NOTES FROM MOM

Keys To The Kingdom

Thank you, Jesus for the keys to your kingdom!

Jesus said in Matthew 16: 19 "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

There are keys to entering into the kingdom of heaven here on earth. Different keys lock and unlock different doors. The key to a house does not unlock the door to a car; and a key to a car does not unlock a door to a house. It is the same with the kingdom of God.

The areas in our lives that we are blind to, or that we have problems in, have different keys that either lock or unlock the answers to these areas in our lives. All the keys we need for our lives are found written in the Word of God.

We need to learn which keys fit which locks so that we can be conformed to the image of God and reach the mark of the high calling of God in our lives. (Philippians 3:14) So today we are going to journey through several key areas that open doors in our lives that will help us to live in and understand the kingdom of God.

One of the first things we need to understand is that living here on earth is warfare; and living in the kingdom of God is warfare too. We live in a mental and physical warfare here on earth. The way to win the victory in our every day lives here on earth is by discovering the spiritual warfare we need to wage. We need to learn how to war according to the Spirit of God and not by our own flesh.

Matthew 11:12 states "From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men take it by force." We have to get violent with the devil and kick him out of our lives. In order to do that, we must learn spiritual warfare.

Every area where we are weak or that we don't line up with God's word, has to be overcome. That is the way to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit and in the victory that Jesus bought for us.

It is important to realize that the spiritual realm is the real realm. The word of God says that the physical realm, the realm we can see is temporal or temporary. The spiritual realm, the one we can�t see with our physical beings, is eternal. It is the spiritual realm that governs the physical realm.

Hosea 4:6 says it best. "My people perish for lack of knowledge." Without the knowledge of God's word, we are powerless against the forces of darkness that come against us. Why? Because the devil rules and reigns in this world we live in. He is called "the god of this world" and he lives in the spiritual world all around us. We can't see him any more than we can see God. But with the keys to the kingdom of God, we will unlock the spiritual world and expose him for who he really is.

The devil works to keep us bound in traditions and in what other people will say and think rather than in what God's word has to say. He operates in family traditions from one generation to the next to keep us from learning the truth. He also operates in the church as well as those who don't know or believe in God. One of the hardest places to overcome is the traditions of men that have been taught in churches that don't really line up with the Bible. So it is important to choose the right church to attend.

So we will explore the Bible to see what keys of the kingdom Jesus taught us while He was on this earth. It is my prayer that we will all be changed into His image through learning the keys to His kingdom in the messages I will be presenting in this issue and those to come.

The first key to the kingdom of God is to understand the weapon of warfare of praise and worship. We must realize the importance of this weapon, because it is the first doorway that must be unlocked. Satan hates praise and worship. The reason this door has to be unlocked first is because we can never fight the devil in our own flesh and in our own way. We must have the power of God to win the war. So, we must bring God on the scene; and the way to do that is to praise and worship Him, acknowledging that He is Lord and Savior, not we ourselves.

According to the word of God in Psalms 100 (one of my favorite Psalms) is that we are to "enter into His gates with thanksgiving, into His courts with praise, and into His presence with worship. We are to be thankful unto Him and bless His name." As we express our gratitude and praise Him for what He has done for us, we unlock the gates to enter into His presence. Psalms 23 tells us "He inhabits the praises of His people".

Thanksgiving brings "self" under control. As we thank God, we acknowledge that He is the One who has given us all things, not we ourselves. There isn't one thing under the sun that mankind has made or discovered himself. Everything has been made by the Creator, God who has freely given this earth to mankind. Unfortunately, man has not taken care of what God has given him; and this earth is on the road to destruction because of it.

Thanksgiving shows our appreciation for all that God has done, is doing and will do in our lives. It humbles us and prepares the way for us to enter into communion with Him.

Praise goes before the army of God and clears the spiritual realm of those spirits that are not of God. Praise most of the time is loud and exuberant and it always exalts God.

Worship brings us into the presence of God. Worship allows the Holy Spirit to have His way and to commune with us. Worship keeps us close to the Throne of God, in the Holy of Holies where our enemies cannot go. As sons and daughters of God we are allowed to come boldly into the throne room of God. (Hebrews 4:16) In fact, Ephesians 2:6 tells us we can be "raised up with Him, and seated with Him in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus" and that is far above the devil and this earth!! Praise God!!

In Joshua 6:20, when Joshua fought the battle of Jericho, on the seventh day, God said to put the trumpeters before the Ark of the Covenant and for the priests to blow them the whole time they marched around the city.

Think of the people in the city for a minute. The Israelites had been silently marching around the city for six days. On the seventh day, they marched seven times and blew the trumpets loudly. They may have been wondering if the Israelites were ever going to attack. But when they heard the sound of the trumpets blowing for maybe half a day (it took awhile to march around the city even once, let alone seven times) they had to be confused and fearful of what was happening.

That is what praise and worship does to the enemy. It causes fear and confusion. Praise and shouting brings down spiritual walls. The Bible says to shout to God with the voice of triumph. You are the triumphant one! Praise God for His great love and mercy.

In II Chronicles 20: 21-22, when Jehoshaphat had enemies from 3 nations coming against him, God told him that the battle wasn't his, but that the battle was the Lord's. Then God told Jehoshaphat to put praisers and singers out in front of the army. When they started singing and praising, the Lord set ambushes, and their enemies destroyed each other.

Many times, if your enemies can't get to you, they will destroy each other. I have seen it happen more than once; and there are many scriptures in the Old Testament where this has happened. When the devil uses a person, once he is through with him or her, he will destroy the person he has used. That is his nature. The only way to escape him is to accept Jesus as your Savior, repent for your old ways, and ask Him to forgive you. Then, the devil has to flee because he no longer has the right to you.

All Jehoshaphat had to do was to clean up the spoil left over from the battle. By being obedient to send praisers and singers before his army and by not doing things his way, God gave him the victory and the spoil and he didn't even have to fight. Not only that, but not one person was lost in the war.

Praise celebrates what God has done for us. He died in our place, bore our sins in His own body, took stripes for our healing and set us free from the bondages of the devil.

So, we will continue learning the keys to the kingdom next time. In the meantime, I suggest you "Enter His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. Be thankful unto Him and bless His name. For the Lord is good. His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations." Psalms 100 is a good one to memorize. I learned it as a child and can still recite it today. I for one am very thankful for the salvation God has done through Jesus for me. How about you?

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