Think about this:  The religion that is called Christianity is failing because it is divided by many factors, such as color (that the world labels as race), culture, denomination, and economic status. Why do I say color and culture rather than race? Because there is only one race and that is the human race.  Then God said, “Let Us make human beings in Our image, to be like Us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”

So God created human beings in His own image. In the image of God He created them; male and female He created them. Genesis 1:26-27 NLT

That unites us. Yes we are one race—human! Many people are blinded. Therefore they could not believe, because Isaiah said again:  “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes, lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, so that I should heal them.” John 12:39-40  Please understand that though this is referring to the religious sect of the Lord Jesus’ day, this still applies to us in this day and time. Satan uses lies, deception, fear, and unbelief to separate the people of God. I’ll bet that each of you can think of someone whom you would have considered a friend—maybe a close friend—that has distanced themselves from you this past year. This past year has been saturated with lies, deception and fear and it has brought a great division, even among God’s people.
 
Religion is full of tradition and customs, and in most cases it has nothing whatsoever to do with God’s Kingdom. It often focuses more on manmade laws than God’s Word. Manmade laws and traditions, bring division. Read what the Lord Jesus answered when religious teachers accused Him of being possessed by Satan because He was able to cast out demons: So He called them to Himself and said to them in parables: “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand." Mark 3:23-25
 
In the Kingdom, there is no division or chaos! We should all be speaking the “same language”. Why, then, would we accept divisions amongst Believers and their churches (denominations)? The Lord God, His Son and the Holy Spirit are one. Our Lord and King made this statement:  I and My Father are one. John 10:30 Remember that the Lord God has you in His hands. You are secure in Him. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. John 10:28-29 
 
The Lord Jesus came to restore His Kingdom and not a religion. In a kingdom there is only one authority and that is the King Himself. Religion separates and divides, in the Kingdom all are one under the King. It was in His prayer. “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.” John 17:20-23
 
The only division is between the Kingdom and the world. When you seek the Kingdom first, you will discover that you are separating from the world and all that is connected to it. Hear what the Lord Jesus said:  “I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished! Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.” Luke 12:49-53
 
Question to consider:  Do you find that there are many in your family that are religious but fail to live by the King’s Word? They may even have their own “interpretation" of what His Word means. Maybe they have even taken scripture out of context and blended it with the world’s current collective mindset to make it “politically correct”. If you read the four Gospels, you will see that our Lord Jesus was never “politically correct”!
 
When we allow the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us, we will begin to see where we are inline with God’s Word and where we need a course correction.  Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.
 
These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. John 14:23-26
 
Knowing what the Lord God wants from you, be diligent to read and study God’s constitution everyday. Make time—make it a priority—because it is food and nourishment for your spirit. In order for us to grow in our faith and trust in Him, we must feast on His Word daily. I would be embarrassed if  an ambassador of God’s Kingdom spoke these words to me:  There is much more we would like to say about this, but it is difficult to explain, especially since you are spiritually dull and don’t seem to listen. You have been believers so long now that you ought to be teaching others. Instead, you need someone to teach you again the basic things about God’s Word. You are like babies who need milk and cannot eat solid food. For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognize the difference between right and wrong. Hebrews 5:11-14 NLT

We are living in a day when it is imperative that we model unity in the Kingdom to the world. One mind, one Word, one purpose--advancing the Kingdom of God throughout our community, our region, our nation and our world! And this gospel of the Kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. Matthew 24:14
 
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments. It is like the dew of Hermon, descending upon the mountains of Zion.

For there the Lord commanded the blessing—life forevermore. Psalm 133
 
Remember what I always say—Your greatest asset in the Kingdom is your faith in His Word!

W.R. Luchie
www.kingdomcitizens.org

All scriptures are New King James translation except where noted.

These articles may only be reproduced, in print or on the internet, if the author's name and website address are sited at the end of the article as originally placed.  Thank you.

What do I mean when I say this? Allow me to give an illustration. The other day while relaxing on my front porch, an acquaintance came up to me and sat down on the steps to talk. He worked nearby and we had talked before, often about the Kingdom of God. He informed me that he was still having pain in his neck, which hindered his life and work greatly. He had recently had surgery and was still having severe pain from time to time. He said that he had turned his life around from what he used to be and he would appreciate it if we would pray for him. I assured him we would. We had been praying for his healing for months, as we knew about his ongoing pain. But this day, when he sat and talked with me, out of the blue he mentioned that if the opportunity came up he would have sex with a woman, being that he was single, as long as she was also single! I will admit I was surprised! Now, what does God’s constitution have to say about having sex without being married to that person? Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge. Hebrews 13:4 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 1 Corinthians 6:18-19
 
Do you recall when the Lord Jesus healed the man at the pool at Bethesda? Remember what the King told him when He saw him in the temple? After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had. Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”
 
The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.”
 
Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked.
 
And that day was the Sabbath. The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.”
 
He answered them, “He who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your bed and walk.’ ”
 
Then they asked him, “Who is the Man who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?”
 
But the one who was healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a multitude being in that place. Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, “See, you have been made well. Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.” John 5:1-14
 
It is my belief that the King saw the environment or company he was keeping and that it would lead him back into a world of disobedience. The Lord Jesus was admonishing him to change his life so he would not ultimately end up worse than before his healing. Here is what I mean when I say “there’s no giving just 50 percent in the Kingdom”: We want the King’s best for our life, but don’t want to give Him our best. Have you heard the saying, “having your cake and eating it too”? That is what people want! You want His healing for your body, but don’t want to live by the King’s commands. We want all of His blessings of the Kingdom, but still want to enjoy all the pleasures of the world, while ignoring His commands.  “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” John 14:15 Too often, Believers enjoy the pleasures of the world, while praying for His continued grace and mercy, and wonder why their lives are filled with chaos, pain, worries and woes. What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.
 
You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God. Do you think the Scriptures have no meaning? They say that God is passionate that the spirit He has placed within us should be faithful to Him.  And He gives grace generously. As the Scriptures say, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
 
So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, for your loyalty is divided between God and the world. Let there be tears for what you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up in honor. James 4:1-10 NLT
 
The Lord Jesus gave the same reply to the woman caught in the midst of adultery. He didn’t condemn her. Read what He told her, just as He did to the lame man He had spoken to earlier.  Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?” This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.
 
So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.” And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 
 
Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”
 
She said, “No one, Lord.”
 
And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.” John 8:2-11
 
In the Kingdom of the Lord God, there is a standard that we must adhere to and that is told in His constitution. It contains the Lord God’s laws, commands, principles, rights, benefits and responsibilities. Then He tells us to choose to follow Him. We live with those choices. Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster. For I command you this day to love the Lord your God and to keep His commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in His ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy.
 
But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods, then I warn you now that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live a long, good life in the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy.
 
Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! Deuteronomy 30:15-19 NLT
 
Just like the man who told me that he was a believer, but wanted to indulge in the flesh (what God’s Word calls fornication) if the opportunity presents, be careful of the company you keep and the thoughts you entertain. Ambassador Paul writes of this very thing:  I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner—not even to eat with such a person.
 
For what have I to do with judging those also who are outside? Do you not judge those who are inside? But those who are outside God judges. Therefore put away from yourselves the evil person. 1 Corinthians 5:9-13 You have heard that it was said to those of old, “You shall not commit adultery.” But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matthew 5:27-28
 
Remember, your faith in the King is your greatest asset in the Kingdom. 

W.R. Luchie
www.kingdomcitizens.org

All scriptures are New King James translation except where noted.

These articles may only be reproduced, in print or on the internet, if the author's name and website address are sited at the end of the article as originally placed.  Thank you.