Patio's Devo and my response!

This is a dear friend's Devo that is so similar to what the Lord has been speaking to me about. What follows after is what I sent to him after he sent me the first half of the Devo. I hope you all are as blessed as I was!

About Kings

Hey Everybody!

Ever since C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia came out in theaters, I have been thinking a lot more about the relevance of believers being kings and priests. It seems to me that these are two roles which the duties and privileges thereof are highly neglected by the church today. Yet Jesus calls us "kings and priests unto God."—Revelation 1:6. In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the young man, Peter, displays a somewhat suppressed yet very real yearning to be a conquering hero, and in a general sense, a real man. When the prospect of winning the kingdom and becoming king is disclosed to him, a sense of duty and responsibility and courage rises up in him and he is persuaded to fight for the cause of Narnia; to be the hero that he's always, if secretly, wanted to be. It's because of this inward longing, which I also share, and because of our lack of understanding that I want to divulge a bit about being a king. The apostle Peter said,

"You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light."—1 Peter 2:9



After reading from 1 Samuel through 2 Kings, and the Proverbs, I have learned at least 7 things about kings. In no particular order that I am aware of:

#1. A king reigns by wisdom and has many advisors. Proverbs 8:15 says,

"By me [Wisdom] kings reign, And rulers decree justice." Even King Solomon—who was not only the wisest king, but also the wisest man—had advisors. Including, but not limited to his mother, Bathsheba, Nathan the prophet, and Zabud, Nathan's son who was a priest and Solomon's friend. For Proverbs 15:22 says, "Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed." That leads me to…

#2. Before you can be a good ruler, you need to know how to be ruled. Proverbs 15:33 says, "The fear of the LORD teaches a man wisdom, and humility comes before honor." First of all, you cannot even begin to have wisdom if you don't have the fear of the LORD—Proverbs 9:10. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil—Proverbs 8:13. Secondly, before one can be honored as a king he must first learn humility. There have been many kings. But not all had honor, because they didn't have humility. In Matthew 23:11&12, Jesus says, "The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." The king is exalted, but before anyone can be exalted they must be humble and willing to submit to others in authority. You see this in the life of King David. He was humbled as a rogue from his own country for years while King Saul hunted him down like a dog. But David honored King Saul nonetheless and never attempted to take his life, even though he had the chance and even though he had already been anointed as king. For he said, "The LORD forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the LORD's anointed."—1 Samuel 24:6 & 26:11. Was Saul in the wrong? Yes. But because he was anointed by the LORD to be king, David would not harm him. In fact, David honored him, saying, "'My lord, the king!' And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to the earth and bowed down."—1 Samuel 24:8. This principle of honoring those who are in authority over us—whether those in authority are righteous or unrighteous; deserving of honor or not—is a principle that has been lost on my generation. This includes honoring our mothers and fathers. Too many times I have seen the "anti-establishment" mentality; the mentality that we are not going to be told what to do by anybody or change for anybody. It also comes in the form of unwillingness to submit to the teaching of an elder or more experienced person. And I'm talking about "supposed" Christians here. What we're doing is being unwilling to submit to God's authority in men, for all authority is of God and ordained by God. And I tell you this is rebellion! And this is sin! And I tell you unless we learn submission and humility we will never be truly honored or exalted. My generation needs to recognize the value of this principle and reclaim it. Rather than doing what's right in our own eyes. If you cannot bear to sit under the teaching of another, then stop rocking the boat and get out! I think we need to examine ourselves to see whether we are teachable at all. If a person cannot accept correction or instruction, he is a proud person and a fool and in danger of leading himself and others astray—Proverbs 10:17; 12:1; 13:18; 15:5; 15:10 & 15:12. No such person will ever receive wisdom and no such person will ever be honored. It is impossible, by default, for a person in rebellion to see the whole truth, though he may think that what he believes is true. Take the life of King Saul, for example. He was totally deluded. It never occured to him that he was wrong.

Jesus who was the King of kings portrayed the ultimate example of humility to us in His own life. He became the servant of all. He even served His enemies and gave up His life for them. In His kingdom, the servant will be the greatest of all. That leads me to…

#3. No true king can establish himself. He must be anointed by God and established in righteousness. Ok. Consider any and all of the men who tried to establish themselves as king. Saul's son Ishbosheth—2 Samuel 2-4—Abner tried to set him up as king. And he "reigned" in Israel for 2 years before he was betrayed and beheaded. Then there was David's own son, Absolom, who tried to usurp David—2 Samuel 15-18—He was popular in the eyes of the people and even caused David to flee from Jerusalem, but the LORD Himself had the intent to bring disaster on Absolom, because he rebelled against the LORD's established authority—2 Samuel 17:14. Absolom, too, was killed in a matter of months. Then there was David's son Adonijah. He "exalted himself, saying, 'I will be king'"—1 Kings 1:5. But the LORD had chosen Solomon and so David made him king in his stead. Solomon later executed Adonijah because of mistrust. Do you see a pattern here? We don't have the power, authority, or right to establish ourselves no matter how hard we try or how diligently we persist. It is God who ordains His authority in men. However, in Christ, God has done a new thing. The Father has given all authority in heaven and on earth to Jesus, the Son—Matthew 28:18-20—And so Jesus has commissioned us to go into all the nations and make disciples and teach and baptize in His name. In His name; His authority. We have the authority that is in Christ, the authority that comes by the righteousness of faith. As it is written,

"It is an abomination for kings to commit wickedness, for a throne is established by righteousness ."—Proverbs 16:12



And,

"But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. "—Romans 3:21-22



A throne is a king's seat of authority, which is established by righteousness. And we now know that righteousness comes by faith in Jesus Christ alone. So basically, I see a formula here: Faith = Righteousness = Authority. Our righteousness and authority are in Him, so we must trust and obey HIM. Jesus even went so far as to say this,

"I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."—John 14:12-14.



That's a monumental statement. But Jesus gave us two conditions: That we have faith in Him, and that we ask in His name. In His name means three things: In His name means according to His character, because to Jews a person's name revealed their character. In His name means His identity, meaning we must be identified with Him. Meaning that we become His; we become His disciples and His bride. And third, asking in His name means asking in His authority because asking in the King's name carries all power. Even a messenger who is sent in the name of a king is revered because he represents the king's authority. Praise God! We are established in Him, by faith.

Grace to you for faith, righteousness, and authority in the Kingdom,

#4. Kings should know and obey the Word of God. Concerning the principles governing kings, Deuteronomy 17:18-20 says,

“It shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel.”



I’m seeing as I write how all these attributes of kingship are interconnected. The king was to write for himself a copy of the bible, basically. And read it all the time so that he would learn to fear the LORD and that in knowing the word he would have a standard by which to rule justly. I think the very fact that Moses even writes this as an ordinance is very telling. Oh how important it is to know the Word!

#5. Kings are to make reforms. Many times as you read through the books of Kings you notice that God judges a king by what reforms he made or didn’t make. Just as one example, 2 Kings 12:1-3 says,

“In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. Jehoash did what was right in the sight of the LORD all the days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him. But the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.”



You see a king has a realm of influence in order to change his environment. As kings and queens of God, in Christ, our mission is to set up the Kingdom of God, to make reforms in the earth. That’s what it means to be the salt of the earth. This is made possible by the Holy Spirit working in us. As it is written,

“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”—Romans 14:17



So the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace and joy IN the Holy Spirit. And praise God; the Holy Spirit is in us! A fact of which we really need a revelation. Since we are the Body of Christ—His hands, feet, mouth, etc., filled with His Spirit—we ought to do the same things He did when He was here. He came to destroy the work of the devil—1 John 3:8—so we also are equipped by the power of Holy Spirit and the accompanying weapons and gifts to do the same.

Probably the best-known reformer king was the boy, Josiah. And wow, what a courageous and faithful kid! God even prophesies of his birth by a man of God in the days of Jeroboam, saying,

“By the word of the LORD a man of God came from Judah to Bethel, as Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make an offering. He cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD: ‘O altar, altar! This is what the LORD says: “A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who now make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.”’”—1 Kings 13:1&2.



And further, the word of God says this about Josiah:



“Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years… He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and walked in all the ways of his father David, not turning aside to the right or to the left.”—2 Kings 22:1&2



This statement is said of no other king, since the time of David. This leads me right into #6, but before I do let me just say that the reforms that Josiah made revolved around the rediscovery of the Law and the re-establishing of it. He tore down all the high places and burned all the temples of baal and asherah. Consequently, true worship of the One, true God was restored.

#6. Kings do valiant exploits. Daniel 11:32 says of the end-time people of God,

“Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.”



This fact is most evidently revealed in the life of King David. I mean, what didn’t David do? David killed the giant Goliath and took away the reproach of Israel. He defeated the Philistines. He cast the Jebusites out from Jerusalem and made it into Zion the capital of Israel; the holy city of God. He brought back the ark of the covenant of God and set it in Jerusalem. He expanded the kingdom. He laid the spiritual foundations for the temple of the Lord and very literally set a standard for all kings. He established true worship. David defended and delivered his people. He was truly a man after God’s own heart.

Proverbs 25:2 says this,



“It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.”



Probably the most regal and daring quality in David was that he really did seek after the heart of God. David was a New Testament man in an Old Testament time. God showed him mysteries and treasures that were concealed in His word until the time of Jesus. David was a revolutionary. It is because of David’s faithfulness, even through sin, that the LORD said to him,

“Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘I took you from the sheepfold, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people, over Israel. And I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have cut off all your enemies from before you, and have made you a great name, like the name of the great men who are on the earth… Also the LORD tells you that He will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish His kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of His kingdom forever. I will be His Father, and He shall be My son.’”—2 Samuel 7:8,9,11-14.



#7. Kings are preserved through mercy and truth. Proverbs 20:28 from the NIV says,

“Love and faithfulness keep a king safe; through love his throne is made secure.”



The NKJV says it like this,



“Mercy and truth preserve the king, and by lovingkindness he upholds his throne.”



Both translations are accurate enough. The Hebrew is so dense that the English fails at fully conveying what it is wholly saying. Mercy/love and faithfulness/truth act as counterbalances of one another. Or to put it another way, they complement one another. Truth without love is too harsh. Love without truth is too unreliable. But real love rejoices in the truth, and sincere truth ought to be spoken in love. These two balances preserve the king and give him good understanding. And love makes his throne secure. Anything without love is just bland and sinful. But power and authority are especially detestable without love to guide them.

Be good kings and queens. Walk in the ways of your father David, and his seed by the flesh, Jesus Christ. Be like Jesus. Go on the great adventure; make reforms and conquests for the kingdom of God. Pour yourself out as a servant with great authority in Christ.
Risk it all for Jesus.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~My reply to the first half of Patio's Devo~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was so blessed by your email. It really spoke to some of what God has been showing me lately as well. I have had so much just poured into me lately from Him about what it is to be an heir in the Kingdom, and what it is to truly be a son of God (Luke3:38 if Adam is a son of God then we must be sons as well) with His DNA running through us. So much changes when we see things from the identity we truly have in Him. If you think about it, before the foundations of time, our sonship was ours to have, and the destiny for our lives was known. And our destiny, our "family business" is learning to rule. When you rule in the Kingdom, it is for the benefit of others always. We are in the position in the Kingdom we are in, so that we may benefit those being ruled in it. The only way to do this effectively is through the power of the Holy Spirit guiding us to do so. That is righteous ruling. A place we must respect greatly if we are to be given by God the responsibility to speak to or over people, even nations if the Lord desires it.

In learning to rule righteously, I have found that you have to learn obedience through experience, even suffering. We are being taught to obey even when you don't know all the details. When you don't know what the end result will be, and being obedient even when you feel wronged. We have to obey in everything in order to become effective as the royal priesthood. If we were to indulge in our personal preferences or our own agenda we would be doing harm to others, so our obedience must be non-negotiable.

Look at what happened to Joesph. His brothers sold him into slavery after living a life that was honoring to his earthly and heavenly Fathers. He was obedient, and yet he ended up being thrown into a prison. He suffered, and yet even in that suffering and his confusion, he remained obedient. God was creating a righteous ruler in him.

This kinda leads me into some of what He has taught me about suffering. Specifically about suffering it seems a lot of young people are going through. It's God's duty as our Father to break us in areas that would keep our foundations to limited. A lot of times we are resurrected almost out of what we were so that we may become what He needs for us to be. It is the death of everything that opposes God and His design for our lives. It is not necessary for young people to get everything right, yet to be tested to see the limits of our character. If we don't see things from this perspective we can be feeling upset about whatever hardship has come our way. What is truly in our heart will then be exposed.

Often young people go through a loss of identity, which is normal. When we are young most of our limitations are seen through cause and effect. As a child learns things. Those experiences form who they become and how they think. We are learning where are limitations are, seeing them broken for us so that we may build a building on a foundation that has all the necessary structure to hold the building of our life God has planned out. As God does this, confusion and contradictions arise. As do conflicts in building things in the natural. Suffering through these experiences is 100% thoroughly purposeful. With that said, we must remember to not get too enamored with the promise of what the building will be or what it will look like, or how large it will be. Getting a prophetic word about our future, or knowing our destiny in some way from the Lord is just to tell us what He is going to do. Not what we need to do to make that happen.

A lot of time pressure seems to rest on young people as we learn how to become part of the Kingdom. We start to think that if we change our behavior then God will take the pressure off. He won't take the pressure off thought until we have truly changed to the core, and His righteousness has set in. Suffering has to do with stretching out our capacity to accommodate the destiny He has for us. We can do everything right like Joesph, and still get thrown into prison if He needs us to learn something. It is in the time of adversity that we will get the keys and tools to do the work of the Kingdom. It won't be who we know, or our ability to network things into happening. You can't network your way out of prison! It will be what has been instilled in us specifically, for such a time as this. The time in the low places will prepare us for the time in the high places. It is much better to arrive at our destiny what may seem late to us and yet prepared, than it is to arrive early and be unprepared. In the appointed day of the Lord we will go forward in the fullness of our destiny. What has been appointed for each of us by God, has been appointed specifically by God for us. Our foundations are being formed for a specific building to house the wonders of God!

Jesus lived 24 7 in the Kingdom, living by the Spirit. Living led by the Spirit is a way of life. As we return to a position of the royal priesthood and Kings, the miraculous will become a way of life. We will be more at home in the spiritual than we are in the natural. We can not reach that apart from the teaching of the Kingdom of God. Much of what you were saying in your Devo. We have been given the right to rule and have dominion. (Gen 1:26) It is our family business!! When Jesus came to the earth, Heaven came with Him. The access of Heaven was with Him. "On earth, as it is in Heaven." There needs to be no separation in our minds about what the Holy Spirit is capable of doing on earth as opposed to what He is able to do in Heaven. We have been given the Holy Spirit as the bearer of all the keys that will unlock the mysteries of the Kingdom of God.

You and I were born into a noble family when we accepted Christ! We are being trained in taking on of our Father's business! We are sons of God being formed into Kings and a royal priesthood. Our foundations are being formed. Our capacities are being expanded to support a structure you and I have only dreamed of seeing. One day it will come to fruition though! Praise be to God!