“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness…” (Matthew 6:33a) “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and to forfeit his very being?” (Mark 8:36) See also Galatians 6:7-8.
Our “very being,” our eternal spirit, is what we “forfeit,” for it is our “spirit that returns to God Who gave it,” (Ecclesiastes 12:7) as “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 15:50) See also Romans 14:10-12 – Isaiah 45:23 – Matthew 25:31-46 – Revelation 20:11-15.
“Do you not know that you are a sanctuary of God and the Spirit of God dwells in you? If someone corrupts the Sanctuary of God, God corrupts this one: for the Sanctuary of God is holy, which you are.” (1 Corinthians 3:16-17) See also 2 Corinthians 5:1 and Titus 3:5-7.
“That they would KNOW You”
The emphasis on “KNOWING God” is imperative. Jesus prayed “This is eternal life, that they would KNOW You, the only true God, and Whom You sent, Y’shua Messiah.” (John 17:3) Jesus was adamant about KNOWING GOD as He made it clear saying many may do wonders and miracles in His name, but He would declare to them “I never KNEW you, depart from Me.” (Matthew 7:22-23)
After Jesus was crucified for our sins and rose from the dead, upon proving Himself to Thomas declared: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you had KNOWN Me, you would have KNOWN My Father also. From now on you do KNOW Him and have seen Him.” (John 14:6-7)
“We do not know God with our flesh, with our hands or with our brains. We know God with our spirit.” –John G Lake (Spiritual Hunger, The God-Men)
In the world we are primarily mindful and aware of our “flesh and blood,” but not our spirit. For the “natural man does not take the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness to him and he is not able to know, because they are discerned spiritually.” (1 Corinthians 2:14)
“Knowledge unenlightened by the truth of God is dark knowledge. We may have a B.S., an M.S., and a Ph.D., but without the Lord all we have is dark information. It may help navigate us in the world of darkness, but by itself will never lead us to the TRUTH. Apart from the revelation of the Spirit of God, none of us could ever find our way into the light. Darkly educated people are like those whom Paul described to his young protégé’, Timothy, as ‘always learning but never able to acknowledge the TRUTH.'” (2 Timothy 3:7) — Myles Munroe (Rediscovering the Kingdom)
Our spirit or “very being,” Scripture also describes as the “secret person of the heart” and the “inner man” (1 Peter 3:4 – Romans 7:22) and is how we are to “know” the Father and the Son. “The spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.” (Proverbs 20:27) “He would give to you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened in power by His Spirit working in your inner man.” (Ephesians 3:16)
“My Kingdom is not of this world.”
“Y’shua answered, ‘My dominion is not of this world: if My dominion were of this world, My attendants (servants) would have been fighting whomever so that I would not be given over to the Jewish leaders: but now My kingdom is not from here.’” (John 18:36)
Defining the Kingdom: “For the Kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 14:17) Jesus said: “The Kingdom of God does not come by means of, or in company with, close observation, and will they not say, ‘Behold it is here,’ ‘There it is,’ for behold the Kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:20-21)
“You must be Born Again”
“You cannot be born a Christian. Jesus says ‘you must be born again.'” –Greg Laurie
“Y’shua answered and said to him, ‘Most definitely I say to you, unless someone would have been born from above, he is not able to see the Kingdom of God.’ Nicodemus said to Him, ‘How is a man able to be born when he is in old age? Is he able to enter his mother’s womb and be born a second time?’. Y’shua answered, ‘Most certainly I say to you, unless someone would have been born out of water and Spirit he is not able to enter the Kingdom of God. What has been born of the flesh is flesh, and what has been born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘It is necessary for you to be born from above.’” (John 3:3-7)
“And so many as did take Him, He gave them authority to become children of God, to those who believed in His name, they are not (born) from blood and not from the desire of flesh and not from the will of man but were begotten from God.” (John 1:12-13) See also 1 Peter 1:23.
Jesus said “it seemed good to the Father” to “hide these things from the wise and prudent,” for it is for those who have ears to hear. (Matthew 11:15-30) God’s wisdom is a “hidden mystery” and “foolishness” to the natural man, because “the wisdom of God is spiritually discerned.” (1 Corinthians 1:18-25, 2:10-16)
“…In order that the God of our Lord Y’shua Messiah, the Father of glory, would have given you a spirit of wisdom and revelation for your knowledge of Him, that the eyes of your heart have been enlightened for you to have known what is the hope of His inheritance, the riches of His glory, of His inheritance for the saints. … so that He would give to you according to the riches of His glory to be strengthened in power by His Spirit working in your inner man.” (Ephesians 1:17-18, 3:16)
“But you must continually seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.” (Matthew 6:33)
“He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:22)
Baptism in the Holy Spirit
The Way to KNOW the Father is by KNOWING Jesus (John 8:19, 14:7-9 – Colossians 1:9-20 – Revelation 3:20) The Way to KNOW Jesus is by KNOWING the WORD. (John 1:1,14, 17:25-26 – Luke 8:11-16 – 1 Peter 1:23-25, 2:20-21) The Way to KNOW the WORD is by having the Holy Spirit reveal the WORD. (1 Corinthians 2:10-16 – Luke 10:21-22 – John 2:22, 6:45, 14:15-27, 16:12-13 ) The Way to HAVE the Spirit is to be Born Again of the Holy Spirit (John 3:3-7 – Acts 2:37-39) The Way to be filled with the Holy Spirit is Baptism in the Holy Spirit (John 1:33, 14:20 – Acts 1:4-5, 11:15-16, 19:2-7)
“For we also were all immersed by one Spirit into one body, whether Jewish or Greeks or slaves or free, and we all were given one Spirit to drink.” (1 Corinthians 12:13)
Gary Kelly
Photo: AI
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