Accessing The Power Of Kingdom Thinking
With every passing day in this ministry, the Lord reveals one of my greatest flaws, which I must confess is impatience. That’s interesting, because I used to think I was pretty patient, with a few exceptions, like waiting for something I wanted. But I used to think I was patient with other people. In fact, I thought I was a LOT more patient than most! What a prideful attitude that was! When we spend quality time with the Lord, He has a way of revealing our faults and shortcomings and humbling us, so that’s something I’ve got to work on!
The reason for sharing that today is to try to express a sincere sense of frustration and helplessness often experienced as I minister to women standing for marriage restoration. While I’ve seen the Lord perform some amazing miracles, the issue we all seem to struggle with the most is the one that’s the most important, and that’s getting control of our thoughts. There’s no point in doing anything toward the restoration of our marriages until we realize that marriage restoration, the salvation of our husbands and children, healing or anything else we want begins with understanding and employing the miraculous power of “kingdom” thinking. It’s really sad to realize that most of us know a lot more about the physical laws of nature than we do about the spiritual laws of God. And just as surely as the physical laws of nature have to be observed for certain results, and when they are not, deadly and disastrous results may occur, so it is with the laws of God. Most of the women I talk to would tell you how I often tell them I wish I could put my knowledge and understanding in their heads and hearts, but I can’t, and if they don’t want what they profess to want enough to do what it takes to understand the spiritual laws of God, which is what I mean by “kingdom thinking”, there is little I can do to help them.
We’ve all heard that old saying “God helps those who help themselves”, and while that’s not really in the Bible as some believe, there is a lot in the Bible that could be translated to mean that. For instance, Deuteronomy 4:29 says But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul. When we lose something, we turn everything upside-down looking for it. Or when we want to buy something in particular, we’ll go from one place to another trying to find just what we’re looking for, but how much time are we willing to spend to find out what the Lord has to give us in His word through understanding His law and the power of His kingdom? If we don’t seek Him and the instruction and promises He gave us in His word, The Bible, we are NOT going to “find” Him. God has shown me on a much smaller scale how He must feel. He gives us everything we need to know in His word, but we won’t even take the time to find out what He wants to tell us, even though it’s ALL for our benefit. In the same way, so many of the women who call don’t take the time to read the information posted on the website and often ask about topics covered in great detail, which I often devoted considerable time and study to address on their behalf; but for what purpose if they won’t even read it. It’s a very good thing for ALL of us that God’s nature is so much more forgiving, loving and patient than mine! And it’s a good thing that God doesn’t devote only as much time working on our behalf and thinking about us as we spend thinking about Him, or trying to know and understand Him and His laws better!
Now, the REAL point of this post is to encourage, and even admonish, men and women who are standing for marriage restoration to get serious about it and start using the tools available to help understand the awesome power of kingdom thinking. In addition to reading our Bibles and taking advantage of the information provided on websites like the FAM sites, there are many anointed teachers on the radio and TV, and many good topical books available; but we’ve got to make the effort to listen to them and to read them in order to learn from them.
We need to understand that unless we demonstrate to the Lord that He can trust us with something so little, such as devoting time to learning and understanding His laws by reading and studying the Bible, and by listening to and reading books by His anointed teachers and preachers to better understand His word, He’s not going to trust us with anything more. If you doubt that, just read the parable of the talents (equivalent to $1000.00) in Matthew 25:14-30. And please don’t forget that the Lord tells us in Matthew 6:33 (KJV) But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.