep cord in the psyche of our
materialistic culture and draws on the hidden aspiration of
millions to pursue material wealth.
This preoccupation with materialism is also the source of
much of the criminal activity within many communities of
our nations and manifests itself in antisocial scourges such
as the illegal drug industry, gangs, prostitution, robberies,
and corruption in corporate and political regions. The
hypnotic power of material things has controlled
mankind from the days of the early Egyptian civilization
and can be traced throughout the human journey history.
Warnings against this controlling power can be found in
writings as far back as Moses and Kings David and Solomon
of Israel.
Renowned behavioral scientist and psychologist Abraham
Maslow did extensive researched on the subject of human
motivation, and concluded that all of the 6.7 billion
humans on planet Earth are motivated by primarily by the
same needs and are willing to pursue the meeting of these
needs at all cost. His list of human priority needs include:
food, water, clothing, shelter, housing, and security.
Over 2,000 years ago the greatest teacher of all time,
Jesus Christ, presented His list of human priority and
admonished mankind to consider these material priorities.
One of His students, Matthew, recorded these words by His
master teacher while addressing this subject of the priority
of human motivation:
Therefore I tell you, do not worry ab out your life, what you will eat

or drink; or ab out your b ody, what you will wear. Is not life more
imp ortant than food, and the b ody more imp ortant than clothes? So
do not worry, saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we
drink? or What shall we wear? (Matthew 6:25,31).

His admonition for humanity to move their primary

focus from material needs and place it on what he calls the
more important matters of life is a startling contrast to
our current global culture.
In this book I explore this repositioning of priority and
the philosophy behind it. I present the solution to this
debilitating possession by and preoccupation with the lure
of materialism, and provide practical principles designed
to free us all from the self-destructive and socially abusing
spirit of materialism.
Lets journey together and discover the Creators original
priority, and embrace the opportunity to rearrange our
lifes priorities to experience stress-free living above
circumstances and measures of temporal success.

INTRODUCTION

The wise p erson questions himself, the fool others.

Henry Arnold

n the depth of every human soul on earth is a search

for meaning, purpose, signi cance and value. No
matter what race, culture, language, or religion, this
preoccupation with the need to nd answers to our
existence is inherent in every human spirit.
For what are we searching? Why is this internal search so
common among all humankind? Could it be that this
common search is evidence of a common loss? What did
we lose and where did we lose it? Where can we and will
we ever nd it? It is my belief that every person on earth is
searching for what the Father of all humankind lost
dominion over earth.
Most people dont know what they are searching for.
They know they are searching for something, some
purpose that will give meaning and ful llment to their
lives, but they cannot identify what it is. Many seek an
answer in the pursuit of money, power, possessions, or
pleasure. Others search for it in science, philosophy, or
intellectualism. Some turn to alcohol or consciousnessaltering drugs.
There are also those who look to religion for the
meaning of life. In every case, the result is the same. No
matter how hard they try or how diligently they search, the

object of their quest eludes them. Despite their best e orts,

the answer they seek remains hidden from view. After all,
it is extremely di cult to nd something when you do not
know what you are looking for!
All of us, essentially, are restless at the very core of our
being. This is because each of us has a built-in drive to rule
and dominate, to exercise control over our circumstances
and environment. Yet, very few of us experience this in
reality. For the vast majority of us, the opposite is true: our
circumstances and environment control us. Something deep
inside of us yearns for mastery and ful llment that seem to
be just outside our reach, as if we were meant for a destiny
di erent than the one we are living. It is as though we long
to return to a place we once inhabited, but lost somewhere
along the way; and now we have no idea how to get back.
The majority of humans lead lives of quiet desperation.
This is, indeed, the exact plight of humanity. Each of us
is tailor-made for rulership. Our Designer and Manufacturer
built into us both the inclination and the capability for
exercising dominion over the natural order. Our original
destiny was to rule as kings and queens on the earth as
vice-regents of our Creator, the King of Heaven. In this way
we would extend the government, authority, and in uence
of His invisible supernatural realm into the visible realm of
the natural world.
That destiny was altered, however, when the rst human
pair abdicated to a usurper and pretender to the throne, an
unemployed cherub who arrogantly ascended to the place
of earthly authority designed and reserved for man. Our
deepest heart cry ever since, although unidenti ed by most

of us, has been to return to that place of dominion our

original human ancestors once enjoyed. We long to nd
what they lost.

The greatest failure in life is being

successful in the wrong assignment.

CHAPTER O NE

FIRST THINGS FIRST

THE KEYS TO LIFE

very human is searching for the simple formula to

a successful, ful lled life. They want to nd the
one key that unlocks the door to the good life and
answers the questions of their heart. Perhaps this
is why The Secret became a sudden best-selling
book even though its reign was short lived. This book
promised the nal key to life and success. (I was amazed to
nd when I read this book, that is was simply a restatement
of all the principles already written in the Bible, and the
same material I and many others have been sharing for
years. In essence, the secret was never a secret.)
If you conducted a sidewalk poll in any city, anywhere
in the world, and asked people, What is the key to life?
you would get many di erent answers. Some would say the
key to life is to make as much money as you can, as
quickly as you can, and to hold onto it as long as you can.
Others would see gaining political power and in uence as
the key to life. Love would be the key for many.
Then there are always those who would say that there is
no key to life. Life is an accident; it just happened and
therefore has no key or signi cance. The fact is, most
people dont know the key to life. This is why so many
people live tragic lives; they dont know why they are
here. They havent a clue about how to make their time on

this earth count for something worthwhile. Their existence

is, in many ways, a kind of living death, because a life
without purpose is not really a life at all.
So what is the key to life? Finding your true purpose and
living it. I know the word purpose has been almost overused in recent years and many think they understand it, but
I wish to advise that this most essential component in life
has never and can never be exhausted. Let me sum this up
in four statements that all relate to purposefour keys to
understanding the di erence between a purpose- lled life
and a life with no meaning.
The greatest tragedy in life is not death, but life without a
purpose. Many people today are obsessed with nding
ways to prolong their lives. They are so caught up with
trying to live longer that they never stop to consider why
they are living at all. Drifting from one day to the next
without purpose, with untapped potential and unful lled
dreams; this is for many a fate worse than death. The rising
suicide rate in modern society bears this truth out. Many
people, bereft of hope, take their own lives because they
nd death more appealing than continuing what is to them
a meaningless existence. Finding our purpose in life is
critically important.
Second, the greatest challenge in life is knowing what to
do. We get up every day and go about our daily activities,
but are we doing what we are supposed to be doing? With
all the options and choices that lie before us every day, that
can be a di cult question to answer. Do you know what to
do with your life? What drive gets you out of bed every
morning? What purpose propels you through each day?

Are you living for a paycheck? Or are you living for a

purpose? With each passing day you grow older and use
up more of your time and energy. Are you doing what you
are supposed to be doing? Do you even know what to do?
These are tough questions, but learning the answers is vital
to your future.
Next, the greatest mistake in life is being busy, but not
effective. Being busy is a common human pastime. But just
because youre busy doesnt mean that what youre doing is
worth doing. Many people deceive themselves into
believing that being busy all the time gives their lives
signi cance. Signi cance has nothing to do with busyness
but everything to do with e ectiveness. Jesus of Nazareth
was the most e ective person who ever lived but He was
never busy. Everything Jesus did had purpose. He knew
what He was supposed to do and did it, and that made Him
e ective. It is a tragedy to waste time and energy on
unfocused busyness because those resources, once
expended, can never be regained. We must learn how to
live effectively without being busy.
And nally, the greatest failure in life is being successful
in the wrong assignment. Success alone is not enough; you
must succeed in the right thing. Sincerity alone is not
enough because you can be sincerely wrong. Faithfulness
alone is not enough andbecause you can be faithful to the
wrong faith. Commitment alone is not enough because you
can be committed to the wrong cause. Succeeding in the
wrong assignment is failure.
If a teacher gives you a test and instructs you to answer
only the odd-numbered questions, and you answer the

even-numbered questions instead, even if you answer every

question correctly you will still fail because you didnt
follow instructions. You succeeded in the wrong
assignment, which means you failed. God is not impressed
with our sincerity, faithfulness, commitment, or success
unless we are pursuing the right assignmentHis
assignment. Anything else is failure.
ESTABLISHING PRIORITIES: THE SECRET

TO

SUCCESS

As any successful person will tell you, one of the

fundamental keys to success in any eld of endeavor is
learning to establish priorities and then living by them.
Any activity that does not t into or advance any of those
priorities is put on the backburner or even eliminated, even
if that activity is good in and of itself. Even good activities,
if they are incompatible with our established priorities, can
become unnecessary distractions that hinder our progress
toward success. A priority is the principal thing upon
which we place our primary focus. It is that thing we
consider to be of highest value and worth, rst among all
others. Establishing priorities means ranking everything in
order of importance, determining which is most important,
and then focusing our time, attention, and energy there. It
is a matter of putting first things first.
Essentially, our success boils down to the issue of how
e ciently and e ectively we use our time. Learning to
establish priorities, or to put rst things rst, is a critical
key to e ective time management. Most of us are busy
people for whom time is at a premium. Remember,

however, that busyness does not necessarily mean

e ectiveness. Successful people are e ective people
because they know how to set priorities. Priorities help us
avoid distractions, focus on the most important things, and
get the most value out of our time every day.
Success in life is the e ective use of time. Each of us is the
sum total of what we spend our time on. The person you
are today is a result of how you have used your time in the
past. If you are overweight, for example, it may be because
you have spent too much time sitting around eating and
watching television, and not enough time exercising and
being active in other ways. If you are ignorant and lacking
in knowledge, you may be spending time on aimless and
unproductive activities that would be better spent reading
books or going to school. The way you invest your time
determines the level of your success.
We need to pay close attention to time because time is the
true measure of life. Our life on earth is essentially human
consciousness residing in a physical body that exists in a
linear but nite continuum of time and space. In the life to
come, in eternity, time will not be a factor, but now it is.
In our physical existence we are bound by the constraints
of time.
Time is also the currency of life. Currency is the medium
of exchange used in an economy to purchase goods and
services. Just as money is the currency of an economy,
time is the currency of life. And just as we use money to
purchase things, we use time to purchase life. Financial
success always involves the wise investment of money to
get the biggest possible return for the smallest outlay. In

the same way, success in life means receiving the greatest

returns and bene tsto ourselves as well as to othersfor
the time invested. Every morning we all wake up with the
same amount of time currency: 24 hours. Where we go and
how high we rise in life depend on how we spend and
invest that irreplaceable currency.
It stands to reason, then, that how we spend our time
determines the quality of our life and death. How will
people feel when you die? Will they be sador relieved?
The way you invest your time this side of the grave will
make the di erence. Our quality of life (and that of the
people closest to us) is directly related to how we spend
our currency of time. We will be healthy, wealthy, wise,
and spiritually mature in direct proportion to the time we
invest in these things. In a very real sense we become what
we spend our time on. Time is a precious commodity that
must be carefully and wisely invested.
Because time is currency and a precious commodity, it
should come as no surprise to discover that everything and
everyone is after our time. Modern life is a constant
bombardment of voices, ideas, opinions, causes, and
expectations, from people in every degree of acquaintance,
all vying for our time and attention. Some of it is
worthwhile and deserves our attention; most of it does not.
How do we tell the di erence? This is where establishing
priorities comes in. Without clear priorities, we run the
danger of wasting precious time listening to the wrong
voices or allowing ourselves to be drawn in the wrong
direction.
Knowing your priorities will help you evaluate the

voices pulling at you and identify those that are the most
important. The best way to minimize confusion is to get
into the habit of deciding beforehand how you will spend
your time each day. Personally, I plan out my time and
focus for each day the day before. I have found that
knowing where I am headed as I go into each day helps me
avoid unnecessary distractions along the way. You cant
give your time or attention to every competing voice, so
let your priorities help you zero in on those that are the
most important. Let the others go.
Coming full circle, then, we see that the key to success is
e ective use of time, and the key to e ective use of time is
correct priorities. The only way to spend your time
currency e ectively is to identify the correct priorities for
your life. If you do not know what you are supposed to do,
where you are supposed to go, or how you are going to get
there, you are in constant danger of abusing your currency
and allowing others to do the same. Take it from me,
nothing is more rewarding than to wake up in the morning
knowing exactly what to do and knowing that what you are
doing is right and correct.
Notice that I did not use the word good. Good is not
always right. Many times we end up abusing our currency
because we are distracted by good things that take the place
of right things, thereby causing us to be busy, but not
effective.
God is not impressed with busyness. The only way to
live e ectively is to use your time on the correct priorities
for your life. Some of your priorities may be good, but not
correct. It is important to learn the di erence. Time wasted

on incorrect priorities is currency that is gone forever. It

can never be regained.
THE PRIORITY OF PRIORITY
In addition to helping us use our time e ectively, there
are numerous other signi cant reasons why establishing
priorities should be a priority for us. For one thing,
preoccupation with priority preserves and protects life. What
is life? Time. And what is priority? Doing the right thing at
the right time in the right way. Priority will protect your
life because doing the right thing at the right time in the
right way keeps us from doing the wrong thing at the
wrong time in the wrong way. Priority enables us to spend
our days putting first things first.
Second, correct priority is the principle of progress. True
progress is measured not by how much we get done but by
whether or not we are moving in the right direction. We
may accomplish many good things, but if we are focused
on the wrong things, we will not make any progress
toward our true goal.
If I set out to drive from Daytona Beach, Florida, north to
Jacksonville, but end up heading south toward Miami, I
may progress many miles, but in the wrong direction. I
will never reach my intended objective. Movement is not
necessarily a sign of progress any more than busyness is a
sign of effectiveness.
Its important to move in the right direction, and that
means nding Gods priority. Aligning ourselves with
Gods priority ensures that we will always travel in the

right direction in life. And what is Gods priority? Kingdom

first!
Correct priority also protects time. As we saw earlier,
knowing and doing what is most important helps us avoid
abusing time and wasting that precious currency.
In addition to protecting time, correct priority also
protects energy. When our lives are correctly prioritized,
we can a ord to exert our energy with con dence because
we know we are using it e ectively, correctly, and for the
right purpose. We should strive not to be busy but to be
correct. Our energy and Gods priority are too important
for us to wake up one morning and realize that everything
we have done for the last ten or twenty years was wrong!
Correct priorities give us the energy to put rst things rst
to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.
A fth reason for focusing on priorities: correct priority
protects talents and gifts. Knowing your priorities will help
you avoid expending your talents and gifts on unimportant
or unworthy endeavors. Most people today use their gifts
and abilities in the pursuit of sel sh and worldly goals that
have nothing to do with the Kingdom of Heaven. Their top
priority is gratifying their own desires. However, even
good and honorable pursuits can become a problem if they
distract us from other endeavors that are more important.
Imagine looking back from the autumn years of your life
and realizing that you wasted your gifts and talents on the
wrong things, never accomplishing what you were put here
on earth to do. What a tragedy that would be! Establishing
correct priorities in your life now will help ensure that
never happens. Correct priorities means Gods priority, and

Gods priority is Kingdom first! With Gods priority in place

as your priority, you can pursue life with con dence and
no fear of later regret.
Correct priority also protects decisions. Once you know
what your priorities are, decision making becomes very
easy because you understand not only what you should be
doing but also what you should not be doing. This gives
you con dence to say no to requests, even honorable ones
that would distract you from your primary focus. Every
decision you make either helps or hinders you in ful lling
your life purpose. Unless you know the priorities of your
life, you have no guidelines to help you make the correct
choice. Setting your heart on Gods priority will enable you
to choose the right course and maximize your lifes
effectiveness.
Along with decision making, correct priority protects
discipline. People without priorities usually are
undisciplined people. Since they do not know which
direction to go, they shoot out in every direction, following
every whim, going nowhere, and dissipating any possible
e ectiveness they could have. Establishing correct
priorities injects automatic discipline into your life because
it gives your life a sharp and narrow focus with laser-like
intensity. Priority-induced discipline protects you from
wasting your time, energy, e ort, talents, gifts and,
especially, your life.
Every year I receive over 700 invitations from around
the world to speak; and I must say no to at least 600 of
them. How do I choose which ones to accept and which
ones to decline? SimpleI know my priorities. It is easy to

say no when you know what yes is. Having correct

priorities takes the guesswork out of decision making and
discipline.
This brings us to the nal point for the importance of
priority: correct priority simpli es life. If you want your life
to become simple, simply nd out what your priorities
should be and live accordingly. Thats really all there is to
it. The young country preacher, Jesus Christ, lived life
more e ectively than all others, yet His life was very
simple.
What was the secret to His amazingly e ective life? He
reduced all of life to two simple pursuits: (1) a Kingdom
from a place called Heaven, and (2) a concept He called
righteousness. In fact for the entire duration of His earthly
ministry He focused only on these two subjects and related
all of His principles, precepts, laws, and instructions to
them.
He had only one messagethe Kingdom of Heaven and
righteousnessand He promised that those who made this
pursuit their priority would lead a full, successful, and
satis ed life. The majority of those who claim to represent
Him do not promote the message He taught, and many
have never considered it. It is hardly ever heard from the
pulpits or the classrooms of the educational institutions that
claim to train professional speakers and ministers to
represent Him.
I strongly admonish and encourage you as you read the
rest of this work, to take time to read the record of His life
and ministry on earth found in the four Gospels of the
biblical New Testament. I am certain you will be amazed

and perhaps shocked to discover His original message and

focus.
Time after time Jesus said, The Kingdom of Heaven is
likethe Kingdom of Heaven is likethe Kingdom of
Heaven is like. Without a doubt, the Kingdom was His
priority and He instructed that it must be ours too. His
priority was never religion or rituals, but the introduction
of a heavenly Kingdom to the earth realm.
We tend to prioritize our lives around things: food,
drink, clothing, a paycheck, a car, a house. A lack in any
of these areas causes us to become stressed-out and fearful,
and our prayers start to focus almost exclusively on our
needs. Jesus, however, tells us not to worry about these
things because our heavenly Father knows that we need
them (see Matt. 6:31-32). Instead, Jesus says, Seek rst His
kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be
given to you as well (Matt. 6:33). In other words, if we
take care of Gods priorityHis KingdomHe will take
care of ours.
The Kingdom of Heaven was the singular focus of Jesus
life and message. It was His priority because it was His
Fathers priority. It was His first priority.
And it must be our priority as well. First things first!
PRINCIPLES
1. We each have a built-in drive to rule and dominate,
to exercise control over our circumstances and
environment.

2. Gods highest priority is restoring the Kingdom of

Heaven on earth.
3. When we understand Kingdom
rst! we will
understand how to live effectively on earth.
4. The greatest tragedy in life is not death, but life
without a purpose.
5. The greatest challenge in life is knowing what to do.
6. The greatest mistake in life is being busy, but not
effective.
7. The greatest failure in life is being successful in the
wrong assignment.
8. Success in life is the effective use of time.
9. The key to effective use of time is correct priorities.
10. Aligning ourselves with Gods priority ensures that
we will always travel in the right direction in life.
11. Correct priorities mean Gods priority, and Gods
priority is Kingdom first!

Man was created to rule things;

and not to pursue things.

CHAPTER TWO

THE DANGER
OF MISPLACED PRIORITY

very human heart longs for a simple life. We are

naturally attracted to people who exhibit a
focused, purposeful, organized life and simpli ed
lifestyle. I believe this is the fundamental
attraction of millions to the man Jesus Christ.
There has never been a character who displayed such a
strong spirit of personal conviction, purpose, selfawareness, con dence, self-worth, and a sense of destiny as
this one man. The most impacting aspect of His life was
His clear sense of priority.
Jesus Christ is the most focused and single-minded
person who has ever lived. His entire life on earth was
dedicated to one themethe Kingdom of Heaven. Even by
the age of 12 Jesus already knew His life purpose and
priority. When His earthly parents, relieved at nding Him
in the temple in Jerusalem after searching diligently for
Him for three days, chided Him for worrying them, He
said, Why were you searching for Me? Didnt you know I
had to be in my Fathers house? (Luke 2:49). Another way
to phrase the same question: Did you not know that I must
be about My Fathers business? (Luke 2:49 NKJV).
Already Jesus had a singular focus on His Fathers priority,
and He never lost sight of it.
It was, in part, this singularity of purpose and clarity of

priorities that caused Jesus to stand out so clearly among

the people of His day. Unlike Jesus, people in general have
a problem putting rst things rst. When man lost his
dominion in the Garden of Eden he also lost his sense of
proper priority and purpose. In fact, all humanity wrestles
with two parallel problems related to priority: either
absence of priority or misplaced priority. Both carry
significant consequences.
Absence of priority causes one to drift through life with
no focus or sense of purpose or direction. All of ones
energy and potential are dissipated by trying to shoot o in
too many directions and trying to do too many things. In
many cases, people with no priority become lethargic and
apathetic. A dull sameness characterizes their day-to-day
living.
Misplaced priority results in wasting ones life pursuing
the wrong thing, carrying out the wrong assignment.
People with misplaced priority may be very focused
individuals, but they are focused on the wrong thing. A life
absent of priority accomplishes nothing in the end, while a
life of misplaced priority may succeed in many things, but
not in that which is most important. Either way, the end
result is a failed life.
Do you want to come to the end of your days only to
look back and have to say, regretfully, I failed? I know I
dont!
THE TRAGEDY OF ABSENT PRIORITY
Nothing is more tragic than a life without purpose. Why

is purpose so important? Purpose is the source of

priorities. De ning our lifes priorities is extremely
di cult unless we rst discover and de ne our purpose.
Purpose is de ned as the original reason and intent for the
creation of a thing. Therefore, purpose is the source of
meaning and significance for all created things.
If purpose is not known, priorities cannot be established
and nothing signi cant or worthwhile in life can be
accomplished. In essence, if you dont why you are on
planet Earth and posses a clear sense of purpose and
destiny, the demand for priorities is low or nonexistent.
The truth is, if you dont know where you are going, any
road will take you there. Life is daily and constantly
demanding of our time energy, talent, attention, and focus.
Therefore, to e ectively manage the everyday demands, we
must know what our priorities are. No matter what we
think about life, we have to live it every day and give an
account of our management.
I believe the greatest challenge in life is the daily demand
to choose between competing alternatives that consume our
lives. If we do not have clear and correct priorities in our
lives and know what we should be doing, our lives will be
an exercise in futility. The absence of priority is dangerous
and detrimental.
Absence of priority results, rst of all, in the wasting of
time and energy. If youre not doing the right thing at the
right time, that means you are doing the wrong thing at the
wrong time. But you expend the same time and energy
either way. Time and energy, once spent, are gone forever.
They cannot be replaced.

When priority is absent, you become busy on the wrong

things. If you dont know what the right things are, you will
end up focusing on the wrong things. These wrong things
may not be bad or evil in themselves; they are just wrong
for you because they will distract you from pursuing your
life purpose.
People without priority spend their time doing the
unnecessary. If you think about it, most of what we do on a
daily basis is not really necessary. We spend most of our
time sweating, fretting, and laboring over issues that, in the
eternal scheme of things, are pointless. And in the
meantime, the things that really matter go undone.
In a similar way, absence of priority causes people to
major on the unimportant. If you have no priority, you end
up majoring on the minors. For some reason most of us are
easily distracted or enticed away from focusing on the most
important matters in life to concentrate instead on
peripheral issues. Proverbs 29:18a says, Where there is no
revelation [vision], the people cast o restraint. Priority
helps us sharpen our vision so we can focus on the most
important things. Without it, we have no sense of direction
and are apt to pursue whatever suits our fancy at the time.
Consequently, the absence of priority results in
preoccupation with the unimportant. Not only do we focus
on the unimportant, we become preoccupied with it. We
think about it, debate it, discuss it, argue about it, and have
conferences on it until, by default, it becomes a de facto
priority for us. But even then, it is still the wrong priority.
Preoccupation leads to investment, so absence of priority
causes us to invest in the less valuable. Who would invest in

something that could produce only a 10-fold return instead

of something that guarantees a 100-fold return? We all
invest our time and energy and money on those things that
we deem most important and of greatest value. What if
were wrong? Unless we know what is truly important, it is
impossible for us to invest wisely. So the end result of the
absence of priority is wasted resources.
Another consequence of absent priority is ineffective
activity. No matter how busy you are or how much you
believe you are accomplishing, if you are focused on the
wrong thing all your activity will count for nothing in the
end. You will be ine ective because you did not do what
you were supposed to do.
The rst key to e ectiveness is to be sure you are doing
the right thing. Then invest your time, attention, energy,
and resources to doing it well. Otherwise, no matter how
hard you work or how hard you try, you will not succeed.
One of the most serious consequences of absent priority
is that it leads to the abuse of gifts and talents. If you use
your talent to do something that you are not supposed to
do, you have wasted your talent, even if you use it well.
Some of the most gifted and talented people in the world
use their God-given abilities in ways He never intended,
pursuing sel sh desires, indulging in lust and immorality,
encouraging sensuality and promoting values that are
destructive to family and society. Having talent is one
thing, but knowing how to make it serve the top priority in
your life is a di erent story. Imagine being a gifted speaker
proclaiming the wrong message or a talented singer singing
the wrong song. It happens every day and it is a tragedy.

People with no priority in life forfeit purpose.

Everybody has a purpose in life but most people, sadly,
never discover it. Without priority in your life you will
never understand your purpose and if you do not
understand your purpose you will not pursue it. If you are
not pursuing the purpose you were born for, then you are
pursuing the wrong thing. Even if you succeed in your
pursuit you have still failed because you have not ful lled
your purpose. So, absence of priority will forfeit your
purpose for living.
Finally, absence of priority results in failure. No matter
how successful you are in what you do, if you are not
doing the most important thing, the thing that you are
supposed to be doing, you are failing. Busy activity, sweat,
and hard work are important as long as you are focused on
the right assignment. However, they can never substitute
for correct priority. Priorities are like river banks; they
control the flow of life.
MISPLACED PRIORITY: MEETING PERSONAL NEEDS
From the beginning of the creation of the human race,
the Creator established the priority of man when He
commanded the man to focus on dominion over the earth.
This mandate was one of kingdom rulership, management,
stewardship, and governmental administration over planet
Earth. It is essential to note that there was no mention of
working for survival or food but only for development and
fulfillment.
Priority was never a problem in the Garden of Eden. As

long as Adam and Eve walked in full and open fellowship

with God, their Creator, they had no worries because He
provided for all their needs. Food, water, and other
resources were abundant, and the perfectly temperate
climate made clothing and shelter unnecessary. Daily
interaction with God, purposeful work caring for the
Garden, and exercising dominion over the created order
filled their lives with meaning and significance.
The rst familys priority was executing ruling not
pursuing resources. Mankind was preoccupied with living
and life and rather than making a living. In the beginning,
mans priority was ruling things rather than pursuing things.
Mans provision for daily living was inherent in his
relationship of obedience and corporation with his Creator
and the fulfillment of His plans for the earth.
All of that changed when they lost their dominion
through disobedience. Evicted from the Garden and their
fellowship with God broken, they had to pay attention to
things they had once taken for granted, such as food, water,
shelter, and even survival itself.
It was this tragic event that initiated the change in
priorities for all mankind and refocused his life on daily
survival. This preoccupation with temporal things like
food, clothing, covering, shelter, water, and other
fundamental needs for life has consumed people to this day
and was announced by the Creator as evidence of the
penalty of curse for mans disobedience and treason against
the Kingdom government of Heaven.
Note the words of the Creator when He addressed the
family of man after the act of defiance:

Cursed is the ground b ecause of you; through p ainful toil you will
eat of it all the days of your life. It will p roduce thorns and thistles
for you, and you will eat the p lants of the field. By the sweat of your

b row you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since
from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return
(Genesis 3:17-19).

This legacy of need was passed from generation to

generation until it becameand remainsthe consuming
priority of mankind.
Everything man does outside the Kingdom of Heaven is
motivated by the drive to meet personal needs. This fact
was clari ed and documented through the work of
Abraham Maslow, a 20th century behavioral scientist and
psychologist.
As I pointed out in Kingdom Principles, the second book
in this series, Dr. Maslow, after years of observation and
study of human behavior, identi ed nine basic needs
common to all people and cultures and arranged them
according to priority in a hierarchy of needs:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Food
Water
Clothes
Housing
Protection
Security
Preservation
Self-actualization

9. Significance1
Maslow discovered that in every culture, the driving
priority was rst to acquire the basic things necessary for
survival, such as food, water, and shelter and protection
from the elements and predators. Until these fundamental
needs were secured and assured, nothing else mattered.
Once basic survival was no longer an issue, more focus was
given to the aesthetic needs of self-actualization and a
feeling of signi cance. Essentially, Maslow was correct: his
hierarchy of needs accurately identi es the progressive
motivations that drive human culture.
Man, in his never-ending struggle for survival and
signi cance, and separated in spirit from the God who
created him, invented religion as a vehicle in his attempt to
nd the lost kingdom state of rulership and control earths
resources to meet his needs. A careful study of all forms of
religion reveals that all religions are designed and built on
the promise of meeting needs. Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam,
Judaism, Confucianism, Scientology, Bahai, Christian
Science, Spiritism, animism, humanismyou name it
they all, without exception, seek to draw followers by
promising to make their lives better, improve their
circumstances, give them some sense of control over their
environment, and o er answers to the questions of death
and the after life. To this list we must add institutional
ChristianityChristianity in its most rigid, regulated,
ritualistic, legalistic, and strati ed form, is a religion run
and controlled by men.
A second common characteristic of religion is that all

religions are motivated by the pleasing of deity in order to

secure basic needs (crops, weather, protection,
preservation, etc). After man became separated from God
because of his sin of disobedience, he began to fear that his
needs would not be met. He felt all alone and that
everything was up to him. So he began to worship gods of
his own invention, man-made deities that were at best only
the faintest shadow of the loving and provident God Adam
and Eve knew in the Garden of Eden.
This is why human history is so replete with gods: the
sun god, moon god, rain god, ocean god, god of war, god
of sex and fertility, god of the mountain, god of the valley,
etc. Man invented religion as an e ort to appease fearful
and unknown deities into giving him what he needs for
daily life. It was a way, hopefully, of manipulating nature
and controlling ones destiny. Life was harsh, grim, and full
of violence. The purpose of religion was to win the good
favor of the gods by being good to them and doing them
favors.
Another common denominator is that all religions have as
their primary focus the needs of the worshiper, not the needs
of the worshiped. Religious people always serve and
worship their gods with the ulterior motive of expecting or
hoping for something good in return. Their prayers are
self-centered, usually focused almost exclusively on
personal needs and desires. No attention is given to the
needs or desires of the deity beyond that which is necessary
to appease it and persuade it to act on their behalf. In the
religion of man, the purpose of the gods is to fix things.
In all religions, therefore, religious priority in petition and

prayer is for personal needs. Lets be honest. For most of us,

99 percent of our prayers deal with what we want from
God: a new job, new car, new house, enough money not
only to pay the bills but also to gratify our lust for things.
How often do we spare a thought for what He wants?
Religion is sel sh because all religion is driven by the
priority of needs. The promise of meeting needs is the main
reason people stay in a religion. Even when a religion fails
to deliver what it promises, its followers are reluctant to
leave it because faith in tradition dies hard. If their religion
fails to meet their expectations for this life, rather than
leave, they will simply postpone their expectations for the
afterlife, however they understand it.
There is no doubt that the chief priority of man is to
meet his own needs. The question we need to ask is
whether or not that is the correct priority for man. By now
we all should know that it is not. Mankind in general
su ers from the dual dilemma of misplaced priority and
misplaced faith.
MASLOW OVERTURNED
Maslows theory of the hierarchy of human needs
illustrates the priority of man that actually motivates
human behavior in the real worlda priority centered on
the acquisition of things. Jesus, however, turns Maslows
list upside down. The Kingdom of Heaven is di erent from
the kingdoms of men. From the perspective of the
Kingdom of Heaven, the priorities of manMaslows list
are perverted. Mankinds life focus has become twisted far

a eld from Gods original intent. Consider the words of

Jesus:
Therefore I tell you, do not worry ab out your life, what you will eat

or drink, or ab out your b ody, what you will wear. Is not life more
imp ortant than food, and the b ody more imp ortant than clothes?
Look at the b irds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away
in b arns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much
more valuab le than they? Who of you b y worrying can add a single
hour to his life?

And why do you worry ab out clothes? See how the lilies of the eld
grow. They do not lab or or sp in. Yet I tell you that not even
Solomon in all his sp lendor was dressed like one of these. If that is
how God clothes the grass of the eld, which is here today and
tomorrow is thrown into the re, will he not much more clothe you,
O you of little faith? (Matthew 6:25-30)

Notice that the rst thing Jesus says is, Dont worry
about your life. Yet that is exactly what we do. Our days
are lled with worries about the very things Jesus said we
should not worry about: food, drink, clothingall the basic
necessities of life. Our every waking moment is lled with
thoughts and worries about how to get ahead and stay
ahead.
In our world today most people approach life in one of
two ways: either they work to live or they live to work.
Jesus said that both approaches are wrong. He said, Is not
life more important than food, and the body more
important than clothes?
There is more to life than working, even to acquire basic

necessities. Work is important, but it does not or should

not de ne us. Our life priority and purpose do not center
on work. This is important to know because if we miss our
true priority in life, we will miss our true purpose in life.
Jesus said, Do not worry. Worry is the most useless
exercise in the world. Why? Because it doesnt change
anything. Most of us spend our time worrying either about
things that will never happen or about things that we
cannot change. Either way, worrying is pointless. Worry
changes nothing, yet it consumes our energy, time, talents,
our gifts, our wisdom, and our knowledge. It even
consumes our imagination.
The only thing worry contributes is to make us sick.
Studies have identi ed worry-related stress as the number
one cause of high blood pressure and cardiovascular
disease. Stress causes veins and arteries to constrict,
hindering blood ow, causing the blood to back up toward
the heart, thus increasing pressure on the heart. This
elevates the risk of heart attack and stroke. Worry gets us
nowhere. It simply isnt worth our time or trouble.
We worry because we have misplaced priorities, which
cause us then to have misplaced faith. Look at the two
examples Jesus gave: the birds of the air and the lilies of
the eld. The birds do not sow or reap or store away food,
yet they never go hungry. Likewise, the lilies of the eld
do not spin fabric and make clothing, yet they are dressed
in beauty and elegance that not even King Solomon could
match.
Why? Because God Himself feeds the birds and dresses
the owers. Notice that Jesus said of the birds, your

heavenly Father feeds them. He did not say, their

heavenly Father. Our heavenly Father is the same one who
takes care of the birds of the air and the lilies of the eld.
The word Father (abba in Hebrew) means source and
sustainer. So the phrase could read, your heavenly
Source and Sustainer feeds them. Jesus question to us,
then, is, If your heavenly Source and Sustainer takes care
of the birds and the lilies, which are here today and gone
tomorrow, dont you think He will take care of you, too?
Our problem today is that we have misplaced our faith.
We have changed our source. Instead of looking to our
heavenly Father, we look either to ourselves or to someone
else (parent, spouse, employer, government) to sustain us.
After all, since we live in a dog-eat-dog, every-man-forhimself world, we have to ght, scrape and scramble for
everything we can get and then hold onto it with a whiteknuckled grip. Right?
That is the priority and mind-set of the world, not of the
Kingdom of Heaven! Who is your source? If you are
looking to anyone other than God the Father and King of
Heaven as your source, that may explain why you are
struggling and why your life just wont come together. If,
on the other hand, you make God your source, then He
calls the shots. And if He calls the shots, He pays the bills!
PAGANISM IS ALIVE

AND

W ELL

Any religion that focuses on the acquisition of things and

the meeting of personal needs is a religion of pagans. Look
again at what Jesus said:

So do not worry, saying, What shall we eat? or What shall we

drink? or What shall we wear? For the p agans run after all these
things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek

rst His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will b e
given to you as well. Therefore do not worry ab out tomorrow, for
tomorrow will worry ab out itself. Each day has enough troub le of
its own (Matthew 6:31-34).

According to Jesus, always running after and being

preoccupied with the acquisition of things and the
satisfying of basic necessities is the activity of pagans.
Based on that de nition, I would have to say that paganism
is alive and well in our world today. As a matter of fact,
one of the largest gatherings of pagans takes places every
Sunday (or Saturday, in the case of Seventh-Day Adventist
churches) when the communities known as the church of
Jesus Christ gather for worship.
We claim to believe God and trust Him, but our daily
lives and the concerns that ll our thoughts reveal that
most of us do not. We give lip service to Gods provision,
yet we work for food, drink, clothing, shelter, and other
things as if it all depends on us. And working for those
things becomes the center of our existence and the top
priority of our lives. We work hard but we dont spend
time with God. A couple of hours a week pretending to
worship, and thats it. Our preoccupation with material
things, satisfying basic needs and getting ahead in the
world is nothing other than pagan behavior. Those who
truly know the God of Heaven as their Source and Supplier
do not have these concerns because they are con dent that

He has taken care of them.

It is important at this point to understand what we mean
by the word pagan. Contrary to what many people may
assume, most pagans are not atheists; nor are they, usually,
evil people. On the contrary, pagans are highly religious.
The word pagan, in fact, refers to worshipers. It refers to
people who worship a god other than the one true and
living God as revealed in the Bible. An equivalent word to
pagan is idolater. Pagans, then, are religious devotees,
often highly zealous adherents to a speci c system of
beliefs and rigidly faithful to a strict set of customs and
rituals. The concept of a personal, loving God who cares
deeply about them is completely alien to pagans. God,
however they conceive him (or her) to be, is a distant,
often harsh deity who must be appeased and persuaded to
help them. The thought of loving such a god is
incomprehensible.
Jesus said that only religious peoplepagansrun after
the basic needs of life. So if food, drink, clothing, money,
car, house and other material things are your priorities,
then you are thinking and acting like a pagan, no matter
what you claim to believe.
We need a complete change of focus. It is time for us to
stop living according to Maslows hierarchy of needs and
start living by the principles and priorities of the Kingdom
of Heaven. Jesus turned Maslow upside down and then
gave us the correct perspective: But seek first His [Gods]
kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be
given to you as well (Matt. 6:33, emphasis added). They
will be given. That means that we do not have to work for

them or worry about them; God will supply them freely if

we give priority to His Kingdom and righteousness.
This does not mean that we should quit our jobs and sit
around waiting for God to drop all of these things in our
laps. It does mean that even as we work from day to day in
our jobs and professions, we are living for other priorities
Gods prioritiessupremely and serenely con dent that
He has us covered. There is no surer antidote to stress,
anxiety, and worry.
It is time to set aside the pagan mind-set with its priority
of things and take up instead the divine priority, the
priority of the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.
Isaiah 26:3 provides this precious promise: You will keep
him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed [steadfast] on
You, Because he trusts in You (NKJV).
THE PRIORITY OF GODKINGDOM FIRST
Our greatest longing is also Gods primary intent and
desire. Gods highest priority is restoring the Kingdom of
Heaven on earth. It was to this end that He sent His Son,
Jesus Christ, to earth to live among us for a time; to take
on human esh and become one of us. From the very
beginning Jesus message was simple and straightforward:
Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near (Matt. 4:17b).
Later on, He speci cally instructed His followers to seek
rst His [Gods] kingdom and His righteousness, and all
these things will be given to you as well (Matt. 6:33).
Jesus preached the Kingdom. He taught the Kingdom.
The Kingdom of Heaven was the central theme of

everything Jesus did and said. It was, essentially, His only

message. And that message of the Kingdom is the same
message the world needs to hear today because everyone on
earth is searching for the Kingdom of Heaven.
The priority of the Kingdom message was brought home
to me in a very personal way that transformed my life and
my entire way of thinking. Some time ago I had dedicated
myself to a private, personal fast. It was a very special time
for me because I really wanted to spend some close time
with God. My desire was that He would speak to me His
heart and mind for that time in my life and reveal His
greatest desire for His people. Fifteen days into the fast I
sensed God saying to me: Kingdom first! That was it. Just
two words. Kingdom rst! You might think that after 15
days with no food you would receive at least a sentence
from God! But no, He simply said, Kingdom rst!
Straight and to the point, which is always the way God
speaks.
Kingdom rst! A deceptively simple statement, so
simple that its true depth and signi cance of meaning are
easy to miss. At least, I thought it was simple until I began
studying and discovered that this two-word statement
embodies the central thrust of Gods entire plan and
purpose for humankind. For you see, Kingdom rst! is a
message with universal application. It relates to everyone
on earth. It is a message for the world. Kingdom first! is a
message for Christians, Jews, and Muslims alike. It is for
Buddhists and Hindus. It is for atheists and agnostics. It is
for scientists, theologians, and philosophers. Kingdom
first! is a message for people of every religion and people

of no religion because it is not a religious message.

Kingdom first! is a message that transcends religion.
Why is the Kingdom rst! message so universal and so
important? Because when we understand Kingdom rst!
we will understand how to live e ectively on earth.
Everybody wants to live e ectively. We all want our lives
to mean something. Each of us desires to control our own
destiny, live out our dreams, and ful ll our highest
potential. Understanding and embracing the Kingdom
first! message will make all of these things possible. It will
allow us to understand the keys to life.
PRINCIPLES
1. Nothing is more tragic than a life without purpose.
2. If youre not doing the right thing at the right time,
that means you are doing the wrong thing at the
wrong time.
3. Priority helps us sharpen our vision so we can focus
on the most important things.
4. If you are not pursuing the purpose you were born
for, then you are pursuing the wrong thing.
5. Everything man does outside the Kingdom of
Heaven is motivated by the drive to meet personal
needs.
6. All religion is driven by the priority of needs.
7. Jesus said, Dont worry about your life.
8. Worry is the most useless exercise in the world.
9. If you make God your source, then He calls the

shots. And if He calls the shots, He pays the bills!

10. Any religion that focuses on the acquisition of things
and the meeting of personal needs is a religion of
pagans.
11. If food, drink, clothing, money, car, house and other
material things are your priorities, then you are
thinking and acting like a pagan, no matter what
you claim to believe.
12. 12. It is time for us to stop living according to
Maslows hierarchy of needs and start living by the
principles and priorities of the Kingdom of Heaven.
ENDNOTE
1. Myles Munroe, Kingdom Principles, (Shippensburg, PA:
Destiny Image Publishers, Inc., 2006), 26.

You were not created to work

for things but to manage things.

CHAPTER THREE

THE EXCLUSIVENESS
OF THE DIVINE PRIORITY

hen Jesus said, Do not worry about your

life, what you will eat or drink; or about your
body, what you will wear, and Seek rst
[Gods] kingdom and His righteousness, and
all these things will be given to you as well,
He caused a spiritual earthquake. He turned human culture
and society on their ears. With those brief words, Jesus
neatly stripped us of everything we think is important.
Food, drink, clothing, shelter, cars, money, luxuries; these
are the things we live for. These are the things that we get
out of bed and go to work for every day. These are the
things that make up the objects of most of our prayers. And
it is the pursuit of these things that drives human culture
and the economies of nations.
Yet, these are the very things Jesus said we should not
live for. In fact, He told us not even to worry about them.
He stripped away all of our confusing, energy-draining,
deceptive, distracting, misleading and misplaced priorities
and left us with one simple focus: seeking the Kingdom of
God. In so doing, He also gave us the key to a simpler,
more ful lling life. Pursuing one central priority in life
instead of ten or twenty secondary oneswhat could be
simpler?
Furthermore, Jesus says that when we make the Kingdom

of God our one priority, all these other things that we have
spent our lives pursuing will turn around and pursue us!
They will chase us down! This is a fundamental principle
of the Kingdom of God.
Seek rst the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these
things shall b e added to you (Matthew 6:33 NKJV).

This is one of the simplest statements in the Bible, yet

one of the least obeyed. We are possessed by our quest for
things and for the good life, while God is looking for
Kingdom-possessed people. All who seek and gain the
Kingdom of God also gain access to all its riches and
resources. Why settle for a scrap here and there that we are
able to eke out on our own when the fullness of the
Kingdom with its abundant provision is available to us?
Kingdom-possessed people do not live just to make a
living; they live for the Kingdom. Kingdom-possessed
people do not work just to get a paycheck; they work for
the Kingdom. Kingdom-possessed people do not strive day
in and day out to meet their needs; they strive continually
for the Kingdom. As Kingdom citizens and children of God,
they know that all these things already belong to them.
Kingdom-possessed people understand that their lives are
not for the pursuit of sel sh gain but for seeking
opportunities to introduce others to the Kingdom.
For Kingdom-possessed people, all of life is about the
Kingdom of God. To be Kingdom-possessed means to have
the Kingdom of God as our sole priority, for the Kingdom
priority demands an exclusive claim on our lives. Jesus

said, No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the
one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and
despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money
(Matt. 6:24).
By our Manufacturers design, we are not equipped to
serve two masters. One will always take precedence over
the other. There is room in our hearts for one and only one
top priority, and Jesus said that top priority must be the
Kingdom of God. This is why He said we are to seek first
Gods Kingdom and righteousness.
The Kingdom of God is so vast that our pursuit of it will
ll us to capacity so that we have no room for other
priorities. It also will satisfy us so completely that we have
n o need of other priorities. All the priorities that we
recognize as essential or bene cial to life will be satis ed
when we set our hearts to seek rst the Kingdom of God.
This is His promise to us. But He requires our exclusive
allegiance. He demands from us our whole heart, our
undivided loyalty.
THE PERIL OF DIVIDED LOYALTY

The gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven was the only

message Jesus preached, and at every opportunity He
reiterated its exclusive nature. The Kingdom priority is
exclusive with regard to the cost it exacts from us:
As they were walking along the road, a man said to him, I will
follow you wherever you go. Jesus rep lied, Foxes have holes and
b irds of the air have nests, b ut the Son of Man has no p lace to lay
his head (Luke 9:57-58).

How often do we make commitments to God or someone

else without rst considering what it will cost us in time,
energy, money, or inconvenience? We make a promise
without realizing what we are getting ourselves into. Later,
when we nd the requirements to be more than we
bargained for, we bail out and end up feeling guilty and
defeated because of our failure to follow through.
Like many of us, the man in this passage made a rash
promise to follow Jesus wherever He went. No doubt the
man was enthusiastic and sincere, but he had not thought
through the implications of his promise. Recognizing this,
Jesus tested the depth of the mans commitment. He wanted
to see how far this man truly was willing to go. Essentially,
Jesus said, The foxes and the birds have homes but I dont.
Im homeless; and if you follow Me you will be homeless
too. You will no longer enjoy the creature comforts you are
used to. Are you ready for that?
We are not told how the man responded, but that is not
important. What is important to understand is that although
seeking rst the Kingdom of God results in the most
ful lling and rewarding life possible, that does not mean it
is always easy. The cost of seeking the Kingdom is great.
What does the King demand from us? Everything. But the
rewards are well worth the cost.
As King and Lord of the universe, God owns everything.
This means that we own nothing. So it shouldnt be hard
for us to let go of things that dont belong to us anyway.
And because God owns everything, He can at any time
release for our use anything He wishes. But we must rst
freely give Him everything we have and everything we are.

Many people follow Jesus or seek the Kingdom of God

for what they hope to get out of it. This is the exact
opposite of the correct motivation, according to Jesus. The
Kingdom of God is not a bless me club. We do not follow
God to get Him to pay our bills. We follow Him because
He is our King and our heavenly Father. It is in the context
of this relationship, and when our priority is right, that He
takes care of us and provides for our needs. But seeking the
Kingdom comes rst. Let me assure you, if you get to the
point where you are willing to strip yourself of everything
for the sake of Gods Kingdom, you are on your way to the
greatest life you could ever live!
The Kingdom priority is exclusive also with regard to
our relationships, particularly with family:
He said to another man, Follow me. But the man rep lied, Lord,
rst let me go and b ury my father. Jesus said to him, Let the dead
b ury their own dead, b ut you go and p roclaim the kingdom of God
(Luke 9:59-60).

Jesus called a man who appeared to be willing to follow

Him but the man wanted to wait until after he buried his
father. This does not mean necessarily that his father was
already dead. The man felt bound by his social, legal, and
moral obligation to care for his parents. In Jewish culture,
to dishonor ones parents was a gross sin exceeded only by
the sin of dishonoring God. Honoring ones parents is so
important that God established it as the
fth
commandment. Only the commandment to honor God is
more important.

Notice how Jesus responded to the mans request. He

said, Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and
proclaim the kingdom of God. Jesus was not being
dismissive of the fth commandment or insensitive to the
mans sense of duty and responsibility. He was simply
saying that no priority takes precedence over the priority
of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom is more important
than family, friends, career, or personal ambitions. Nothing
is more important than the Kingdom.
To honor God means to obey Him. So to postpone or
turn aside from the direct call of God in favor of ones
family was to commit a greater sin. Gods promise to
provide all these things when we seek rst His Kingdom
includes caring for the family we may have to leave behind
in order to follow Gods call. If we take care of the
Kingdom, the King will take care of our family.
As Jesus continued down the road, a third man spoke to
Him:
Still another said, I will follow you, Lord; b ut rst let me go b ack
and say good-b y to my family. Jesus rep lied, No one who p uts his
hand to the p low and looks b ack is t for service in the kingdom of
God (Luke 9:61-62).

Like the second man, this man wanted to follow Jesus,

but later, on his own terms, after taking leave of his family.
Jesus response revealed the divided nature of the mans
heart. The man wanted to follow Jesus but his whole heart
was not in it. He would follow, but would keep looking
back to what he left behind. Those who are t for service

in the kingdom of God have laid aside all other priorities

in life except for the Kingdom priority.
These two encounters reveal that the Kingdom priority
takes precedence even over the demands and expectations
of the family relationship. Both men who spoke to Jesus
had the same problem: divided loyalty. They wanted to go
with Jesus and they wanted to stay home. Con icting
priorities pulled them in two directions. Their divided
loyalty is revealed in how they responded to Jesus. In both
cases, they said, Lord, rst In the dynamic of the
Kingdom of God, those two words never go together; they
are incompatible.
The word lord means owner or master. We cannot call
Christ Lord, and then say, But rst let me do such and
such. If He is Lord, there is no rst; there is only yes.
Either He owns us or He does not. Either He is our Master
or He is not. The Kingdom priority does not allow for
divided loyalty. It makes an exclusive claim on our lives.
THE TEST

OF

KINGDOM PRIORITY

Nowhere in the Bible is the exclusive claim of the

Kingdom priority illustrated more clearly than in Jesus
encounter with a wealthy young man of in uence and
authority. Commonly known as the rich young ruler, he
approached Jesus one day with a very important question:
A certain ruler asked him, Good teacher, what must I do to inherit
eternal life? Why do you call Me good? Jesus answered. No
one is goodexcep t God alone. You know the commandments: Do

not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false
testimony, honor your father and mother. All these I have kep t
since I was a b oy, he said.
When Jesus heard this, He said to him, You still lack one thing. Sell
everything you have and give to the p oor, and you will have

treasure in Heaven. Then come, follow Me. When he heard this, he

b ecame very sad, b ecause he was a man of great wealth (Luke
18:18-23).

By all the common standards of his day, this ruler who

approached Jesus was an exemplary young man. He was
wealthy (believed generally to be a sign of Gods favor),
law-abiding and upright in all his behavior; the kind of
person that anyone would like to be associated with. He
was even religiously devout, careful to observe and obey
all the commandments.
Jesus, however, saw what no one else would have
noticed. He observed that the man was trying to serve two
masters: God and money. This is why He told the man,
You still lack one thing. We could do a thousand di erent
things and still miss the most important thing. Success in
the wrong assignment is failure. By any worldly measure,
this man was successful. Yet he was a failure in Jesus eyes
because he had neglected the most important thing. His
heart was divided. He was not a Kingdom-possessed man
because his wealth stood in the way. Consequently, Jesus
told him, Sell everything you have and give to the poor,
and you will have treasure in Heaven. Then come, follow
Me. The Kingdom priority claims our all. It demands that
we be completely stripped of everything before we start.

There is no room in the Kingdom of God for a spirit of

ownership.
This was precisely the young mans problem. He
believed and assumed that all his wealth belonged to him.
Despite his claim to piety and his careful observance of the
commandments, money was his true god. His heart was
divided between his wealth and his desire to follow God,
and when it came down to a choice, he chose his wealth.
This is clear from his response to Jesus demand: he
became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth. In
the end, he was unwilling to surrender his earthly treasure
for treasure in Heaven. He was bound by a spirit of
ownership. He failed the test of Kingdom priority.
A spirit of ownership is perhaps the greatest external
sign that someone is not in the Kingdom or not yet walking
in the priority of Kingdom rst. As long as we continue to
believe that we own our house, the car in our driveway, the
clothes in our closet, the food in our refrigerator, or
anything else we possess, we are not walking in the
Kingdom priority. We are not truly seeking rst the
Kingdom of God. If God cannot ask for and take from us
anything He wants anytime He wants without us putting up
a fight, then He is not our Lord, no matter what we claim.
THE PERIL OF A SPIRIT

OF

OWNERSHIP

The rich young ruler went away from Jesus sad because
the price of entering the Kingdom of God and gaining
treasure in Heaven was more than he was willing to pay.
This prompted Jesus to reiterate further to His followers

the peril of a spirit of ownership:

Jesus looked at him and said, How hard it is for the rich to enter
the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through
the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of
God. Those who heard this asked, Who then can b e saved? Jesus
rep lied, What is imp ossib le with men is p ossib le with God (Luke
18:24-27).

Wealth, or more specifically, the spirit of ownership, is a

hindrance to a person entering the Kingdom of God. The
word enter, as Jesus used it in this passage, means to
experience the true effect of. In other words, it is hard for
a rich man to experience the true e ect of what Kingdom
living is like because his wealth is his prison. He is so
trapped by the pursuit of things that he has no time to
pursue the rst thing. He has become a prisoner of his own
passions.
Jesus then shocked His listeners with His statement that a
camel could go through the eye of a needle more easily
than a rich man could enter the Kingdom of Heaven. His
listeners, entrenched in the belief that wealth was a sign of
Gods favor, asked, Who then can be saved? What they
were really asking was, If it is di cult for the rich (the
God-favored) to enter the Kingdom of God, then what hope
is there for the rest of us? Jesus assured them that what
was impossible in the eyes of men was possible with God.
When Jesus spoke of the eye of a needle He did not
have a sewing needle in mind. In that part of the world,
both then and now, the eye of a needle refers also to two

wooden posts planted vertically in the ground close enough

together so that a camel can squeeze between them only
with di culty. Because of the sand and the dryness of that
desert environment, camels can become very dirty very
quickly. The eye of a needle is used to help clean dirty
camels.
First, the camel driver leads the camel between the two
posts until the animals sides are stuck against them. Thus
immobilized, the camel remains still while it receives a
bath. Afterward, the driver carefully draws the still-wet
camel the rest of the way through the eye of the needle.
With this analogy, Jesus was saying that although it is
di cult for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven,
it is not impossible. A spirit of ownership can keep us out,
but God can help us let go of that spirit.
NOTHING W E GIVE UP

FOR THE

KINGDOM IS EVER LOST

One reason we should be able to give up the spirit of

ownership is because nothing we give up for the Kingdom
of God is ever lost. On the contrary, it is multiplied and
returned to us. This too is a fundamental principle of the
Kingdom of God. Consider this exchange between Peter and
Jesus:
Peter said to him, We have left all we had to follow you! I tell
you the truth, Jesus said to them, no one who has left home or
wife or b rothers or p arents or children for the sake of the kingdom
of God will fail to receive many times as much in this age and, in the
age to come, eternal life (Luke 18:28-30).

After the bombshell Jesus dropped about the di culty of

rich people entering the Kingdom of God, Peter may have
been feeling a little uncertain about his own status. So he
reminded Jesus that he and the rest of Jesus disciples had
left everything in order to follow Him. This may have been
Peters not-so-subtle way of asking, Whats in it for us?
Jesus answer reveals that the exclusive nature of the
Kingdom priority is not as risky or as outrageous as it may
seem at rst. In essence, Jesus says that no one who gives
up everything for the Kingdom of God has really lost
anything, because they will receive many times as much in
this age, not to mention eternal life in the age to come.
Nothing that we give up for the sake of the Kingdom of
God do we lose. Nothing. The King will return it to us with
more besides.
If your priority is to have a nice house, and you live and
work day in and day out for that house and the mortgage,
and that house is the focus of your life, God may let you
have it, but you will miss the fullness of what He wants for
you. He says, If you exchange your priority for Mineif
you give up your priority of a house and take up my
priority of the KingdomIll not only give you a house,
but Ill give you many houses!
Whatever we give to the King for the sake of His
Kingdom, He will multiply and return to us. The more we
give, the more we will receive, not for our own lusts or
greedy desires, but so we can seek His Kingdom even
more, and help others to do so as well.
Jesus said, Seek rst His kingdom and His righteousness,
and all these things will be given to you as well. The

Kingdom priority is exclusive but it is not limited. God

wants you to have all these things; He just doesnt want
them to have you. So forsake everything for the sake of
Gods Kingdom. Give Him your all and He will give you
all these things.
PRINCIPLES
1. God is looking for Kingdom-possessed people.
2. For Kingdom-possessed people, all of life is about
the Kingdom of God.
3. The Kingdom priority demands an exclusive claim
on our lives.
4. The Kingdom priority is exclusive with regard to
the cost it exacts from us.
5. The Kingdom of God is not a bless me club.
6. The Kingdom priority is exclusive with regard to
our relationships, particularly with family.
7. Nothing is more important than the Kingdom.
8. If we take care of the Kingdom, the King will take
care of our family.
9. There is no room in the Kingdom of God for a spirit
of ownership.
10. Nothing we give up for the Kingdom of God is ever
lost. On the contrary, it is multiplied and returned
to us.
11. The Kingdom priority is exclusive but it is not
limited.

Whatever you prioritize

you will pursue.

CHAPTER FOUR

THE DIVINE
PRIORITY MANDATE

esus Christ came to earth to inaugurate a Kingdom,

not establish a religion. First, He announced the
Kingdom: Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is
near (Matt. 4:17). Then He taught about the
Kingdom wherever He went: The kingdom of
Heaven is like. He identi ed the Kingdom of God as the
rst priority of man: But seek first His kingdom and His
righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as
well (Matt. 6:33, emphasis added).
Only those who seek the Kingdom of God will nd it,
and with the seeking comes the understanding of the
Kingdom and how it operates. Jesus told His closest
followers, The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of
Heaven has been given to you (Matt. 13:11a). When we
understand how the Kingdom operates, we will understand
how to live in the Kingdom and experience its fullness in
our lives.
Our rst prioritythe principal and most important
activity of our lifeis to seek the Kingdom of God. But
how do we do that? What does it mean to seek Gods
Kingdom? How can we nd the Kingdom of God if we
dont know how to look for it or what to look for? God will
never demand from us what He does not supply. He will
never instruct us to do something that He doesnt show us

how to do.
Even more important, He wants us to seek and nd His
Kingdom. He gave us this promise: You will seek Me and
nd Me when you seek Me with all your heart (Jer. 29:13).
Finding God is the same as nding His Kingdom because
the two are inseparable. And Jesus assures us: Do not be
afraid, little ock, for your Father has been pleased to give
you the kingdom (Luke 12:32).
With these scriptural truths and assurances in mind, lets
take a closer look at our divine priority mandate, Seek
rst His kingdom and His righteousness. A mandate is a
command issued by a ruler. Jesus charge to us to seek rst
the Kingdom and righteousness of God is a command, not a
suggestion. If we claim to be His followers and call Him
Lord, we must obey Him. Otherwise, He is not our Lord,
we will never nd the Kingdom and never experience the
fulfillment of our life purpose.
THE DIVINE COMMAND

: SEEK

The rst part of the divine priority is what we can call

the divine command: seek. To seek means to pursue with
vigor and determination. The idea is that of a diligent,
unceasing search until the object of the search is found. In
Luke 15 Jesus tells of a man with 100 sheep who lost one,
and of a woman with 10 silver coins who lost one, and how
both of them searched diligently and did not give up until
they recovered that which was lost. This is what it means to
seek. We are to pursue the Kingdom of God with
determination and vigor.

To seek also means to study. Students seek knowledge

and understanding. In the same way, Kingdom citizens
must be students of the Kingdom and of its constitution, the
Bible. Psalm 1:2 says that the blessed man delights in the
law of the Lord and meditates on it day and night. Paul,
New Testament ambassador of the King, counsels us to, Be
diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who
does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of
truth (2 Tim. 2:15 NKJV). The Greek word for be
diligent is spoudazo, which also means study or labor.
Seeking the Kingdom means studying it with diligence.
Only by committed and rigorous study can the secrets of
the Kingdom and the Word of God become known to us. As
we study, the Spirit of God will open our minds to
understand.
Seeking also means to explore. Human explorers
through the ages traveled the globe seeking new lands, new
peoples, new horizons. Exploring carries the element of
high adventure, and the Kingdom of God is indeed an
adventure. We must explore the Kingdom; we must explore
its power, its laws, its government, its culture, its society,
its commands, its economy, its taxationeverything. The
Kingdom of God is so vast that we could spend the rest of
our lives exploring it yet only scratch the surface.
Another critical aspect of seeking is understanding. We
could pursue something, seeking it diligently, yet not
understand it when we found it. Without understanding, the
search is not complete. Nothing is truly ours until we
understand it. Until we understand the Kingdom we cannot
properly teach it, pass it on or fully realize its bene ts and

blessings. Once we understand for ourselves, then the

promises of the Kingdom will begin manifesting in our
lives.
Closely related to study and understanding, to seek also
means to learn. Learning is more than mental knowledge of
facts and information; the knowledge must be reproducible
in practical terms. This means demonstrating the ability to
perform the action learned as well as teach it to someone
else so that they learn it also.
Seeking often involves taking the time to consider, to sit
and ponder something in an e ort to understand. This is
similar, of course, to meditation. Some things require deep
thought and analysis before they become comprehensible.
The psalmist said, When I consider your heavens, the work
of your ngers, the moon and stars, which you have set in
place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son
of man that you care for him? (Ps. 8:3-4)
Jesus said, Why do you worry about clothing? Consider
the lilies of the eld, how they grow: they neither toil nor
spin, and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory
was not arrayed like one of these (Matt. 6:28-29 NKJV).
We need to take the Word of God and consider it, ponder
it, chew on it, memorize it, and the more we do so the
more we will comprehend.
When we seek something, we have a desire to know.
Who pursues something he has no interest in? Who takes
the time to ponder something that means nothing to him? If
we desire to know the Kingdom and its ways, the King will
make sure our desire is satis ed. Jesus said, Blessed are
those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will

be filled (Matt. 5:6).

Not only should we desire the Kingdom, we should have
a passion for the Kingdom! What are you passionate about?
What gets your blood going in the morning? What infuses
your life with purpose? Everyone is passionate about
something. If you are not passionate about the Kingdom of
God, then you are focused on the wrong thing.
Anything worth seeking is worth pursuing with diligent
dedication. Diligence always involves discipline. If we
want to seek the Kingdom it may mean disciplining
ourselves to turn o the TV so we can study the Word of
God. It may mean rearranging our schedule in order to
have more time to pray. It may mean reordering our time
priorities to ensure we get enough sleep so that were not
too tired to gather with other believers for worship.
Seeking the Kingdom is deliberate and proactive. We will
never stumble on it by accident. We must plan for it.
Finally, to seek the Kingdom means to become
preoccupied with the Kingdom. If we are seeking the
Kingdom, that means we are thinking about it all day long.
It possesses us. Everywhere we go and with everything we
do and say we are focused on the Kingdom. We evaluate
every decision in light of how it will a ect our pursuit of
the Kingdom. Our every thought, word, motive, and action
is Kingdom First!
THE DIVINE PRIORITY: FIRST
If the Divine Command is to seek the Kingdom of God,
the Divine Priority is that we must seek it first. Seeking the

Kingdom rst means that we pursue it as the principal

thing, the rst thing above and before and beyond all other
things. First means that the Kingdom of God is more
important to us than anything else. It means that we place
the highest value of all on the Kingdom and stand ready to
sacri ce anything and everything else for its sake. First
means that we establish the Kingdom as our primary
interest. All other priorities in life are secondary to the
priority of the Kingdom and so far below it as to be almost
nonexistent by comparison.
Kingdom rst does not mean rst among many but rst
and only. When God told the Israelites, You shall have no
other gods before Me (Exod. 20:3), He was not saying,
As long as you worship Me rst and foremost, you can
have other gods. What He meant was that they were never
to bring any other gods before His face or into His
presence. God claimed exclusive rights to their worship,
love, and devotion. The Kingdom First! priority is just as
exclusive.
Seeking the Kingdom of God rst means considering the
interests of the Kingdom before making decisionswhen
and where we go to school, who we marry, what job we
accept, how we spend our money. Before deciding on these
and other issues, we need to ask the question, Is this in
line with the Kingdom of God? Every day we are
bombarded with opportunities to compromise our
morality, honesty, integrity, and character. Your boss asks
you to do something dishonest at work. Your boyfriend or
girlfriend tries to talk you into an immoral relationship.
You are tempted to cheat on your taxes.

Learn to ask yourself, Will this be pleasing to the

Kingdom? Its not worth violating the principles of the
Kingdom for the sake of expediency or to avoid o ending
someone or rocking the boat. Developing the habit of
considering the Kingdom rst will help you avoid a lot of
mistakes and bad decisions.
THE DIVINE OBJECT: THE KINGDOM OF GOD
It is one thing to know how to seek the Kingdom of God
but quite another to understand that Kingdom and the
principles under which it operates. For detailed
information on this subject, I refer you to the two earlier
books in this series: Rediscovering the Kingdom1 and
Kingdom Principles.2
Few people in the world today live in a true kingdom,
particularly in the West, so almost no one knows what
kingdom life is really like. Consequently, Kingdom
language in the Bible often can seem confusing or alien to
modern readers. If the Kingdom priority is so important,
we had better know what the Kingdom is and how it
functions.
So what is the Kingdom? Simply stated, the Kingdom is
Gods government. It is His rulership and dominion over
Heaven and earth. In practical terms it refers to His
universal jurisdiction and executed will over all creation.
I can still remember what life was like in a kingdom.
When I was born, my nation, the Bahamas, was still under
the jurisdiction of the British crown. We were a colony of

Great Britain. The British monarchs dominion included the

islands of the Bahamas. This is why our entire nation was
called Crown land. All the land belonged to the reigning
king or queen because in a true kingdom, the king owns
both the land and the people. So when Jesus said we are to
seek rst the Kingdom of God, He was telling us to seek
rst the ownership of God over ourselves and everything
we have in life.
The word kingdom also means to have in uence over a
territory. When we seek rst the Kingdom of God we are
seeking His in uence to be extended over the entire world
in our private life, our business life, our marriage life, our
relationships, our sexual life, and all other dimensions of
life.
Part of this in uence has to do with administration. In
the Kingdom of God we are under the administration of
Heaven. This means that God, the King, becomes our
reference point for everything. His will becomes our will,
His ways become our ways, His culture becomes our
culture, His society becomes our society, and His interests
become our interests. As Kingdom citizens and children of
the King through Christ, we become ambassadors on earth
of His heavenly Kingdom.
In uence also means impact. Kings and queens impact
the land and the lives of the people over whom they rule.
This is certainly true in the Bahamas. Although we are
today an independent nation, we still re ect in many ways
the lingering British in uence from our colonial days. For
one thing, we drive on the left side of the street, just as in
England. In contrast, our friends in the United States, a

nation that forcibly withdrew from under British dominion,

drive on the right side. Yet even to this day the United
States continues to re ect in many ways the heritage of its
British colonial past.
Americans, by the way they live, prove that they are not
under a political earthly kingdom. The islands of the
Bahamas were under British rule far longer than were the
American colonies. Consequently, Britains impact on
Bahamian life, law, and culture has been more substantial
and more enduring. And that in uence is re ected in our
daily lives.
This raises an important point: we can tell which kingdom
we are in by the way we live. If we claim to believe and
follow the King, our lives will re ect the in uence of His
government and administration. Other people who are not
in the Kingdom will wonder, and perhaps even ask, why
we are so di erent. It is because we are under a di erent
administration from that of the world; a di erent
government, a different culture, and a different law.
Jesus said, By their fruit you will recognize them. Do
people pick grapes from thornbushes, or gs from thistles?
Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree
bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a
bad tree cannot bear good fruit (Matt. 7:16-18). This
means that others can tell what kind of tree we are by what
we produce in our lives. Our lives are supposed to
manifest the fruitthe in uenceof the Kingdom of God
so that anybody can look at us and tell where our
allegiance lies.
In the Bible, the Hebrew word for kingdom is

mamlakah; the New Testament Greek word is basileia. Both

words carry the same general range of meaning: king,
sovereignty, dominion, control, reign, rulership, and royal
power. Considering all of these terms and characteristics,
we can define a kingdom, then, as:
The governing in uence of a king over his territory (domain),
impacting it with his personal will, purpose and intent, producing
a culture, values, morals and lifestyle that re ect the kings desire
and nature for his citizens.

This describes perfectly the Kingdom of God, which is

the Kingdom that Jesus commanded us to seek rst. And
it is in the seeking of this Kingdomnot in religionthat
we will receive from the King all these things, all the
daily needs of life that the rest of the world toils and labors
and frets and worries and strives and scrambles for. No
religion has such a guarantee as the Kingdom guarantee.
THE DIVINE POSITION: GOD S RIGHTEOUSNESS
In addition to seeking rst the Kingdom of God, we are
to seek also His righteousness. This is not a rst and second
priority but two parts of one complete whole. Gods
Kingdom cannot be separated from His righteousness. A
kingdom always re ects the nature and character of the
king. God is righteous and therefore His Kingdom is also
righteous.
Only righteous people will enter the Kingdom. The
problem is that none of us are righteous on our own. As

David, psalmist and king of Israel wrote, The Lord looks

down from Heaven on the sons of men to see if there are
any who understand, any who seek God. All have turned
aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one
who does good, not even one (Ps. 14:2-3). When we are
born again through the new birth by repentance of sin and
faith in Christ, God imputes righteousness to us. He
declares us righteous on the basis of the righteousness of
His Son and we gain entrance into the Kingdom.
The New Testament calls this transaction justification.
Justi cation is a legal term, not a religious term. It means
to declare someone innocent just as if that person had never
committed an o ense. When we are justi ed in Christ, we
receive a royal pardon from the King. He naturalizes us as
citizens of His Kingdom and all the rights, privileges, and
resources of the Kingdom become ours. But we also come
under the government and administration of the Kingdom
and are accountable to the King.
Seeking the righteousness of God is extremely important
because His righteousness protects us. It keeps us under the
Kingdom covering. And once we are under the Kingdom
covering, all the additionsall these thingsbecome
automatic.
Like justi cation, the word righteous is a legal term. It
means right positioning, to be in correct alignment with
the ruling standard. To be righteous means that we do not
violate the laws of the government. A righteous person is
in right standing with authority. Right standing carries with
it the even deeper element of being in fellowship with that
authority. As long as we abide by the laws and standards of

government, we have nothing to fear. Our conscience is

clear. The moment we break the law, however, our
fellowship and right standing with the ruling authority is
broken. We are no longer righteous.
As an example, imagine driving down the road in your
car. As long as you observe the speed limit and make no
moving violations, you have nothing to worry about.
Penalty and punishment are the farthest things from your
mind. Suppose, however, that you accidentally travel
through a red light. Now what happens? Immediately you
check your mirrors to see if the police are coming after
you. You broke the law. Youre guilty and you know it and
you hope no one saw you. But your guilt creates tension in
your mind because you know you are now out of alignment
with the ruling standard.
This analogy perfectly describes the dilemma faced by
the human race. None of us are righteous. We are all out of
alignment with the ruling standard, with Gods standard.
Why? Because when Adam sinned, his sinfulness passed to
every succeeding generation, corrupting the entire race of
man. Sin is rebellion against Gods Kingly authority. If we
want to enter the Kingdom of God, our right standing with
God must be restored. This is why Jesus Christ came to
earth, not only to announce the coming of the Kingdom but
also so that through His sinless death we could be made
righteous in Him. Jesus came and died so we could enter
the Kingdom.
If you want to be righteous, youve got to submit, not to
religion, but to Jesus Christ, the King who gave His blood
for you. His blood cleanses the stain of rebellion and

removes your guilt. He puts you back in right standing

with Himself. You start driving on His side of the street.
You start eating what He eats and drinking what He drinks.
You begin conforming your life to His in every way
possible because you are under His Kingdom. You are
righteous.
God has committed Himself to you because you now are
in right relationship with Him. To be righteous means that
you are legal, lawful, in sync with the government.
Nothing stands between you and the law. Therefore, you
need not fear authority. If you keep the laws of God, He
will protect you. Stay in the law and everything you need
will come to you. The Bible says that even the wealth of
the wicked is laid up for the righteous (see Prov. 13:22).
And who are the righteous? Those who are within the law.
PRINCIPLES
1. Our first prioritythe principal and most important
activity of our lifeis to seek the Kingdom of God.
2. If we desire to know the Kingdom and its ways, the
King will make sure our desire is satisfied.
3. Seeking the Kingdom is deliberate and proactive.
4. Kingdom rst does not mean rst among many, but
first and only.
5. When Jesus said we are to seek rst the Kingdom of
God, He was telling us to seek rst the ownership of
God over ourselves and everything we have in life.
6. We can tell which kingdom we are in by the way we

live.
7. Only righteous people will enter the Kingdom.
8. When we are justi ed in Christ, we receive a royal
pardon from the King.
9. The word righteous means right positioning, to be
in correct alignment with the ruling standard.
10. None of us are righteous.
11. Jesus came and died so we could enter the Kingdom.
ENDNOTES
1. Myles Munroe, Rediscovering the Kingdom: Ancient Hope
for Our 21st Century World, (Shippensburg, PA: Destiny
Image Publishers, Inc., in partnership with Diplomat
Press, Nassau, Bahamas, 2004.)
2. Myles Munroe, Kingdom Principles: Preparing for
Kingdom Experience and Expansion, (Shippensburg, PA:
Destiny Image Publishers, Inc., in partnership with
Diplomat Press, Nassau, Bahamas, 2006.)

Correct alignment with truth

principles guarantees success in life.

CHAPTER FIVE

THE POWER
OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

ne of humankinds greatest struggles is

determining what is most important in life.
Each of us must at some point decide what we
are living for if our lives are to have focus and
a sense of purpose. Compounding the challenge
is the fact that we live in a culture that regards truth as
relative and life as meaningless. If life is an evolutionary
accident, then there is no such thing as absolute truth or
morality and no high and exalted purpose for human
existence. Consequently, many people give up on life and,
if they dont commit suicide rst, retreat into a mind-set of
cynicism, hopelessness, and despair.
At the same time, there are many people who yearn for a
simpler life free of the stress, struggles, and hectic pace of
our high-speed, high-tech, multiple-option, anything-goes
society. With so many choices, how do you choose the
best, the most important? How do you make sure that you
are spending your life on the things that really count?
Over the last 30 years or so my life has become very
simple. That does not mean I am not busy. My life is quite
full. I frequently travel internationally and rarely have an
empty schedule. Yet, in spite of my busyness, my life is
simple because I have spent the last three decades learning
to live according Gods priorities. The world o ers a grab

bag of possibilities to choose from, but as mentioned

previously, Jesus reduces the issues of life to two things:
the Kingdom of God and the righteousness of God. Thats it.
Everything else in life is a byproduct.
When I rst understood this as teenager, it changed my
life. It is amazing how simple life becomes when you
realize that you need to focus only on two things. Even a
busy life can be simple when it has been stripped of
everything distracting and counterproductive to the pursuit
of Gods Kingdom and righteousness.
As we have already seen, the command to seek rst the
Kingdom and righteousness of God comes with a corollary
promise that all these things the world strives for will be
given, or added, to us. Think about this: anything you
work for was not added. Added means you receive
something you did not work for. God blesses most of us
with the health and ability to work for the things we need
to support ourselves and our families but, as Ive said
before, we should never live for those things. If our priority
is focused on the Kingdom and righteousness of God, He
will add all the rest to us. He wants to give us many things
that we did not and even cannot work for. But the key to
this life of favor and blessing is to seek, to pursue, to walk
in the righteousness of God.
DEFINING RIGHTEOUSNESS
Gods Kingdom and Gods righteousness. Both are equally
important and, as you read earlier, both are inseparable. A
kingdom always re ects the nature of its king.

Righteousness begets righteousness and unrighteousness

begets unrighteousness. Righteousness is the nature and
de ning characteristic of the Kingdom of God. As I
mentioned brie y in Chapter Four, the Hebrew word for
k i ng do m , mamlakah, means dominion and royal
government. We are to seek rst the mamlakah of God.
This takes in many things: Gods government, rulership,
and dominion over the earth, His jurisdiction and executed
will, the in uence of Heaven on earth, Gods
administration, and His impact on the earth. So the rst
thing we are supposed to dothe first issue of our livesis
to get under Gods government.
Let me put it another way: seek Gods citizenship. Joining
a religion wont solve your problems. Neither will joining
a fraternity or a lodge. The only way to solve our greatest
problems and satisfy our greatest needs is to place
ourselves under the Kingdom on earth.
With the Kingdom of God comes His righteousness. We
cannot inhabit His Kingdom without it. What does it mean
to be righteous? I touched on it a little in the last chapter
but now it is time to dig deeper. Righteousness, or the lack
of it, a ects our whole life. It is too important a principle
to pass over lightly.
The basic New Testament Greek word for righteous is
dikaios, a powerful word that means those who are
upright, just, righteous, conforming to Gods laws. It also
carries the quality of being without prejudice or partiality.
A related word, dikaiosune, means righteousness or
uprightness. In the Old Testament, two related Hebrew
w o r d s , sedeq
and sedaqah, carry the meaning,

righteousness. They are relational words, just as

righteousness has to do with mans relationship to God.
Sedeq and sedaqah are legal terms signifying justice in
conformity with the legal corpus (the Law; see Deut.
16:20), the judicial process (see Jer. 22:3), the justice of
the king as judge (see 1 Kings 10:9; Ps. 119:121; Prov.
8:15), and also the source of justice, God Himself.1 Legal
corpus means the body of law that runs a country.
Heaven is a country; an invisible country, but a country
nonetheless. The government of Heaven is under the
authority of the King of Glory, the Lord of Hosts, the God
of the universe who created the earth and put humankind
here as His vice-regents. We were created to be local kings
ruling under the jurisdiction of the universal King.
As I said before, righteousness is a legal word, not a
religious word. It has to do with citizens relationship with
their government, and that relationship is based on the
citizens obeying the laws of the country so they do not
come into con ict with government authority and
jeopardize their citizenship privileges. Every country
demands righteousness, whether it is a republic, a
democracy, a communist state, or a kingdom, because
righteousness simply means to be in conformity with the
laws of the country.
In the Bible, the word righteousness almost always is
linked in close proximity to the word justice, which means
rights. Righteousness is always related to justice because
righteousness is a prerequisite for justice. Every country
operates under a written constitution of some kind. A
constitution is a contract with the people that lays out the

laws and rights that will govern the nation. It spells out
what the government expects from the citizens and what
the citizens can expect from the government. Furthermore,
it speci es the penalties for violating the law as well as the
legal recourses available for those whose rights have been
violated to receive justice.
Like the nations of the earth, the Kingdom of God also
has a constitutionthe Bible. Unlike many earthly nations
where the people write the constitution, in the Kingdom of
God the King Himself wrote the constitution. In a kingdom,
the kings word is law. The citizens cannot debate it,
challenge it, or change it. So in relation to the Kingdom of
God, all of us stand either in alignment or out of alignment
with Kingdom law, the Word of God. We are either
righteous or unrighteous. It is a matter of positioning.
Righteousness means right positioning with the
government. It is when a person takes up citizenship in a
country and pledges to obey its laws. Those are simple
requirements. When Jesus said, Seek rst the Kingdom of
God and His righteousness, He was saying, Seek to
become a citizen of the Kingdom of God and then stay in
alignment with the governments law. If you do those two
thingscitizenship and obedience to the lawsthen
everything you need will be added to you. What could be
simpler?
TWO PRIORITIES FOR MAN
So, there are two priorities for us: Kingdom and
righteousness. Kingdom is the horizontal dimension that

deals with power: rulership, dominion and control. It is

kingship. Righteousness, on the other hand, is the vertical
dimension that deals with position: relationship, right
standing, disposition, and authority. It is priesthood. There
is no dichotomy in the mind of God between priest and
king.
Righteous citizens are law-abiding citizens. Citizen
relates to kingship; it is the power part. Law-abiding
relates to priesthood; it is the positioning part. As citizens
of the Kingdom of God, we are both kings and priests: To
Him who loved usand has made us kings and priests to His
God and Father (Rev. 1:5b-6 NKJV); But you are a
chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people
belonging to God (1 Pet. 2:9a). There are no
schizophrenics in the Kingdom of God. We are all kings
and priests together.
Righteousness is our relationship with the government.
Kingdom is our disposition with the government. It is our
right to rule. So, Kingdom is rulership. Kingdom is
dominion. Righteousness is our right standing within that
dominion. The purpose of a priest is to keep people
related to God. As Kingdom citizens we are each our own
priest. We are supposed to work out our own salvation
(Phil. 2:12). We are supposed to protect our own selves by
not disobeying the law.
Let me put it another way. Returning to our driving
analogy from the last chapter, every time you stop at a red
light you are a priest. As long as you stop at the red light,
you have the right for no police o cer to arrest you. By
choosing to obey the law, you are acting as your own

priest, maintaining your right alignment with the

government.
Priesthood is the vertical dimension and kingship is the
horizontal dimension. If you keep the vertical clear, the
horizontal will be clear. As long as you are an e ective
priest, you will be an e ective king. Righteousness,
therefore, is the key. For this reason, righteousness is more
important than kingship. Kingdom makes you a citizen, but
righteousness gives you access to all the rights, resources
and privileges of citizenship. Get yourself out of alignment
with the government and those rights and privileges can be
suspended, just as they are for citizens of a nation who are
in prison for crimes they committed. They are still citizens
but they no longer enjoy the full rights and freedoms of
citizens who are not incarcerated.
This explains why many born-again Kingdom citizens
struggle with basic needs from day to day and do not
experience the fullness of Kingdom living. They are not
taking proper care to stay in right standing with their
government. By violating the laws and principles of the
Kingdom, they cut themselves o from access to its
resources. Righteousness, then, is the key to abundant
Kingdom living.
The key to success in a kingdom is for the citizens to
maintain right relationship with the government. This is
righteousness. At the same time, the government is
responsible for the rights and well-being of the citizens.
Citizens bene t from their righteous relationship by
qualifying to make demands on the government.
Righteousness gives you power. If you are keeping the law,

then all the rights of the constitution are yours. Citizens

have rights. Righteous citizens can demand what is
rightfully theirs. That is why it is a legal term.
Our two priorities are to seek Kingdom citizenship and
the relationship that puts us in a position to demand things
from the Kingdom. And the Kingdom government is
responsible and obligated to the citizen. Righteousness
gives us rights and rights activate the government to act on
our behalf.
To clarify further, lets summarize the relationship
between Kingdom and righteousness this way:
The kingdom places us in citizenship;
righteousness places in us relationship.
Kingdom gives us rights to government
bene ts; righteousness gives us access to
government benefits.
Kingdom makes us legal; righteousness
maintains our legal status.
Righteousness is manifested in holiness.
Holiness is not a doctrine; it is a result. Jesus never
taught on holiness. He taught on the Kingdom and
righteousness. Living holy simply means you are obeying
all the Kingdom laws. If you are righteous, you dont have
to do holiness; it is a byproduct of right standing.
Holiness is a manifestation of righteousness. Food,
clothing, and rituals dont make you holy. Holiness is based
on relationship, and relationship comes from righteousness.

POWER KEYS TO KINGDOM LIFE

Where does the power in righteousness come from? It
comes from the King, who passes it down to us. The New
Testament Book of Hebrews attests to this:
But ab out the Son he says, Your throne, Oh God, will last forever
and ever, and righteousness will b e the scep ter of your kingdom.

You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God,

your God, has set you ab ove your comp anions b y anointing you
with the oil of joy (Hebrews 1:8-9).

A scepter is the symbol of a kings royal authority. If the

king extends the scepter to you, it means you may enter his
presence for an audience. If he does not, you must remain
outside. In ancient times this was a matter of life or death.
The Book of Esther describes how the king of Persia would
extend his scepter for those he granted permission to enter.
Anyone who entered the kings presence without the
extended scepter was killed on the spot. Even Queen Esther
risked death if she entered the kings presence without his
scepter extended to her.
The scepter was a visible symbol of the kings power.
When the King extends His scepter to us, we may enter and
everything in the Kingdom becomes ours. The passage
says, righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom.
This means that our authority in the Kingdom of God is
righteousness. As long as we stay lined up with the
governments laws, we have power with the government.
God gives us power to ask for anything we need. He hands

it to us.
Righteousness is also the standard by which the King
dispenses judgment:
He will judge the world in righteousness; He will govern the p eop les
with justice (Psalm 9:8).

God will judge the world as to whether the governments

of the earth are lined up with Heaven.
And the heavens p roclaim His righteousness, for God Himself is
judge (Psalm 50:6)

If we remain lined up, God gives us our rights.

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; love
and faithfulness go b efore You (Psalm 89:14).

The foundation for our exercising the authority of God is

our relationship with God. Once we are lined up with God,
He will lavish His faithfulness and love upon us. Talk
about getting your needs met! God says, Get into right
position with me, and Ill overload you.
Here are seven more power keys. The power of
righteousness is:
1. Governmental obligation. When you are in right
standing with the King, He is obligated to take care
of your life.
2. Governmental protection. When you are in right

3.
4.
5.
6.

7.

standing with the King, He is obligated to protect

you.
Governmental support. When you are in right
standing with the King, He is obligated to support
your life, to uphold you in everything.
Governmental provisions. When you are in right
standing with the King, He provides you with
everything you need.
Governmental commitment. When you are in right
standing with the King, the King is committed to
take care of you.
Governmental responsibility. When you are under a
Kings authority and are in right relationship with
that King, the King has a place of responsibility
toward you.
7. Righteousness activates the government. When
you are in right standing with the King, you activate
the entire machine of the government. The
government is focused upon you. It does everything
for you. For the eyes of the Lord range throughout
the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully
committed to Him (2 Chron. 16:9). Gods eyes are
on the righteous. Our righteousness activates the
government. His own nature and promises obligate
Him to act.

What a powerful list!

CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLES FOR

THE

PURSUIT

OF

RIGHTEOUSNESS

If you want to know how an appliance works, you turn

to the owners manual prepared by the manufacturer. If you
want to understand the principles under which a nation or
a kingdom operates, you examine its constitution. The
pursuit of righteousness is the fundamental operating
principle for citizens of the Kingdom of God. There is no
better way to learn how to conduct that pursuit than by
consulting and following the Kingdom constitution, the
Bible. Lets examine some of the constitutional principles
that help us understand, apply, and exercise righteousness.
Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath, b ut righteousness delivers
from death (Proverbs 11:4).

Do you want long life? Then live for righteousness. Dont

live for wealth. The pursuit of righteousness may bring
wealth your way, but as a byproduct. Righteousness is its
own reward. Living for righteousness will deliver you from
the death of your business, the death of your marriage, the
death of your investments, the death of your nances, the
death of your health. If you are lined up with God, He will
deliver you.
The righteousness of the b lameless makes a straight way for them,

b ut the wicked are b rought down b y their own wickedness (Proverbs

11:5).

Blameless means clean living that is above reproach. You

stop for red lights. You are honest in all your dealings,
even when no one would know if you werent. You seek to
obey God every minute of every day. Righteousness will

clear the path ahead of you so that nothing stands between

you and full, abundant living. If righteousness is its own
reward, then wickedness is its own curse. The wicked may
seem to prosper for a time, but eventually their own
wickedness will destroy them.
The righteousness of the up right delivers them, b ut the unfaithful are
trap p ed b y evil desires (Proverbs 11:6).

Righteousness is true freedom; freedom to live as God

meant for you to live: happy, healthy, abundant,
prosperous, and master of your circumstances.
Unrighteousness is bondage that will shackle you to your
baser lusts and desires.
In the way of righteousness there is life; along that p ath is
immortality (Proverbs 12:28).

When you are lined up with God, you cannot die!

Righteousness makes you immortal to enjoy the Kingdom
and its benefits forever! Hows that for destiny?!
Righteousness guards the man of integrity, b ut wickedness
overthrows the sinner (Proverbs 13:6).

Alignment with God and His Word places you under His
protection. Living with integrity will build you a good
reputation that will hold you in good stead when you come
under attack from the unscrupulous. A wicked man,
however, eventually will be undone by his own
wickedness.

Better is little with righteousness than much gain with injustice

(Proverbs 16:8).

Id rather be right with God than be right with the world.

In fact, James 4:4 states that to be a friend of the world is
to be an enemy of God. The world as a whole opposes God
and everything He stands for. That is why the world needs
to be told about the Kingdom. Be satis ed and faithful with
the little you may have now because, if you are righteous,
God will add more that you did not have to work or
scheme or connive for. Unjust gain is a dead end.
Righteousness exalts a nation, b ut sin is a disgrace to any p eop le
(Proverbs 14:34).

Righteousness is not only personal but also corporate.

Personal righteousness can exist without corporate
righteousness, but there is no corporate righteousness
without personal righteousness. It takes righteous people to
create a righteous nation, and diligence on their part to
keep the nation righteous. Every law enacted and every bill
passed should be measured against and brought into
alignment with the standard of Gods Word. Otherwise,
unrighteousness will result. We see this happening all over
the world, particularly in the historically Christian West.
Every misaligned law or other action at the national level
leads the nation farther down the path of disgrace,
dissension, disillusionment, disintegration and, eventually,
dissolution. None of us as Kingdom citizens can afford to be
satis ed merely with our own private righteousness. We
must be alert, vigilant, engaged and even militant in

pressing for righteousness at the corporate and national

levels. Otherwise we risk bringing the judgment of God
down on our nations.
The Lord detests the way of the wicked b ut He loves those who
p ursue righteousness (Proverbs 15:9).

Notice that the Lord detests the way of the wicked. God
loves wicked people, but He hates their wicked ways. He
wants to change their hearts so they will pursue
righteousness instead of wickedness. Remember, all of us
once were wicked in Gods sight until we were transformed
through the blood of Christ, brought into right standing
with God, and made citizens of His Kingdom. Not only
does God love the righteous, He loves those who want to
do right. He will move Heaven and earth to help an honest
seeker of righteousness find it.
The Lord has dealt with me according to my righteousness; according
to the cleanness of my hands He has rewarded me. For I have kep t

the ways of the Lord; I have not done evil b y turning from my God.
All his laws are b efore me; I have not turned away from His
decrees. I have b een b lameless b efore Him and have kep t myself
from sin. The Lord has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands in His sight (Psalm 18:2024).

This is without doubt one of the nest descriptions in the

Bible of practical righteousnessrighteousness as it is lived
out from day to day. David, future king of Israel, describes
the righteous life as a life of obedience to the Word and

ways of God. Righteousness brings reward and the link

between the two is obedience. Reward is that which is
added. It is not something we work for. If we are righteous,
all these things will be added to us. We will receive our
reward, both in this life and in the life to come.
The Lord is my shep herd, I shall not b e in want. He makes me lie
down in green p astures, He leads me b eside quiet waters, He

restores my soul. He leads me in p aths of righteousness for His

names sake (Psalm 23:1-3).

Why does the Lord take care of us? Why does He give us
green pastures and quiet waters? Why does He restore our
soul and lead us in paths of righteousness? For the sake of
His name. For the sake of His reputation. He is saying to
us, Do right, please, so I can protect My Name. Do right,
so I can take care of you and show Myself to be a good and
benevolent King. Dont call me Lord and then not do what
I say. Let me show the world how a Kingdom citizen lives:
in peace, prosperity, abundance, and security.
Vindicate me in your righteousness, O Lord my God; do not let them
gloat over me (Psalm 35:24).

The word vindicate means to deliver or avenge, to

justify or defend, to free from allegation or blame.
Righteousness sets us up for the Lord to defend us from
unjusti ed accusation and attack. No matter what you may
be going through on your job or elsewhere, no matter what
pressure you may be under to compromise your integrity,
honor, or principles, just stay aligned with God and He

will come to your defense. You may feel as though

everybody is conspiring against you. Dont worry about it.
Even if you are the only righteous person there, God can
vindicate you. Whatever you are going through, God says,
I will give the answer. Im going to do this Myself. You
just remain righteous. Stay lined up with My government.
He who p ursues righteousness and love
honor (Proverbs 21:21).

nds life, p rosp erity and

The world pursues prosperity and the good life but

rarely nds them. Kingdom citizens, however, are to
pursue righteousness. We are never to pursue prosperity.
There is no prosperity gospel in the Kingdom.
Prosperity is a byproduct of righteous living. Live
righteously and what happens? You will nd prosperity.
You will nd the good life and the abundant life. You will
nd honor in the eyes of God and men. You wont have to
pursue them to procure them. All these things you will find
simply by putting all your energy into one thing: the
pursuit of righteousness.
Of the increase of His government and p eace there will b e no end.
He will reign on Davids throne and over His kingdom, estab lishing
and up holding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and
forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomp lish this (Isaiah
9:7).

This verse refers to Jesus Christ, who came to restore

man back to his relationship with the Kingdom of God. His

is the Kingdom that will last forever and be characterized

by justice and righteousness. A just and righteous King will
always give His citizens their rights based upon their being
and remaining aligned to the principles and laws of His
Kingdom.
with righteousness He will judge the needy, with justice He will
give decisions for the p oor of the earth(Isaiah 11:4).

This verse says that poverty is solved by righteousness. If

a poor man becomes righteouslined up with the
Kingdomhis poverty is gone. To judge means to give
rights. In other words, poverty is really a result of
disposition.
I was born in the low part of my country. My only
reason for coming out of whatever I was in is my
relationship with God. Nothing else explains it.
Righteousness is the solution to poverty. This means that
unrighteousness is the cause of poverty. Let me hasten to
add, however, that often it is the unrighteousness of those
who oppress and take advantage of the poor that helps
perpetuate poverty. Unrighteousness a ects not only us but
also all those who are within our sphere of in uence. Even
under oppressive conditions, however, the transformed
mind-set of a Kingdom citizen who is poor can manifest in
changed external circumstances. The King takes care of His
righteous citizens no matter where they are or what their
condition.
A king will reign in righteousness and rulers will rule with justice
(Isaiah 32:1).

Every leader, political or otherwise, should take this

verse to heart. Alignment with Heavens government is the
key to the success of any country. For a king to reign in
righteousness he must be lined up with the government of
Heaven. This is how any nation prospers. All judges should
judge everything according to the Word of God. All of our
morals, policies and values should conform to Gods laws.
Otherwise, the nation will be unrighteous and on the road
to disaster.
In every nation today there is a crying need for righteous
Kingdom citizens to be active in the political arena, not
only as voters but also as candidates and o ce holders. The
only way for justice to prevail for every citizen of a nation
is for that nation to be governed by principles of
righteousness laid out in the Word of God. And the only
way for righteousness to govern a nation is for righteous
citizens to wield their in uence and example at every level
of government.
The fruit of righteousness will b e p eace; the e ect of righteousness
will b e quietness and confidence forever (Isaiah 32:17).

There it is. When you are righteous, you y your ag.

When you are righteous you keep the company you work
for a oat. When you are righteous, you keep the home at
peace. When you are righteous, you bring peace to a
company because you work there.
This is why the Bible says that as long as Joseph was
with Pharaoh, Egypt prospered. When Daniel was with
Nebuchadnezzar, the country prospered. Because you are in

that school, the school is blessed. Dont ever make light of

your in uence on where you are because righteousness
brings peace.
Peace, quietness, con dence. Dont you love those
words? Dont you wish they were the norm for your life?
Quietness means that you are calm in any storm and
nobody understands why. Quietness means that you are in a
position of total control in the middle of a crisis because
you know the government of Heaven is above every earthly
government. Quietness means you dont start talking loudly
when everybody else does. People get all hyper,
concerned, and frustrated while you remain calm. Why?
Youre not under their government. Con dence means you
have complete trust in your government. You trust your
government to take care of you. Who can say that about
any governments on earth?
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, b ut
of righteousness, p eace and joy in the Holy Sp irit (Romans 14:17).

Anyone who serves Christ in this way, by obeying the

laws and principles of righteousness, will receive the
approval of God and man. No one will attack you for doing
well. If they do attack you, it is because they do not
understand you. In this sick, corrupt, sin-ridden world,
righteous living is a mystery to many, even a reason for
suspicion. That is why we must always be careful to live
upright with honor, honesty, and integrity, so no one will
have an excuse to attack us or to defame the name of our
King. Live righteously, and joy will ll your days, in spite

of what happens around you. The joy of the Lord is not

subject to the ways of the world or the whims of
circumstance because it originates in another place.
The Kingdom of God operates on righteousness.
Righteousness is the scepter of Gods throne. It aligns us
with the Kingdom government and gives us access to
Kingdom bene ts. Righteousness guarantees that we will
receive all the rights that are ours under Kingdom law. And
its results are treasures the world craves: peace, quietness,
confidenceand joy unspeakable.
PRINCIPLES
1. Jesus reduced the issues of life to two things: (1) the
Kingdom of God and (2) the righteousness of God.
2. Righteousness simply means to be in conformity
with the laws of the country.
3. Righteousness means right positioning with the
government.
4. Kingdom is the horizontal dimension that deals with
power: rulership, dominion, and control. It is
kingship.
5. Righteousness is the vertical dimension that deals
w i t h position: relationship, right standing,
disposition, and authority. It is priesthood.
6. Righteousness is our relationship with the
government. Kingdom is our disposition with the
government.
7. Righteousness is the key to abundant Kingdom

living.
8. Holiness is a manifestation of righteousness.
9. The pursuit of righteousness is the fundamental
operating principle for citizens of the Kingdom of
God.
10. Righteousness is its own reward.
11. Righteousness is not only personal but also
corporate.
12. Righteousness brings reward and the link between
the two is obedience.
13. Righteousness is the solution to poverty.
14. 14. Righteousness guarantees that we will receive all
the rights that are ours under Kingdom law.
ENDNOTE
1.W. E. Vine, Merrill F. Unger, and William White, Jr.,
Vines Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New
Testament Words, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers,
1984, 1996), Old Testament section, 206.

Never mistake knowledge for wisdom.

One helps you make a living; the other
helps you make a life.Sandra Carey

CHAPTER S IX
RIGHTEOUS POSITIONING: THE KEY
TO ABUNDANT KINGDOM LIVING

ost peoples lives today are out of alignment

with the government of Gods Kingdom.
Unfortunately, this is also true of many
Kingdom citizens. Why? Because instead of
pursuing Gods priorities of the Kingdom and
righteousness, we pursue things. No matter how hard we
try or how great our desire, the qualities we truly want
most in lifepeace, quietness, confidence, and joyalways
seem to elude our grasp. This is because we have bought
into the deception that those qualities can be acquired
through the things we possess.
Our lives are out of alignment because we are focused on
possessions rather than on position. For many believers
today a great disconnect exists between the promises of the
Kingdom and the personal realities of daily experience.
Many of us live beyond our means, spending more money
than we make. We buy cars too expensive for our budget,
houses we cant make the payments on, and designer
clothes we cant a ord, all in the interests of keeping up
with (or showing up) our neighbors. We are neck-deep in
debt and always seem to end up with too much month left
at the end of the money.
Whats the problem? We are obsessed with things. Food
is a thing. Water is a thing. A house is a thing. A car is a

thing. Money is a thing. All of these are just things, and our
pursuit of things is destroying us. Our obsession with
things is a hunger we will never satisfy. It will gnaw away
at us relentlessly so that the more we get, the hungrier we
become. As long as we pursue things, we will never know
true peace, contentment, or joy. Somehow we must be
delivered from our slavery to things. Deliverance is found
in only one place: in pursuit of the Kingdom and
righteousness of God.
It is a matter of exchanging one hunger for another. Our
hunger for things will never be satis ed. But Jesus said,
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be lled (Matt. 5:6). How hungry are you?
What are you hungry for? Is your hunger for the Kingdom
greater than your hunger for things? Do you thirst for
righteousness more than you thirst for material prosperity?
King David of Israel wrote, Delight yourself in the Lord and
He will give you the desires of your heart (Ps. 37:4). If the
Kingdom and righteousness of God are your chief desire
and delight, He will take care of everything else.
When Jesus said, Blessed are those who hunger and
thirst for righteousness, He used in nitives, which mean
continuing action. If you say, Im hungry, or Im
thirsty, you are referring to a temporary condition that
will be satis ed once you have some food or drink. If,
however, you say, I hunger, or I thirst, you are
speaking of continuous desires: you continue to be hungry
and you continue to be thirsty.
Imagine being stranded in the desert under the baking
sun without food or water. After a couple of days (maybe

less), the only thing on your mind is the desire to satisfy

your hunger and thirst. Nothing else matters. You are
willing to sacri ce anything, give up anything, part with
anything, do anything to ll the greatest craving in your
heart. Jesus said that this is the kind of all-consuming
desire you should have for the Kingdom and righteousness
of God. An ancient Hebrew psalmist expressed such desire
this way: As the deer pants for streams of water, so my
soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the
living God. When can I go and meet with God? (Ps. 42:12).
THE DIVINE DISPOSITION
A continuing hunger and thirst for righteousness
positions us to enter into the fullness of Kingdom life.
Remember that righteousness is a legal term that means to
be in alignment with authority; to be in right standing with
the governing power. The key to maintaining that right
standing is obedience to the laws of that government. In a
kingdom, since the kings word is law, righteousness means
ful lling the kings requirements. Our pursuit of
righteousness places us in the right positioning to receive
all the rights, resources, blessings, and privileges of the
Kingdom that are ours as Kingdom citizens.
In this positioning there is a part we play and a part that
God plays. Our part is to obey the laws of the government,
thus keeping ourselves in alignment. Gods part is to open
up to us the resources of Heaven. It is a very simple
dynamic. We obey, God opens; we disobey, He closes. As

long as we obey the law, we have access. As soon as we

disobeyget out of alignmentthat access shuts down.
This explains why so many believers struggle from day to
day, pinching pennies, trying to make ends meet but never
seem to have enough, with no peace, joy, or contentment.
They are out of alignment with their government and their
access to Kingdom resources has been shut off.
Whenever this happens, it is always due to sin, which is
breaking the law. The literal meaning of the Greek word
for sin in the New Testament is to miss the mark. It is an
archery term that refers to falling short of the target. Sin
interrupts our communication with God and shuts down the
ow of His resources to us. As the psalmist said, If I
regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear (Ps.
66:18 NKJV). Iniquity is another word for sin but refers
speci cally to invisible sin, such as greed, envy, lust, and
hatred, and is worse than physical sin. Invisible sin is secret
sin, which gives rise to visible sins of action.
Righteous positioning means keeping our hearts pure
clean and uncorrupted by iniquity. If we harbor no secret
sins in our heart, there will be nothing to give rise to
visible sins. Purity of heart is a critical, indispensable key
to abundant Kingdom life. Jesus said, Blessed are the pure
in heart, for they will see God (Matt. 5:8). Literally, this
means that the pure in heart will see God in everything.
The word heart in this verse means mind. If our minds
are pure, we will see God in everything and in everyone.
This is the answer to the problem of greed, or lust, or
jealousy, or any kind of impure or improper thought or
attitude.

What a challenge to live at such a level in our world

today! But that is just the challenge that the King calls His
citizens to take up, a challenge that we can meet
successfully in His mighty power. But we must choose the
path of righteousness and be in the right positioning with
regard to our Kings requirements. We must be in the
position to receive His favor.
THE FRUIT

OF

RIGHTEOUSNESS

I wrote in the previous chapter that righteousness is its

own reward, but that does not mean that it is the only
reward. Righteousness bears abundant fruit in our lives.
One of these is a spirit of generosity, along with the means
and capacity to give generously. Jesus said, It is more
blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:35b), and Paul
reminds us that, God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor. 9:7b).
Generosity is a character trait of the righteous, of those
who are positioned properly with the government of God.
After all, if we own nothing and are merely stewards of
Gods property, there is no reason why we cannot give
freely. And if we are heirs to the Kingdom of God and all
its riches, which are in nite, we can give with no fear of
running out.
David, in another of his psalms, contrasts the righteous
and the wicked: The wicked borrow and do not repay, but
the righteous give generously; those the Lord blesses will
inherit the land, but those he curses will be cut o (Ps.
37:21-22). Righteousness is aligning ourselves with Gods
character and nature. In this way we grow to become like

Him, and He is a giver. Because God is a giver, when we

get into right positioning with Him, He will give us more
than we know what to do with. And because we are
becoming like Him, we cannot help but become generous
givers also.
The prosperity of the righteous is an ongoing blessing
from God that spans generations. A few verses later in the
same psalm, David writes, I was young and now I am old,
yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children
begging bread. They are always generous and lend freely;
their children will be blessed (Ps. 37:25-26). God never
forsakes the righteous or their children. He always provides
for them. The fruit of the righteous extends even beyond
their lifetime to bless their children. Righteous living will
bear the fruit in our lives of an inheritance we can leave to
our descendents. We should be so blessed that our children,
grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and cousins should inherit
a multiplied blessing, all because we lived our life rightly
positioned with Gods government. That is the kind of fruit
He wants to give us.
Right positioning places us under the protection of the
King, who will preserve us even when the wicked are
destroyed: For the Lord loves the just and will not forsake
his faithful ones. They will be protected forever, but the
o spring of the wicked will be cut o ; the righteous will
inherit the land and dwell in it forever (Ps. 37:28-29).
Ultimately, the real estate of the Kingdom is reserved for
the righteous, for those who are lined up with the Kingdom
government. The destiny and prosperity of the ancient
Israelites were intimately connected to the land. Even

today, the only true material wealth of any lasting value,

particularly as an inheritance to pass on, is real estate. A
fancy house doesnt matter. A fancy car doesnt matter. The
best designer label clothes dont matter. These things rust,
rot, and fall apart. If you want to leave your children and
grandchildren a valuable legacy, leave them land, not
things. Leave them also the legacy of your example of not
laying up treasures on earth, which pass away, but
treasures in Heaven, which last forever (see Matt. 6:19-20).
Not only will the righteous inherit land to dwell in
forever, but that land will be covered by a peace and
security that the world knows nothing about: The fruit of
righteousness will be peace; the e ect of righteousness will
be quietness and con dence forever. My people will live in
peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed
places of rest (Isa. 32:17-18). What an incredible threefold
promise!
First, if we are righteous, we will enjoy the fruit of
peace. Why? Because we are not living for the pursuit of
things anymore. Our insatiable hunger for things robs us of
peace. Peace in this sense means the absence of frustration
and worry. Does that describe your life? Are you at peace?
Second, peace will produce the corollary e ect of
quietness, or calm disposition, even in trouble. Nothing
will disturb us. Do you have a calm, quiet disposition no
matter what happens?
Third, peace also produces con dencetotal trust and
faith in the care, provision, and protection of Gods
government. This means that we can go to sleep at night
free of worry, fear, and uncertainty because we know that

our King has us covered. Do you have that kind of

confidence on an ongoing basis?
Peaceful
dwelling
places.
Secure
homes.
Undisturbed places of rest. Who wouldnt give anything
they had for that kind of peace and security! Yet this is the
guaranteed inheritance of the righteous!
Unlike religion, which focuses on externals, life in the
Kingdom of God focuses on inner transformation that
manifests in external ways. As Paul reminded the believers
in Rome, For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating
and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the
Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is
pleasing to God and approved by men (Rom. 14:17-18).
Here we have another amazing promise. One of the fruits
of right positioning is that we please God and receive the
approval of other people.
Pleasing God should be our focus rather than pleasing
people, because when we are pleasing to God, He causes
the approval of people to fall upon us. People approving
of us does not necessarily mean they will like us. It may be
simply that they see a righteous and honorable quality to
our lives that they cannot help but respect, and a calm and
joyous demeanor in the way we face everyday life that they
cannot help but admire and envy. Our righteousness brings
pleasure to God and elicits, however grudgingly, the
respect and approval of people.
Righteousness, then, is the primary key to Kingdom
living.
KNOW YOUR CONSTITUTION

Knowledge is the key to everything in life, and it is no

di erent with righteousness. The key to righteousness is
knowledge of the law. How can we obey the law if we
dont know it? That is why it is so important for us to study
the laws of the government under whose authority we live.
As Kingdom citizens we live under the Kings government,
and His Word is law. Since the Bible is the written code of
law for the Kingdom of God, it is incumbent upon us as
citizens to read it, study it, and know it. We need to know
the laws of our Kingdom so we can stay in sync with them
and in right positioning with the King. Moreover,
knowledge of the Bible will also help us come to know the
King HimselfHis heart and mind and will and ways and
thoughtswhich is even more important.
Knowledge of the Bible, our Kingdom constitution, is
also the key to e ective citizenship in the Kingdom. Most
people in any given nation do not know most of the laws
of their country. Ignorance of ones constitution is
dangerous in at least two ways. First, ignorance of the law
can lead to inadvertent violation of the law, resulting in
legal penalties and loss of alignment with the government
(unrighteousness). How can we obey what we dont know
to obey? Second, ignorance of the law usually means also
ignorance of ones rights under the law. If we dont know
what our citizen rights are, how can we claim them? So
ignorance of the law means that we lose twice.
The same thing is true in the Kingdom of God. If we
dont know our constitution, the Word of God, we will not
be able to obey it or claim our constitutional rights as
Kingdom citizens. In fact, the Bible itself states that it exists

for the speci c purpose of training us for Kingdom living:

All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching,
rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, (2 Tim.
3:16). God gave us His Word so we can learn how to live
in His Kingdom. Righteous living does not come naturally,
even for Kingdom citizens. We must train our minds so we
can walk in the things of God and discipline our bodies to
do the right thing. If we know what to do every day, we
will know also how to do it right. The Bible is the
constitution of the Kingdom of God and the source of
righteousness for its citizens.
Lets take this one step further. Knowledge of the
constitution and principles of the Kingdom is vital for us as
Kingdom citizens, but just as vital is our need to stand
boldly and rmly for them before the world. The people of
the world are looking for the Kingdom, but how will they
learn of it if we keep silent? King David understood this,
which is why he wrote:
I desire to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart. I
p roclaim righteousness in the great assemb ly; I do not seal my lip s,
as You know, O Lord. I do not hide Your righteousness in my heart;
I sp eak of Your faithfulness and salvation. I do not conceal Your
love and Your truth from the great assemb ly (Psalm 40:8-10).

Remember, now, David was not a priest; he was the

king. His was the world of politics, warfare, government
and administration. David undoubtedly met regularly with
the ministers, administrators, and other lower-level o cials
of his kingdom to conduct the regular a airs of kingdom

life and operation. In addition, as king he no doubt

received from time to time o cial delegations from other
kingdoms in the region. Yet, according to these verses,
David never hesitated, even on these o cial occasions, to
speak of righteousness and the faithfulness and salvation of
God. They were as much a part of his life and his rule as
breathing.
Many people insist that we should never mix faith and
politics. Such a concept would have been completely
foreign to David. He was a man after Gods own heart and
he never shrank back from telling anyone within earshot of
the glories, mercy, love, power, and majesty of the Lord.
There were also certain things he simply would not do out
of love and obedience to his God. He would make his
position plain to everyone and then say, Here is where I
stand.
How we need today believing politicians and CEOs and
managers and supervisors and employees who will stand
up for righteousness and say, Here is where I stand! We
need people who will say, I will not cheat, I will not lie, I
will not cut corners, I will not accept bribes, I will not take
kickbacks, I will not pad invoices, I will not steal time
from my employer, because all of these things violate my
higher law, the law of Heaven.
We need people who will say, I will pursue honor,
honesty, integrity, and excellence in everything I do
because these keep me in right positioning with my King.
If you get red for your stand, so what? God has you
covered. He honors, protects, and rewards the righteous.
Jesus said, Blessed are those who are persecuted because

of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven (Matt.

5:10). Stand up for righteousness and God will bless you
with the whole Kingdom.
POSITIONING IS ESSENTIAL FOR KINGDOM LIFE
Positioning places us under proper authority in the
Kingdom. This concept is so important that even Jesus had
to get into position before He began His public ministry.
One day Jesus came to the Jordan River, where the prophet
John the Baptist was baptizing people for repentance
(renouncing and turning away) of sin. Jesus stepped into
the water to be baptized.
But John tried to deter Him, saying, I need to b e b ap tized b y You,
and do You come to me? Jesus rep lied, Let it b e so now; it is
p rop er for us to do this to ful ll all righteousness. Then John
consented (Matthew 3:14-15).

As the Son of God, Jesus was without sin and did not
need to be baptized for repentance of sin. And John clearly
recognized Jesus as being greater than he. Why then did
Jesus say, Let it be so now in order to ful ll all
righteousness? In essence, He was saying to John, This is
not a matter of greatness, but a matter of positioning.
According to the law of the Lord, you are the one with
authority on earth right now. I have to get under you. Its
not a matter of what you think or who I am, but a matter of
my positioning. I have to be in alignment with My Father,
and you, John, are the alignment. I have to get under you
in order for Me to be under Myself.

If Jesus Christ, who was God in the esh, had to submit

to the authority He established, who are we to think that
we dont? Our protection is submission to Kingdom
authority, positioning ourselves in alignment to the Word
and will of the King.
Jesus decision to position Himself by being baptized by
John was obviously the right decision, as is borne out by
what happened next:
As soon as Jesus was b ap tized, He went up out of the water. At that
moment Heaven was op ened, and He saw the Sp irit of God
descending like a dove and lighting on Him. And a voice from
Heaven said, This is My Son, whom, I love; with Him I am well
p leased (Matthew 3:16-17).

Remember, righteousness is pleasing to God, and

righteousness means positioning ourselves under His
authority.
Righteous positioning, which is based on obedience, is so
important that it is the standard of measure in the Kingdom
of God. So important, in fact, as to prompt Jesus to issue
this warning:
Anyone who b reaks one of the least of these commandments and

teaches others to do the same will b e called least in the kingdom of

Heaven, b ut whoever p ractices and teaches these commands will b e
called great in the kingdom of Heaven. For I tell you that unless
your righteousness surp asses that of the Pharisees and the teachers
of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of Heaven
(Matthew 5:19-20).

Greatness in the Kingdom of Heaven is measured by the

standard of obedience to the Kings commands, which are
the law. Those who obey are called great while those who
disobey are called least. In the eyes of the people of Jesus
day (as well as in their own eyes), the Pharisees and
teachers of the law were great because they were
committed to exact observance of the Jewish law. Strictly
speaking, no one was more obedient to the letter of the law
than the Pharisees and teachers of the law.
The problem, however, was that these leaders
approached the law and righteousness from a religious
mind-set. They were seeking righteousness according to
their own merit. They thought that strict obedience to the
law in every minute detail would earn them favor with
God. In truth, however, they were never aligned with Gods
law. They were never in tune with His heart and mind.
They were out of position because they sought
righteousness through religion.
Religion will never line us up with God. Jesus did not
bring a religion when He came. He brought the good news
that the Kingdom of Heaven had come to earth. We dont
become righteous by lining up with religion. We become
righteous by positioning ourselves according to the laws
and principles of the Kingdom of Heaven. It doesnt matter
how many rituals we perform, how many worship services
we attend or how often we go to prayer meeting; without
deliberate and conscious aligning of ourselves with
Kingdom authority, all the rest means nothing. Except our
righteousness exceeds that of religion and man-made
tradition, we will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

Religion doesnt work. We see it in the lives of believers

all the time. Believers who are trapped in the religion of
institutionalized Christianity, with all of its man-made
trappings and having a form of godliness but denying its
power (2 Tim. 3:5), do not position themselves according
to the principles of the Kingdom. Consequently, they do
not enjoy the fruits and bene ts of Kingdom life. This is
why so many believers are broke, destitute, and struggling,
and living with the same fears, worries, and sicknesses as
the rest of the world.
It is time for all of us who are believers to get real with
God and do what He says. He has promised that if we will
obey His laws and pursue righteous positioning with Him,
He will add everything else to us.
RIGHTEOUSNESS FOR RECONCILIATION
The fundamental and universal need of every human
being on earth is righteousness. Gods Word makes it clear
that none of us are righteous in and of ourselves:
The fool says in his heart, There is no God. They are corrup t,
their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good. The Lord looks

down from Heaven on the sons of men to see if there are any who
understand, any who seek God. All have turned aside, they have
together b ecome corrup t; there is no one who does good, not even
one (Psalm 14:1-3).

Sin and moral corruption are universal, a legacy of

Adam and Eves disobedience in the Garden of Eden.

Furthermore, there is nothing any of us can do to make

ourselves righteous: All of us have become like one who is
unclean, and all our righteous acts are like lthy rags; we all
shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us
away (Isa. 64:6). Unless righteousness comes to us from
an outside source, we have no hope of entering the
Kingdom of God.
Fortunately for our sake, God Himself has provided the
righteousness we all so desperately need: For in the gospel
a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is
by faith from rst to last, just as it is written: The righteous
will live by faith (Rom. 1:17). The word gospel means
good news. Jesus came preaching the gospel of the
Kingdom of Heaven. As this verse from Pauls letter to the
Romans indicates, the gospel of the Kingdom had within it
a righteousness from God that is appropriated by faith.
Faith in Christ and in His death on the Cross to remove our
sin and moral corruption activates the righteousness of God
and applies it to our lives. So when we come into right
positioning with Gods government in the Kingdom, it is
not our righteousness but His in which we stand.
The righteous will live by faith. This means that they
believe the Word of the Kingdom government. Our
righteousness comes from God. He is saying to us, Look,
either you can position yourself (which is what religion
tries to do) or you can allow Me to position you. Religion
is weak and useless; it avails nothing. Only in My Kingdom
can you find righteousness. You could not save yourself so I
saved you. You could not clean up your own mess so I
cleaned it up for you. Through the blood of My Son I

washed away your sin and moral de lement. It is I who put

you back into right alignment with My government.
I am the one who restored your right standing. You are
in the right position because I put you there.
To put an even ner point on it, Jesus Christ Himself is
our righteousness. It is through Him that the righteousness
of God becomes our own:
It is b ecause of Him [God] that you are in Christ Jesus, who has
b ecome for us wisdom from Godthat is, our righteousness,
holiness and redemp tion. Therefore, as it is written: Let him who
b oasts b oast in the Lord (1 Corinthians 1:30-31).

Jesus became for us our righteousness, holiness, and

redemption. We owe everything to Him. That is why we
have no right or reason to boast in ourselves or in our own
goodness. We should boast in the Lord alone, who has
brought us back into right positioning with Himself and
given us access to the Kingdom of God and all its riches,
resources, and privileges. From our position of
righteousness, which we have from Him, we can
con dently anticipate that He will meet and supply all our
needs. Religion will never do this.
People outside the Kingdom use religion to try to
establish a righteousness of their own making because they
are ignorant of the righteousness that is available from God.
Paul expressed it this way:
Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and
sought to estab lish their own, they did not sub mit to Gods

righteousness. Christ is the end of the law so that there may b e

righteousness for everyone who b elieves (Romans 10:3-4).

Christ is the end of the law. He is the end of all of the

rituals and laws people try to keep. He is the end of all of
our self-e ort to become righteous. He is the end of all our
attempts to relate to God on our own terms. For everyone
who believeseveryone who trusts and submits their lives
to HimJesus becomes their righteousness. This is why we
all need Jesus in our lives. Only through Him can we
become rightly positioned with God.
The righteousness we receive in Christ is not for
ourselves alone. When we become rightly positioned with
the government of God, He commissions us to spread the
word of His righteousness to others so they too may
become rightly positioned with Him. This commission is
called the ministry of reconciliation:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has
gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to
Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:

that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not
counting mens sins against them. And He has committed to us the
message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christs amb assadors,

as though God were making His ap p eal through us. We imp lore you
on Christs b ehalf: Be reconciled to God. God made Him who had no
sin to b e sin for us, so that in Him we might b ecome the
righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:17-21).

T o reconcile means to restore a broken relationship,

remove an estrangement, or bring back into balance. All

of these describe what happens when we become the

righteousness of God in Christ: our broken relationship
with God is restored, the wall of separation between us is
removed, and our lives are brought back into the balance
God originally intended. We are placed in right
positioning. And from that right and secure place we are
prepared and equipped to carry the message of the
Kingdom to others so they too can be reconciled to God.
This is the good news of the Kingdom!
PRINCIPLES
1. Our pursuit of righteousness places us in the right
positioning to receive all the rights, resources,
blessings, and privileges of the Kingdom that are
ours as Kingdom citizens.
2. Purity of heart is a critical, indispensable key to
abundant Kingdom life.
3. The prosperity of the righteous is an ongoing
blessing from God that spans generations.
4. Right positioning places us under the protection of
the King.
5. The key to righteousness is knowledge of the law.
6. Knowledge of the Bible, our Kingdom constitution,
is also the key to e ective citizenship in the
Kingdom.
7. The Bible is the constitution of the Kingdom of God
and the source of righteousness for its citizens.
8. Positioning places us under proper authority in the

Kingdom.
9. Righteous positioning, which is based on obedience,
is so important that it is the standard of measure in
the Kingdom of God.
10. Our righteousness comes from God.
11. Jesus Christ Himself is our righteousness.
12. When we become rightly positioned with the
government of God, He commissions us to spread
the word of His righteousness to others so they too
may become rightly positioned with Him.

Life contains but two tragedies. One

is not to get your hearts desire; the other
is to get it.George Bernard Shaw

CHAPTER S EVEN

THE BENEFITS
OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

ave you ever wondered, Whats the use of

being righteous? What good does it do to try
to live right and do the right thing? After all, it
often seems as though the people who live only
for themselves get along better than anybody
else. They lie and cheat, they follow dishonest and
unscrupulous business practices, yet they always seem to
prosper. In the meantime, honest, hard-working people
labor day after day just for the daily food on their table. If
righteousness is so important, why do the wicked prosper?
This is an age-old question. An ancient Hebrew psalmist
named Asaph asked the same thing. When he saw evil men
do well, it made him question why he tried so hard to live
right:
But as for me, my feet had almost slip p ed; I had nearly lost my

foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the p rosp erity of the
wicked. They have no struggles; their b odies are healthy and strong.
They are free from the b urdens common to man; they are not
p lagued b y human illsThis is what the wicked are likealways
carefree, they increase in wealth. Surely in vain have I kep t my heart
p ure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence. All day long I
have b een p lagued; I have b een p unished every morning (Psalm
73:2-5, 12-14).

Asaph was so troubled over this that he almost gave up.

He almost abandoned his attempt to live righteously, until
the day he received a revelation from God. When he began
to see things from the vantage point of the Kingdom of
Heaven, his entire perspective changed:
When I tried to understand all this, it was op p ressive to me till I
entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their nal destiny.
Surely you p lace them on slip p ery ground; you cast them down to
ruin. How suddenly they are destroyed, comp letely swep t away b y
terrors! As a dream when one awakes, so when you arise, O Lord,
you will desp ise them as fantasies (Psalm 73:16-20).

Things look di erent when viewed from a Kingdom

perspective. Unrighteous people who so often appear to us
to be stable, successful, healthy, wealthy, and trouble-free
are actually on a slippery slope toward destruction. Their
stability is only apparent, not real. As it says in another
psalm, the wicked are like chaff that the wind blows away
(Ps. 1:4b). They are here one day and gone the next.
It is a di erent story with the righteous. The same psalm
says of the righteous person, But his delight is in the law of
the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night. He is
like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit
in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does
prospers (Ps. 1:2-3). The psalm concludes with a powerful
contrast: For the Lord watches over the way of the
righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish (Ps. 1:6).
Which would you rather be, cha blown away by the wind
or a tree firmly planted, well nourished, and prosperous?

So what good is righteousness? It gives us true stability,

success, health, wealth that lasts, and positions us to
overcome all the troubles that life throws our way.
Even though the righteousness we receive in Christ is not
given for us alone but also for the purpose of the ministry
of reconciliation, righteousness does bring with it
significant personal benefits.
SEED

FOR THE

SOWER

You read in Chapter Six that one of the fruits of

righteousnessone of its by-products in our livesis a
spirit of generosity. A giving spirit is second nature to the
righteous because righteousness molds us into the likeness
of God, who is a generous giver. Giving is also a
fundamental principle with regard to the bene ts of
righteousness because what we receive is proportional to
what we give. The more we give, and the greater the
generosity with which we give, the more we will receive in
return. Jesus said, Give, and it will be given to you. A good
measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over,
will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use,
it will be measured to you (Luke 6:38).
When we start to give as God gives, He gives us even
more in return. That is what Jesus meant when He said, a
good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running
over. The King of Heaven is not stingy with His treasures.
No one can outgive God.
Every time we give generously in the Spirit of Christ as
Kingdom citizens, we lay up for ourselves treasures in

Heaven, as Jesus said, where moth and rust do not destroy,

and where thieves do not break in and steal (Matt. 6:20b).
One common biblical metaphor for giving is the image of
sowing seed. Whenever we sow seeds of generosity we are
setting ourselves up for a harvest of greater righteousness
and prosperity:
Whoever sows sp aringly will also reap sp aringly, and whoever sows

generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he
has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under comp ulsion,
for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is ab le to make all grace
ab ound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you
need, you will ab ound in every good workNow he who sup p lies
seed to the sower and b read for food will also sup p ly and increase
your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your

righteousness. You will b e made rich in every way so that you can
b e generous on every occasion(2 Corinthians 9:6-8, 10-11a).

Generous sowing will reap a bountiful harvest. A farmer

who is stingy with his seed will realize only a tiny return.
God gives seed to the sower. This is an important
principle. You must be a sower if you want to attract seed.
It is no good trying to wait, saying, Ill sow once I have
plenty of seed. No! Sow now with whatever seed you have
and the Seed Supplier will give you more. The seed you
receive and the increase you experience are linked to your
generosity. Increase and prosperity are not given for us to
consume ourselves but that we might be generous toward
others. Once again it is the issue of stewardship versus
ownership.

As you give generously, God will also increase the

harvest of your righteousness because giving brings you
into alignment with Him. He will strengthen your right
standing and rmly anchor your positioning. Every time
you sow you line yourself up with God, who then gives
you more seed to sow, enabling you to stay lined up even
as you continue to sow generously toward others.
According to these Scriptures, Gods desire and intention is
to make you rich in every way so that you can be generous
on every occasion. Have you ever wished you could
contribute to a worthy cause or project but could not
because you lacked the means? God wants to bring you to
the place where you can give on every occasion.
As far as God is concerned, everything He gives you is a
seed. In fact, seeds are all He gives. Seeds have virtually
unlimited potential but they must be sown in order for
their potential to be released. God gives you seed to see
what you will do with it. If you hoard it and keep it for
yourself, it will never sprout, you will never grow and you
will miss out on the joys and bene ts that come from
greater righteousness and a generous spirit. Sow your seed
faithfully, however, and God will replace it with even more
seed so you can increase your generosity. Be faithful with a
little and He will give you much. And He will continue to
do so as long as you use what He gives for His sake and for
the sake of others rather than for your own sake.
THE BENEFIT

OF THE

KING S FAVOR

Righteousness attracts God because He is righteous. He

looks favorably on all who seek to live righteously in faith.

Just as people in earthly kingdoms long for the favor of
their king, so we too should seek the favor of the King of
Heaven. We should look for Him to extend His scepter
over us:
Your throne, O God, will last forever and ever, and righteousness
will b e the scep ter of your kingdom (Hebrews 1:8).

As you read in Chapter Five, the scepter is a kings

symbol of authority. Anyone under the scepter of the king
was under his protection and care. None could enter the
kings presence unless he rst extended his scepter to them.
If a king wants to show you favor, he will extend his
scepter over you, and the next thing he says becomes law
over you. What you were or what you are now do not
matter. What happened yesterday is of no account. All that
matters is what the king says right now. You could walk
into his presence penniless and homeless, hear the king say
with extended scepter, I grant you 10,000 acres of prime
woodland and a manor house, and walk out a rich man
with a ne home. When you enjoy the favor of the king
you dont have to work for what he gives you. He gives
because he wants to; thats why it is called favor.
Traditionally, a king would hold his scepter in his right
hand. The Bible uses similar imagery to refer to God as
King. Those under Gods favor are said to be at His right
hand, while those under His judgment are at his left. If the
right hand of the Lord is upon you, it means that He has
appointed His authority toward you; He has given you

access.
What does this mean in practical terms? Simply this: if
you line yourself up with God in righteousness, He will
extend His scepter, He will direct His favor toward you
and things that youve worked all your life for He will give
you in two minutes. Thats the power of kingly authority.
Authority is better than work. In fact, authority can cancel
or override a lifetime of work. A king has authority over
his entire kingdom.
The Bible says that the way to get Gods authority to
work for us is by maintaining righteousness in our lives.
That is why Jesus told us to seek rst Gods Kingdom and
His righteousness and then everything would be added to
us. The righteousness must come before the addition. But
when God has decided to add the addition to you, nothing
in Heaven or on earth will keep Him from giving it to you.
THE BENEFITS OF UNDERSTANDING

AND

DISCERNMENT

The pursuit of righteousness is the secret to maturity,

understanding, and discernment in Kingdom living. Lack of
righteousness in our lives leads to misalignment with God
and stunts our growth so that we never progress beyond the
stage of spiritual toddlers. It is the spiritual equivalent of
moving from a milk diet to a solid food diet, as the writer
of the Book of Hebrews explains:
Anyone who lives on milk, b eing still an infant, is not acquainted
with the teaching ab out righteousness. But solid food is for the
mature, who b y constant use have trained themselves to distinguish

good from evil (Hebrews 5:13-14).

People who are not experiencing the bene ts of

Kingdom life are like little children who are still living on
milk, not having yet progressed to solid food. And, in fact,
they cannot progress. Just as the digestive system of an
infant cannot handle solid food, the mind of an immature
believer cannot handle the solid demands of
righteousness.
If we never seriously commit ourselves to pursue a life of
righteousness, we will never mature; we will remain
spiritual babies all our lives. Only those committed to
righteousness will reach maturity. They alone will know
the riches and joy of Kingdom life lived to the full. A life of
mature righteousness also carries a strong protective
element because it brings discernment of right and wrong,
helping us to embrace the first and reject the second.
One of the biggest problems plaguing much of the
Western Church today is that believers are not being taught
the importance of personal righteousness in daily life.
Consequently, many of them do not know how to align
their lives with God or how to tell when they are out of
alignment. As a result, they do not experience the
blessings, benefits, provision, or prosperity of the Kingdom
because their unrighteous lifestyle has shut down their
access to these things.
Among other things, God desires every citizen of His
Kingdom to be nancially free. This does not mean never
having any bills, but rather always having the means to pay
them on time. Wealth in the Kingdom of God is not storing

things up, but always having access to everything.

Whenever we need something, its there. There is no need
we have that is too big for God to meet.
As believers and Kingdom citizens, we have a pipeline
to the supply chain of Heaven. God uses this pipeline to
meet our every need, physical or spiritual. But our
pipeline must be clean, clear, and open, and righteousness
is what keeps it that way. The pipeline is always open
from Gods end. Our lifestyle determines whether or not it
remains open at our end. Living righteously keeps our end
clear.
THE BENEFITS OF GOD S PROTECTION

AND

PROMOTION

When we actively pursue righteousness in our daily

living in obedience to Christs command, we enjoy a level
of security and protection that those outside the Kingdom
of God do not have. This does not mean we never face
trouble or di culty or negative circumstancesthese are
an inescapable part of living in a sin-corrupted world. It
does mean, however, that even during such timesand
especially during such timesthe favor of our King rests
upon us and He delivers us safely and triumphantly
through. And the watching world will be amazed,
wondering not only how we survived but also how we
came out on top.
Why are we so secure? Because the Lord never takes His
eyes o of us: He does not take his eyes o the righteous;
He enthrones them with kings and exalts them forever (Job
36:7). Not only does God protect us; He also lifts us up.

Under Gods protection and favor we do more than cope

with life. He enables us to overcome every obstacle and
meet every challenge so that we live life to the fullest. This
verse says that God exalts the righteous. That means if we
stay right with God, He will promote us in every situation
we go into. We will rise to the top and no one will
understand why.
In the world, promotion often depends on whose back
you scratch, whose palm you grease, whose ego you
stroke, or whose bed you sleep in. Getting ahead is dog-eatdog, cutthroat competition where anything goes as long as
it works. Promotion in the Kingdom comes from above
from the King Himselfand rests on His favor as well as
correct alignment through the pursuit of righteousness.
The key to promotion by the King is to keep our
pipeline clear of any obstructions. This means working
hard to keep ourselves in line with God and avoiding
anything that will move us out of position. Dont lie, dont
cheat, dont curse and dont covet. Let go of anger, envy,
and jealousy. Be quick to forgive and always ready to
extend mercy. Treat everyone with kindness, dignity, and
respect. Love everyone, even enemies. Always return good,
even to those who are hostile or hateful.
We often have little or no control over what comes into
our lives or how people act toward us but we always have
control over how we respond. Keeping our pipeline clear
is up to us; God will not do it for us. He will not force us
to live righteously. But unless we do, we will never
experience the bene ts and blessings that righteousness
brings.

Gods protection is linked closely with His favor, like

two sides of the same coin. King David of Israel was
familiar with this connection:
Let all who take refuge in you b e glad; let them ever sing for joy.
Sp read your p rotection over them, that those who love your name
may rejoice in you. For surely, O Lord, you b less the righteous; you
surround them with your favor as with a shield (Psalm 5:11-12).

Gods favor surrounds the righteous like a shield. A

shield, of course, is a defensive weapon that protects the
user by de ecting and turning aside the attack of an enemy.
When Gods favor surrounds us, nothing harmful can get
through to us; we are perfectly safe in His presence. When
Gods favor surrounds us, everything that He desires for us
will come to pass.
Do you want to live under Gods protection and favor?
Then commit yourself consciously and deliberately to think
and live righteously according to the laws of Gods
Kingdom. If you do, then no evil planned against you will
succeed. Nothing will be able to touch you except what the
Lord allows. Your business will ourish while others are
struggling. A way will be made for you where no way
seemed possible. You will experience abundant provision
when others around you are su ering shortages. At the
right moment in Gods timing He will exalt you, seemingly
overnight in the eyes of many watching.
The best biblical illustration of this is found in the story
of Joseph from the Book of Genesis. Sold into slavery by
his jealous brothers, Joseph spent many years as the slave

of the captain of the guard to Pharaoh, where he

distinguished himself by his ability and incorruptible
integrity. God prospered Joseph so that he was placed in
charge of his masters entire household. Josephs integrity
cost him a heavy price. When he refused to sleep with his
masters wife at her invitation, she retaliated by accusing
him of attempted rape, which landed him in prison. Even
there, however, God blessed him and he once again rose to
leadership even among the other prisoners.
Finally, the day came when Joseph had the chance to
interpret a dream that Pharaoh had, a dream that
prophesied seven years of plenty followed by seven years
of famine. The pharaoh, recognizing Josephs peerless
integrity and character, promoted him on the spot from
slave to prime minister. In a moment, Joseph was elevated
from prisoner in the dungeon to second-in-command in all
of Egypt. And from his new position, Joseph was directly
responsible for preserving the lives of countless thousands
of people, including his own father and brothers, during
the severe years of famine that followed. Josephs time had
arrived and God exalted him. But if Joseph had not been
faithful in pursuing and living in righteousness all those
years, his elevation probably would never have happened.
Many people today, including many believers, blame
the system for their troubles. It is time for believers
everywhere to get out from under the system in their
thinking and behavior and get under the Kingdom of God
and its laws. All the Lord asks us to do is seek rst His
Kingdom and His righteousness and, system or no system,
He will add everything else to us. If you are a believer and

a follower of Christ, you are not a victim of your job or of

the system. On the contrary, if you will diligently pursue
righteousness in your daily life, He will bless you in spite
of your job and in spite of the system and, because of your
presence there, even bless the company you work for.
Righteousness is such a strong shield that it protects even
in the face of disaster. The Bible says that God will not
destroy the righteous along with the wicked. So the
presence of even one righteous person is enough to protect
all the unrighteous people around him or her. Once again,
Josephs experience is a good example. Joseph may have
been the only righteous person in Egypt, yet God
preserved the entire nation through Joseph and because of
Joseph.
Being under the protection and favor of God means not
only that He watches over us but also that He listens to
what we say. When we pursue and walk in righteousness,
God focuses His eyes and ears on us: The eyes of the Lord
are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their cry
(Ps. 34:15). The Bible assures us that we can be completely
confident that when God hears us, He will answer us:
This is the con dence we have in ap p roaching God: that if we ask
anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He
hears uswhatever we askwe know that we have what we have
asked of Him (1 John 5:14-15).

Asking according to His will means not only asking in

agreement with Gods will but also asking from the place of
righteous positioning, because righteousness is always

Gods will. We have the clear promise that whenever we

pray from the position of righteousness, God will answer
and give us what we have asked of Him. This is perhaps
one of the most important reasons of all for us to be careful
to do nothing that will bring us out of alignment with God
and interfere with our relationship with Him.
THE BENEFIT

OF

DELIVERANCE

God not only hears and answers the righteous when they
call, but He also delivers them from and through the
difficulties of life:
The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; He delivers them

from all their troub les. The Lord is close to the b rokenhearted and
saves those who are crushed in sp irit. A righteous man may have
many troub les, b ut the Lord delivers him from them all; He p rotects
all his b ones, not one of them will b e b roken. Evil will slay the
wicked; the foes of the righteous will b e condemned. The Lord
redeems His servants; no one will b e condemned who takes refuge
in Him (Psalm 34:17-22).

As long as we are aligned with God, He will deliver us

from all our troubles. This does not mean that we will
never experience trouble in life, but it does mean that we
can trust God to carry us through and give us the strength
and the grace to prevail. He wont leave us to fend for
ourselves.
Notice that verse 20 promises that God will protect the
bones of the righteous so that none of them will be

broken. David, the psalmist, is speaking metaphorically

here. This is not a promise for protection against literal
broken bones. The word bones here refers to the framework
that holds everything together, like the human skeleton
forms the framework that holds the body together. The
promise of this verse, then, is that God will bless and
deliver the righteous by making sure that the framework of
their lives never falls apart. Gods promise to the righteous
is, I will keep your frame intact! Even when the lives of
others around us are falling apart, God will preserve our
frame and that of our family.
Jesus promised that the house built on a solid foundation
would stand through all the storms (Matt. 7:24-25).
Righteousness is a fundamental part of the solid foundation
on which we must build our lives if we are to withstand the
storm. Gods promise to protect our bones is a promise to
protect us from being blown away by the forces of life that
may destroy others. As long as we pursue righteousness
and seek to stay in alignment with Him, God will hold us
up.
THE BENEFIT

OF

PROSPERITY

Righteousness is also the key to prosperity. Although the

Bible does not teach a prosperity gospel or a name-itand-claim-it theology, as some teach, it does promise
prosperity as a reward for the righteous:
Misfortune p ursues the sinner, b ut p rosp erity is the reward of the
righteous. A good man leaves an inheritance for his childrens
children, b ut a sinners wealth is stored up for the righteous

(Proverbs 13:21-22).

Prosperity, as the word is used here, includes but is not

limited to material wealth. In fact, the meaning of the word
goes much deeper to cover overall quality and fruitfulness
of life. The life of the righteous will be full, abundant, and
fruitful in every sense and in every dimension. In contrast,
sinners (the unrighteous) will face misfortune after
misfortune.
As I said before, the health, wealth, and stability of the
wicked are only apparent, not real. As quickly as a
heartbeat they can all be stripped away. Righteousness,
however, brings rewards that will not tarnish or rust away
but instead will endure forever.
The wealth of sinners is being stored up for the
righteous. Many people have claimed this verse but have
not seen it ful lled for them. Why? Because they claimed it
while ignoring the precondition of righteousness. Only
those who actively pursue righteousness and seek to live
according to Gods will have the right to claim this verse.
Righteousness is the requirement; the wealth of the wicked
is the reward. As Lord of the universe and owner of all that
is, God will see to it in the end that the wealth and treasure
of His Kingdom end up in the hands of righteous people
who can be trusted to exercise mature, faithful stewardship.
Rewarding the righteous is the just thing to do in a just
Kingdom ruled by a just God: Surely the righteous still are
rewarded; surely there is a God who judges the earth (Ps.
58:11b). This verse says, in other words, that as long as
there is a living God who judges the earth, the righteous

will be rewarded. It is a principle as certain as Gods Word

and as permanent as eternity. There really is a reward for
clean living.
Unlike the unrighteous, who will wither and be blown
away like cha in the wind, the righteous will ourish and
remain fruitful for a lifetime:
The righteous will ourish like a palm tree, they will
grow like a cedar of Lebanon; planted in the house of the
Lord, they will ourish in the courts of our God. They will
still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green,
proclaiming, The Lord is upright; He is my Rock, and there
is no wickedness in Him (Psalm 92:12-15).
Judging from these verses, the righteous are not
supposed to die old and crippled! They are supposed to
remain of sound mind and body, bearing fruit well into old
age. The phrase, they will stay fresh and green, refers to
the idea that righteousness should keep us young in heart
and mind no matter our physical age. Righteousness will
help us maintain our zest for life right up to the end. And
our witness to the greatness and righteousness of God
should be just as strong, and even stronger, at the end of
our days as at any other time in life.
GOD S PLUMB LINE
Finally, righteousness bene ts us by protecting us from
the judgment of God. Righteousness is the essential
standard by which God will judge the world. If we are
already living and walking there, we are safe.

This is what the Sovereign Lord says: See, I lay a stone in Zion, a
tested stone, a p recious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one
who trusts will never b e dismayed. I will make justice the measuring
line and righteousness the p lumb line (Isaiah 28:16-17a).

A plumb line is a weighted string that is used in

construction work to make sure that walls are straight when
they are erected. If the wall line from top to bottom is
parallel to the plumb line, the wall is said to be true to
plumb. That means that it is in line with the standard of
measure.
In the Kingdom of God, righteousness is the plumb line
God uses to measure whether or not our lives are true to
plumb or whether we are out of alignment. The standard
of measure cannot be adjusted; it reveals what has to be.
Pursuing righteousness means that we adjust our lives,
attitudes, and behavior until we fall within Gods standard
of measure. Once we do, we are properly aligned with
Him, properly positioned for full abundance and
fruitfulness and to enjoy fully all the bene ts and rewards
that come with Kingdom life.
The Kingdom of God has everything we could ever
possibly need or want. And the Lord wants us to have and
enjoy them all; but our lives must be true to plumb. Being
born again is not enough by itself. It is the necessary rst
step because it gets us into the Kingdom, but our access to
Kingdom wealth and resources grows as we grow in
practical righteousness.
How do you measure up? If God dropped His plumb
line alongside your life today, where would you fall?

Would your life be out of alignment or would you be true

to plumb?
PRINCIPLES
1. What we receive is proportional to what we give.
2. When you enjoy the favor of the King you dont
have to work for what He gives you.
3. The pursuit of righteousness is the secret to
maturity, understanding, and discernment in
Kingdom living.
4. Only those committed to righteousness will reach
maturity.
5. When we actively pursue righteousness in our daily
living in obedience to Christs command, we enjoy a
level of security and protection that those outside
the Kingdom of God do not have.
6. If we stay right with God, He will promote us in
every situation we go into.
7. When Gods favor surrounds us, everything that He
desires for us will come to pass.
8. Righteousness is such a strong shield that it protects
even in the face of disaster.
9. Being under the protection and favor of God means
not only that He watches over us but also that He
listens to what we say.
10. As long as we are aligned with God, He will deliver
us from all our troubles.

11. Righteousness is the key to prosperity.

12. Righteousness bene ts us by protecting us from the
judgment of God.
13. Pursuing righteousness means that we adjust our
lives, attitudes, and behavior until we fall within
Gods standard of measure.

He who gets his personal worth

from the things he possesses must be
sure to never lose his possessions.

CHAPTER EIGHT
THE KINGDOM KEY TO ACCESSING
THE THINGS OF THE KINGDOM

ne reason the concept of the Kingdom of

Heaven is so hard for many people to grasp at
rst is because understanding it calls for a
complete change of thinking. Moving from a
worldly view to a Kingdom view requires a
total paradigm shift. Priorities in the Kingdom are di erent
from those in the world. Worth and value are assigned
di erently. Many of the things the world values most are
regarded as worthless in the Kingdom of Heaven. Standards
for evaluating greatness are very di erent between the
world and the Kingdom. The world judges greatness in
terms of money, power, and in uence, while the Kingdom
sees it in humility and self-giving service. And nally, the
Kingdom and the world take entirely di erent views from
each other with regard to things.
From the worldly point of view, things are an end in
themselves. People seek the acquisition of things to satisfy
their own sel sh desires, to ll the emptiness in their
hearts, to impress other people, and to advance their status
and standing in the eyes of society. For Kingdom citizens,
on the other hand, things are a means to an end, byproducts of righteous living to be used not for sel sh
gratification but to bring blessings to others.

THE SEDUCTIVE POWER

OF

THINGS

Humankind is motivated, driven, and preoccupied with

the pursuit of things. Few things in this world are more
seductive to the heart of people than the lure of
materialism. Peoples greed for things is one of the
strongest of all motivators of human behavior, often
outstripping even the motivators of love and family
loyalty. Outside the Kingdom of God virtually every human
action can be traced back to a material motivation. The
quest for things drives human culture.
Everything we do in life we do in order to get more
things. Think about it. Why do people go to work? To
maintain their ability to buy things. Why do many of them
try to marry up? To have access to more things. Why do
many people compromise their principles and sleep with
the boss? Its not out of love. They are simply trying to
gain an advantage and position themselves for more power
and more in uence, which translate into more money for
acquiring more things.
Religion is no help at all because it has been corrupted
by the same seduction. Religious prayers, which include
most of the prayers of many believers, are focused on
things. Far too many people regard prayer as little more
than a shopping list for God: God, I want this, Lord, I
need that, God, will you please give me this.
As if materialistic prayers were not bad enough, most
people also have a materialistic faith, a faith that is focused
on things. Even within the church there are those whose
main reason for following Christ is for what they think they

can get from Him. Believing in Gods provision of our

needs is both biblical and admirable, but many within the
church have taken that sound concept too far by e ectively
making things, not Christ, the object of faith. They
believe for a new car or a new job or a new house.
Rather than pursuing the Kingdom and righteousness of
God, they have fallen into the trap of pursuing things, even
if they are the things of the Kingdom. But as we have
already seen, pursuit of things is always the wrong focus.
All human religions are built on the promise of things: a
good harvest, the favor of the gods, victory over ones
enemies, good health, great wealth, enlightenment, control
or manipulation of the environment, etc. Religious
Christians are the same way except that they rely on Jesus
to provide what they want. Instead of looking on Christ and
His Kingdom as the desired end or goal of their faith, they
use Him as merely a means to their real endthings.
Humankind as a whole persists in a collective madness
by continually pursuing that which will only bring pain,
disappointment, dissatisfaction, and destruction. Things are
the source of the worlds problems. Crime, sickness,
depression, jealousy, covetousness, malice, envy, strife,
stressyou name itat the root of all these problems and
more lies the lust for things.
Why do thieves steal? They are after things. Why do
politicians accept bribes? They are after things. Why do
young hoodlums attack and even kill a teenage boy for his
athletic shoes? They are after things. Why does a woman
sell her body? She is after things. She wants to maintain a
certain lifestyle. Why do businesses cut corners, cook the

books, and pad their invoices? They are after things. Why
does a drug dealer peddle his product to young kids and
get them addicted? He is after things.
The lure of things is so powerful that even many
Kingdom citizens who once were serious about their walk
with God and their righteous positioning have been
seduced by it. Once they could be seen at the church
building every time the doors were open, at worship, at
prayer meetings, at Bible study, participating in ministry
projects. Now, however, they are almost never around.
When you ask them why, they are always ready with an
excuse: Well, you know how it is. Times are tough. The
economy is on the ropes and Ive got to build my business.
I dont have time for church right now. Ive got to turn a
pro t. When I make a little more money, Ill come back
and bless God with a portion. Or, I have to work as
much overtime as I can get. We just bought a new car and I
have to make sure we can meet the payments. Or, I had
to take a second job because my regular job doesnt pay
enough, and with my new job I have to work on Sundays.
On the surface these may sound like reasonable
arguments, but in reality they take the exact opposite
position to Jesus when He said, Seek rst the Kingdom of
God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added
to you. These folks have gotten things topsy-turvy. They
have stopped seeking the Kingdom and righteousness and
begun working for the things that should be added. And in
so doing they move out of position and shut themselves o
from access to the blessings, benefits, favor, protection, and
promotion that belong by right to every Kingdom citizen.

Remember, however, that the active, ongoing pursuit of

righteousness is the key to access. Instead of honoring and
obeying the God of all things, they have instead made
things their god.
If only we would learn to take to heart the truth and
wisdom of the ancient Hebrew proverb that says, The
blessing of the Lord brings wealth, and He adds no trouble
to it (Prov. 10:22)! Prosperity without pressure! Wealth
without worry! Treasure without trouble! These are the
realities when we live on Kingdom land and abide by the
laws of the King who owns it all. Remember, the Kingdom
contains everything that Kingdom citizens need. And all
Kingdom citizens have access by right of citizenship to all
the things of the Kingdom as long as they pursue the
Kingdom and righteousness and not the things themselves.
This is the cure for the dangerously seductive power of
things.
THE ANSWER

TO

HUMAN MOTIVATION

Why is our human drive for things so strong? Because we

believe that things will satisfy all our basic needs. As I
pointed out in Chapter Two, there is little question that the
meeting of needs is the ultimate motivation for all human
behavior. The universal problem of humankind, however,
is that in our e orts to meet our needs we expend all of our
time, energy, and resources pursuing things that will never
bring the satisfaction we seek. Why? Because we pursue the
wrong things and look for satisfaction in the wrong places.
God designed us for life in His Kingdom and it is only

there that we nd satisfaction and ful llment. The Kingdom

of God is the ultimate response to our needs. It satis es our
longings and answers all our problems. Everything we
humans seek is found in the Kingdom of God. Everything.
Let me use this analogy: The Kingdom of God is the tree
and the needs of people are the fruit. If you want the fruit
you go to the tree.
Most people buy fruit at the grocery store or from a
produce market. Thats ne as long as the supply lasts.
What happens if the supply line is cut or a shortage
occurs? Suddenly, access to the fruit is cut o . If you want
to ensure a steady supply of fruit, wouldnt it be better to
own your own tree? That way fruit would be available
whenever you wanted it.
In the worlds system, the world is like the grocery store
where we all must compete for limited resources. There is
no competition in the Kingdom of God because its
resources are unlimited. Every Kingdom citizen can have
his or her own tree with an unfailing supply of fruit. When
Jesus said, Do not worry about what you will eat or drink
or wear for clothing, He was asking, in e ect, Why run
after the fruit and compete with everybody else when you
can have the tree? Seek rst the tree and all of the fruit will
come with it.
In a similar analogy, the Kingdom of God is the source
and all these things are the resource. Why spend all your
time and energy chasing resources when Kingdom
citizenship and righteousness will give you unhindered
access to the Source? Never try to live for or depend on
resources because resources run out. Get connected to God,

the Source, because His resources never run out.

The pursuit of things never brings satisfaction because of
one simple truth: We dont need things to have life; we need
life to have things. Many people obsess over things because
they derive their sense of personal worth and value from
their possessions. They need a nice car in order to feel
important. They must wear brand-name clothes to enhance
their self-image. They must always buy the newest and
latest thing if they are to feel ful lled in life. Personal
worth and importance are not found in these things,
however. Self-worth and value are never found in things.
Our value and self-worth derive from who we are, not
from what we have. We are of priceless worth to God
irregardless of any possessions we own. Jesus used the
example of the birds and how God feeds them even though
they do not sow or reap or store away in barns (Matt.
6:26). He gives them the tree and the nest and the food
simply because they are birds and need these things. The
birds do not worry about it. They do not toil or sweat or
chase after these things. They simply receive from the God
who created them and who supplies everything they need
to ful ll their purpose as birds. Then Jesus asks, Are you
not much more valuable than they? In other words, if God
supplies the birds needs because they are birds, wont He
also supply our needs because of who we are, human
beings created in His image and much more valuable than
birds?
Our innate importance attracts things. God does not give
us things to make us important but because we are
important. But we must never pursue things because that is

the wrong focus. Instead we must pursue the Kingdom

our citizenship credentialsand righteousness, which is
our right positioning with the Kingdom government. Then,
when we are in the right position, God will provide
everything He deems needful and appropriate for that
position. This is the same idea as how earthly governments
will provide their ambassadors with chau eured limousines
for o cial business rather than leaving them to putter
around on motorbikes.
So the issue is not things, but living for the Kingdom. If
all we care about is things, then we are on our own and
must compete with the rest of the pagans, but if we are
serious about serving our Government, our King will add to
us everything necessary to do so with grace and in a
manner that re ects most favorably on His Kingdom. In
other words, if we are serious about serving and
representing the Kingdom of God with righteousness, God
will see to it that we are not forced to do so in a cheap or
shabby manner.
Gods intent was ful llment without frustration. Jesus
said, Seek rst His kingdom and His righteousness, and all
these things will be given to you as well (Matt. 6:33).
Remember, as Lord of the universe, God owns everything.
Nothing we have truly belongs to us and is not for us alone.
When we seek His Kingdom and His righteousness, He
gives us all these other things in order that we may ful ll
our calling as Kingdom ambassadors and ministers of
reconciliation.
Every human desires things. This is a God-given, and
therefore godly, desire. What is ungodly is pursuing things

as gods. God wants us to have them but He also wants to

show us how to acquire them in the right way and with the
proper spirit. He wants us to have plenty of things but He
does not want us to pursue them at the expense of our
relationship with Him. He knows that there are things we
need and want but He does not want the desire for things to
control our lives.
ACCESS IS A RIGHT

OF

CITIZENSHIP

The Kingdom of God contains everything its citizens

need. And everything in the Kingdom belongs to the King.
So access to the things of the Kingdom is a matter of
belonging to the King. Once we belong to the King then
everything that belongs to the King also belongs to us. By
gaining the Kingdom we gain everything else.
Access to the things of the Kingdom is available to all
Kingdom citizens by right. Rights are guaranteed by law.
Citizens do not have to beg, plead, appease, or manipulate
in order to receive what is theirs. In the event a citizens
legitimate rights are denied, either through error or malice,
the citizen can petition the government in the court of law
to have his or her rights restored and honored.
This is one of the main reasons why many born-again
believers who are caught up in a religious mind-set do not
see the bene ts and prosperity and fruitfulness of the
Kingdom manifesting in their lives. They approach the
whole matter of Kingdom access as supplicants with pleas
rather than as citizens with rights. Supplicants can be
denied because they have no legal status. Their requests are

at the mercy and benevolence of the governing authority.

Citizens, on the other hand, are legal entities. Citizens have
a legal claim on the activities of the government on their
behalf. By constitutional law they are entitled to their rights
and not even the government can legally deny them.
The average citizen in most countries is so ignorant of
citizenship that the system runs their lives and they dont
even know it. Many people live their entire lives
e ectively denied of rights they never knew they had. That
is why it is so important for citizens to know their
constitution, to understand how their government works,
and to know what their rights are under the law. Many
obstacles can be overcome simply by knowingand
assertingyour rights.
In 1980, in the early days of my ministry in the
Bahamas, I decided, based on Gods direction, to begin a
radio ministry. I submitted a formal request to the
appropriate governmental approval authority and indicated
that I wished to broadcast during the day in the middle of
the week. I was told that no religious broadcasting was
allowed during the day. All religious programming was
relegated to Sundays on the graveyard shift, which meant
from 1 to 5 A.M. when no one would be awake except
security people.
I persisted with my request, saying that I wanted to
broadcast at 5 P.M. every Thursday so people who were in
their cars heading home from work could listen. Once
again I was told that it was not possible.
Thats when I had a face-to-face meeting with the person
in charge. As I sat across from him he said, Im sorry,

Myles, but we cant do it.

Let me start this over, I replied. First, I am a citizen
of this country. Second, I have broken no laws. Third, I
have a product I wish to sell. Fourth, I have the right to do
business in my community as long as I have not broken any
laws. Fifth, you are here to serve me; I am not here to serve
you.
Before it was all over, my request for a midweek radio
broadcast ended up in Parliament. I was ready to take the
government to court. Why? Because I was a citizen whose
rights were being denied without good cause. I didnt
appeal to a religion. I simply said, I am a citizen and I
have a right to do business. You cannot tell me when or
where to sell my product.
In the end, the law was changed. Ours was the rst
ministry in the nations history to broadcast a Christian
program during the day in the middle of the week.
Several years later we went through the whole thing
again when we prepared to launch a television ministry.
Once again I had to stand up for my rights as a citizen. And
once again our ministry was the rst in the country to have
a midweek television program.
In both of these circumstances I did not argue from a
religious perspective. I did not beg or plead or cajole or
manipulate anyone for anything. I appealed to my rights as
a citizen. I went to the written code of law, the
constitution.
Citizenship is powerful. It gives you access to all your
rights under the law and even the government cannot deny

you.
The Kingdom of God works the same way (except that,
unlike many earthly governments, the King of Heaven is
not hesitant or reluctant to honor the rights of His citizens).
When you stand before God with the Kingdom constitution
in your hand and say, Thus says the constitution, the
King will back you up because He stands behind His Word,
His name, and His integrity. Access to the things of the
Kingdom is a matter of knowing and claiming your rights.
There is no begging involved. Simply keep your pipeline
cleanstay in positionand you can con dently expect
everything the King has promised.
THE PURSUIT

OF

THINGS DISHONORS THE KING

It is wrong in a kingdom to pursue things because to do

so dishonors the king. First of all, it is an expression of
distrust toward the king. If you take charge of your own
welfare in a kingdom by pursuing the things you need, you
are saying that you do not trust the king to take care of his
citizens. Remember a kingdom is di erent from a
democracy. In a democracy you take care of yourself. The
government provides the environment in which you can
succeed, but basically you are on your own in securing the
necessities, not to mention the niceties, of life. In a
kingdom it is the reverse. Citizenship in a kingdom is
imparted by the king, and once the king appoints citizens
he immediately becomes obligated to sustain them.
In many ways it is like the parent-child relationship.
Imagine your children coming to you every day with the

same questions: Are we going to have food today? Will we

have something to drink today? Am I going to have good
clothes to wear today? As a parent you would be
disappointed and probably hurt at your childrens lack of
faith in your ability and commitment to take care of them.
Of course they will have food, drink, and clothing! Youre
their parent and you love them, and you also have a
responsibility to care for them and provide for their needs.
I think God feels the same way when He sees so many of us
constantly fretting and sweating over our daily bread and
other daily needs as if supplying those things was
completely up to us.
As Kingdom citizens, we are sons and daughters of god.
He is our heavenly Father and we are His royal princes and
princesses. With that kind of relationship, how can we
lose? The Father part means that He is obligated to take
care of us, while the prince/princess part means that we
have every right to expect it. We dont even have to think
about it. So why worry?
The pursuit of things in a kingdom not only shows
distrust but is also an insult to the king. It shows distrust by
questioning the kings motives and intentions: Does He
really care about me? Will He take care of me? It insults
the king by questioning his ability: Can He take care of
me? Can He really provide what I need? One of the keys
to accessing the things of the Kingdom is coming to the
place where we are completely con dent that God
possesses both the ability and the desire to supply
everything we need.
One day when my son was still a little boy we were

playing in the house. He was standing on the table and

would run to the edge of the table and jump into my arms.
I would catch him and then he would laugh. We did this
several times. Then my wife called to me and I turned
toward her just as he was running again. He jumped even
though I had my back turned. I turned back around and
caught him. Even when I had my back turned, my son still
trusted me to catch him and not let him fall and get hurt.
Thats the kind of trust our heavenly Father is looking for
from us, a childlike trust that never doubts that He will
catch us and take care of us.
Some people would argue that this kind of trust is
irresponsible. What do you mean youre not worried about
your mortgage payment or your car payment? Whos going
to take care of them if you dont? Its one thing to work
conscientiously at your job to provide for your family; its
another thing to worry from day to day whether those
needs will be met. Where do you draw the line between
irresponsibility and trust? It depends on who you place
your trust in. Trusting someone with an unreliable track
record is irresponsible. Placing your faith in One who is
completely and utterly faithful, on the other hand, is both
responsible and sensible. You will never get very far in the
Kingdom of God without the trust factor. There has to be a
time when you realize that there is nothing holding you up
except God, and if He fails, you have no Plan B. Dont
worry; with God covering you, there is no need for a Plan
B.
ACCESS TO THE THINGS OF THE

KINGDOM REQUIRES THE CORRECT KEYS

The secret to accessing the things of the Kingdom of God
is to have the right keys. Not literal keys, of course, but
principles that open the oodgates of Heaven. Jesus told
His disciples, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of
Heaven (Matt. 16:19a), meaning the access codes or
principles that would make Kingdom things operative in
their lives.
Di erent keys open di erent locks. This is just as true in
Heaven as it is on earth. Every nation has its own set of
laws, legal principles under which it operates. Di erent
laws apply to di erent circumstances and privileges. The
laws that govern tra c are di erent than the laws that
govern the courts. The laws that govern the medical
institutions are di erent from the laws that govern the
business institution. Each area of a country has di erent
laws that regulate that area. If you obey the laws then you
receive the privileges of the constitution. If you disobey the
laws then those privileges are shut down.
Heaven is no di erent. Access to the things of Heaven
requires the correct keys; knowledge and application of the
correct principles that will release them. Possession of the
keys to one area will not necessarily gain you access to
another area. This is why on one occasion Jesus disciples
were unable to cast out a particular demon. Even though
they had cast demons out earlier under Jesus authority, on
this occasion they failed. When the disciples asked Jesus
why they had failed, He replied, This kind does not go out
except by prayer and fasting (Matt. 17:21b). The disciples

failed to cast out the demon because in that particular case

they did not have the right keys, the keys of prayer and
fasting.
In principle, gaining access to the things of Heaven is
very simple: use the right key and you can open anything.
The challenge comes in learning the nature of the different
keys and where and how to apply them. This is very
important because if you do not understand how the keys
of the Kingdom work, you will become increasingly
frustrated and depressed and possibly even come to the
conclusion that what God said doesnt work. I was there at
one point in my life and know how frightening it is.
Some of you may be there right now. You may be
tithing, fasting, praying, and worshiping and yet nothing
seems to be changing in your life. No matter how sincere
you are, if you stand before a closed door with the wrong
key, it will never open for you. Then it becomes easy to
blame God because the door wont open. The problem is
not with God or with the door. The problem is that you are
using the wrong key.
So then what are the keys that give us access to the
things of the Kingdom?
THE DIVINE OBLIGATION
Simply stated, the access keys to Kingdom things are the
pursuit of the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Seek
these two things, Jesus said, and all the other thingsthe
things of the Kingdomwould be added. But just what are
all these things? What do they include? They cover every

dimension of life. When your life is rightly aligned with

Gods government, all these things will be added to you:
All your physical needsfood, drink,
clothing, car, housing, health.
All
your
social
needsall
your
relationships. God will add the right
people in your life.
All your emotional needspeace and a
calm and tranquil spirit for every situation.
God will deliver you from envy, jealousy,
worry, and vain striving and competition.
All your psychological needsstability.
He will give you the grace to avoid
becoming stressed out and burned out so
you wont be up one day and down the
next. No matter how your day or your
week goes, good or bad, you will be
stable, knowing that God will cause all
things to work together for your good (see
Rom. 8:28).
All your nancial needswealth. This
includes both spiritual and material wealth,
both the tangible and the intangible, the
visible and the invisible.
All your security needsprotection. God
protects and overshadows the righteous.
He will never leave you or forsake you but
will always have His eyes xed on you for
your good.

All of your needs for self-signi cance

value. God says, I will give you back your
value. I will make you realize your
inherent importance once again. You are
in nitely valuable to me and I will restore
your sense of self-worth.
All your sense of purposevision. Instead
of focusing on things you will once more
focus on your assignment and move toward
your destiny. You will stop living to make
a living and start living to make a
difference.
All these things will be added to you when you apply the
keys of a whole-hearted seeking of the Kingdom and
righteousness of God. What a way to live!
All these things will be freely given to you by the King
of things, Jesus Christ Himself, of whom it is written:
Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing
was made that has been made (John 1:3), and, His divine
power has given us everything we need for life and godliness
through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own
glory and goodness (2 Pet. 1:3).
The secret key to Kingdom things is position and
disposition. Disposition is Kingdom citizenship. Position is
righteousness. Position and disposition: those are the keys.
Get your citizenship in order and then stay in right
relationship with the heavenly country and all these things
will be added to you.
Things are not blessings. They are by-products of

Kingdom citizenship. That is why the all-consuming

pursuit of things is out of order. It is like putting the cart
before the horse. Seek rst the Kingdom and righteousness
of God. Get your citizenship credentials in order and the
things will comeeverything you need, without exception.
PRINCIPLES
1. Pursuit of things is always the wrong focus.
2. The active, ongoing pursuit of righteousness is the
key to access.
3. The Kingdom of God is the ultimate response to
humankinds needs.
4. We dont need things to have life; we need life to
have things.
5. Our value and self-worth derive from who we are,
not from what we have.
6. God does not give us things to make us important
but because we are important.
7. The issue is not things, but living for the Kingdom.
8. Gods intent was fulfillment without frustration.
9. Access to the things of the Kingdom is available to
all Kingdom citizens by right.
10. The access keys to Kingdom things are the pursuit of
the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.
11. The secret key to Kingdom things is position and
disposition. Disposition is Kingdom citizenship.
Position is righteousness.

12. Things are not blessings. They are by-products of

Kingdom citizenship.

Hard work can make you a living, but

submission to principles adds to your life.

CHAPTER NINE

THE KINGDOM
PRINCIPLE OF ADDITION

ome time ago while boarding an airplane I

happened to catch one of the ight attendants in a
yawn. (Im glad it wasnt the pilot!) Good
afternoon, I said to her. How are you doing
today?
Im tired, she answered.
Why are you tired?
I have two jobs.
Why do you need two jobs? I asked.
She replied, I have to pay my bills. I like the ner
things of life.
So, youre sleepy?
Yes, she said. I go right from this job to my other
job.
So when do you sleep?
Oh, every once in awhile, she answered. Whenever I
can.
Here was a person who was always running after things.
Why? Because she liked the ner things of life. Between
working two jobs and trying to grab sleep whenever
possible, when did she have time to enjoy them? This flight
attendant was a young woman but she already looked old,

tired, and worn out. Her ceaseless pursuit of things was

aging her prematurely.
Sadly, shes not alone. Most of the people in our modern,
consumer-driven culture are in the same situation. Because
of their unremitting obsession with things they are
perpetually tired, distracted, depressed, irritable and, if not
sick already, prime candidates for stress-and anxietyinduced illness. The pursuit of things is detrimental to our
health.
Jesus said it was never meant to be this way. He said that
we are not supposed to work for food or water or clothing
or any of the other things we need on a regular basis. Those
things are supposed to come to us in the natural course of
living our lives according to Gods design and intention.
The reason they do not is because we do not understand the
Kingdom of God or how it works. Dispelling that
misunderstanding and demonstrating how to
nd
fulfillment without frustration is the purpose of this book.
We must understand the Kingdom of God in order to
avoid the mistake of seeking it merely for its bene ts. The
Kingdom is not a tool for us to use to get things from God.
That is not the purpose of the Kingdom. Sometimes we
treat faith as if it were a lottery, that if we play it just right
we will win the big jackpot. It is easy to abuse the
Kingdom message the same way. Blessings and provision
are a real, natural, and vital part of Kingdom life, but if we
are not careful we will end up making them the object of
our faith rather than its natural by-product.
Throughout this book I have told about how all these
things will be added to those who seek rst the Kingdom

and righteousness of God. We can call this the Kingdom

Principle of Addition. It is appropriate now to examine this
principle of addition in greater depth. In doing so, we will
better understand the Kings plan for His citizens
provision.
THE TWO PRIORITIES OF GOD
As mentioned previously, when Jesus came preaching
the gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven, He neatly reduced
all the issues, concerns, and strivings of humankind into
two simple but profound priorities: (1) to seek the
Kingdom of God and (2) to seek the righteousness of God.
These two priorities are all-important; everything else is
secondary. With that simple message Jesus destroyed every
reason most of us have for going to work. He stripped
away the very things that motivate us to get out of bed in
the morning. Instead of working to live we are supposed to
work for the Kingdom. Instead of living for work we are
supposed to live for righteousness. If we do these things,
Jesus promised, God will add everything else to us. They
will come to us without our having to work or worry over
them.
This is the Kingdom way of thinking and living. Yet, we
are so thoroughly programmed to concern ourselves every
day with our own provision that it is hard to learn to think
another way. God wants to supply our needs, but as long as
we insist on taking charge of it ourselves, we tie His hands.
To put it another way, as long as we insist on doing it
ourselves, we will never open the door to the abundant

things of the Kingdom of Heaven. Self-su ciency and selfe ort are the wrong keys. As we saw in the previous
chapter, disposition (Kingdom citizenship) and position
(righteousness) are the keys that will open that door. If you
want the Kingdom principle of addition to work for you,
make sure rst of all that you have become a Kingdom
citizen through the new birth by faith in Christ and, second
of all, that you are living in alignment with Kingdom law.
If those two things are in place, the King will add
everything else to your life.
The Kingdom principle of addition operates on
obedience: faithful observance of Kingdom law and clean
living. These are the same standards God has always
required of His people. Consider these words that Moses
spoke to the ancient Israelites:
You will again ob ey the Lord and follow all His commands I am

giving you today. Then the Lord your God will make you most
p rosp erous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your
womb , the young of your livestock and the crop s of your land. The

Lord will again delight in you and make you p rosp erous, just as He
delighted in your fathers, if you ob ey the Lord your God and keep
His commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law
and turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your
soul (Deuteronomy 30:8-10).

The Israelites were east of the Jordan River, ready to

cross over and take possession of Canaan, the land God had
promised to them as far back as Abraham. They have spent
the last 40 years as nomads in the desert, during which

time the oldest generation of them, those who were already

adults when they left Egypt, have died o due to their
rebellion against God. Now God is renewing His promise
to this new generation, which is why Moses said, You will
again obey the Lord, and The Lord will again delight in
you. Gods renewed promise is to make them prosperous
in everything they do: in their work, family life, and in
their harvests. In short, God promises to provide for them
in every way. His stipulation: that they obey His
commands and love Him whole-heartedly.
The same stipulation applies to us today. We cannot
expect God to add things to us if we are living in sin. That
is why many of us fret and sweat just to pay our bills every
month. Were not living right. Our lives are out of
alignment with Gods government. The rewards of the
Kingdom on Gods part require right living on our part.
Worship alone is not enough. Neither is praying. Right
living means making a deliberate, clean break with sin,
accompanied by confession if necessary, and a resolute,
careful determination to live every day in obedience to the
laws of God. It means laying aside dishonesty, immorality,
coarse or foul language, gossip, slander, backbiting,
backstabbing, envy, jealousy, pride, sel sh ambition, and
lying. Right living means taking up a humble spirit of
submission and service to God in which we rst love God
with all our heart and then love our neighbor as ourselves.
THE DIVINE STRATEGY FOR PROVISION
In order to unlock Gods divine strategy for provision,

we must rst somehow break out of our traditional mindset that says that unless we sweat and labor and strive and
concentrate all our energy on our daily needs, they will not
be met. Maybe thats the way you feel. Perhaps you are
struggling with this whole idea of seeking rst the
Kingdom and righteousness of God and leaving everything
else to Him. All this does not mean that you dont work to
support your family; it means that you dont obsess over
meeting your needs. Instead, you seek to obey God in your
daily life and trust Him to provide as He has promised.
God wants to pay your bills. He knows you need food
and water and shelter. He wants you to have a nice house
that is suitable for your family. He wants you to have a car.
He wants you to have a bike. God wants to give you the
desires of your heart. As a matter of fact, He wants to ful ll
your highest dreams because He is the one who put those
dreams in your heart. What He does not want is for you to
put your dreams and desires ahead of Him. Thats why
Jesus says that all these things will be added to you.
But what exactly does added mean? When God adds to
your life it means:
1. Things will be attracted to you. They will be added
like a magnet.
2. Things will nd you. You wont have to chase them
or hunt them down.
3. Things will come to your life. They may appear
suddenly and unexpectedly and often from an
unexpected source or direction.
4. Things will come without stress. Some people are

5.
6.

7.
8.

9.

10.

so tired from working for what they want that when

they nally get it they are too stressed out to enjoy
it. Thats nothing but foolishness. Life is to be
savored and enjoyed, not stressed over. When God
adds to your life He will add it without stress.
Things will be given as a favor and reward, like a
gift, not as something you earned.
Things will come without struggle. You wont have
to ght or compete or play keep up with the
Joneses. When it comes, it will be e ortless on
your part.
Things will be seen as natural. When something is
added to your life it will come naturally, as if it was
inevitable.
8. Things will be given to you as needed.
Remember, God adds things not for your personal
bene t or sel sh use alone but for ful lling His
purpose. If you dont really need something, dont
be surprised if you do not receive it until you do
need it.
Things will not be pursued. If you are pursuing the
Kingdom and righteousness, you wont have time to
pursue other things as your highest priority. Thats
why God will give them to you.
Things will not be your source. Things are
commodities, tools, resources to be used to advance
Gods Kingdom on earth. Dont look to them as your
source of happiness or self-worth or fulfillment. God
is your source. Look to Him.

THE ADDITION PRINCIPLE

The Kingdom principle of addition is founded on four
signi cant truths that are uniquely characteristic of
kingdoms. All four relate to the relationship that exists
between the King and His citizens.
1. All that is needed for sustenance and life is the ob ligation of the
king.

In a democracy, every citizen has to earn his own living

and make his own way. The government tries to create an
environment in which every citizen can succeed but takes
no direct responsibility for the care and welfare of its
citizens at a personal level. Success levels among citizens
vary due to education, motivation, opportunity, and a host
of other factors. This is why every democratic society has
rich people, poor people, and those in between.
Compare this to a kingdom, where the care and welfare
of every citizen is the direct and personal responsibility of
the king. This doesnt mean, of course, that the king
personally visits every citizen and takes care of every need
single-handedlya
wise
king
delegates
those
responsibilitiesbut it does mean that the buck stops with
him. Anything that any citizen lacks re ects poorly on the
king and on the quality of his rule. A king, therefore, has a
vested interest in making sure all his citizens prosper,
because prosperous citizens make for a prosperous
kingdom. And a prosperous kingdom brings glory to the
king. In fact, a king is obligated to take care of his citizens

because he owns everything in his kingdom and they will

have nothing unless he gives it to them. Consequently, and
unlike a democracy, there are no poor people in a
kingdom. Nobody is poor because nobody owns anything.
But all citizens have equal access to the kings assets.
I am speaking, of course, of an ideal kingdom, a perfect
kingdom with a perfect, omnipotent and benevolent king
who always and in every situation works for the good and
greater welfare of his citizens. Clearly, no such kingdom
can be found among todays earthly governments. Only the
Kingdom of Heaven and its divine King meet these criteria.
And He has promised to meet the needs and protect the
welfare of His people.
2. Provisions for life are the resp onsib ility of the king and not the
citizen.

Democracies are built on the principles of capitalism and

free and open markets. Every person in a democracy is free
to make his or her own way, free to seek and enjoy the
good life. In fact, they are obligated to because no one will
do it for them. Yet for many, including many believers,
making their own way isnt working. The daily rat race
really drags them down. Every day is a struggle, money is
always in short supply, and they see no end in sight to
these circumstances. Common wisdom says, Go for your
piece of the pie, but the pie is so small that there seems
not to be enough for everybody to get some. Consequently,
most people live and die never having tasted anything but
crumbs.

This is the system we live in on earth, but Jesus says,

Thats all wrong! You are Kingdom citizens. Provision for
life is not your responsibility; its mine. So stop worrying
about all this stu . Let Me take care of it! I know its tough
to break away from the system because the system is built
for dependency. Nevertheless, let go of the system. Learn to
depend on Me.
Some of you may wonder if I am advising you to become
irresponsible. Not at all. Im actually encouraging you to
become more responsible by trusting the King. It takes
more responsibility to live in the Kingdom than to live in
the system of the world.
3. Kingdom favor is the unearned p rovision of the king.

The Kingdom of Heaven does not operate on a system of

wages and earnings. This is a good thing, because none of
us could ever earn our way into Heaven. Eternal life is
unavailable to us, completely out of our reach, unless it is
given (added) to us as a gift. And this is exactly what God
has done: For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God
is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 6:23).
The gift of Gods unearned provision is called favor. He
gives because He chooses to, not because we deserve it.
Favor is the system upon which the Kingdom of Heaven
operates. Nothing we receive in the Kingdom do we receive
because we worked for it. Anything we work for constitutes
earnings, not additions. Additions always come to us
unearned.
Yet still we work and fret and labor and sweat to secure

the things we need and want and wonder why the Kingdom
of Heaven is not working for us. The answer is very
simple: the Kingdom does not operate on works; it operates
on favor. We cannot expect the Kingdoms provisions to
come our way until we learn to operate by the Kingdoms
system.
4. Man was never designed to p ursue p ersonal p rovisions b ut the
influence of Heaven on earth.

Our purpose on earth as Kingdom citizens and

ambassadors is to spread the awareness and the in uence of
Gods Kingdom throughout the earth. Pursuing provision
was never part of Gods master plan for us. Thats why
Jesus said, Dont worry about food or drink or clothing,
because your heavenly Father knows you need these
things. When we are about our Kingdom purpose, our
King will supply all the provisions we need to do the job.
The Lords Prayer (or Model Prayer) recorded in
Matthew 6:9-13, which Jesus used to teach His disciples
how to pray, contains only one phrase related to provision:
Give us today our daily bread (Matt. 6:11). This phrase
serves to reorient our hearts and minds to the One who is
our true Source and Provider. The real focus of our prayers
should be, Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your name,
Your Kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in
Heaven (Matt. 6:9-10). In other words, we should pray
(and work) for the in uence of the Kingdom to advance
throughout the earth and let the King handle all the
logistics. Gods desire is that we not live for things, but live

for His influence.

KINGDOM PROVISION

AND

PURPOSE

Provision is a by-product of obedience. It is not a wage

paid for work performed or for services rendered. Jesus
promised that if we seek the Kingdom and righteousness of
God that all the provisions we need for life will be added to
us. Everything necessary for us to live righteously as
Kingdom citizens will be provided. But our heart and
mind, our will and desire, must be inclined toward
consistent obedience to the King.
This kind of obedience involves much more than simple
adherence to external rules and regulations or mere
outward behavioral changes. You can obey on the outside
and still possess a rebellious, disobedient heart. This is a
very old problem, extending as far back as the Garden of
Eden. In fact, the ancient Hebrew prophet Isaiah records
this complaint of God about His people: The Lord says:
These people come near to me with their mouth and honor
me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their
worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men (Isa.
29:13). As far as God is concerned, external obedience with
a disobedient heart is not obedience at all.
Obedience that releases Kingdom provision begins in the
heart and manifests in our outward lives. In other words,
true external obedience is the result of an obedient heart.
False external obedience is nothing more than a calculated
ploy to manipulate God into giving us what we want, and
it will fail every time. This is why many believers are

perplexed today. They go to church, they read their Bible,

they pray, they give their tithe and their time, and yet
nothing seems to be working. The Kingdom storehouse is
still shut to them. The reason? They are not living right.
Their hearts are not clean and pure before God. Despite
their outward display of righteousness, their hearts are out
of alignment with the Kingdom government.
In the Bible, abundant provision and prosperity clearly
are linked to obedience to God. Shortly before the Israelites
crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land, Moses
gave then this charge and promise from God:
Now it shall come to p ass, if you diligently ob ey the voice of the

Lord your God, to ob serve carefully all His commandments which I

command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high ab ove
all nations of the earth. And all these b lessings shall come up on you
and overtake you, b ecause you ob ey the voice of the Lord your

God: Blessed shall you b e in the city, and b lessed shall you b e in
the country. Blessed shall b e the fruit of your b ody, the p roduce of
your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your
cattle and the o sp ring of your ocks. Blessed shall b e your b asket
and your kneading b owl. Blessed shall you b e when you come in,
and b lessed shall you b e when you go out (Deuteronomy 28:1-6
NKJV).

When we obey the Lord with our whole heart, His

blessings will overtake us. This means that when Gods
blessings come to us, they will be more than we know what
to do with. To be blessed in the fruit of our body and the
produce of our ground means that God will bless and guard

our investments. The increase in our herds means that the

accumulations of our wealth will be multiplied.
Everywhere we go, wherever we turn and in whatever we
touch we will be blessed. Success, favor, and in uence for
the Kingdom will expand at every turn.
If we obey Gods commands from our heart, the
provisions of the Kingdom will overtake us.
In addition to the issue of obedience in the Kingdom, is
the issue of ownership. The principle of provision and
prosperity in the Kingdom is access, not ownership or
pursuit. Wealth in the Kingdom of God is de ned not as
having things stored up but rather having access to things
that are stored up. When we avidly and anxiously pursue
things such as food, water, clothing, housing, and the like,
we imply that we believe these things are scarce, and
unless we ght alongside everybody else we will not get
our piece of the pie.
There is no lack of anything in the Kingdom of God; no
shortages and no rationing. On the contrary, there are
boundless amounts of everything. The King owns
everything; we own nothing. Because the King owns
everything, He can give anything in any amount to any of
His children anytime He wants to. The principle of
provision and addition involves being in the position
through right living to have access to as much as we need
of anything that we need to carry out our assignment from
God.
Look at it this way. Imagine that your father is a
billionaire and he says to you, I will give you a choice. I
will either set up a $1 million account for you to live on

that is exclusively yours or, in lieu of your own account, I

will give you complete and unlimited access to everything
I have. Which would you choose: $1 million that is yours
free and clear or free access to billions? Its a no-brainer!
And yet when it comes to matters of the Kingdom of God,
many of us pass on unlimited access in favor of getting and
hoarding our little piece of the pie. Does that make any
sense? True wealth is found not in an abundance of
possessions but in unlimited access to infinite resources.
We need access to such resources because man was not
created to work for provision but for purpose. And what is
our purpose? To spread the knowledge and in uence of the
Kingdom of Heaven over all the earth. Success in such an
assignment requires adequate daily provision. Just as no
wise general will send his troops onto the battle eld
without making sure they have all the equipment and
provisions they need to accomplish their mission, neither
will God send us forth to ful ll our purpose without
providing us with the resources to carry it out. So
whenever and wherever we go to work we should be
motivated not by the promise of a paycheck but by the
calling of our King to spread His Kingdom throughout the
world, starting in our own workplace.
Man was created to work out his assignment, not work
for a living. This doesnt mean we stop working; it means
we change our reason for working. Working for a paycheck
can inspire only so far and for only so long. But to go to
work every day knowing that we are living for a higher
purposean eternal purposecan place our work in a
whole new light.

In the Kingdom, assignment determines access. What does

that mean? Its very simple. Whatever you were born to do
is how rich you are. If you are trying to get rich so you can
say you are richer than everybody else, your pursuit will
end up killing you (or make you so miserable you will
wish you were dead). If you are committed to your
Kingdom purpose, however, God will prosper you to
whatever degree necessary for you to succeed. In the
Kingdom of God, your assignment determines your access
to the provisions of the King.
It is far more important to nd our assignment than to
pursue things because the things that come into our lives
come to help us ful ll our God-given assignment. If God
has given you a $10 billion assignment, pursue that
assignment faithfully and He will give you the $10 billion.
We do not receive wealth for ourselves but for carrying out
our assignment. Thats why Jesus told us not to worry
about things. Pursue the Kingdom assignment rst and the
things will be added.
Therefore, in the Kingdom, purpose attracts provision.
Whenever a king makes an assignment, he makes full
provision for its completion. When Nehemiah received
permission from the king of Persia to return to Jerusalem
and rebuild its walls, the king gave him a letter authorizing
him to utilize whatever of the kings resources were
necessary, whether wood from the kings forests or stone
from the kings quarries or tar from the kings tar pits.
Nehemiah embarked on his task con dent that he had
everything he needed to succeed.
The King of Heaven is the same way. God will never

assign us something that He does not give us the provisions

to complete. Our part is to pursue the endthe
assignment; Gods part is to supply the means. This is why
establishing our priorities is so important. Priority with
purpose produces provision.
PROVISION IS TIED

TO

PURPOSE

When Jesus wanted to explain to His followers the

proper attitude they should take toward provision and the
pursuit of things, He chose an example from nature:
Therefore I tell you, do not worry ab out your life, what you will eat
or drink, or ab out your b ody, what you will wear. Is not life more

imp ortant than food, and the b ody more imp ortant than clothes?
Look at the b irds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away
in b arns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not
much more valuab le than they? Who of you b y worrying can add a
single hour to his life? (Matthew 6:25-27)

After encouraging His followers not to worry about daily

needs, Jesus then said that life is more than working for
food and other necessities. If all we live for is the next
paycheck and making ends meet, then we are missing out
on life. He also said that the body is more than just a
display rack for fancy clothes. In e ect, Jesus is saying to
us, Your body really wasnt made to wear clothes. I
created your body so that I could come into the earth
through you and establish My Kingdom on earth. I want to
ful ll an assignment through you, and the clothing you
wear is completely immaterial except as they relate to that

assignment.
To drive home the point that it is needless to worry,
Jesus directs their attention to the birds. Birds do not sow
seed, they do not reap a harvest and they do not store up
food in a barn, and yet they never go hungry because God
feeds them. First, they do not sow. In other words, birds do
not work to live. They live to be birds. Second, they do not
reap. Birds do not collect a paycheck. They dont need to
because God has already given them everything they need
to ful ll their purpose of being birds. Third, they do not
store up. Birds do not hoard. They do not become obsessed
or stressed out over making sure they have enough for
tomorrow or next week or next year. They simply take
what they receive each day and are perfectly content. Have
you ever heard of a bird with heart trouble or high blood
pressure or cancer? I havent.
A bird doesnt try to be a horse. It doesnt try to be a sh
or a monkey or a human. A bird simply preoccupies itself
with being a bird. It has no desire to be anything else. It is
perfectly content to ful ll its purpose as a bird. God
created the bird to be that way and He gives the bird
everything it needs to be a bird. God created the tree in
which the bird builds its nest. He provided the twigs the
bird gathers to put in the nest as well as the cotton plants
from which the bird collects padding for its nest. God made
the leaves for shading the nest. And He made the wind that
enables the bird to fly to its nest and lay its eggs.
The bird has everything it needs to be a perfect bird, and
God takes care of it. However, if you climbed onto the roof
of your house and jumped o in an e ort to y, you would

immediately regret your decision! If the fall didnt kill you,

your stay in the hospital would provide you ample time to
reconsider your actions. Why couldnt you y like a bird?
Because ying is not your purpose. Gods promise to add
all these things does not include things to make you birdlike. Provision is tied to purpose. Just as God gives the
birds everything they need to be birds, He will give us
everything we need to ful ll our purpose as Kingdom
citizens and royal children of the King.
When we set out to seek the Kingdom and righteousness
of God, we dont need to concern ourselves about
provisions for the journey because the provisions come
with the territory. All we have to do is work at being a
Kingdom ambassador, and everything we need for
executing that office will be provided for us.
PRINCIPLES

1. The Kingdom principle of addition operates on

obediencefaithful observance of Kingdom law and
clean living.
2. The rewards of the Kingdom on Gods part require
right living on our part.
3. In a kingdom, the care and welfare of every citizen
is the direct and personal responsibility of the king.
4. All citizens have equal access to the kings assets.
5. The Kingdom does not operate on works; it operates
on favor.
6. When we are about our Kingdom purpose, our King

will supply all the provisions we need to do the job.

7. Gods desire is that we not live for things but live
for His influence.
8. Provision is a by-product of obedience.
9. When we obey the Lord with our whole heart, His
blessings will overtake us.
10. The principle of provision and prosperity in the
Kingdom is access, not ownership or pursuit.
11. True wealth is found not in an abundance of
possessions, but in unlimited access to in nite
resources.
12. In the Kingdom, assignment determines access.
13. Our part is to pursue the endthe assignment.
Gods part is to supply the means.
14. Provision is tied to purpose.

A stingy man with much wealth

is a danger to a world of poor men.

CHAPTER NINE

SERVICE: THE HEART

OF KINGDOM CULTURE

rom the beginning, Gods original purpose and

plan was to rule the earth from Heaven through
His family of humankind. He created man for this
very reason. Mans original purpose was to
dominate the earth through Kingdom in uence.
Gods strategy for accomplishing this was to establish a
colony of Heaven on earth. His intention was to in uence
the earth from Heaven so that the earth would begin to take
on the culture of Heaven. In this manner, the in uence of
the invisible heavenly Kingdom would permeate, ll, and
cover the visible physical earthly realm.
A kingdom, as we have already seen, is the governing
in uence of a king over his territory, impacting it with his
will, his intent and his purpose, manifesting that impact
through the development of a culture that is manifested in
its citizens. In other words, every kingdom manifests itself
in the lifestyle and culture of its people. This means that
every citizen of a kingdom is supposed to take on the
nature of the king. That is why, for example, we speak
British English in the Bahamas. We call it the Kings
English because our lifestyle and culture re ect the
influence of the British crown.
Gods intent for us as Kingdom citizens is that we take on
the culture of Heaven so that in whatever we do or say it

will be evident that we belong to the Kingdom of Heaven.

That is why we dont use foul language or lie or cheat or
practice deceit or give way to jealousy or hatred. Those
things are not part of Heavens culture and therefore are
foreign to us. As Kingdom citizens we are from Gods
country and both our language and our lifestyle should
reflect that.
Remember, the Kingdom of God is not a religion. It is an
actual country with its own government, laws, culture, and
citizenry. And unlike earthly kingdoms of men, the
Kingdom of Heaven is an eternal Kingdom. The Old
Testament prophet Daniel said of God, How great are His
signs, how mighty His wonders! His kingdom is an eternal
kingdom; His dominion endures from generation to
generation (Dan. 4:3). Even the oldest nations on earth
have been organized states for less than 2,000 years. That
may be a long time from mans perspective but it is merely
a drop in the bucket compared to eternity. An eternal
Kingdom needs to be taken seriously. The Kingdom of
Heaven will still be around after every kingdom of man has
fallen to dust.
Gods Kingdom will endure from generation to
generation. This means that there is a place in the Kingdom
not only for us but also for our children, grandchildren,
great-grandchildren, and all other generations of our
descendents until the end of time. If the Kingdom dies with
us as far as our family is concerned, then we will have
failed our King. God is always looking for more citizens for
His Kingdom, and if we fail in our generation, who will
introduce future generations to the Kingdom?

The Kingdom of Heaven is our inheritance. Again, from

the words of Daniel, The saints of the Most High will
receive the kingdom and will possess it foreveryes, for ever
and ever (Dan. 7:18). Saints is another word for Kingdom
citizens. We are destined to possess the Kingdom that Jesus
Christ came to earth to announce and establish.
As I have mentioned before, Christ did not bring a
religion but a Kingdom, a royal government. Christianity is
a religion, which is why it doesnt work. You can practice a
religion but you cant practice citizenship. This is why
some folks are good on Sunday and a mess on Monday.
Theyre practicing religion. But you cant practice
citizenship. Being a Kingdom citizen is a 24-hour-a-day
reality, which is just what God wants. He doesnt want
members, but citizens. He wants people on earth who are
citizens of a country from another place. That is why as
Kingdom citizens we are in the world but not of the world.
In bringing the Kingdom of Heaven to earth, Christ was
restoring what man lost in the Garden of Eden. Yet
somewhere along the way we missed the point and
substituted a religion for the Kingdom. Jesus said, Blessed
are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven
(Matt. 5:3). Poor in spirit means spiritually bankrupt,
spiritually destitute and in great spiritual need. Jesus said
that the Kingdom of Heaven is reserved for those who
recognize their spiritual poverty. If you are spiritually
empty, no religion, including institutionalized, mancentered Christianity, can ll your emptiness. You will
never be satisfied until you receive the Kingdom.
This is why Jesus was so insistent that we seek first the

Kingdom and righteousness of God and trust Him to

provide all the things that we need for daily life. The
enemy likes nothing more than to distract us into pursuing
things because it keeps our attention away from the
Kingdom and our Kingdom destiny.
THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
HAS A DISTINCTIVE CULTURE
Jesus always talked about the Kingdom. It was His only
message. One time He said, The kingdom of Heaven is like
yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of
our until it worked all through the dough (Matt. 13:33).
This parable is a statement about Kingdom in uence. One
thing about yeast, once you add it to your dough you
cannot remove it. Its there for good. And although it works
slowly at rst, eventually the yeast permeates the entire
batch of dough.
In the same way, now that the Kingdom of Heaven is on
earth, it will never depart. And like yeast, the Kingdom is
growing and will continue to grow until it thoroughly
covers and saturates the earth. Although human
governments come and go, the government of God will last
forever. His Kingdom is eternal.
The presence of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth divides
all the people on earth into two groups: those who are
Kingdom citizens and those who are not. This is a critical
distinction. Our purpose as Kingdom citizens is to work
with the King to increase the size of the rst group and
decrease the size of the second group. We have a calling

and a responsibility to in uence earthly culture with the

culture of Heaven. For this very reason, the King has given
us Kingdom authoritythe keys of the Kingdomso that
we can fulfill our calling as ministers of reconciliation.
Every country has a culture. Culture is the manifestation
of the nature of the government in the lifestyle, customs,
and morals of the people. In other words, every country
has unique qualities of character, customs, traditions, and
social mores that distinguish it from other countries. In
practical terms this means that when you enter the
Kingdom of Heaven through the new birth in Christ, you
become a Kingdom citizen and the culture of the Kingdom
should begin to manifest in your life, your speech, and
your behavior.
When you return to work, your boss and your coworkers should notice such a difference in your manner and
behavior that it will prompt them to ask you what has
changed about you. That is when you can say, Yes,
something is di erent. I have changed countries and am
now a citizen of a di erent government. I am in this world
but not of it. My citizenship is from another place.
Kingdom culture is distinctly di erent from the cultures
of any earthly country. The Kingdom operates under
di erent principles and laws than those of the world and
thus produces a distinctive culture that stands out in the
world. One of the clearest distinctives of Kingdom culture
is that it is a culture characterized by service. The cultures
of the world manifest an every-man-for-himself approach to
life and success. Kingdom culture, however, measures
success by service and self-giving. Kingdom culture is a

culture of servanthood.
A CULTURE

OF

SERVANTHOOD

Jesus modeled consistently in word and deed the

character quality of servanthood. He also taught it as a
fundamental principle of Kingdom life. One of His most
explicit teachings on the subject came in response to a
request he received from the mother of James and John,
two of His closest disciples.
Then the mother of Zeb edees sons came to Jesus with her sons and,
kneeling down, asked a favor of him.
What is it you want? he asked.
She said, Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your
right and the other at your left in your kingdom.
You dont know what you are asking, Jesus said to them. Can you
drink the cup I am going to drink?
We can, they answered.
Jesus said to them, You will indeed drink from My cup , b ut to sit at

my right or left is not for Me to grant. These p laces b elong to those

for whom they have b een p rep ared b y My Father (Matthew 20:2023).

This woman was like all loving mothers; she wanted the
best for her boys. She wanted them to be great men, men of
authority in the Kingdom that Jesus was establishing. She
hoped to persuade Jesus to promote her sons to positions
of greatness and power. Her problem lay in the fact that
she approached the matter from the attitude and value

system of the world. She did not yet understand the

dynamics of the Kingdom. She did not understand that the
values, standards, principles, and priorities of the Kingdom
were very different from those in the world.
Jesus response was less than she (and her sons) had
hoped. He said that the positions on either side of Him in
the Kingdom were not His to give. Those choices were for
His Father to make.
Understandably, Jesus other disciples were upset over
all of this, which gave Jesus the opportunity to teach them
all about greatness from the Kingdom perspective.
When the ten heard ab out this, they were indignant with the two
b rothers. Jesus called them together and said, You know that the
rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high o cials

exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever

wants to b ecome great among you must b e your servant, and
whoever wants to b e rst must b e your slavejust as the Son of
Man did not come to b e served b ut to serve, and to give his life as a
ransom for many (Matthew 20:24-28).

Jesus said that in the Kingdom, you dont nd greatness

by seeking titles or position. Greatness in the Kingdom
does not come by advancing over your co-workers and then
lording your elevation over them. In the Kingdom, you
serve your way to greatness. You dont connive your way
to greatness. The mother of James and John sought
greatness for her sons by association instead of dedication.
She hoped to exploit her sons inner track to Jesus for
their advantage. After all, that is how the world operates.

You get ahead according to who you know.

But Jesus nipped that idea in the bud. He said, In My
Kingdom you dont achieve greatness by who you associate
with but rather by how well you serve others. His own life
was the perfect example. Jesus, even though He was the
Son of God, came to serve, not to be served. What was
appropriate for Him is certainly appropriate for us. The
road to greatness in the Kingdom of Heaven leads through
the valley of humble service.
Jesus said, Whoever wants to become great among you
must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must
be your slave. In this context, the word first means the
rst one people always call on. In other words, the one
who is the most important, the one who is most valuable,
the one who everyone calls rst is the one with the
reputation for working the hardest.
If people are always calling on you or turning to you,
thats a good sign. However, if you are the one they always
avoid, perhaps it is time for you to reexamine your
attitude, habits, and work ethic. No one ever becomes great
by avoiding the hard jobs and the tough decisions. And if
you do not have the spirit of service and hard work, it will
not be only people avoiding you. Prosperity will avoid
you as well.
Being a servant does not mean that you become
subservient. It means that you nd what you have and you
give it to the world. You serve your gift to the world.
Thats what makes you great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
THE LIFE OF A SHEEP

The Kingdom of Heaven is our inheritance. It is our past

as well as our future. And the principle of humble service
plays a central role to our entering in. Jesus told of the day
at the end of time when He will sit on His throne of glory
with all the nations gathered before Him for judgment.
There will be only two groups of people: the sheep, or
the righteous, at His right hand, and the goats, or the
unrighteous, at His left.
Then the King will say to those on His right, Come, you who are
b lessed b y My Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom p rep ared
for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you
gave

Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to

drink, I was a stranger and you invited Me in. I needed clothes and
you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in p rison
and you came to visit Me (Matthew 25:34-36).

Notice that the inheritance of the righteous is not Heaven

but the Kingdom of Heaven. Remember that the Kingdom
of Heaven is a country with a government and in uence on
the earth. It is yeast that is making its way through the
minds and cultures of humankind. The Kingdom is not new
but has existed since creation, waiting to be populated by
the righteous. The time has come, and Jesus says to them,
Come, take your inheritance.
Then Jesus describes the character of the righteous that
sets them apart from the unrighteous, the character of
service and a servant heart. It is practical service: feeding
the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, welcoming the

stranger, clothing the naked, tending the sick, and visiting

the imprisoned. Notice also that Jesus views all of these
actions of compassion as being performed for Him: I was
hungryI was thirstyI was a strangerI needed
clothesI was sickI was in prison.
Characteristically, the righteous servants respond with
humility (not false modesty):
Then the righteous will answer Him, Lord, when did we see You
hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink?
When did we see You a stranger and invite You in, or needing
clothes and clothe You? When did we see you sick or in p rison and
go to visit You?
The King will rep ly, I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one
of the least of these b rothers of mine, you did for Me (Matthew
25:37-40).

Humble service is so natural and so second nature to

those with a servant heart that they do not think of
themselves as having done anything special or of particular
merit. If asked about their actions they would say, It is the
least I could do. True servants have no ulterior motives.
They are not out to get noticed nor do they seek to use
their service as a steppingstone to some greater or higher
position. True servants live to serve and are delighted to do
so.
Jesus so identi es with the hungry, thirsty, sick,
destitute, downtrodden, and casto s of the world that He
regards acts of kindness and compassion done for them as
being done for Him. In other words, whenever we serve the

needy, we serve the King.

This is a mind-set that all of us who are Kingdom citizens
need to develop. No person is beneath our dignity,
unworthy of our compassion or beyond the reach of our
love. We need to learn to look into the faces of other
people and see the face of our King looking back at us.
Regardless what our job, career, or profession, we have an
assignment from our King to serve Him by serving others.
Thats why it is wrong for us to focus just on getting a
paycheck or raising our standard of living. The paychecks
will come, and so will greater prosperity, as long as we
keep our focus where it ought to be: advancing the
in uence of the Kingdom by serving others in the Kings
name.
We are ambassadors of the King on a Kingdom mission.
This understanding will ennoble any job, any undertaking,
no matter how menial, unimportant, or even thankless it
may seem from the human perspective. In the Kingdom of
Heaven, no service is menial, unimportant, or thankless
because the Kingdom is built on service.
THE LIFE

OF A

GOAT

Contrast all of this with the actions and attitude of the

unrighteous, the goats at Jesus left hand.
Then He will say to those on His left, Dep art from Me, you who
are cursed, into the eternal re p rep ared for the devil and his
angels. For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat, I was
thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you

did not invite Me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe Me, I
was sick and in p rison and you did not look after Me.
They also will answer, Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty
or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in p rison and did not
help You?
He will rep ly, I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one
of the least of these, you did not do for Me.
Then they will go away to eternal p unishment, b ut the righteous to
eternal life (Matthew 25:41-46).

From the Kingdom perspective, every person is either a

sheep or a goat, either righteous or unrighteous, either a
Kingdom citizen or an alien. It is important to note that the
goats that the King addresses are not necessarily bad
people. They may possess very high ethical and moral
standards. In fact, they may very well be religious people.
After all, they address the King as Lord. And they seem
genuinely surprised at the Kings charge that they did
nothing for Him: Lord, when did we see You in need and
not help You? Implied in their question is the excuse,
Lord, if we had only known it was You, we would have
acted di erently. Thats the whole pointand the
fundamental difference between the sheep and the goats.
Unrighteous service is always calculated, always
motivated by self-interest: How will this bene t me in the
long run? Will it make you look good in front of your
peers? Will it win you the praise of men? Will it bring you
to the attention of the rich and powerful who can help you
rise higher?

Righteous servants dont care about any of that. They

treat everyone the same: rich or poor, strong or weak,
lovely or unlovely, lovable or unlovable. To all they show
the same love, demonstrate the same compassion and
extend the same respect. Why? Because righteous servants
are not after personal gain. All they are after is to obey and
honor their King, whom they love with all their heart.
Serving others will not earn us a right standing with
God. Righteous service is a by-product of a right standing
with God. Right standing comes rst and then service
grows out of it. The ministry of righteous service is true
Kingdom work. Apparently neither the sheep nor the goats
recognized Jesus when He came to them in the guise of the
broken, hurting, and needy. For the righteous it did not
matter; they served lovingly and faithfully anyway, as
serving their King.
Giving the Kingdom life to people can be an unconscious
thing. The righteous asked, Lord, when did we see You
and do all these things for You? For them it wasnt
serving, it was life. God wants us to serve for no other
reason than our love for Him and for other people. Some
people serve because they want promotion. Some people
serve because they want recognition. Some people serve
because they want the applause of men. Some people serve
because they want to gain some political, social, or
economic advantage. The King wants our hearts to be so
service-oriented that we serve without even thinking about
it. Unconscious love is the best love in the world.
If you sit down and scheme as to whether or why to help
a person, you are acting like a goat. Sheep ask, How can I

help? while goats ask, Whats in it for me? As Kingdom

citizens, we should delight in the opportunity to serve.
After all, we serve a King who came to earth to serve rather
than be served, and when we serve willingly and joyfully
in His name we do a very Kingly thing.
SERVICE REFLECTS THE NATURE
CHARACTER OF THE KINGDOM

AND

Feed the hungry. Slake the thirsty. Welcome the stranger.

Clothe the naked. Tend the sick. Visit the prisoner (or the
in rm, bedridden or shut-in, as well as those who are
psychologically or emotionally bound). These represent the
very heart and soul of practical Kingdom life in this world.
And yet these are the very same needs that most people fret
and sweat and labor for all their lives. Can you see why
Christ told us not to worry about these things? These things
are the common currency, the lingua franca of the
Kingdom. If we are actively pursuing Kingdom life, we live
with these things every day. The King provides all these
things to us so that we can be His instruments in
providing them to others.
Service is not always easy. Some people are irritable,
ungrateful, unlovely, and unlikable and would just as soon
bite your head o as look at you. Sometimes people
become so withdrawn and inwardly focused by the assaults
of life that they seem to have no room in their heart or
their perspective for anything other than themselves and
their own personal grievances and complaints.
Nevertheless, this does not excuse us from serving them

with the same smile, the same love, and the same gentle
and patient spirit we would give to others in need who
were less di cult. After all, they too are created in the
image of God.
Our eyes need to be alert to spot the strangers around us.
I dont mean just people we dont know but also people
who are strangers in society, people who are socially
awkward or eccentric or painfully shy or lonely, people
who may simply need a friend. Its always easier to care for
people we know or like or who are most like us or who
come from the same side of the tracks or who walk in the
same socio-economic circles as we. But our calling as
Kingdom citizens is to serve anyone and everyone with a
need who crosses our path. We need to learn to regard such
encounters not as random and unconnected events but as
divine appointments providing us with the opportunity to
share the love of God and introduce another person to His
Kingdom.
What about new people at work? Do you welcome the
new strangers in your o ce with a handshake and a
smile? Do you try to set them at ease and help them get
settled in or do you ignore them in resentment or fear that
their arrival may mean your own job is in jeopardy?
Feed the hungry, satisfy the thirsty, clothe the naked; all
of these evoke the image of people who lack the most basic
human needs. Jesus said that the poor are with us always
and that we can do something good for them anytime we
choose (see Mark 14:7). The problem is that most of the
time most of us choose to do nothing. Even worse, the
poor are so ever-present that even if we do not turn our

heads, we soon become so accustomed to their presence

that we no longer see them, not even when we are looking
right at them.
As Kingdom citizens positioned in righteousness, we
have access to in nite provision for meeting the needs of
the destitute. There is no excuse for us to turn our heads,
pretend the poor are not there and blithely continue to
consume Heavens resources on our own greed and sel sh
desires.
Tend the sick. This one is a natural for those Kingdom
citizens who are health-care professionals. Just be careful
that you are not so professional that you lose the human
touch. Even those of us who are not professionals in the
health-care eld can still tend the sick and hasten their
healing by praying for them and by encouraging them
through visits, phone calls, cards, child care, providing
meals, and other such personal involvement.
Visit the prisoner. Prison inmates need ministry too.
They need to experience the understanding and compassion
of people who truly care about them and are willing to see
them as people created in Gods image and not just social
misfits and outcasts.
There are other kinds of prisons too. Many people are
imprisoned in their own homes because of fear, anxiety, or
in rmity due to a body that is frail from sickness or no
longer functions properly. These are often the forgotten
ones in society: lonely, frightened, and depressed.
All of these needy ones are the kinds of people Jesus
most identi ed with. He associated with them because He

loved them and because society, even the religious society,

refused to do so. He is our King and sets our example. As
He did we are to do also. That is what it means to be a
Kingdom citizen. Service re ects the very nature and
character of the Kingdom.
Service is powerful. In fact, service is the Kingdoms
greatest ministry to humankind. When people of the world
see Kingdom citizens in action, in humble yet joyful
service, they see rsthand what the Kingdom of Heaven is
like. Kingdom culture is so vastly di erent from worldly
culture that seeing it on display in the lives of its citizens
stirs up curiosity and even hunger for it in the hearts and
minds of people who are outside the Kingdom. And this is
just what God intends to happen. Hunger leads to inquiry
and inquiry results in new Kingdom citizens.
True and faithful service also attracts the Kings blessing.
He says, Because you serve Me well, I am going to give
you the Kingdom. I will take care of your whole life. I will
feed you, clothe you, provide a house and a car, and bless
you with everything else you need to continue serving Me
faithfully. Because of your faithfulness, I will give you the
whole country.
Faithful service guarantees the Kingdom inheritance. Full
access to the Kingdom and its resources is reserved for
those who get their priorities right and put the Kingdom
and righteousness of God ahead of their own desires,
ambition, and comfort. There is nothing we can give up for
the sake of the Kingdom that the King will not return to us
multiplied many times over.
Service is the highest manifestation of Kingdom culture.

The heart of the Kingdom of Heaven is the love of God and

service is Gods love in action from one human heart to
another. And since God is love, service is also the Kings
nature in action. It is when we are busy feeding the hungry,
giving water to the thirsty, welcoming the stranger,
clothing the naked, tending the sick, and visiting the
prisoner that we are most like our King.
THE MOTIVATIONS FOR GODLY SERVICE
There are two things that make the Kings nature unique.
One is love. God doesnt have love, and He doesnt give
love. God is love. Love is His very nature. Love means a
commitment and dedication to meet another persons needs
above our own. It is this kind of love that took Jesus to the
Cross to die for us while we were still sinners, still in
rebellion against God. He did not wait for us to ask Him to
die. He did it before we ever even knew to ask. He met our
needs above His own.
Second, Gods nature is caring. To care means to
anticipate a need and meet it; planning to meet a need
before it even arises. This is the nature of the King.
Because of the loving and caring nature of God, we as
Kingdom citizens must always render service out of passion
and not out of a desire or expectation of pay or any other
kind of public or private acknowledgment. We must serve
because we love it and because we love the King in whose
name we serve. A popular aphorism says, Do what you
love and the money will follow. While that is certainly
true, especially in the Kingdom, the Kingdom dynamic

goes even farther: Do what you love, whether the money

follows or not. If you love living for the King and tending
to His priorities, He will see to it that you never lack a
thing.
Our service also must be motivated by love and not the
limelight. Most of the work of service, including the most
di cult work, takes place in secret, far from the public eye
and the news media. If you thirst for the limelight, you will
nd the path of Kingdom service a very di cult road. Set
your mind right now not to worry about the limelight. The
King sees what you do in secret and His judgment is the
only one that matters. So serve the King with a whole and
undivided heart. Dont work for limelight. Work because
you love God and because you love people.
Kingdom service proceeds from the revelation of the
value of every human being as a unique creation in the
image of God. It is very di cult to sustain a humble
servants heart over the long term if you cannot see the
image of God in the face of every person you meet. Every
person is entitled to basic dignity and respect. Remember,
when you serve the needy, you serve the King.
Kingdom service is a calling, not a career. Careers are
specialized according to education, preparation, and
inclination, but every Kingdom citizen is called to be a
servant. And that calling is for a lifetime. You can retire
from a career, but you cant retire from a call. You cant
retire from being yourself.
Service is the manifestation of the gifts God has given
you. Work your gift, dont waste it. And the Bible says
your gift will make room for you in the world.

PRINCIPLES

1. Gods intent for us as Kingdom citizens is that we

take on the culture of Heaven so that in whatever we
do or say it will be evident that we belong to the
Kingdom of Heaven.
2. The Kingdom of Heaven is our inheritance.
3. The government of God will last forever. His
Kingdom is eternal.
4. We have a calling and a responsibility to in uence
earthly culture with the culture of Heaven.
5. Kingdom culture is a culture of servanthood.
6. In the Kingdom, you serve your way to greatness.
7. True servants live to serve and are delighted to do
so.
8. Whenever we serve the needy, we serve the King.
9. Righteous service is a by-product of a right standing
with God.
10. Our calling as Kingdom citizens is to serve anyone
and everyone with a need who crosses our path.
11. Service re ects the very nature and character of the
Kingdom.
12. Kingdom service is a calling, not a career.

He who sells fruit

never advertises the tree.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

THE PROCESS OF
ENTERING THE KINGDOM

he most important part of the Kingdom

experience is the process of entering the
Kingdom. Unless you know how to get into the
Kingdom of Heaven, everything else about the
Kingdom is meaningless. What do you do to enter
the Kingdom of God, and how does it work? To answer
these two questions, let me begin with an illustration
involving my own country.
The number one industry in the Bahamas is tourism.
Every year our tiny island nation of 300,000 people hosts
over 5 million tourists. This means that tourists outnumber
residents by a factor of almost 17 to 1. Tourism alone
brings in over $1 billion of revenue each year. Ours is the
most successful tourism nation in our entire region of the
Caribbean. No other country in the region receives the
number of tourists that we receive in these small islands.
Why is the Bahamas so successful? To get more to the
point, why dont people around the world come to Jesus
and to the Kingdom of God the way they come to the
Bahamas? Why arent there 5 million people coming into
the church every year? Why are they more excited about
coming to the Bahamas than coming to God? Why are they
willing to spend an average of $200 per night per room,
excluding taxes, for an average of about $1,500 a week for

a couple? Why would they give that kind of money to us?

What brings them here?
The reason for our success, the reason why we have 5
million tourists coming to the Bahamas every year, is
because we do not advertise or promote the prime
minister. If you want people to come to your country, you
dont advertise the government. You dont brag about how
good the prime minister is, or the president. People do not
visit the Bahamas because of our prime minister.
SELL THE COUNTRY!
Why is this so important? It goes back to what Jesus said
in Matthew 6:33, that we should seek rst the Kingdom and
righteousness of God. The Kingdom is Gods greatest
priority and Jesus said there are some great bene ts that
will be added free to all who set their minds to seek the
Kingdom above all other priorities.
I think it is highly signi cant that before Jesus invited us
to enter the Kingdom, He told us about its bene ts. He
said, Why do you worry about what you will eat or drink
or wear? He dealt rst with our primary interests, the
things that drive us through life from day to day. He said,
Your heavenly Father knows you need food, water,
clothing, and shelter. He knows exactly what you are after,
your every need and every desire of your heart. Dont
worry, all of those things are in His Kingdom.
Im going to step out on a theological limb here, so
please read very carefully: Jesus never said, Seek Me
first. He said, Seek rst the Kingdom. If we put our

prime ministers photograph, biography, and personal

pro le on all of our tourism advertisements, no one will
come to the Bahamas. Thats not to say anything against the
prime minister, but that is not what the tourists are
interested in. They dont want to know about the
government or the political leadership; they want to know
about the country. If we want to attract tourists to the
Bahamas, we need to tell them and show them things about
our country that will whet their appetite and stir up in
them the desire to come visit.
Jesus never told us to seek Him rst. And yet the church,
for the better part of its 2,000-year history, has done
precisely that. The church continuously has preached about
the King, and taught about the King, and bragged about the
King, and told people how they should love the King, and
give their hearts to the King, and follow the King, and serve
the King, and live for the King. And while all of this is true,
it is probably not the best place to start, because in all the
talk and attention given to the King, very little focus has
been given to the Kingdom He reigns over.
If you want to attract people to your country, you have
to show them how and why your country is better than
theirs; prove to them that they can get bene ts in your
country that they cannot get in their own. The church
keeps talking only about Jesus and not about the Kingdom
(which is what He told us to talk about), and then wonders
why so few people are interested.
There are 1.2 billion Muslims in the world and they all
need Jesus. But they are not interested. Hindus worldwide
number 600 million and counting, and they all need Jesus.

But they are not interested. Why? Because people arent

interested in the head of state. Tell them about the country.
Get them excited about the country and its bene ts. Then,
when they ask how to get in, tell them about Jesus. Tell
them that the King is the doorway into the country. Then
they will be interested in the King.
We dont advertise the Bahamas with pictures or
information about the prime minister or other public
o cials. Quite often our promotional materials show no
people at all, just sun, blue tropical waters, white sand,
green coconut palm trees, and beautiful red hibiscus in
December! Can you imagine how enticing an image that is
for Canadians or northern Americans snowed in by fourfoot drifts? Thats why they come here. Thats why one of
the largest and fastest growing industries in the Bahamas
right now is external owners of property. People all over
the world want to live here. Why? Its not because of the
prime minister; hell be replaced in a few years.
People want to move here because here is better than
where they arebeach living with an average temperature
of 75 degrees year-round. We sell them on an ocean lled
with pure, fresh, clean sh and no pollution. We sell them
on warm hospitality and good-looking people with
positive attitudes. We dont sell them the prime minister.
Heres the bottom line. The secret to attracting visitors or
investors or new citizens is to promise them the lifestyle,
the benefits, and the environment of the country.
This is why people are not coming to God. We keep
trying to sell them on the leader. Jesus never preached
Himself to the multitudes. He preached the Kingdom of

Heaven. He taught the Kingdom of Heaven. He used every

example and word-picture He could to show the people
what the Kingdom is like. On one occasion He compared
the Kingdom of Heaven to a wedding feast a king gave for
his son (see Matt. 22:1-14). Try to imagine what a feast
like that would be like: landscaped grounds, full, beautiful
trees, gold carpets, silver walls, silver spoons, golden
goblets, all the food you can eat, grapes, wine, cheese,
fresh meat! Wow! If thats what the Kingdom of Heaven is
like, dont you want to go there? I know I do! Thats selling
the country.
Jesus Christ is not the Kingdom; He is the King. He is
also the Door into the Kingdom. Anyone who wishes to
enter the Kingdom of Heaven must go in through the Door,
which is Jesus. But you dont draw people to your country
by talking about the port of entry. You draw them by
selling them on what lies beyond the port of entrythe
countrys bene ts and quality of lifeby stirring up such a
hunger and desire for the country that they will do
anything to get in.
Jesus said, The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed
until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of
God is being preached, and everyone is forcing his way into
it (Luke 16:16). Why arent people forcing their way into
Christianity? They dont want Christianity because
Christianity is built on a door, not on the Kingdom beyond
the door. Muslims dont want Jesus. They are satis ed with
Muhammad and Allah. But talk to them about the Kingdom
of Heaven and its riches, abundance, prosperity, and joy,
as well as a Personal God who loves them, and compare

that to the barren austerity in which most Muslims live, and

you may get a listening ear.
People really are not looking for Jesus. We keep telling
them they are but they are not. They are looking for things.
They are looking for a good life. But open their eyes to the
reality of the Kingdom and their focus will change. Who
wouldnt trade the rat race pursuit of things for a Kingdom
that guarantees all those things free and without frustration?
Thats what Jesus meant when He said people were forcing
their way into the Kingdom of God. Once a person
understands what the Kingdom is, and the riches, bene ts,
and joys it a ords, he or she will do anything to get in,
even risk life and limb. Why is it that more and more
Muslims are converting to Christ even though they know it
may cost them their lives? Because they have discovered
the Kingdom of Heaven and have realized that no price is
too great to pay to enter it.
THE PRIORITY OF GOD

FOR

HUMANKIND

According to Jesus, the most important priority for

people on earth is the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom
of Heaven is the most important thing on earth. It is the
treasure, the pearl, the yeast, the light, and the salt of the
earth. The Kingdom is everything. Jesus nailed this point
home with two related parables:
The kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a eld. When a
man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he
had and b ought that eld. Again, the kingdom of Heaven is like a
merchant looking for ne p earls. When he found one of great value,

he went away and sold everything he had and b ought it (Matthew

13:44-46).

Jesus said that the Kingdom of Heaven is like treasure

that is so precious and so valuable that it is worth giving
up everything else just to possess it. Throughout the ages
countless people have left their homes and families,
traveled all over the world, endured incredible hardship,
and risked death and disaster daily, drawn by the lure of
treasure and riches. It is amazing how much people are
willing to risk on even the smallest chance of striking pay
dirt.
Jesus said thats the way we are supposed to be about the
Kingdom. We are supposed to pursue it even to and
through the point of personal danger because once we enter
it weve got it made. If we are willing to take such chances
for earthly treasure that will eventually pass away, how
much more willing should we be to risk everything for the
sake of gaining the Kingdom.
Likewise, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a precious pearl
that a merchant found and then sold everything he had to
buy it. Thats how precious the Kingdom is. It is worth any
price. Apparently the merchant had nothing left after
buying the pearl except the pearl, and that was enough. So
it is with the Kingdom. When we have the Kingdom, that is
enough. Everything is in the Kingdom. We dont need
anything else.
THE PRIORITY OF JESUS

Jesus only priority on earth was the Kingdom of

Heaven. He taught us that the Kingdom should be our
highest priority also, even in our prayers:
This, then, is how you should p ray: Our Father in Heaven,
hallowed b e Your name, Your kingdom come, Your will b e done on
earth as it is in Heaven (Matthew 6:9-10).

Notice that Jesus says that this is how we should pray.

We should pray for Gods Kingdom to come on earth. We
should pray for His will to be done. He never says that we
should pray for Him to come. Yet that is just what the
church has prayed for centuries. Jesus will return one day
and it will be a blessed day when He does, but that is not
how He told us to pray. The focus of our prayers should be
that the Kingdom of Heaven should come, that the
in uence of Heavens government should permeate the
nations and cultures of the earth like yeast in dough.
In Lukes account of Jesus last supper with His disciples
the night before He was cruci ed, Jesus says at one point,
I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred
one on Me (Luke 22:29). That is a political statement.
Every government, when appointing ambassadors, uses the
word confer.
When I received my medals from the Queen of England,
I stood in that wonderful place of dignity with all the other
people being so honored. When my moment came, I knelt,
a sword was placed on my shoulder, and the o cial
holding the sword said to me, I confer on you the OBE
award of the kingdom of Great Britain. When I stood up, I

was a di erent person. They called me an OBE (for Order

of the British Empire). I went down as a simple Bahamian
citizen and rose up as an OBE. In those few seconds they
conferred on me the whole empire. The Queen of England
has the power to give me her kingdom.
Hanging on the wall in my o ce is the OBE citation
with my name on it and bearing Queen Elizabeths
signature and the royal seal. Because I am now an OBE, I
automatically receive special honor and preferential
treatment whenever I travel anywhere in the
Commonwealth of Great Britain or in any of the nations
formerly in the Commonwealth. It is not me they are
honoring so much as the kingdom because when I walk
into a place wearing my OBE medal, the kingdom goes in
with me.
When I was named an OBE, in e ect the entire country
was conferred on me.
That is what Jesus did for us with the Kingdom of
Heaven. He conferred the Kingdom on us. The Kingdom is
Jesus top priority and it must be ours as well.
Religion postpones the Kingdom to a future experience,
which is why you dont hear much about the Kingdom in
religion. You cannot appropriate what you postpone. If
you say the Kingdom is coming later, you can never
experience it now. However, Gods desire is for you to
enter and experience the Kingdom right now.
ENTERING

THE

KINGDOM

The number one goal of all humanity should be to enter

the Kingdom. But what does it mean to enter the Kingdom?

This is a very important question because most of us have
been taught that entering the Kingdom means dying and
going to Heaven. This is not true. Whenever Jesus uses the
word enter with reference to the Kingdom, He is not
referring to dying and going anywhere. He is talking about
entering into the lifestyle of the Kingdom. When you enter
the Kingdom you begin to experience the life of the
country.
To enter also means to pursue and attain citizenship in
the Kingdom of Heaven. Citizenship inherits everything in
the Kingdom. When you become a citizen, you have
privileges and rights to everything in the constitution.
So make the Kingdom of Heaven your priority and get
into it.
For better understanding of entering the Kingdom, lets
consider three statements that Jesus made. First, I tell you
the truth, unless you change and become like little children,
you will never enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 18:3).
Jesus did not say, Unless you die, you will not enter, but
unless you change and become like little children you will
not enter. Why did He use the simile of little children?
Because children simply submit to their environment. They
go along with whatever they see. In innocence a child will
play with a snake or move toward a ame because the
child doesnt know any better. The child simply submits to
the environment and assumes everything is safe.
When Jesus said we should become like little children,
He was saying that when we come into the Kingdom we
should just live like were in it. Accept it on childlike faith.

Submit to its in uence, its mandate, its values, its morals,

its standards, its dictates. Obey its laws and follow its
principles.
The di erence between a child and an adult is that a
child obeys and an adult negotiates. Jesus is saying, Be
like a child. Dont try to negotiate with me. If I tell you to
stop sinning, stop sinning. Its that simple.
Jesus second statement is one He spoke to a rich young
man who asked Him what to do to receive eternal life:
There is only one who is good. If you want to enter life,
obey the commandments (Matt. 19:17b). If you want to
come to the Bahamas and enjoy our good Bahamian life,
you must abide by our Bahamian law or else you may end
up cooling your heels in our nice Bahamian jail. By the
same token, if you want to enter Kingdom living and
experience Kingdom lifestyle you must obey Kingdom
laws. Otherwise you may nd yourself cut o from
Kingdom resources and bowing under Kingdom judgment.
Jesus made the third statement right after the rich young
man went away sad because he was unable to part with his
wealth in order to follow Jesus: I tell you the truth, it is
hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of Heaven (Matt.
19:23b). Here Jesus is not talking about initial entrance
into the Kingdom. Hes talking about experiencing it. Why?
Because in the Kingdom, the King owns everything. If you
come into the Kingdom through the new birth in Christ but
do not surrender your mindset of ownership, you will be
unable to experience the fullness of Kingdom life because
you are trying to hoard instead of releasing.
Kingdom citizenship can be prevented by religion. In

fact, according to Jesus, religion is the most dangerous

opponent to Kingdom citizenship. Jesus had many run-ins
with the teachers of the law and the Pharisees, the religious
leaders of His day; because they, by their own actions,
were keeping many people out of the Kingdom.
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hyp ocrites! You
shut the kingdom of Heaven in mens faces. You yourselves do not
enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to (Matt.
23:13).

Religion can prevent Kingdom life because religion

pretends to be a substitute. Anyone who thinks the
substitute is the real thing will miss out on the real thing.
Unfortunately, there are many people trapped in
religious Christianity who believe that what they have is
all there is, yet they know next to nothing about the
Kingdom. They cannot enter into something they know
nothing about.
Once when I was leading a conference in southern
Florida, a pastor came up to me and said, So, youre the
Kingdom preacher, huh?
I replied, And youre not?
He became very quiet. Finally, he asked, What do you
mean?
Come, I said, lets sit down and have a cup of tea.
We sat down together and I took my Bible and began
showing him Scripture after Scripture about the Kingdom.
He wept. Then he asked if I would join him after the
evening session. I agreed.

At 2 oclock in the morning he was still asking me

questions. Where did you learn all this?
From the same book you use, that Bible right in front of
you.
Well, how come no one ever showed me? I said, God
only shows you what you want to see. Religion blinds
you.
He fell on his knees before me right there in the
restaurant. Pray for me, he said. I want forgiveness. Ive
been a pastor for 37 years and Ive been preaching the
wrong message. Pray for me.
I laid my hands on him and prayed for him. He got up,
went to the book table and bought one of everything. He
said, Im starting over.
No, I said, you are finally entering yourself.
Watch out for religion. It can keep you from
experiencing the fullness of Kingdom life.
THE PROCESS TO CITIZENSHIP
Jesus explained the process of acquiring Kingdom
citizenship during a dead-of-night meeting with a leading
Pharisee named Nicodemus. Their conversation is recorded
in the Gospel of chapter 3. This is the only place in the
Bible where the words born again are found, and Jesus uses
those words in describing to Nicodemus the process of
becoming a Kingdom citizen.
Nicodemus had heard Jesus teach numerous times and so
had certainly heard Him speak about the Kingdom. But

Nicodemus did not understand the teaching even though he

was a highly educated expert in the Jewish law.
Nevertheless, he was intrigued by both Jesus manner and
message and wanted to know more. So he came secretly by
night to inquire of Jesus.
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a memb er
of the Jewish ruling council. He came to Jesus at night and said,

Rab b i, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God.
For no one could p erform the miraculous signs You are doing if God
were not with Him.
In rep ly Jesus declared, I tell you the truth, no one can see the
kingdom of God unless he is b orn again.
How can a man b e b orn when he is old? Nicodemus asked.
Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mothers womb to b e
b orn!
Jesus answered, I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom
of God unless he is b orn of water and the Sp irit. Flesh gives b irth to

esh, b ut the Sp irit gives b irth to sp irit. You should not b e

surp rised at My saying, You must b e b orn again. The wind b lows
wherever it p leases. You hear its sound, b ut you cannot tell where it
comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone b orn of the
Sp irit (John 3:1-8).

Here was Nicodemus, a respected religious leader, asking

Jesus, an itinerant rabbi from Galilee, how to enter the
Kingdom of God. Nicodemus would never have asked such
a question or sought such a thing as the Kingdom unless he
had found his strict religious observances unsatisfying.

Jesus teachings on the Kingdom had stirred in Nicodemus a

hunger for more than he was experiencing. He was at the
top of the Judaic religious ladder and knew he was not
where he wanted to be. He wanted to be in Jesus country.
He wanted to know how to become a citizen of the
Kingdom of God.
Lets look closely at Jesus answer, because so often we
have misunderstood His words. He said, No one can see
the kingdom of God unless he is born again. The Greek
word for see in this verse means to experience, or to
understand. Jesus was telling Nicodemus, You can neither
understand nor experience Kingdom life unless you are
born into the country. This is not a religious statement.
I was born in the Bahamas; I didnt have to become a
citizen. I was a citizen by birth. Anyone not born in the
Bahamas who wants to become a citizen has to go through
a long and complicated process. In this regard, Gods
Kingdom operates a little di erently from other countries.
Gods Kingdom has no citizenship process. Either youre
born again or you arent. Once you are born again, your
citizenship process is instantaneous.
Upon hearing the necessity of being born again,
Nicodemus asked a very logical question: How can a man
be born when he is old? Did Nicodemus misunderstand
Jesus? No. His question proves it. This is an important
point. Jesus literally told Nicodemus that he had to be born
again the way he was born the rst time. There was no
spiritual or theological confusion. Jesus said, The way you
become a citizen of My country is the same way you
become a citizen in any other country. You have to be born

into citizenship.
OK, Nicodemus answered, but Im an old man. Do I
have to go back and be a baby again and enter a womans
womb and be born all over? Another logical question
because he had heard a logical answer. Nicodemus
understood Jesus reference to being born again as referring
to a natural birth, and he was correct. There are no illegal
immigrants in the Kingdom of God, and no illegitimate
children, either. Every Kingdom citizen is a bona de
native-born citizen.
But how can this be? Like Nicodemus, none of us can
reverse time, become babies again, and return to our
mothers womb for rebirth. If birth into the Kingdom of
God is a natural birth, how does it happen?
Jesus said, No one can enter the Kingdom of God unless
he is born of water and the Spirit. This is good news for
every one of us! No matter who or where we are, God has
made special governmental arrangements for us literally to
be born citizens in the Kingdom of Heaven legally. Flesh
gives birth to esh, He says. In the same way we were born
physically, the Spirit gives birth to spirit. Jesus says, I
have made arrangements for my country to give you a new
birth spiritually. Thats why He says we must be born
again. Hes talking about citizenship rights.
Natural citizenship is a result of natural birth. And so the
Kingdom of Heaven is a super natural otherworldly
Kingdom, which is why heavenly Kingdom citizenship
requires heavenly Kingdom spiritual birth. Jesus has made
arrangements for every one of us to be born spiritually and
to achieve supernatural citizenship in the Kingdom of God.

When? Now. If you are born again, you are a Kingdom

citizen right now, and all the rights, bene ts, and
privileges of citizenship are yours right now.
RECEIVING

THE

NEW BIRTH

If you have not been born again, that is the step you
must take before you can become a Kingdom citizen and
receive eternal life. This is why Jesus came. He came not
only as the one who announced the coming of the
Kingdom, but also as the one through whom we gain
entrance to the Kingdom: For God so loved the world that
He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him
shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).
Receiving the new birth is not a difficult process.
1. Acknowledge that you are a sinner in rebellion
against God: For all have sinned and fall short of
the glory of God (Rom. 3:23).
2. Understand that the penalty for sin is eternal death:
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is
eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 6:23).
3. Believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins so that
you might be forgiven: But God demonstrates His
own love for us in this: While we were still sinners,
Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8).
4. Confess your sins to God: If we confess our sins, He
is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and
purify us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). To
confess your sins means to agree with God regarding

your sins.
5. Repent of your sins: Unless you repent, you too will
all perish (Luke 13:3). To repent means to make a
clean break with sin, a 180-degree reversal of
direction.
6. Confess Christ as your Savior and Lord and give
Him control of your life: If you confess with your
mouth, Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that
God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For
it is with your heart that you believe and are justified,
and it is with your mouth that you confess and are
saved (Rom. 10:9-10).
THE SECRET

OF

CONCEPTION

When I was born in the Bahamas, one of the rst things

they did was put ink on my foot and pressed it onto a piece
of paper. That footprint, along with my name and o cial
registration, was led at the hospital and a copy sent to the
registrar general downtown as a record that mine was a
registered birth in the Bahamas. If anyone wants to know
where I was born, all he has to do is check the registry.
Most other countries follow a similar procedure.
Conception is a secret process invisible to the naked eye.
When you and I were conceived, nobody was watching,
probably, except God. In other words, when the process of
birth began, it was secret. Jesus said that the new birth is
like the wind; no one can see it. Likewise, citizenship is not
a visual reality but a disposition.
In John 3:8 Jesus says, The wind blows wherever it

pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it
comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born
of the Spirit. When you give your life or surrender your
life to the King and He gives you a new birth, no one sees
that. It may happen at an altar, in the back of a car, at
home, at school; wherever you receive Christ, the process
is invisible. The new birth involves believing, and no one
can see you believing. Belief, like conception, is invisible.
Sometimes the new birth is accompanied by a feeling
and sometimes it isnt. Everybody is di erent, so
everybodys response to the new birth will be di erent.
Feeling something is not the point. The point is that
spiritual conception took place and internal change is
underway. When a woman conceives, her clothes dont
change. She doesnt even realize until some time later that
something is going on.
The same thing happens spiritually. When youre born
again, you surrender to Christ. Some weeks later it
suddenly dawns on you that you dont enjoy sin anymore.
Thats change. Thats a sign of the new birth. You have
been born again. Thats why its impossible now for you to
sin and feel the same way about it as you once did.
In fact, sin eventually becomes a terror to you. Why?
Because that is not your nature anymore. Youve been born
from above. And your Kingdom citizenship began the
moment you were born again.
PRINCIPLES
1. Unless you know how to get into the Kingdom of

2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.

Heaven, everything else about the Kingdom is

meaningless.
Jesus never said, Seek Me first. He said, Seek first
the Kingdom.
The most important priority of people on earth is
the Kingdom of Heaven.
When we have the Kingdom, that is enough.
Gods desire is for you to enter and experience the
Kingdom right now.
When you enter the Kingdom, you begin to
experience the life of the country.
Kingdom citizenship can be prevented by religion.
You can neither understand nor experience Kingdom
life unless you are born into the country.
Once you are born again, your citizenship process
is instantaneous.
God has made special governmental arrangements
for us literally to be born citizens in the Kingdom of
Heaven legally.
The new birth involves believing, and no one can
see you believing. Belief, like conception, is
invisible.
Your Kingdom citizenship began the moment you
were born again.

Bahamas
Faith Ministries
International
The Diplomat Center
Carmichael Road
P.O. Box N-9583
Nassau, Bahamas
TEL: (242) 341-6444
FAX (242) 361-2260
Website:
http://www.bfmmm.com

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