EXPERIENCING THE KINGDOM OF GOD

The Bible many times talks about The Kingdom of God or The Kingdom of Heaven.
Some say, it is talking about heaven as if it is just a place, but that is not entirely true, it is
only partly true. To fully understand this, we first have to understand What is Heaven?
and Where is Heaven? and Where is the Kingdom of God?
1) What is Heaven?
Most people will tell you that heaven is a place where good people go after they die.
But you know, anyone, who has experienced the presence, joy and love of God filling
their heart during worship will be able to tell you, that heaven is actually much much
more than just a place. It is a place where there is happiness, peace, love and joy,
and we can experience it here on earth.
When you are feeling Gods love and feel His joy and peace, you are experiencing
heaven.
So heaven is actually both a real place where good people go after they die and it is
also the condition of your heart. If your heart has Gods presence, even if you are in
a normal place, you can be heaven.
In other words, Heaven = True Happiness and hearts fulfillment.
Isnt this what everyone is looking for? But people try all means to achieve this state
big house, big car, possessions, lots of money etc but cannot feel true happiness
and fulfillment.

2) Where is this Heaven
You know the answer to that, it is the place where Gods presence and love is felt, it
is in our heart.
Psalms 16:11
11
You will show me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy, at Your right
hand there are pleasures forevermore.

3) So what is this Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven
It is referring to a state of heart which is experiencing heaven or happiness fully, in
constant contact with God. Such a condition of heart is achieved when all our hearts
desires are in line with all of Gods desires for us. That means God is seated on the
throne of our heart as King in our heart. That is why they call it the Kingdom of
Heaven or Kingdom of God. This takes place when our will (desire) is fully
submitted to Gods will (will is another word for desire). When we are in such a
state or condition, we experience love, joy, peace and hearts fulfillment because our
hearts will be at peace with God. It would be easy to fully open the heart to Gods
presence in our heart.



Luke 17: 20-21
20
The Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God would come, He replied to
them by saying, The kingdom of God does not come with signs to be observed or
with visible display,
21
Nor will people say, Look! Here it is ! or, See, there it is! For the kingdom of God is
within you - in your hearts.
Jesus is the King of the heart and He is called the Lord of Love. God, Who made us
(our Maker) is our spiritual husband whether we are male or female for all
humans. Isaiah 54:5
5
For your Maker is your Husbandthe Lord of hosts is His
nameand the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer ; the God of the whole earth He
is called.
Lord of Hosts means Lord of the army of angels in heaven.
Redeemer means the person you saves you from slavery by paying on your behalf
to free you. Jesus paid for our freedom from slavery of a sinful life by paying for us
with His blood.

4) How will be our life when we achieve the Kingdom of God in our heart?
We will find both happiness and fulfillment in our lives.
Jesus says in Matthew 6:
25
Therefore, I say to you, dont worry about your life, what youll eat or what youll
drink, or about your body, what youll wear. Isnt life more than food and the body
more than clothes?
26
Look at the birds in the sky. They dont sow seed or harvest
grain or gather crops into barns. Yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Arent you
worth much more than they are?
27
Who among you by worrying can add a single
moment to your life?
28
And why do you worry about clothes? Notice how the lilies in
the field grow. They dont wear themselves out with work, and they dont spin cloth.
29
But I say to you that even Solomon in all of his splendor wasnt dressed like one of
these.
30
If God dresses grass in the field so beautifully, even though its alive today
and tomorrow its thrown into the furnace, wont God do much more for you, you
people of weak faith?
31
Therefore, dont worry and say, What are we going to eat?
or What are we going to drink? or What are we going to wear?
32
Gentiles look for
all these things. Your heavenly Father knows that you need them.
33
Instead, desire
first and foremost Gods kingdom and Gods righteousness, and all these things will
be given to you as well.
Did you read that? all the things you need will be given to you as well.
What more can a person ask for? Happiness and all needs provided for.
If you have already achieved happiness, why should we try other means to achieve
it?
Jesus in this verse is not saying that we should not work and be like the birds, and
the flowers, what He means is that the birds and the flowers are fully dependent in
God and He does not disappoint them but provides for them even if their life is
short. So what He is saying is that we are more valuable than them and how much
more He will provide our needs and wants especially since we work and depend on
Him to meet our needs.

5) What sort of plans and future does God have in His heart for us?
He says, He always plans a good and happy future for us.
Jeremiah 29:11
11
For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and
plans for your and peace (fulfilment) and not for evil, to give you hope in your final
outcome.

That means, He says, that He plans for our lives to end well.
So at the end, we will have a happy story to tell, not a sad story of our lives that
ended badly.


6) How do we seek to experience heaven (the Kingdom of God) into our heart?

Seek ye therefore the kingdom of God and its righteousness in your heart before
everything else, troubling yourselves little about anything else; because all these
other things together with the wisdom of angels can be given you overnight. (The
Great Gospel of John vol. I, 162:8) New Revelation

Matt 6:33
33
Instead, desire first and foremost Gods kingdom and Gods righteousness, and all
these things will be given to you as well.
From this verse, we can see that:
Firstly, we must truly desire to have True Happiness instead of counterfeit
happiness.
Then we must live a righteous life, pleasing to God in every way.
There are some things that will hinder us from experiencing the heaven - Love, Joy,
and peace of God, and these are things that God had told us not to do and if we
continue to do them:
1 Cor 6: 9-10 :
9
Dont you know that people who are unjust wont inherit Gods
kingdom? Dont be deceived. Those who are sexually immoral, those who worship
false gods, adulterers, both participants in same-sex intercourse,
10
thieves, the
greedy for money and material wealth, drunks, abusive people, and cheaters wont
inherit the kingdom of God.
In other words, such people will not be able to experience the love, peace, joy and
happiness and the presence of God in their hearts as long as they continue doing
those things.
In fact, Jesus says, you have to be as pure of heart and trusting as a little child to
truly experience heaven (that means experience Gods presence): Allow the
children to come to me, Jesus said. Dont forbid them from coming to me, because
the kingdom of heaven belongs to people like these children. Matthew 19:14
So how do we become like children again?
Firstly, very important we must truly desire it.

Secondly, we must realise that we cannot do it by our own strength, but by the help
of Gods grace and love.
If we try to do it by our own efforts, we will fail miserably.
We have to just let God know our desire and ask for His help and strength.

But where do we get this strength? it comes from Love for God. But where does
this Love for God come from?
God loved us so much that He gave us a person Jesus to save us from our sins.
Remember, Jesus is a Person, just like you and me a living, walking, talking, loving
person.
So when you spend time loving and worshipping this Person, your heart opens and
love flows. That will give you the strength to obey Him. When you love Him, you will
want to be everything He wants you to be and change for Him. You will want to
make Him your King in your heart and the first priority in your heart and give you the
strength to live a righteous life.
Talk to Him often and express your feelings to Him, tell Him everything like a
friend.
To cultivate your hearts love for Him, worship Him in love as often as you can you
can use the Open heart Prayer or if you prefer, even just listen to worship songs
whichever works better for you or whichever is more effective for you to just open
your heart to God and ask His Spirit to fill you with love as you do it.

This brings us to the second part of the verse and seek His righteousness
This means desire to do what pleases God above others by simply obeying Him. The
more you obey Him, the more He will reveal Himself to you and your love will grow
for Him and His love for you. This happens naturally.
Jn 14: 21, 23
21
Whoever has my commandments and keeps them loves me.
Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself
to them.
23
Jesus answered, Whoever loves me will keep my word. My Father will
love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them (in your heart).
Jn 15: 9-11
9
As the Father loved me, I too have loved you. Remain in my love.
10
If
you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I kept my Fathers
commandments and remain in his love.
11
I have said these things to you so that my
joy will be in you and your joy will be complete.
So if we want to have a closer relationship with Jesus, the key is to obedience to all
He asks from us, only then He will reveal Himself to us in a personal way in our
hearts, and our Joy will be complete.
Various Passages of God-Calling shows how much Jesus wants to have a close relationship
with us:
Know Me. Talk to Me. Let Me talk to you, so that I may make clear to your loving
hearts what seems mysterious now and purposeless

Talk to Me more during the day. Look up into My Face - a look of Love, a feeling of
security, a thrill of Joy at the sense of the nearness of My Presence - these are you
best prayers.

Come to Me, talk to Me, dwell (rest) with Me and then you will know My Way is a
sure way, My Paths are safe paths. Come very near to Me. Dig deep down into the
soil of the Kingdom. Effort and rest - a union of the two
Walk with Me. Learn of Me. Talk to Me. Here lies your true happiness.
Talk to Me. Think of Me. Talk of Me. Love Me. And that sense of My Power will so
possess you that no fear can possess your mind. Be strong in this My Love.
Finally from Rom 8:37
37
But in all these things we win a sweeping victory through the one (Jesus) Who loved us.
Eternal Life
The Bible says many times that Christ came to the world to give us eternal life.
Many people mistake this eternal life to mean to live for ever and ever.
This is not correct.
Eternal life is a lifestyle that lasts forever. What is this lifestyle?
Jesus explains what it is:
John 17:3
3
And this is eternal life: to know You, the only true and real God, and to know Him, Jesus
Christ, Whom You have sent.
New Testament was written in greek, and the word know in English comes from the greek word
ginsk translated in English actually means to know first-hand in a very personal way.
There is a difference when I say I know about Joyce and I KNOW Joyce.
One is I know about you, the other means I have first-hand experience in knowing you
personally.
Eternal Life is knowing God and Jesus in a personal way, a lifestyle that lasts forever.
This is what Christ saved us for, not just to live forever, but to have a personal relationship
with Him.
Reading two verses together:
John 3:16 :
16
For God so greatly loved us that He even gave up His only Son, so that whoever
believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 17:3
3
And this is eternal life: to know
You, the only true and real God, and to know Him, Jesus Christ, Whom You have sent.