Humility is central to the gospel of Christ.

The humility of Christ is absolutely central to living in the kingdom. Peter was horrified at the thought that Jesus would wash his feet, because he didn’t understand the message that Jesus was trying to teach. The Lord made it very clear, If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me. (Jhn 13:8) If you do not lovingly embrace humility, then you completely missed the message of the kingdom.

That humility can only happen when you deal with your own demons. You have to be very honest with God about wanting to be free of selfishness, anger, resentment, fear, and every attitude that does not come from God. Allow Him to show you the evil that you are holding onto and repent. Forgive where you need to. Rebuke the enemy from your life. Don’t hold onto a thing that hinders your full acceptance of God’s work in you.

Be filled with the goodness of God. Be filled with His love so it will shine out of you. Let your automatic response be humble and kind, no matter what you come against. But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. (Mat 5:44)

Don’t think for a minute that you can’t change. That’s what God does best.

I just love the Beatitudes. They keep me so grounded in what the kingdom of God is all about. They are so full of challenge and promise. Like this one: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. (Mat 5:6) 

Being righteous is living cleansed.

The definition of righteous is: clean-handed, good, guiltless, innocent, just, moral, sound, upright, virtuous, worthy. I kept wanting to shorten that list of definitions, but I didn’t want to leave off any of them. I’ll take them all.

And we can have that kind of righteousness if we want it, but we have to really, really want it. Hungry and thirsty want it. Remember the last time you fasted? That kind of hungry and thirsty. You have to want righteousness far more than you want to hold onto the things that are wrong, but familiar in your life. It’s hard to let go of what we know, even when we know it’s not good for us.

But when we do, when we want the righteousness of God more than anything, He promises to FILL us. Imagine being filled with moral soundness, goodness, worthiness. Imagine your decisions and relationships being effected by those qualities. How different would your life be?

How hungry are you?

If you are salt and light to the world, you will be noticed. You cannot be effective in the kingdom without people outside the kingdom seeing that something is different. If that’s not happening, then you’re not being salty enough.

Blessed are the peacemakers.

One aspect of your difference should be the massive quantity of peace that you carry. Peace that calms the atmosphere. Peace that brings a sense of perspective and honor. Peace that brings divergent sides together in a rational manner.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. (Mat 5:9) That’s an amazing statement. When you carry the peace of God in you, other people will see it and know that you belong to God. Only God can bring the supernatural peace that the world longs for.

All those wonderful aspects of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23 are not just to bless you. They’re meant for you to change the world around you. When you embrace the peace of God and carry His presence on you so strongly that the enemy cannot stir up strife, it will be noticed. There’s something about you. Something God-like, and it will be seen. Seek to be a peacemaker. Your world needs to see God.

It’s not easy to turn the other cheek.

Jesus gave us a command that goes against our human nature to follow. But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also. (Mat 5:39) That’s just hard to do. Not only do we want to defend ourselves after physical assault, we want to defend ourselves after any kind of offense or disagreement. But Jesus said don’t do it.

The attitude of the kingdom is humility and kindness. It may feel like being a doormat, but Jesus said not to worry about it. Once you start caring about your feelings in the matter, you start being less humble. If you have to be right in a matter just to prove a point, then your ego becomes more important than humility.

This isn’t easy. It takes the Holy Spirit to nudge us when we’re starting to get into trouble. And what if you do cross the line and step over into needing to be right or losing your temper? How you handle that will say a lot about how you view the kingdom. Heart-felt apology is always warranted.

Just decide that you don’t have to be the one with the last word. It’s ok if people don’t realize how smart you are. Make the decision to turn the other cheek. Jesus will take care of everything for you.

To the world, God’s message may sound like a lot of rules and dos and don’ts, but in reality it’s very basic and simple. Love God and love people. (Mat 22:37-40) It doesn’t get any more complicated than that. If you can do that, then the rest just falls into place.

The kingdom of God is all about humility.

In the same Spirit, when Jesus sat down to give the Sermon on the Mount, He could have stopped with His first words: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Mat 5:3) Does He really have to say any more?

Love God. Love people. Be humble. Live like that and you will release the kingdom of God everywhere you go.

The Amplified version has an interesting way of putting it: Blessed (happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous—with life-joy and satisfaction in God’s favor and salvation, regardless of their outward conditions) are the poor in spirit (the humble, who rate themselves insignificant), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven!

You will be spiritually prosperous when you live in humility, and it will make you happy. That happiness, wrapped in the love of God, is what the kingdom of God is all about. If humility seems like the farthest thing from you, ask God to change you. Give yourself time to grow and mature. That kind of happy will be yours before you know it.

If you remember the movie Avatar, with the blue people, their greeting to each other was, I see you. The meaning is not that you are standing right in front of me, of course I see you. It means, I see who you are. I recognize you as a person.

Try to “see” people the way God does.

I like that. It’s far too easy to simply acknowledge people casually, or not at all. We don’t remember that God loves them wildly — so much that He died for them. We need to see people the way He does. People have immense value to God, despite the differences we may have with each other.

Loving people is a core aspect of the kingdom. Jesus told us, Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other. (Jhn 13:35)

Once you start thinking about how much God loves everyone, you start looking at them differently. Try to see them for who they really are. You’ll start to notice jewels and treasure in them, and you’ll begin to love as we are meant to.

As busy and complicated as life can be, never forget your true calling. We are made to be in fellowship with God. It’s why we were born. Heaven is our destiny and everything we do has to be flavored with that reality.

Do all things as if you were doing them for the Lord.

Our daily events should always be done with the thought of serving the Lord. So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. (ICor 10:31) Work with the attitude of pleasing the people you work for and with. Jesus said when we serve others, we serve Him. It pleases Him even more when we serve those who are hard to please.

And the small things we do are as important, if not more important, than the large things. It’s the small things that prove our trust to do more. Jesus looks at them carefully. Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things. (Mat 25:21)

If your work frustrates you or people are difficult, give it to Jesus. He said He would carry the load to make it easy for us. Ask Him to give you the grace that you need to be a blessing. Everything you matters, so do it well.

God has the answers. Trust Him.

God never said it was going to be easy. Salvation is not salvation from problems, it is the blessing to go through them. When we trust God and follow His guidance, we actually avoid problem areas, but not all of them.

Living with the Holy Spirit in us helps us be unaffected by the traffic jams because patience is active in our lives. The wisdom of God is there to give us the perfect answer when everyone is stumped. Faith keeps us from losing hope when every appliance in the house blows up at the same time.

The blessings of God aren’t all about getting shiny presents. They are practical tools that help us through life with joy, no matter what happens. It doesn’t matter if the stock market crashes or you get a flat tire, God has given you the means to get through it, and show His goodness in the process.

Stay in His presence. Listen to His voice, and humbly/boldly go before His throne. When you stay connected to Him, you are prepared for everything. It may not be easy, but you will be safe. If you don’t panic, He’ll give you what you need when you need it. He’s a good God and He is with you.

Maturity in the spirit will allow you to see the world from God’s perspective. God has the ability to see everything with a wide angle lens and a telescopic lens at the same time. When we get to be friends with Him, He invites us to sit with Him and see what He sees.

God needs us to work His strategies.

When He lets you look through the wide angle lens, you see cities and nations. You see regions of pain and war. God needs people to effectively release the kingdom in troubled areas. That may mean activity in governmental realms or practical help in teaching or missions.

For every problem, God has an answer. Every one. Unfortunately, some people who are the answers don’t believe they are. They lack faith in the vision that God put inside of them, and sadly, the allow the problem to go on and get worse.

Jesus said,  Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest. (Mat (9:38) Pray for those people who are uniquely qualified to do what no one else can. And if that person is you, then trust God to do what He said He would do. You’ve been given special tools for a reason. Use them and God will be with you. Miracles will follow.