Joyce Meyer - Unlocking God's Kingdom - Part 1

I started last night, a three-part series about the invisible kingdom, it's called, "The Kingdom of God". The first thing that Jesus said in his public ministry is, "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand". Matter of fact, all over the New Testament it talks about the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven. And I wonder how many of us really don't even fully understand what that is. You see, we live in the United States, which we might say is a type of a kingdom. The United Kingdom is called a kingdom. But there's another kingdom within this kingdom that we don't see with our natural eye but it's actually, more important than what we do see in the natural.

Paul prayed that, "The eyes of their hearts would be enlightened that they might know the truth". So, I have these eyes, but I have eyes in my heart also, with which I can see things but I see them by faith. I see them because I believe God's word. And I believe, what I believe so strongly that it can't be taken away from me. It's one thing to believe a little bit but it's another thing when you can get to the point where you don't just believe something but you know. I mean, you absolutely, know that you know. One of the very important things to be rooted and grounded in is the knowledge of how much God loves you unconditionally. There's nothing more important than that.

Don't ever say when you have a trial in your life, "Well, God don't you love me"? Yes, God loves you. And the Word of God says that we should be rooted and grounded in that love. It talks about us being more than conquerors in Romans 8. And you know what it means to be more than a conqueror. It means that you know that you've won the battle before the fight ever starts. And that's a powerful way to live. You know, we're walking through something now that we already know how it ends. But when we're walking through it, that's when we have to keep in mind, we know how this ends. We haven't seen it yet, but we know it's going to end well. You know, I formed a habit in the last couple of years, is no matter what I'm going through I say, "This is gonna end well. This is gonna end good, and God is gonna work something good out of this, and I'm gonna know something I didn't know before, and be a better person than I was before".

Listen, you can encourage yourself when you're going through difficulties. How many of you are going through something pretty tough right now in your life? Well, and see you came here today because you wanted to be encouraged, and I want to encourage you. And I think realizing that there's a lot of stuff going on in your life that you don't see, that's good stuff is very encouraging. Just because you don't see anything happening in your life doesn't mean nothing is happening. God does a lot of work behind the scenes before it's actually manifested in our life. Amen? I mean, you see me here today, but you don't have any idea how much work has gone into this before we ever got to this, today. I couldn't even explain it to you if I tried. How do you get from where I was to where I am? One step at a time, one day at a time, not giving up, learning, learning, learning, learning, ever learning, learning, learning.

And there's a lot of things I don't know but I'll tell you what I do know. I know, that I know, that I know that God loves me. And I know that he will never stop loving me. In the Bible, Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments". He didn't say that he would love us if we keep his commandments. He already does that. And it's because he loves us that we should respond in a proper way through being obedient, and a word I used last night that I'm going to use some today. I think, to some people it's almost like a nasty word, but sacrifice. If you're gonna be the kind of Christian that God wants you to be and really be a world-shaker and don't just live just for you and just always after God to give you another thing that you want that you think is gonna make you happy. There's so much more than this.

Eternity is like forever. We can't comprehend that with our minds. You read in Genesis the genealogy of the first several generations and it was like, man was so powerful and so strong that in the beginning like, Adam lived 900 years and then his sons would live 860 years, and 850 years, and then Methuselah lived I think it was 930 years. And it took the devil a long time just to teach us how to die. And as you read: the lifespan got shorter, and shorter, and shorter. And you know why? Because the more sin that enters into the world the more it affects everything in our lives. Amen? And now, listen to what I'm gonna say: if you want to have the kind of life that Jesus has promised you, I don't mean talk about it, I don't mean hear sermons about it, I mean live it. If you want to have that joy, and have that peace, and know who you are in Christ, and watch God do literally, the impossible through you then we have to follow the example of Christ who sacrificed everything for us. And when God asks us to make really, some small sacrifice there should never be an argument about that. God is never trying to take anything away from you, he's always trying to get something to you. Amen?

So, how many of you kinda, sorta get that there's another whole kingdom here that we don't see? But see, I think that we need to keep it in mind more. What does Colossians 3 say? "Set your mind on things above not on things upon the earth. For you are dead and your real life is hidden with God in Christ". Now, that doesn't mean that you just go around all the time just thinking about heaven and you know that you just become unrealistic and not facing the truth about anything. But we should... You know what? If you're having a hard time going to sleep at night, this is something that I do. And it's okay to do because God says to become like a little child. So, you can do things that aren't just real adult, you know, if you wanna have some fun with God. I like to lay in bed at night, when I'm waiting to go to sleep, and think about what it's gonna be like when God's done with me here. I mean, is he gonna come and get me and walk me through the pearly gates? Is he gonna meet me, and so, I kind of imagine it. What it's gonna be like to meet him, and what we're gonna talk about, just how different things are gonna be. You go to sleep fast when you start thinking about stuff like that.

Now, if you wanna worry, the devil will keep you up all night. Are you listening to me? But if you start putting your mind on God, you'll go to sleep pretty quick. You know, I think the reason why God doesn't tell us any more than what he does about how heaven is gonna be, I mean, there's some things, no more tears, no more crying, no more sadness. You know, it's gonna be beautiful, streets of gold and things like that. But there's a lot that we don't know. We don't know exactly what we're gonna be doing there and you know, these things. And I think that the reason why God hasn't told us more is because it is so amazing that we couldn't grasp it even if God tried to show us. That's why sometimes when you read revelation, it's like, "What"? Because John had a vision of these heavenly things and he's trying to explain them in terms that people can understand.

And I just think that there's gonna be things so amazing and so wonderful when we finally get out of these bodies. Imagine the freedom. Eat and never gain weight. No cellulite, whoo. Muscles without exercise. I don't know. It's gonna be absolutely wonderful. So, we live in this invisible kingdom. And in 1 Corinthians 13, it says that, "When that day comes that, right now, we live like we're looking in a dark mirror. And we see things but in a foggy, clouded way". You kinda like, sorta see some things but you're not seeing 'em clearly. But when that day comes, when Christ comes to get us, it says we're gonna see him face-to-face. Boy, that's exciting. We're gonna see him face-to-face and we are gonna... Now we know in part but then we will know completely. All the things that you have questions about they will someday get answered. But by the time they get answered, you won't care. We just drive ourselves nutty with questions.

In Matthew chapter 16 beginning in verse 13, it says, "Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, 'who do people say that the Son of man is'? And they said, 'well, some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, others Jeremiah or one of the other prophets'. And he said to them, 'but who do you say that I am'"? See, you can't get into heaven because you inherit your mother's faith. You gotta have your own walk with God. You gotta have your own faith. You have to know him for yourself. "'who do you say that I am'"? And Peter, who was always willing to talk, said, "'you are the Christ, the Son of the living God'". And I don't think that I could say that in a way that would get across how that must have sounded. You are, "'who do you say that I am'? 'you are the Christ, the Son of the living God'. And Jesus answered him, 'blessed are you, Simon bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it'".

Now, the rock that Jesus is speaking of is not Peter. It's Peter's faith. It's the rock of our faith. And he says, "'I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven'". I told you last night that today we wanna talk about keys because keys unlock doors. And so, there's a lot of things the Bible says that are ours, but somehow we don't seem to know how to get to them. And so, we hear sermons about 'em and we read books about 'em. But if we're honest, in reality, we're not actually, experiencing it on a day-to-day basis. The Bible says we can, "Have the peace that passes understanding. And that we can live in the rest of God". But most of us don't. It says, we can, "Have joy unspeakable and full of glory, not the joy of this world, but the joy of the Lord". But how many truly, consistently, happy Christians do you know? I think that should be one of our greatest goals is consistency. Positive all the time, prayerful all the time, obedient all the time, peaceful all the time, joyful all the time, let the world do what it's gonna do but you keep your eyes on Jesus..

"We walk by faith and not by sight". Amen? So, "'I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven". Now, he's giving Peter and the church authority. We're not just weak, wimpy, know-nothings, we have authority, and we have power. "Greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world". Get rid of the words, "I can't". Just get it out of your language. Now, there are times that we need to admit that we can't do something. And you can't just do anything you want to do, but whatever God tells you to do that you can do. Are you with me? I got a few happy people up here on the front row.

See, sometimes we wanna go and have authority over a devil and we don't even have authority over a sink full of dirty dishes yet. I mean, you know, we gotta start with the practical stuff. Can you make it through one day without complaining? Let's try that one. Can you get through one day without murmuring or complaining about anything? That in itself takes a miracle. But you know what? One of the keys into the kingdom living is an attitude of gratitude not an attitude of murmuring and complaining. And here's a good one. The Kingdom of God is all about everything positive. You can't be negative and enjoy kingdom living. You're not gonna be happy if you're negative. You're not gonna be happy if you're selfish. It's the simple things, it's the little things that can make such dramatic changes in our lives.

Do you know that some of you today, you could just do like this and go from negative to positive? Don't be a negative, murmuring, griping, half-glass-empty person all your life. Get happy. Amen? But you know what? God wants to do more miracles for us. He wants to do more great things in our life, but he can't if we're gonna be complaining all the time, and negative, and grumpy. So, let me say it again. Just start by trying to get through one whole day without complaining. So, there are keys. It's cool when you've got the key to the door. Keys give you authority. And you have authority. In Luke 10:19, in the Amplified Bible, I love this. It says, "Behold"! Which means look and see. "I have given you power and authority over all the power the enemy [possesses]".

Now, please notice the enemy has power but you have something he doesn't have. You have power and authority. And the only authority the enemy has is what we give him through our lack of knowledge. He didn't have any authority over Adam and Eve until he lied to 'em and they believed him and took the bait. So, I've been stopping several times a day and just thinking, "Man, there's angels with me everywhere I go". And as I said last night, they're not those little, fat, baby, cherubim with the little, fluffy wings on their back. I mean, the pictures that people come up with that represent the things of God, probably the first angel we saw, we'd fall flat on our face in reverential fear. It sure wouldn't be a little, chubby baby floating around with wings. Our God is an awesome God..

But I want to talk to you today. I mean, I've been talking to you for half an hour already but I wanna zero-in on what is, "The key". There's keys, but there's one main key and that is simply, this faith that we see in Peter when he said, "You are the Christ, the son of the living God". And I don't know about you, but sometimes I just need a good talking-to about staying in faith. 'cause you know what? Faith is easy till the devil gets after you with doubt and unbelief. And a lot of that doubt and unbelief comes by paying too much attention to what we see and feel, and not enough attention to the kingdom that we can't see, and believing what God says about what's going on in that atmosphere more than we believe even what we see right here.

Our state, Missouri, is called, "The Show-Me state". And I wish it wasn't called that since I live there, but it is. And you see, in the world that's pretty much the attitude. "Well, you show me and then I'll believe it". But if you're gonna get along in God's economy, you gotta learn to be just the exact opposite, "I'll believe it and then I'll see it". We always believe first, sometimes, for a long time with all kinds of tests in-between. But if you won't give up, "Be not weary in well doing: for in due season you shall reap, if you faint not". When the devil gets a hold of somebody that refuses to give up... His days are numbered. Amen?

Hebrews 11, what is faith? I love to go and look at Hebrews 11 just every once in awhile. It says, "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see". "Faith is the substance," the Amplified Bible says. So, it's a real thing, it has substance. "Faith is a substance of things we hope for, the evidence of things we do not see". So, I won't have it in the natural until I first have it by faith. When I first started serving God, I always believe that because I'd been abused I would just have to be satisfied with a second-rate life. I would have never thought back then that I could be doing what I'm doing, now. I mean, it really, really, really, really is a miracle.

But you know, it wasn't something that just all of a sudden happened. I mean, there was a lot of hard work and a lot of sacrifice, and swimming pools full of tears, and quitting and starting again, and quitting and starting again, giving up, and getting started again, listening to sermons, and reading books, and reading books, and reading books, and reading books, and reading books, and reading the Bible, and reading the Bible. This is not just, you know, one dab will do ya. You can't just like, have a lifetime full of problems and go to church a couple times and then get mad at God if they're not all fixed.

I remember the lady who came to me, I was somewhere here up on east coast but I don't remember exactly where and that was when we had few enough people in our meetings that I could pray for everybody at the end. And she came and she... And she looked at me and she said, "I want my money back". And I said, "I don't understand what you're talkin' about". She said, "Listen, I've been doing what you told me to do for three weeks and nothing has changed". Honestly, it was hard for me not to laugh in her face. We'll give the devil 50 years to destroy us but we don't wanna give God more than three weeks to fix us.