Of course, if you want to sow into the
kingdom of God you must first be born again.
You do that simply by making Jesus the Lord
of your life.

You can read the Bible all day, and it won’t
make sense to you if you haven’t taken that
first step. The great kingdom truths it contains
will be hidden from you. Why? Because, as
Jesus said, “Except a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).

A person who hasn’t been born again
simply cannot understand the way God
thinks. The ways of His kingdom are beyond
his grasp because he is in darkness.

A person who has been born again,
however, is translated into God’s kingdom.
He immediately has the ability to know and
walk in God’s ways. How much he does from
then on is up to him. The more he seeks after
God and His way of doing and being right,
the more of His power and dominion he’ll
enjoy. The more he renews his mind to God’s
Word—which is His way of thinking—and
changes his life in obedience to that Word,
the more he’ll see the kingdom of heaven
manifest in his life and the lives of those
around him.

The wonderful thing about the kingdom of
God is that you don’t have to be rich or smart
or talented to walk in it. Anyone can do it. All
you have to do is find out what God says and
act on it. When you do, blessings—heavenly
breakthroughs—will begin to happen.

So I want to encourage you to start
today investing more of yourself—your
time, thought and energy—into seeking the
kingdom of God. Determine in your heart to
change some areas in your life. Dig into the
Word more deeply and find out what God
says about those areas. Then start acting like
He does instead of like the world.

Heighten your awareness of the kingdom
of God. Become more and more kingdom-of-
God minded. Then get ready for the blessings
of heaven—the lavish, liberal-to-excess,
extravagant and over-abounding favors of the
kingdom of God—to break through on you!

Gloria Copeland

But with God all things are possible! There
are no limitations in the kingdom of God! It
knows no impossibilities! So what we need
to do is obey the instructions Jesus gave in
Matthew 6:

Take no thought for your life, what
ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink;
nor yet for your body, what ye shall
put on…. (For after all these things
do the Gentiles seek:) for your
heavenly Father knoweth that ye
have need of all these things. But
seek ye first the kingdom of God,
and his righteousness; and all these
things shall be added unto you
(verses 25, 32-33).

The Amplified Bible clarifies that last
verse even more. It says, “seek (aim at and
strive after) first of all His kingdom and His
righteousness (His way of doing and being
right).” In other words, if we want to operate
in the dominion of God, we have to find out
His way of doing things and then do things
His way. We’ll have to change the way we
think. We’ll have to start thinking and acting
like He does instead of thinking and acting
like the world.

We’ll have to seek Him and His principles,
put our dependence first and foremost on
Him, and then He’ll see to it that our natural
needs are met.

You see, the principles of the kingdom of
God always work. God has spoken and set
them into motion by His Word. They will
work for anyone who will put them to work.

For example, one of those principles, the
primary one, is the law of sowing and reaping.
Galatians 6:7-8 states that law very simply:
“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for
whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also
reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the
flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the
Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”

Actually, the law of sowing and reaping
works in both the kingdom of God and the
kingdom of this world. If you sow into the
kingdom of darkness, you reap the harvest
of that kingdom––death in all its forms.
If you invest your time and money in the
concerns of the world, you’ll end up on drugs,
pornography and alcohol. You’ll end up sick
and unhappy.

On the other hand, if you sow to the
kingdom of God, you’ll reap the harvest of
that kingdom––abundant life in all its forms.
As Romans 8:6 says, “For to be carnally
minded [to think like the world thinks] is
death; but to be spiritually minded [to think
like God thinks] is life and peace.”

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

Where do you live?

I realize that’s a simple question, but I want
you to stop and think about your answer for a
moment. Your immediate response might be
to name a country or a city. You probably think
of the spot on this earth where you wake up
each morning and go to bed each night—the
place where you keep your natural belongings.

But if you’re a believer, you need to think
more deeply than that.

You need to become aware of the fact that
although you are in this world, you do not
belong to this natural world’s order. You are a
citizen of heaven. You are, even here and now,
privileged to live in that kingdom.

That statement would startle many Christians.
Religion has taught them that they won’t
reach God’s kingdom until they die and go to
heaven. But the Bible says we’ve already made
the transfer. It says, “[The Father] has delivered
and drawn us to Himself out of the control and
the dominion of darkness and has transferred
us into the kingdom of the Son of His love”
(Colossians 1:13, The Amplified Bible).

Because God dwells in us and among us,
His kingdom is present with us right now.
Jesus said it this way: “The kingdom of God
does not come with signs to be observed or
with visible display. Nor will people say, Look!
Here [it is]! or, See, [it is] there! For behold,
the kingdom of God is within you [in your
hearts] and among you [surrounding you]”
(Luke 17:20-21, The Amplified Bible).

Certainly we will go on to the place
called heaven when our bodies die or when
Jesus catches us away. And that’s great,
because heaven is a wonderful place! It’s the
headquarters of this great kingdom. But,
thank God, since we’re already citizens of
the kingdom now, we can enjoy many of the
benefits of heaven right here on earth.

Gloria Copeland