The Keys of the Kingdom
The Keys
In this vision, I saw my tote bag, with a set of keys in the outer pocket. With my index and middle fingers, I grabbed the ring that held the keys and pulled them from the pocket.
I believe that the keys speak of several things. Locking and unlocking doors, and turning things on and off. The keys provide security, and in the case of car keys, the ability to come and go. There are also heavenly keys. Keys of authority, ownership and keys to the kingdom of God, giving us the knowledge of how the kingdom operates.
To a teenage boy or girl, the car keys are a sign of independence, freedom, and excitement. And to the parent who hands the keys over, they can be a sign of either trust or anxiety.
But if we look to God, he gives us keys, and the authority to use them as he directs.
“I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 16:19
So what do we bind and what do we loosen? We are to bind the demonic powers of darkness and anything that is evil, or comes with evil intent. We bind up sickness and disease. We bind up every plan of the wicked one, declaring it to be fruitless, canceled, and voided. We loose people that are bound by sin, and generational curses. We loose people of bad habits, addictions, harmful thoughts, and actions. We loose people from the bondages of sin and corruption, we loose people from any allegiances with the devil and the occult.
God gives us authority to bind and to loosen so that we can effectively advance his kingdom on this earth. We are to take back the ground that was given over to the devil through sin and rebellion against God. God is holy therefore we are to be holy. We are to love what He loves and hate what He hates. We are to fear God and to have no fear of the devil.
“Greater is He who is in us, than he who is in the world.” John 4:4
We need to be aware that the devil and his demons are God’s enemies and ours. We are not to consider people as our enemies, even though they may partner with the devil. We are to use our spiritual weapons against the powers of darkness, not against people.
“For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:3-5
We gain access to these keys, of binding and loosening with faith. We implement these keys with holy boldness and with the declaration of what we want to see, for there is power in the tongue. Just as God spoke things into existence, we are to do the same. For it is God “who gives life to the dead, and calls those things which are not, as though they were.” Romans 4:17
We speak life into dead things. We speak health to the sick, and we speak death to disease. We declare what is not as though it were, in the name of Jesus. God gives us spiritual authority and power in his name. He gives us faith to believe that whatever we ask for in his name, he will give us. Hallelujah!
“In that day you will no longer ask Me anything. Truly, truly, I tell you, whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” John 16:23-24
It is our genuine relationship with the Lord that gives us authority. It is imperative that the demons will acknowledge that we carry God’s authority. And that authority is in the powerful name of Jesus!
“Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name above all names, that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of the Father.” Philippians 2:9-11
Let us be volunteers of His power, to be used by Him, for the building of His kingdom and to bring Him glory and honor.
“Your people will volunteer on your day of battle.” Psalm 110:3
Hallelujah! To God be the glory!
A Math Book
In this vision, I saw a math book in front of me, I flipped through a few of its pages. On one of the pages I saw several small thumbnail drawings of angles, their degrees and several equations.
I have often said, “Leave me in a corner with a math book and I will be happy.” I don’t know why I love math. I love design and problem solving. I guess it makes my mind happy. But I know that God wants us to be engaged with what makes Him happy. These days I have only an occasional use for math, now that I am not designing much. Instead, I take pleasure in spending time with the Lord, and doing a few projects for my sons and grandsons.
But in all things we are to glorify God with what we do with our hands.
“Whatever your hands find to do, do it with all your might.” Ecclesiastes 9:10
“Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being, for the Lord and not for men.” Colossians 3:23
God is good. After leaving interior design back in Chicago, I found enjoyment in costume design and fabrication for the church plays. God inspired me with ideas and techniques. He is a great designer and architect. The design for the tabernacle in the wilderness, and the altar, and its furnishings were given to Moses by precise measurement. God also gave specific instructions to the design and building of the temple, a place for His presence to dwell. Every measurement and element were given to Solomon so that he would be able to faithfully execute its construction to the Lord’s satisfaction.
God is the ultimate designer as he hung the stars and created all that the universe is and holds.
“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” Psalm 19:1-4
And because of God’s perfectly designed universe, we as part of his creation, should see his signature everywhere we turn. Seeing His creation should cause us to worship Him, our Creator.
He created us with freewill, so that we could choose to love Him and have fellowship with him. Of course freewill also gives us the ability to say “No” to God and rebel against him. Adam and Eve were given everything that they could ever want. They could have easily chosen to live with God in peace and contentment, but instead they became deceived and discontent. The serpent, the devil, with his lies was able to turn Eve’s heart to feel ungrateful and dissatisfied. She accepted the lie that God was not protecting her from “death,” but was instead holding out on her. She was told that she could be like God, knowing good and evil. This was the very thing that caused the devil to fall when he rebelled:
“You said in your heart: ‘I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God. I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the far reaches of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’ But you will be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.’” Isaiah 14:13-15
So Eve ate the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, giving some to Adam. In this way, mankind fell just like the fallen angels and the devil had. Now we live in a fallen world, where there is sin and death, and where people are alienated from God. Unless people repent of their sins, and accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, they will not be in right standing with God. Instead of eternal life with Him, they will spend eternity in hell. Without repentance, they will continue in their sins and in their rebellion against God.
Today, the rebellion continues: man against God, and the devil against both God and man. Because man has rebelled against the authority of God, we see the effects of a sin filled world: People blatantly lie, steal, kill, with no qualms. It is simply a matter of fact. There is no fear of the Lord. They are living a lie. For judgment will prove them wrong.
“This is the way of an adulterous woman: She eats and wipes her mouth and says, ‘I’ve done nothing wrong.’” Proverbs 30:20
But:
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” Proverbs 9:10
Somehow, people manage to lie to themselves and say that there is no heaven or hell, and that there will be no judgment, because there is no God. But they are wrong. They are using the wrong equation.
If God is not real, then God = 0 And if there is no hell, then Hell = 0 And if there will be no judgment, then Judgment = 0 Their concussion is this: “I will not worry for there is nothing to worry about!”
But the problem that they fail to see is this: Sin = Death Death = Hell
“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” Romans 1:18-20
And continuing, we see the result of unconfessed, unrepentant sin:
“For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” Romans 1:21-32
Our nation and the world have become like Sodom and Gomorrah, deserving eternal punishment. Too many people in our nation care nothing for God. They are going their own way and doing their own thing. They think they will live, die and be no more. They are not concerned in the least for God’s judgment. They have bought into Satan’s lies. He distracts and tempts people to sin, for he doesn’t want people to seek God for forgiveness, but to take them to hell to suffer alongside himself.
The day of judgment will come, and there will be no time left to repent, and get right with God. Today is the day of salvation. Today we need to get right with God! That is what the Lord desires for us. He loves us and wants no one to go to hell.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave us His one and only Son, that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life!” John 3:16
Continuing with the theme of equations: we see that with the Lord’s gift of his own blood on the cross, the equation now becomes:
Sin + repentance + Christ’s sacrificial death = mercy + forgiveness + salvation + eternal life
God the Father gave us his son, Jesus, to die in our place. Jesus is the perfect spotless lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Jesus paid the debt of sin by dying once for all. He simply wants us to love him, and obey him.
For it is His love for us, that He brings hardship into our lives, so that we will seek him for mercy and forgiveness. Through life’s difficulties, we may see the error of our ways, and humble ourselves before Him and repent. It is all so that He will forgive, heal and restore us to himself. That is true love!
Everyone must choose for himself. But to those who refuse to repent, God will after a time, harden their hearts and close their eyes and ears, so that they cannot repent. 700 years before Jesus, God sent a message to his people through the prophet Isaiah.
And He replied: “Go and tell this people, ‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’” Isaiah 6:9
Jesus quoted Isaiah when speaking to his disciples about the religious leaders of his day, the Pharisees:
He replied, “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to those on the outside everything is expressed in parables, so that, ‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding; otherwise they might turn and be forgiven.’ ” Mark 4:11-12
God still holds his hands out to unbelievers, but to those who harden their hearts and refuse to repent, he will stop up their ears and close their eyes:
“As it is said: ‘Today if you should hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion.’” Hebrews 3:15
So we pray that God will open their eyes now. And open their ears and their hearts today, so that they might understand and appreciate the Lord’s great salvation. For without understanding they will perish. Without the Lord, they will go to hell.
“Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” John 14:6
“No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.” John 6:44
So let us pray for our friends, loved ones and nation: “Father draw them to Jesus, so that they will be able to come to you!” Hallelujah!
“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14
Please share this message of salvation with everyone. All people need the Lord.
“Salvation exists in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12
A Prayer of Salvation
Dear Jesus,
I want to ask you to forgive me this day for all the sins that I have committed and the sins that I have committed by failing to act. I ask you to forgive me for the evil thoughts and beliefs that have offended you. I pray that you forgive me and restore me to yourself. I pray that you have mercy upon me and make me a new creation, that I am born of the Spirit, born again. Thank you for your faithfulness, that as I turn from my sinful life, and turn to you that you will set me free of sin and fill me with your Holy Spirit. I pray that you sustain me, keep me and protect me from the evil in the world. Help me to know you, to know your ways and to please you with an obedient heart. Please write my name in the Book of Life, as I commit myself and everything I have and everything I am to you. Thank you Jesus for your free gift of salvation. I give myself to you this day and for evermore, I belong to you.
Amen!
And please pray for mercy over our nation, for healing, deliverance and salvation for everyone of our people. May God bless you and give you his peace!
