Jesus didn’t intend for those breakthroughs
to stop at the end of His earthly ministry,
either. He commissioned His disciples to
continue His ministry. He told us to go about
healing the sick and bringing other heavenly
breakthroughs, saying, “The kingdom of
God has come close to you” (Luke 10:9, The
Amplified Bible).

Jesus commanded us to:

Go ye into all the world, and preach
the gospel [the good news that the
kingdom of God is here] to every
creature. He that believeth and is
baptized shall be saved; but he that
believeth not shall be damned. And
these signs [or heavenly breakthroughs]
shall follow them that believe; In
my name shall they cast out devils;
they shall speak with new tongues;
they shall take up serpents; and if
they drink any deadly thing, it shall
not hurt them; they shall lay hands
on the sick, and they shall recover
(Mark 16:15-18).

It’s the responsibility of the Church to
manifest the kingdom of God in this natural
realm. It’s our job to exercise the dominion of
that kingdom, and demonstrate it so others
can experience its reality and become citizens
of God’s kingdom themselves!

Until now, the Church hasn’t been getting
that job done nearly as well as it should. Why
is that? Primarily, it’s because most believers
have become so busy with the natural affairs
of life, they haven’t had time to learn much
about how to operate in the kingdom of God.
They’re so busy seeking the things of this
world—food, clothes, houses, cars, money to
pay their bills—they don’t even give much
thought to the things of God’s kingdom.

Actually, that’s not very smart. Why should
we invest ourselves so much in this natural
world? Its systems are limited. When we face
impossible situations, this natural world has no
answer for us. It can’t help us with an incurable
disease or an insoluble financial crisis.

Gloria Copeland

Of course, Jesus is the One who made
that possible for us. He opened the way. He
established God’s kingdom among us and
showed us how to bring it into manifestation
in this natural world.

“But Gloria,” you may say, “I thought Jesus
said His kingdom wasn’t of this world.”

He did, but that doesn’t mean His kingdom
didn’t operate in this world. What it means
is that its power didn’t originate here. The
Amplified Bible says it this way, “My kingdom
is not from here (this world); [it has no such
origin or source]” (John 18:36).

Jesus’ whole ministry was one of preaching
and demonstrating the kingdom of God. As
Mark 1:14-15 says, His ministry began when
He “came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of
the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is
fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand:
repent ye, and believe the gospel.”

Jesus was saying, “You don’t have to wait
anymore. The dominion of God, His kingdom,
is here right now! You can come in. God’s power
is here to break into this natural world to heal,
deliver and set you free! So change your mind.
Quit thinking like you used to think. Believe
this good news!”

Luke 4 spells that message out even more
clearly. It tells how Jesus stood in the synagogue
and preached from Isaiah 61, saying:

The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon Me,
because He has anointed Me…to
preach the good news (the Gospel)
to the poor; He has sent Me to
announce release to the captives,
and recovery of sight to the blind, to
send forth as delivered those who are
oppressed [who are downtrodden,
bruised, crushed, and broken down
by calamity], to proclaim the accepted
and acceptable year of the Lord [the
day when salvation and the free favors
of God profusely abound]…. Today
this Scripture has been fulfilled while
you are present and hearing (Luke
4:18-19, 21, The Amplified Bible).

Jesus said, “I am anointed.” What is the
anointing? It’s the manifestation of God’s
presence that brings deliverance. The anointing
is the kingdom of God bursting in upon this
natural realm and bringing God’s free favors
profusely. Profusely means lavishly, liberally,
extravagantly, over and abounding. Hallelujah!

Jesus didn’t just preach about this divine
kingdom. He demonstrated it. He operated
in the dominion of God by taking authority
over the evil spirits that had people bound,
by laying hands on the sick and driving the
sickness out of their bodies.

Read through the Gospels and see for
yourself. Time after time, Jesus exercised the
dominion of the kingdom of God. He came
to Peter’s house, found Peter’s mother-in-law
sick, laid His hands on her and healed her.

The leper came to Him for healing and
Jesus said, “Be thou clean,” and immediately
the leprosy was cleansed. Jairus’ daughter
died, and Jesus raised her from the dead.
He cast the demons out of the madman of
Gadara. When there wasn’t enough food to
feed the thousands who were listening to
Him preach in a remote place, He multiplied
a few loaves and fishes into more than
enough food to feed the whole crowd!

Do you know what those instances were?
They were times when the kingdom of God
broke through into this natural realm by
the anointing that was on Jesus. They were
heavenly breakthroughs!

Gloria Copeland

The first important truth the Word reveals
about the kingdom of God is that it is
sovereign, or superior, to all other kingdoms.
It is chief, the greatest, the most supreme in
power, rank and authority.

Actually, the very word kingdom comes
from the joining of two other words: king and
dominion. A kingdom is the place where the
king has dominion. Therefore, the kingdom
of God is where God has dominion.

Since God owns everything in heaven and
in earth, He could take dominion everywhere.
But He has chosen to exercise that dominion
through man. He gave Adam authority over
the earth in the Garden of Eden. That’s why
Jesus had to come into the earth and become
flesh. To exercise God’s dominion over Satan
in the earth, He had to do it as a man.

The second important truth the Word
reveals about the kingdom of God is the one
we’ve already mentioned. The kingdom of
God is present here and now. It occupies the
same space this natural world occupies. You
may not be able to see it, but it is here and
very real, nevertheless.

I think one of the best illustrations of that
fact is found in 2 Kings 6, where the prophet
Elisha and his servant were surrounded by a
great army sent to take them captive:

Elisha’s servant said to him, Alas, my
master! What shall we do? [Elisha]
answered, Fear not; for those with us
are more than those with them. Then
Elisha prayed, Lord, I pray You, open
his eyes that he may see. And the
Lord opened the young man’s eyes,
and he saw, and behold, the mountain
was full of horses and chariots of fire
round about Elisha (verses 15-17,
The Amplified Bible).

Those angelic horses and chariots were
there to protect Elisha and his servant the
whole time—even though most of that time
they were not visible to the natural eye. The
angels occupied the same space the enemy
army occupied. Since the angels were from
a superior kingdom, Elisha wasn’t afraid. He
knew God’s kingdom would prevail.

If you’ll just grasp that one fact, it will
enable you to walk in great joy and peace in
the midst of this messed-up world. If you’ll
just realize the kingdom of God has dominion
and control over the natural realm, then you
won’t be afraid. You can rejoice knowing that
because you belong to God’s kingdom, you can
take dominion over every natural circumstance
the devil tries to use against you.

Glory to God! Isn’t that thrilling?

Gloria Copeland

We can live our lives in love, peace, joy,
prosperity, health and victory. We can also
bring those kingdom blessings to others who
are still under the dominion of darkness.

“If Christians can do that,” you may ask,
“why don’t they?”

Mostly it’s because they haven’t been very
aware of the kingdom of God. They have been
so absorbed in the kingdom of this world—
the world that they can see and touch—
they haven’t given much thought to God’s
kingdom. They’re so caught up in the busyness
of this natural world and its demands, so
familiar with its way of operating, that they’re
practically strangers to the operations of the
kingdom of God.

But we can change that, in the Name of
Jesus! We can obey the instruction of the
Apostle Paul who wrote: “Aim at and seek the
[rich, eternal treasures] that are above, where
Christ [the Anointed One] is, seated at the
right hand of God. And set your minds and
keep them set on what is above (the higher
things), not on the things that are on the
earth” (Colossians 3:1-2, The Amplified Bible).

By studying and meditating on what the
Word has to say about the kingdom of God,
we can become more and more kingdom-of-
God minded. There is so much information in
the Word about the kingdom of God, I could
talk about it for hours—and I have. Brother
Jesse Duplantis says Ken and I are the only
preachers he knows who can preach on the
same sermon for a year. But we can’t help it!
That’s how long it takes us to get through!

I challenge you to take up this
study on your own from here. Get out your
concordance and look up all the references
to the kingdom of God or the kingdom of
heaven. I believe the New Testament uses
them interchangeably. Let the reality of that
kingdom get down in your heart so that you
are aware of it every day.

Gloria Copeland