Pressing Into Kingdom Thinking

Subject: Pressing Into Kingdom Thinking Sun Apr 06, 2008 9:48 am

Pressing into Kingdom Thinking
By David Coker

It’s time to stop thinking like Christians and start thinking like the kings Christ called us to be.

Are you thinking the same way today as you thought yesterday? God’s goal is to change our thinking from revelation to revelation as He takes us to new levels in Him. When we get revelation that propels us to a new level, we build on that revelation. Then God pours out more revelation.

In this hour, God is revealing purpose, identity and His Kingdom. These really aren’t new revelations, though. Jesus preached the same message in His day. In fact, the first message that Jesus taught after He was baptized and anointed was “Repent, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). And in Luke 16:16 Jesus declared, “Change your thinking. The law and the prophets were until John; since that time the Kingdom of God is preached, and every man presses into it.”

Jesus announced a new order. He declared a new focus. No longer was man to strive to attain to the law and the prophets. The new objective was to press into the Kingdom of God. That is still our objective today. Pressing into the Kingdom, however, goes beyond being born again. Just as someone can be a citizen of a country and fail to understand or walk in the fullness of citizenship, so too can they be a believer without a revelation of the dominion, authority and government of the Kingdom.

Democracies versus kingdoms:
Most of us have a hard time grasping the Kingdom mentality because we live in a democratic society. We struggle with the image of our successful and prosperous democratic nation. Our minds have difficulty accepting that a democracy is not God’s first choice of government. God did not birth democracy. Greek philosophers birthed the democratic form of government. Men can debate on a subject, for example, have a majority vote of agreement, and still violate Scripture. The legalization of abortion proves that. Democracy only works when righteousness prevails in a nation. So, democratic thinking (majority agreement) can hinder Kingdom thinking. Let’s review this further.

It is no surprise that we have mixed democracy into Church government. Yet, God never intended His will to be superseded by the will and rule of people. "Repent!" echoes through time, and shouts to the Church today. If we are going to set up the government of God in the Earth, we must change our way of thinking. We must chart a new course and change our direction.

God needs people on this Earth to represent His government. God always begins His work with a man. When He began the human race, He started with a man. He created a man from the dust of the earth. He never returned to the earth again to create. When He created woman, He created her from man, His earthen vessel, not from the Earth itself.

Heaven's ambassadors
Since His creation, God has looked to man to fulfill His plan and purpose on the Earth. When God's purpose was in jeopardy because the human race was evil, God spoke to a man, Noah, to provide salvation. When He brought Israel out of Egypt, He chose a man, Moses, to deliver His people. He made His covenant with a man, Abraham, in order to come into the Earth Himself as the man called Christ Jesus. Through this man, Jesus Christ, God provided for the restoration of all things to Himself. We, as the Church, are in Christ. We are God's man in the Earth today.

Jesus said His Kingdom was not of this world. Paul said that we are citizens of heaven. In 2 Corinthians 5 Paul calls us "ambassadors of Christ." Ambassadors are those chosen and sent by their government to represent that government in another nation. As ambassadors of Christ, we represent the Kingdom and government of God here on Earth. As representatives of the Kingdom, we cannot think democratically any longer.

When we grasp Kingdom thinking, we understand that we serve a King. The will and the purpose of the king are the priority of any kingdom. The king determines the decisions and actions in his kingdom. Jesus is the King of kings. We must stop thinking like Christians and start thinking like the kings Christ called us to be.

An expression of the Kingdom
When Jesus came to Earth, He did not start a religion or a denomination. He did not even call us Christians. Believers were first called Christians by pagans in Antioch. Therefore, "Christian" is a religious name given to us because we are followers of Christ, just as Buddhist is the name referring to followers of Buddha.

Regretfully, Christianity is in serious danger of becoming a man-centered, man-oriented gospel created by man for man - a democracy. Unlike some of today's ministers, Jesus never preached on healing, prosperity, success, or any of the other things that center on man and his wellbeing. Jesus preached about the Kingdom, the King, and the King's purpose.

Jesus demonstrated healing and prosperity as an expression of the will and purpose of God. When Jesus needed money to pay His taxes, He understood that He had dominion over the Earth, so He sent His disciple to get the money from a fish's mouth. God wants us healed, not only so we can feel good, but to enable us to fulfill His purpose in the Earth. He wants us to prosper so we can fund His Kingdom. He wants us to be successful in order to reflect His glory and blessings to others.

Anointed purposes
The Church has failed to fully embrace the supremacy of God's will and purpose. Instead, we are self-centered. We place our welfare above the plans and the purpose of God. Without a Kingdom mentality, we desire the "things of God" more than the "will of God." We replace His higher purpose with our personal goal of attaining His blessings and benefits.

Genesis 1:28 says, "God blessed them." Why did He bless them? God blessed them to fulfill His purpose and be fruitful and multiply. God does not bless and anoint people. He blesses and anoints purpose. God has no reason to anoint or bless us if we are not going to profit His purpose.

We must always put the plan and purpose of God first in our lives. Our relationships, our businesses and our ministries are not for our own benefit. God did not call us to be millionaires or successful ministers. He called us to be disciples. The disciples of Jesus gave up their dependence on their jobs and businesses and pursued the Kingdom.

Kingdom revelations
God is raising up people He can trust with Kingdom authority. As believers we are to establish Kingdom dominion and culture and represent the will and purpose of the government of God. As ambassadors of the Kingdom of God, we have everything that we need to establish His government on the Earth.

Once we understand that we are ambassadors of Christ, we understand that when someone messes with us they are messing with our government. It is not a matter of how strong we are; it is a matter of how strong our government is. Everywhere that we go, the Kingdom of God goes. As ambassadors of the Kingdom of God, we are responsible for serving the cause of the Kingdom even to the point of laying down our lives for it.

The revelations we have received in the past serve to prepare us for the revelation of the Kingdom. We are not to abandon what we have learned. In order to fulfill our assignment of establishing the Kingdom, we must change the way that we think. A new way of thinking will help us usher in God's order and fully establish His Kingdom on the Earth as it is in heaven.

David Coker is a 1985 RHEMA graduate and the founding apostle of Gateway Believers Fellowship in Carnesville, Ga. He is also the founder of Breakthrough Apostolic Ministries Network (B.A.M.). His ministry can be reached at www.gatewaybelievers.com

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