Bringing God’s Kingdom to Earth

Stuck in Stage One

A major problem in God’s family is the number of people who become born again but won’t move ahead in God’s purposes for them. Salvation, as priceless as it is, is just the entryway into the Father’s house. The purpose isn’t to hang around just inside the door. You can’t receive an inheritance in the foyer. Jesus said that in His Father’s house are many mansions. He wants us to run in and explore the rest of the house! He wants us to check out every room on every floor, every corner, every fixture and piece of furniture. Why? Because we own it with Him!

In the prodigal son parable, when the wandering son returned home with a repentant heart, people filled the house with feasting, preparation and celebration. They owned the place, so to speak. They felt comfortable there, empowered, free to celebrate and serve. That is our calling as well. Many believers stall at the front door and somehow become convinced that salvation is the only thing they have gained and that their greatest challenge is to stay saved until they go to heaven. How tragic! Being born again to your revelation of royalty is just the beginning of your lifestyle of living in the promises here on the earth. You are supposed to get all the promises of Dad’s house!

If there were a second part to the prodigal son parable (and perhaps in heaven there is), I have no doubt it would show the younger son ruling and reigning over his father’s estate. Why do we know this?

Because his father gave him the royal robe and ring, signaling it was time for him to implement the father’s will over the father’s realm. Having realized and understood his royalty, the younger son was prepared to rule well, while the older son still had lessons to learn to get him out of a toiling, begging, deprived mindset. This is an amazing parable about your identity and what happens to you when you have a revelation of royalty and insist on your true identity. We all should aspire to be like the once-prodigal son.

Royal Peace and Wisdom

Proverbs 8 assures us that by wisdom kings rule and rulers decree justice (v. 15). When a king or queen’s image is right, the wisdom of God pours through his or her decision-making. Every king and queen, ruler and lord must operate in wisdom. God will not pour through a person with a bad self-image, or the decisions themselves will be tainted and unjust. The prophet Isaiah describes the kind of government Jesus would establish, and we would administer, on the earth:

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end” (Isa. 9:6-7, KJV).

God’s government is described here as wonderful, full of perfect counsel, mighty, everlasting, full of peace, ever-increasing. That’s because the King Himself is wonderful, full of perfect counsel, mighty, everlasting and full of peace. When we see Him for who He is, we see ourselves for who He made us to be. Our images align, and we govern in these ways.

This is why Jesus told us to pray, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). He was reaffirming the very thing God spoke in Genesis 1:28 when He created Adam and Eve: “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it.” His plan for humanity has never changed. Establishing His kingdom is even the basis of our prayer life, according to Jesus.

Our purpose as the church is to bring God’s government into authority upon the earth. This government of God is more powerful than any other government that has existed or will ever exist. It is time for believers to rise into their identity of royalty and govern extraordinarily in every sphere of society. It is time for the church to finish what Adam started and operate in the fruitful dominion of the kingdom of God here and now.

This has been excerpted from Chapter 2 of Revelation of Royalty: Rediscovering Your Royal Identity in Christ (Charisma House). {eoa}

Dr. Bill Winston is the founder and senior pastor of Living Word Christian Center, the founder and president of the nationally accredited Joseph Business School and the founder of Bill Winston Ministries. Learn more at billwinston.org.