Jesus opened the way for us. 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 doesn't operate in this world. It means that its power didn't originate here. The Amplified Bible says it this way, "My kingdom is not from this world, 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 and 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 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 AMP).

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 bound people, and by laying hands on the sick and driving out sickness from 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 He said, "Be thou clean," and immediately the leprosy was cleansed. 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 fish 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!

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 AMP).

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 the reality of it 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 cannot help us with an incurable disease or an insoluble financial crisis. 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 to 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 these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you" (vv. 25,32-33).

The Amplified Bible clarifies that last verse even more. It says, "Seek for (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 does. 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, which is 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. If you invest yourself in the affairs of God, you'll end up with 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."

So I want to encourage you to start today investing more of yourself, more of your time, thought and energy, into seeking the kingdom of God. Determine in your heart to change some areas in your life, to 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. Get 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!

Excerpt permission granted by
Eagle Mountain International Church, Inc.
aka:  Kenneth Copeland Ministries