THE POWER OF KINGDOM FAITH

Revelations chapter 11










Today we are walking in: The Power Of Kingdom Faith










Proverbs 20:6



Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness: but a faithful H529 man who can find?





FAITH





Today we look to the word FAITH-- H529- emuwn--faithfulness, trusting, faithful









The Torah testifies...............


Deuteronomy 32:20



And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith H529











The prophets proclaim..................



Habakkuk 2:4



Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith H529.







The writings bear witness............

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CHAPTER NINE

THE POWER OF KINGDOM FAITH

“Faith is believing in things when common sense tells you not to.”

—George Seaton

Imagine

that you are engaged to be married. The wedding is

just a few weeks away. All the preparations have

been made; everything has been bought; all the invitations have

gone out. Your anticipation and excitement are at a fever pitch. And

then, all of a sudden…your

the kind of experience that makes a person want to quit, to give up

on life, maybe even curse God. “Why did this happen to me, God?

Why did You bring me this far only to leave me devastated?”

This is a true story actually. A man was engaged to be married to

a lovely young woman. All the wedding preparations were in place,

and everything was in order; they were simply waiting for the

wedding day to arrive. Then in a matter of days, his

suddenly took sick and died. The grieving groom went into severe

depression. He even considered suicide. He felt ashamed. How was

he going to face his friends and family? How could he emerge from

such tragedy?

He almost didn’t. His emotional depression became so severe that

he was placed in an insane asylum where he received treatment.

After a few weeks he began to come around, and after two months

was released, having come back from the brink. He buried his

sweetheart and went on with his life. Eventually he married and

raised a family. But in that time of crisis as a young man, he almost

quit; he almost committed suicide; he almost gave it all up.That man went on to become the president of the United states.

His name was Abraham Lincoln. Today he is still regarded as the

greatest and most e

shepherded the United states through a devastating civil war and

held the nation together. He emancipated the slaves. Lincoln truly

was a great man. Yet he could easily have ended his days in an

insane asylum. Faith carried him through.

Another man less well-known than Lincoln, had a similar

experience of loss. Just days before his own wedding, Joseph

Scriven’s

the fact that this was the second time the young man had lost a




depths of his grief and forti

What a friend we have in Jesus,

All our sins and griefs to bear!

What a privilege to carry

Everything to God in prayer!

O what peace we often forfeit,

O what needless pain we bear,

All because we do not carry

Everything to God in prayer.

Have we trials and temptations?

Is there trouble anywhere?

We should never be discouraged;

Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Can we

Who will all our sorrows share?

Jesus knows our every weakness;

Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy laden,

Cumbered with a load of care?

Precious savior, still our refuge;

Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?Take it to the Lord in prayer.

In His arms He’ll take and shield thee;

Thou wilt 1

Joseph Scriven never did marry, but devoted his life to loving and

serving the Lord who sustained him and brought him through such

terrible pain.

Horatio G. Spa

tragedy upon tragedy. He lost almost all of his extensive real estate

investments in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. He decided to take

his family on vacation to Europe, planning also to assist in the D.L.

Moody evangelistic campaign that was going on in England at the

time. In November 1873, Spa

his wife and four daughters on ahead, planning to join them later.

This was when the third tragedy hit. During the Atlantic crossing,

their ship was struck by an English vessel and sank in 12 minutes.

Spa

” His wife

survived, but their four precious daughters were among the 226

who drowned.

Later, as Spa

wife in Wales, his ship passed over the approximate spot where his

beloved daughters had died. Tragedy upon tragedy, yet being

present at the place where he had lost his daughters inspired

Spa

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea billows roll;

Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,

It is well, it is well with my soul.2

There is one common denominator that binds together all of these

stories of tragedy: the power of faith.

Kingdom faith teaches us that there is life after tragedy, a future

after failure. Consider Moses. Born a Hebrew; raised in the house of

Pharaoh amidst great wealth, power, and splendor; educated by the

most learned scholars in the land; Moses seemed to have everythinggoing for him. Then he committed murder in defense of one of his

fellow Hebrews and spent the next 40 years herding sheep in the

desert. What a fall!

But what a comeback! God met Moses there in the desert and

called him to the destiny that was his before the foundation of the

world. Forty years in the Egyptian court had groomed Moses to walk

in the highest circles of political power. Forty years in the desert

taught him humility to listen to and obey God. Moses came out of

the desert with a clear vision and a clear assignment from God to set

His people free. Moses stood up to the most powerful king of his day

and liberated over a million people from slavery. He became the

inspired writer of the

the fundamental principles that still shape the laws and

governments of most of the Western world.The Power of Kingdom Culture

Who among us hasn’t wanted to quit at one time or another? We

all have experienced times of disappointment or discouragement

that left us feeling as though we could not go on. That is where

Kingdom faith comes in. Kingdom faith assures us that there is life

after failure. It gives us hope, the con

and troubles are only temporary, and that a greater, fuller, in

life lies ahead for us. It is this hope, fueled by our faith in Christ,

that enables us to overcome the world. Kingdom faith makes it

possible for us to remain true to Kingdom life and culture even in

the midst of a worldly culture that is still largely under the sway of

the powers of darkness.

We saw in Chapter Two that faith is the culture of the Kingdom of

God. Culture is perhaps the most potent force in human society.

Whoever controls the culture controls the people, except for those

who make the deliberate choice to become countercultural. The

power of culture leads us to several considerations.

First, the greatest test of a nation is its ability to protect and preserve

its culture. Throughout history one of the consequences of conquest

and colonization has been the erosion or transformation of

indigenous cultures by the cultures of their conquerors. The

Assyrian empire conquered the ten tribes that made up the northern

Kingdom of Israel, which had long since split with the house of

David, the legitimate ruling dynasty in the southern Kingdom of

Judah. Assyrian culture completely consumed Israelite culture, and

those ten northern tribes ceased to exist as distinct entities. A little

over a century later, the Babylonians conquered the southern

kingdom of Judah and took many of its people into exile in Babylon.

In this case, however, thanks to Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach,

Abednego, and other Jewish leaders who remained faithful to God,

Jewish culture did not disappear. After 70 years, the Persians

conquered Babylon, and a decree from the Persian King Cyrusallowed the Jewish exiles to return home. Persia subsequently was

conquered by Greece, and then Greece by Rome.

In some cases a culture proves strong enough not only to survive

through conquest but even to in

the conquerors. Greece is a prime example. Although the Greek

empire was conquered by Rome, Greek culture continued to




world and beyond, an in

Sometimes a counterculture can be so strong as to transform the

primary culture. This was the case with the early Christian church,

which began as an illegal sect within the Roman Empire and

advanced in size and in

Empire became “Christianized.” The test of a culture’s strength is its

ability not only to protect and preserve itself, but also to transform a

primary or competing culture.

This brings us to a second consideration: the strength of a nation’s

culture is its ability to overcome countercultures. In our own day, the

pressure to overcome opposition is all around us. I believe that

nations fail or succeed based on their capacity to overcome

countercultures. Counterculture simply means a culture that

gravitates against the primary culture in a society. Today the

Bahamas, Jamaica, the United States, England, Canada, the

Philippines, Haiti, the nations of Europe, and many other countries

are caught up in cultural battles. One reason much of the Muslim

world is in turmoil is because of violent protests against what many

Muslims see as the encroachment of the corrupt “Christian” culture

of the West upon the “pure” culture of Islam.

The early followers of Christ, the

began as a counterculture within the Roman Empire. And even though

“Kingdom Culture” which came to be known as “Christian” culture

came eventually to dominate the Western world, the Church has

always been at its strongest, most powerful, and most e

when it has operated in a countercultural relationship to the society

in which it resides. One of the biggest problems in the Church today

is the loss of much of its countercultural edge as many local churchfellowships and individual believers have assimilated much of the

mindset and methods of the primary secular culture, becoming in

the process almost indistinguishable from the world.

This makes the third consideration of even greater signi

the greatest test of culture is the social currents it survives. Will the

Church survive the social currents all around that are pressing it to

compromise? We may not be able to stop other nations or cultures

from doing what they do, but we can stop ourselves from doing the

same. Current has to do with tide or pressure. Sometimes we call it

peer pressure. How do we survive when everything around us is

going against us? How do we successfully swim upstream? How do

we emerge from the currents of social pressure with our integrity

intact? It is impossible without faith.

And so we come to the fourth consideration: the culture of the

Kingdom of Heaven—faith—will overcome all the cultures of the earth.

The Bible makes this abundantly clear: “The Kingdom of the world

has become the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign

forever and ever” (Rev. 11:15b). The word world here refers to social

and political systems. In this context it means the same as “culture.”

The Kingdom of God is a culture, not just a country. Heaven is the

homeland, and earth is the colony. The Church is a Kingdom outpost

charged with the mission of colonizing the earth for the Kingdom of

God. Earth, therefore, is supposed to be

Heaven.A Con

Culture is lifestyle. It is not a program or a project. Culture is the

way people live. We don’t practice culture. We are raised in culture

so that living in accord with it comes naturally to us. Culture is

natural; it’s the way people are. Like any other nation, the Kingdom

of Heaven has a culture, and one of the most distinctive

characteristics of Kingdom culture is its absolute con

culture will prevail over every other culture; it is inevitable. As

Jesus said to His disciples, “I have told you these things, so that in Me

you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart!

I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

Jesus spoke these words the night before He was cruci

was trying to prepare His disciples for the problems and challenges

that lay ahead. First He gives them the bad news. “You’re going to

have a lot of di

things that you didn’t expect; a lot of things that you didn’t ask for;

a lot of things that you won’t think you deserve. You’re going to

face some things that you never would have believed you would

ever get involved in. You’re going to face opposition, criticism, and

attacks of all kinds. Things that you desperately try to hold together

are going to fall apart. In this world you will have trouble. I am

telling you these things in advance so that you will not be caught by

surprise, but have peace when they come.”

Then He gives them the good news. “But take heart!” That means,

“Be encouraged; relax. Don’t panic.” Why? “Because I have

overcome the world.” In other words, “I have overcome the systems

of power, the systems of culture, the systems of social currents, and

the systems of moral values of human civilization.”

Kingdom faith overcomes the world. With Kingdom faith you can

overcome the insane asylum and rise to become president. You can

overcome the pain and grief of great loss and be stronger on the

other side. You can even come back from the desert after losingyour dignity, character, and freedom, like Moses, and still become

the deliverer of many people. With Kingdom faith you will make it

because Kingdom faith overcomes the world.A Powerful Kingdom

The Kingdom of Heaven is a Kingdom of power. It is strong and

resilient. Many kingdoms of men have sought to destroy God’s

Kingdom and its citizens. Every one of them has failed. They always

have and they always will. Trying to do away with the Kingdom of

God is like trying to alter the very fabric of the universe. Creation

itself is bound up in and regulated by the principles of God’s

Kingdom.

The Kingdom of Heaven is more durable than the kingdoms of the

earth. Earthly kingdoms will all pass away, but God’s Kingdom will

stand forever. One of the characteristics of durability is patience.

Patience can accomplish things that haste never dreamed of. A loser

in life is actually a winner who lacked the patience to wait and to

keep trying. Patience is a precious commodity, all too rare in our

society these days. It is so precious that it is listed as one of the

fruits of the Holy spirit (see Gal. 5:22-23). I believe that patience is

one of the greatest gifts God can give any of us. Proverbs 16:32 says,

“Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper

than one who takes a city.”

The virtue of patience is largely lost in our “got-to-have-it-now”

world of instant grati

are failures if they cannot immediately buy the kind of house their

parents had to wait 30 years to a

buried under a mountain of debt because they could not wait until

they could a

having it all right now, they sold their

themselves slaves of credit.

The Kingdom of God is more durable than the world. Why is this

important? As Kingdom citizens, we need to absorb the fact that we

are part of a culture that never gives up. Throughout the Bible we

are told to stand fast, run the race,

course. Our problem is that we give up too easily. Many believers,particularly in the West, are not conditioned for hardship. At the




I guess it just isn’t God’s will. Let’s try something else.” Or someone

at church hurts their feelings, so they stop coming. The preacher

gets too “personal” in his preaching, and they’re gone. They have no

durability, no patience, no staying power.

Kingdom faith is more than “warm fuzzies,” feel-good moments,

and blessings. It includes all of these, but it also digs much deeper

and demands much more. The call to Kingdom faith is a call to

endure. It is a call to stand strong and never give up in the face of

trouble, hardship, opposition, or fear. Kingdom citizens are part of a

culture that can withstand any and all challenges, including death.

Just ask the prophet Isaiah who tradition says was sawn in two. Just

ask Stephen who forgave his murderers even as their stones were

pummeling his body. Just ask Peter who again according to

tradition was cruci

considered himself unworthy to die in the same manner as his Lord.

Just ask Paul who was beheaded because of his allegiance to Christ.

Just ask the countless multitudes of believers across two millennia

who have su

them, “Was it worth it?” they would reply in a thundering chorus,

“Yes!” No price is too high for a Kingdom citizen to pay in the

service of his or her King.

Since in Christ even death itself is no longer a fearsome thing,

Kingdom citizens are not afraid of temporary trials, tests, and

opposition. All trials are temporary. What we have to do is make

sure that we are not temporary. Hurricanes move in with fearsome

winds and destruction, but they also move out again. Whatever

you’re going through is moving, so don’t panic—stand

faith and let it pass on through. Our King calls us to stand fast and

equips us to do so. Faith is the key that gives us access. Kingdom

faith clothes us in the armor of God—and is part of that armor—that

enables us to endure in the face of any foe or challenge, whether

natural or supernatural. Paul breaks it down for us:Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you

can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against

but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against

the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that

when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done

everything, to stand. Stand

breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet

the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can

extinguish all the

the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of

prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints

(Ephesians 6:10-18).

Notice that Paul likens faith to a shield, a defensive weapon. If we

never had battles to

in the midst of the battles. Your tests are temporary, so wait them

out. In ten years your present opposition will be your friend, so

don’t worry about it; just pray. When I

like her. But believe me, today I am very glad I didn’t write her o

then! You can never know what breakthroughs and blessings may

lie ahead, so don’t let temporary troubles now defeat you and cut

you o

One of the secrets of my stability in life is that I don’t trust

anybody. Some people might think that is a very negative attitude.

It isn’t. What I mean is that I don’t put my ultimate trust in any

human. If your life depends on what people think about you or how

they treat you, then you might as well quit right now because they

will love you today and hate you tomorrow. Today they will be here

for you, but tomorrow they will let you down. The only way to stay

steady is to keep faith in the Lord.

Remember, your faith is the most important power you possess, so

as you run the race of life, keep your faith. As you anchor your life

in God through faith, let your beliefs and convictions, which come

from Him, create con

to face the tests and trials that come your way, your faith will be

revealed and be plainly evident to others. They will see God’s power

at work in you and will glorify Him.

Your faith demands tests. As I said before, every faith confession

will be tested. If you want smooth sailing in your life, don’t go

around bragging about your faith. If you don’t want to be tested,

keep your mouth shut. That’s a fundamental law of the Kingdom.

The only problem is you can’t live with your mouth shut. So be

careful what you say. Don’t be like Peter, who boasted that he

would never forsake the Lord, only to deny Him three times just a

few hours later.

Jesus even warned Peter beforehand: “Simon, Simon, Satan has

asked [demanded] to sift [test] you as wheat. But I have prayed for you,

Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back,

strengthen your brothers” (Luke 22:31-32). Every faith confession will

be tested. Peter boasted, and satan said, “Let me test that.” The

plain truth is that we cannot live Kingdom faith without talking

about it, and whenever we talk about it, we set ourselves up to be

tested. So we might as well get ready for it. How strong is yourfaith? You will

everything you can to build your faith through prayer and the study

of God’s Word so that when the tests come, you will be able to

stand.

Notice that Jesus told Peter, “When you have turned back,

strengthen your brothers.” None of us have the right to preach to

anybody until we have survived some tests worthy of our faith.

Many times the people who criticize the most are the very ones who

are clueless about the situation because they have not walked that

path. They have not been proven in the re

before you criticize a brother or sister, ask yourself: “Have I been

through what he’s been through?” “Have I done what she’s done?”

How can you sit in judgment when you have not been through the

test yourself? “After you have been tested,” Jesus told Peter, “then

you can talk about strengthening other people.”

Criticism is a sign of immaturity. It stems from a false belief that

we are better than another person. Never criticize a person whose

history you don’t know. You have no idea what scars they bear,

what lessons they have learned, or what wisdom they carry in their

hearts.

The testing of your faith is a sign that you are a Kingdom citizen.

Testing matures us, but it also helps us learn discipline. And like any

loving parent, our heavenly Father knows that discipline prepares us

for success in life. The writer of Hebrews de

between discipline and the growth of faith that overcomes:

In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And

you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not

make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord

disciplines those He loves, and He punishes everyone He accepts as a son.”

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his

father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate

children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we

respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Ourfathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good,

that we may share in His holiness (Hebrews 12:4-10).

Whenever you face hardship, take heart in the knowledge that it

is evidence of your faith and of your Kingdom citizenship. By

disciplining you, God is treating you as a son or daughter. His goal

is to prepare you to “share in His holiness.” In other words, He is

shaping you to be like Him. This is just the way it should be, as

Peter points out:

Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are su

strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the su

you may be overjoyed when His glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of

Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you…. However, if you su

as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name (1 Peter 4:12-

14,16).

Peter tells us not to be surprised when “painful trials” come. Why

not? Because trials are a normal part of Kingdom life and culture in

this world. Trials will be absent in the life to come, but their

presence in this life helps prepare us for the life to come. None of us

who are part of the culture of Heaven should ever say, “I wonder

why this is happening to me.” We should never be surprised—or

discouraged—when trials come. Some people may ask us, “If you

believe in God, why is this happening to you?” Our response should

be, “It’s nothing. In fact, it’s normal for us; it’s part of our culture.

It’s just a passing thing. We are stronger than all of that.” Wow,

what a testimony to a world desperate for hope and answers!

That’s Kingdom culture. We don’t even waste our breath saying,

“Why me?” because we know that our trials are building patience in

our hearts and establishing discipline in our minds.

Many believers have the mistaken idea that trusting in Jesus will

protect them from problems. That is a religious concept. If we claim

to be Kingdom citizens, we must be prepared to prove it. Paul said

that all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will su

persecution; it’s a given. Why? That’s the way we prove that we arefrom another culture. Rather than fretting over our trials, Peter says,

we should “rejoice” that we participate in the “su

To paraphrase, we should rejoice in our trials because they prove

that we are taking part in Kingdom culture. Jesus handled every

problem. He su

Peter says that we will overcome the world the same way Jesus

did and with the same power. We will come through everything and

will still be standing, steady, durable, and even stronger than when

we started. In this way we will be “overjoyed when His glory is

revealed.” What is God’s glory? It is His nature. God’s nature will be

revealed in us through the tests we endure. God does not want us to

be quitters because quitting is foreign to His nature. Through faith

in Him we can stay

watches as the glory of His nature is revealed in us. If we are

insulted because of the name of Christ, we should consider ourselves

blessed. It proves that God’s nature rests upon us.

Kingdom Principles

The greatest test of a nation is its ability to protect and preserve its culture.

The strength of a nation’s culture is its ability to overcome countercultures.

The greatest test of culture is the social currents it survives.

The culture of the Kingdom of Heaven—faith—will overcome all the cultures of the earth.

The testing of our faith is a sign that we are Kingdom citizens; testing matures us, but it also helps

us learn discipline.