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Ready,
Willing, & Able, Inc.
Reading,
Writing, & Announcing: The Journal of Ready, Willing, &
Able, Inc.
June/July 1997 Issue
Copyright ©1997. Ready, Willing, & Able, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Table
of Contents
Repent for the Kingdom of God
is at hand!
Repent for the
Kingdom of God is at hand!
By
Roney Smith
How many times have you heard these words in
Scripture? Has anyone ever taken the time to give you a better
understanding rather than verbally beating you with a Bible with
the words? Has there been any evidence that the words live within
you and there is a difference in your life? If you are like many
people, then your answers are many times, no, and I don’t
know respectively. Proverbs 4:7 states "...with all thy
getting get understanding", but often due to our
insecurities and the insecurities of others we fail to ask the
question "What do you really mean?"
Christ Jesus began His ministry in physical
form on earth by preaching in Matthew 4:17 "Repent, for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand". To repent is to change your
ways, your lifestyle, and your thought processes when it comes to
your relationship to God. Whenever a person repents of something,
the change that takes place is from a position of weakness to a
position of strength. The change also reflects an increase. An
increase is to be desired by both new babes in Christ as well as
those who have been living in a full awareness of His love for
some time. Many times older Christians may have the
misunderstanding that repent does not apply to them and their
lifestyles. But to repent as a professing Christian means to
increase your relationship to God by being more within His will.
Whenever a Christian repents, there is a change from being a
weaker Christian to being a stronger Christian which is a more
mature Christian. An increase in maturity brings one closer to
the perfection that will occur when Christ Jesus comes in all His
glory.
To repent from sin or from a less mature
Christian nature only comes when you recognize that you are under
the power and authority of a King with a greater dominion than
any form of government than you have ever experienced. A kingdom
is where a king has dominion and to be at hand is to be nearby,
to be surrounded, to be in the midst of, and to be overcome with
power, majesty, and might.
The words, Scripture, and statement of
"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" is a
proclaimation to both sinners and saints alike. Imagine if you
will a person who is in a country without even knowing it. All of
a sudden the King comes by in a procession and the King’s
subjects and followers loudly shout, "Repent, for the
kingdom of God is at hand!" The person then has to become
alert and aware of what is taking place and to behave, do the
same things, and have the same mannerisms of the people around
them if they do not wish to stand out with a demonstration of
disrespect and disregard for the King and therefore feel the
wrath of the King! The King surely has the power to command His
army (angels and saints glorified) to execute His judgement and
the strength to use His own sword to produce justice and
obedience. Perhaps a disclaimer is needed here because you should
not be confused or get some different understanding when the
words God and heaven are used in this same context. God rules
from heaven and Christ Jesus told the disciples in Matthew 16:19
"...I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven:
and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven:
and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in
heaven". The same laws and commands of the King apply both
in heaven and in earth. All of us at one time or another have
been in a country or under the jurisdiction of an authority
without even knowing it. We either did not know the King or did
not recognize the jurisdiction. This fact has spiritual
applications as well as physical characteristics for your
everyday life.
To be in a country without even knowing it then
takes on a greater meaning. A country could be a physical place,
an emotional state of mind, an intellectual stance, or a physical
position. In the military, someone would clearly state
"Attention!" or "Officer present, on board, or on
deck" whenever there is someone present whose position
demands respect. In modern day times, someone would mean the same
thing whenever they shout out "You better recognize!"
Although we may have been doing our own thing, being whatever we
wanted to be, and having whatever we define as a good time, when
the King is present we have to come to the position of giving Him
our full attention, time, and service.
There is no excuse for not giving your
attention, respect, honor, service, and glory to the King of
heaven and earth due to being under
demonic or satanic forces, abusing your body with drugs, tobacco,
alcohol, overeating, and failure to properly maintain the uniform
(body) He assigned to you, having a broken heart due to a poor
relationship, being in a homosexual or adulterous relationship
outside the laws and commands of the King, and having thoughts
contrary to God’s will with physical lust, playing the
lottery and gambling and from being, doing, and having possession
of anything that separates you from the presence of the King! The
kingdom of heaven is at hand because simply put--GOD IS
EVERYWHERE!!!
Everyone (which includes you and I both
along with the people we know) needs to be made fully aware that
our time is up and the warning to willingly fall under the
care and power of the King has been already given from the
first time we come into contact with "Repent, for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand"!!! For once the warning
has been clearly given, the only opportunity that exists
afterwards is for the wrath (justice) to be delivered. We better
recognize who God is and the omnipotent power and authority given
to Christ Jesus!
More than likely by now you recognize the power
in the words, "Repent, for the kingdom of God is at
hand" and it is the same power given to the disciples and
present day followers of Christ Jesus by Christ Jesus himself.
Matthew wrote in Matthew 10:1, 6-7 "And when he had called
unto him his twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean
spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and
all manner of disease". In verses 6 and 7 of the same
chapter records Christ Jesus giving His followers their
commanding orders which included to "...go rather to the
lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying,
The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the
lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received,
freely give. Provide neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in your
purses..." Luke recorded the same event but wrote in Luke
10:9 "...heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them,
The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you". The power in the
words is the Word of God which is the anointing of Jesus with the
Holy Spirit of God. It is the same anointing yesterday, today,
and forever that will remove your burdens and destroy the yokes
that you are facing in your life.
You should now recognize that no matter what
country or position you may have been in before, there is a King
greater than those problems, thoughts, past decisions, and even
death itself. Beating you with a Bible without giving you
understanding is now no longer necessary because any cuts or
wounds that you feel are from the Word of God which is Christ
Jesus himself. Hebrews 4:12 reveals any cuts or wounds that you
or anyone else who comes into contact with the Word of God with
"For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper
than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder
of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a
discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart". There
will be some evidence of your understanding and beliefs
regardless of what you feel from day to day. We need to
continually remember and tell others "Repent, for the
Kingdom of God is at hand". Amen.
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