How do we move into the new spiritual level that God is bringing to us? What is the next step in becoming a Kingdom church? When God speaks a fresh Living Word to a congregation of believers, it may seem as if He is preaching to a bunch of worms about flying.
Hearing the Word on the level that God is speaking it will give us the wings we need to “fly” into the Kingdom. This message will tell us how to get into a higher Kingdom flow.
The Living Word can be very frustrating to you, or it can be most fulfilling and rewarding. It all depends upon how you hear the Word.
This is the difficulty: When you hear a new level proclaimed, you tend to interpret it from the level which you are on at the time. Weigh that statement, for it is the first fact you must realize. When God brings a new truth, you must hear it over and over again until you no longer hear it and interpret it from the level on which you have been living.
Because that Word is speaking about a new level, your hearing must also be on a new level.
In the Old Testament, there are many prophecies of the Christ, the Messiah who was to come as the mighty conqueror (Isaiah 9:6–7; Daniel 7:13–14). Consequently, in the New Testament times, many in Israel were expecting the Son of David to come with a slingshot, to conquer the Romans, free the Jews, and set up His Kingdom (Matthew 21:9; John 6:15; Acts 1:6). Instead, Christ came casting out devils and doing things that the people had not anticipated (Matthew 22:19–22; Luke 4:33–35). Luke 4:16–20 records that when Jesus came to the synagogue at Nazareth, He read the prophecy from Isaiah 61:1–3: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me; He has sent Me to proclaim liberty to the captives.” Probably none of the Jews interpreted that Scripture correctly, that it was speaking of casting out devils. They did not know about that aspect of Christ’s ministry; it was part of a new level. They did not recognize their oppressions, nor did they realize that they were locked into a certain level which prevented their understanding a spiritual truth on a new level.
The Jews were accustomed to reading about the way God gave victory in the Old Testament in the physical realm. David killed Goliath; a giant who was nine feet tall (six cubits). In their minds that was a fantastic victory. So, when Jesus came, they asked Him, “Our fathers gave us manna in the wilderness. Now what are You going to do for us?”
Jesus answered, “I am going to let you eat My flesh and drink My blood.” When He said that, many of the people went away (John 6:30–31, 53–54, 66). They were not prepared for the level from which He was speaking. They interpreted His words on the physical level which they were on, even when Christ was speaking of another level.
This is a good time to study the basic Scriptures about the Kingdom of God. Churches which are moving on with God are saying, “We want to be a Kingdom church. We want to move into the Kingdom now. We do not want to be locked in as a local church. We want to see the whole world reached with the Gospel of the Kingdom.” How will we reach out to all of the world? How will we break through as a remnant with a Living Word? How are the ministries to flow? How will you make it into this next level?
At the moment, your reaction might be, “I don’t know how I will do it. I feel like a worm that has just been given a commission to fly.” This Word will tell you how to do it!
When Jesus spoke to Nicodemus about being born again, Nicodemus did not understand. Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; this man came to Him by night, and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:1–3.
Jesus’ statement to Nicodemus, “You must be born again, or you will not even see the Kingdom of God,” applies to us too. We could interpret that verse to say, “Truly we need a new input of birth. We will have to experience some kind of a change in order to move up into this next level of the Kingdom of God.”
We have been praying and interceding, yet we find that there are some new things to learn about intercession. For example, how do we proclaim the fulfillment of the Word into being? How do we proclaim God’s will, take dominion over the powers of darkness, and loose the ministries which are to come? We will have to be born again! We will have to be born into a new level.
Nicodemus was like a worm that did not know how to fly. He asked Jesus, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” John 3:4. Nicodemus interpreted Jesus’ words on a natural, human level when the Lord was actually giving him a concept that was spiritual.
So, it is every time God speaks a Word to you, and you see the truth on the level where you are living.
Do you want this Word to work for you? Meditate on the series of messages on levels on my Website and Listen to the Living Word MP3’s (When I start my church) over and over again until finally they are imparted to you.
You have to hear the Word, meditate on the Word, confess the Word and obey the Word, until you become that Word, which means it has been written on your heart, it is a lifestyle.
You know in your heart that this Word of the Kingdom is true, the kingdom is now but it is a spiritual realm inside of us where we become aware of the Presence of God, and as we learn how to abide in it, then it will be manifested on the earth as it is in heaven, first in our lives and then in others, creating a kingdom atmosphere, where the Kingdom comes near them and then they see it, enter into it, abide in it, and then inherit it.
The Kingdom is the Lordship of Jesus over us, and he teaches us to walk with him, step by step. We are to live by every word that proceeds out of his mouth.
But you may be feeling, “I do not know how to move in it, and you will not know how to move in it until the Lord brings a revelation of it to your heart.
You may have heard the word on how to walk in the Spirit. And heard the word on the kingdom. But now we must see our local New Testament church break through to the oneness of a Kingdom church with no limitations.
We must become a “Kingdom center, an Apostolic Hub, a city of refuge” that will expand and reach out to the world. I am eager to get my wings and fly!” It will be a very humble effort before God but remember that He will move the world through some very humble people (I Corinthians 1:27). On every new level we start out as a novice. We have never walked that way before. We are a new-be, a beginner.
How do we go about becoming kingdom people? Let us read the Lord’s answer to Nicodemus. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” John 3:5–6. This is what you must realize. You are not able to produce the next level. You will only reproduce yourself on your present level.
People who come into our churches often do not need to go through the same stages of growth as did those who came before them. It seems that they are almost born into the church at the highest level which has been attained by that body of believers.
A church which is on a certain spiritual level gives birth to its new converts on that same level. Rarely do people who are converted in a Baptist church ever speak in tongues or prophesy immediately, yet they are good Baptists. They have been born into the Baptist level. You are born into the spiritual level of those who give you the Word, who go through the travail and give birth to you.
How does a church go from glory to glory? (2 Corinthians 3:18.) It is by revelation from the Lord. We hear the word and have that revelation, but now we must let that revelation become creative within us, until we can see it.
“Marvel not that I say these things to you,” the Lord said to Nicodemus, “for you will not even see the Kingdom until a new birth takes place within you” (John 3:7). You must go through a transformation. Throw off the limitations of the very level you are on and embrace revelation for the next level. If you do not, you will be frustrated. When you try to prophesy and sing on the previous level, it will not work. This is the first guideline you must obey: Stay right with this Word!
You will also apply previous teaching that you have received, for each truth builds on the previous truth. But be sure to hold onto this present Word!
At the birth of whatever God does, you will say, as Nicodemus did, “I cannot understand it. How will I do this?” And the Lord will say to you as He said to Israel when they moved into Canaan, “You have not passed this way heretofore” (Joshua 3:4). You heard about it; it was preached to you; you embraced the promises from afar (Hebrews 11:13). But it is quite another thing to walk into the new level.
The time of prophesying in part and seeing through a glass darkly will give way to seeing face to face (I Corinthians 13:12). You do that by staying with the current Word and waiting on God in it. You will not be able to figure it out or interpret it on the level you are on.
As the Word comes to your heart and you look to God to reveal it, you must break into the higher level. Then you will have an explosive encounter with the Kingdom.
The Word revealed and becoming creative is the key of the new level. One level only gives birth to the same level. When you bring people into your local church, you will not convert them to a higher level than you yourself have attained. And you will not attain any higher level until a creative input comes by a Word that is revealed to you and created in you. We will find that experiences do not come so much by a struggle to attain them as they come by faith to believe.
Jesus said, “Now you are clean through the Word which I have spoken unto you” (John 15:3). How marvelous it will be when we actually see that! First of all, you must accept that Word. It does not make any difference if you do not yet see it or know how to move in it. Take that Word and believe it! Pray over the Word with as much zeal as a heathen who is reaching into God to be born again, and the Word will be revealed to you.
Commit yourself to this progressive experience of birth. Otherwise, you will never get any further. You will tend to gravitate to one level, and you will reproduce on that level after your own kind. Remember what Jesus told Nicodemus, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, but that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6).
Seek the face of God. Live in the Word. Let the Word be revealed to you. Pray over it much. It will become creative, and it will create within you the new capacity to become a mature son of God. That is the way worms learn how to fly.
This Living Word, revealed by the Spirit, embraced by faith, imparted in ministry, appropriated by your spirit, is the formula for this new Kingdom level.
Will this formula work for you? Yes. It almost seems too simple, doesn’t it? First you must face your need; and this Word has certainly revealed your need. Then you must realize that you have a creative Word which can fill that need. Rebuke the attitude of unbelief which says, “I see it, but I won’t be able to walk in it.” You will be able to walk in this Word, because you will get hold of it, you will meditate on it, and you will believe it. This Word has been imparted to you. The seed of faith is planted in your heart, and you will break through in it (Matthew 13:23).
We have heard many of these truths before, but now the Word is being imparted to us, causing our faith to rise. Now the Word will work.
There is a distinct difference between the ministry in the Church Age which we have just left and the ministry in the Kingdom Age. In the Church Age, sermonizing hammered a truth home. The ministry of the Kingdom Age is continually bringing the Living Word to the hearts of the people. It does not take professional training to minister in the Kingdom Day. All a minister has to do is to rehearse again and again the Words that God has spoken. A creativity must come upon the brothers and sisters to bring the Living Word in the simplest way possible. Instead of intellectually embracing the truths of a Word, that Word must enter our heart and explode within us. That is how we learn to fly.
The question must be asked: Have we really heard the Living Word? Yes, to some degree, but there is a part of us that has not, and part of us is not hearing the Word even yet. If we had heard the Word totally, we would already be established in it, for to hear the Word on the level that God speaks it is to be established in it.
There is a process of hearing to which we must dedicate ourselves. As we let the Word rest in our thinking, as we talk about it and share it, that Word will be born within our hearts, our souls. This is what we need.
May the Lord give us ears to hear everything His Spirit is speaking through this Living Word. It is this Living Word that will change us. It is not the ministry, not a position, not some person telling us what to do. Rebuke the futility of trying to create this Word on the level where you are living, instead of going through the birthing process.
We want to be reborn into the Kingdom, on one level after another. Maybe we are suffering from a “salvation complex” or a “salvation fixation,” in that we think we have been born again at one certain time; there was that one time when we were born again. But I wonder if we do not experience many births on the way to being a totally reborn manifest male or female son of God. Each time we are born into a new level of the Spirit, it is almost like being born again; again, and it happens by the same formula each time.
What you have from God is real, but the experience is only as complete as you are complete. The Lord EVER INTERCEDES that He might save you to THE UTTERMOST (Hebrews 7:25). Maybe you were saved in a good Fundamental church.
Then when you came into this walk with God, you were a little more saved, and you will yet be saved to the uttermost. Salvation is a process as well as an experience. Every experience in God is expandable, and you are experiencing more of a new birth, as you grow up into the full stature of Christ. You do not belittle what you are, but you do recognize that it is incomplete.
Rededicate yourself to the Living Word just as simply as though you did not have anything from God. However, do not make an unbeliever out of yourself by saying that you do not have anything. Proclaim with faith, “I am going on to perfection (Hebrews 6:1). I will have this Kingdom-level experience.”
People who speak in tongues do not have all that God meant for them to have, and many of them realize this. They may be unhappy with their spiritual growth. They can either stay that way, or they can reach up to a higher level in which they are communicating with God and giving thanks well with their gift (I Corinthians 14:16–17).
Everything God does is potentially expandable. The universe is expanding so rapidly that astronomers cannot chart it fast enough. God’s realm is expanding. He wants us to expand, too. We hear Him calling to us, “Come alive! Come on, worms! You are going to fly!” We may have been brought low to a point of devastation and travail only so that we can begin to believe for the miracle of this Word to break forth within our hearts.
This Word explodes us into a new level. It bonds us to one another in a oneness of spirit. Going into the Kingdom is not an individual experience so much as it is a collective experience. Isaiah prophesied that a nation (not an individual) would be born in a day (Isaiah 66:8). The Kingdom of God is coming forth in the earth. Forget everything else except flowing together in the Word that will bring us into the Kingdom.
Little flock, cheer up. God is giving you the Kingdom (Luke 12:32). It is time that the little flock realize that even though they are little, they are mighty. God has given them a Word. The Kingdom is not sprung open by a few key leaders. The little flock takes the Kingdom, as God gives it to them in response to their humble faith and confidence in the Living Word. The Kingdom will not come with observation, so that you can say, “Lo here, lo there.” The Kingdom is inside of you, if you have really heard the Word (Luke 17:21).