The Kingdom of God as a University Campus

The kingdom of God can be likened to the university community, where the vice chancellor is the head. Before a person becomes a student of the university, he or she must meet the requirement for Admission. Many pass this stage successfully and become students of the university; after being duly registered as bonafide students of the university, some are withdrawn because of bad behaviour, ignorance and lack of commitment to their studies. On the other hand, others do well and graduate with good grades; some first class, some second class and others third class, everyone according to his or her diligence. They become great men and women of impact that the world acknowledges, some lecturers, some engineers, doctors, lawyers while others administrators and great politicians.

The Lord Almighty is like the vice chancellor who heads the whole universe. In the kingdom of God, you must repent of your sins and accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and personal saviour before you enter into Kingdom. The very hour you fulfill this requirement of the kingdom of God, you will receive your identity card of salvation into the kingdom to be a student. Many people successfully reach this stage in their lives; they repent of their sins and accept the Lord Jesus into their lives and they are enjoying the joy of salvation. However, when trials come and temptation blows, they give up the faith and yield to the temptation, thus, they lose their identity as students of the kingdom of God, and are no more identified by the kingdom of God’s administration as students. Such a Christian, if asked: “where is your identity card as a Christian?” He will answer saying ‘I kept it here but…but...I can’t find it again.’ The person backslides because he has toyed with his salvation in Christ Jesus. Such a Christian is careless; he has not been careful.
Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean that, the person cannot obtain another admission into the kingdom. Be sure he can! I can vehemently tell that: ‘is like saying to a child that falls when he is learning how to walk that he will not walk again’, which you know is not true. A child that is learning how to walk may start by learning how to stand using a support, and then he will try to stop using a support in order to stand on his own, he will try to move one of his feet in order to walk, a person watching this kid will see the kid’s leg shaking. Then the little baby may fall to the ground again. However, he is eager to see himself walk, when you look at the kid when he moves one of his leg to walk, you will discover that the kid is happy seeing himself walking like any other person. That was great for the lad. No Christain is happy seeing himself not growing in the faith. Everybody wants to grow in the faith. In case you find yourself not growing in the faith, know that something is wrong with your relationship with the Lord and there is a need for rebranding your walk with the Lord. We must be tough in our situations and never relent in our efforts, if not we will remain where we are, or even go lower than our present level of faith. The mother or persons nearby seeing the child’s effort will try to encourage him to do better by clapping for him and not discouraging or shouting at him. The kid’s fallings does not mean that he cannot walk, in-fact one day the mother will be surprised when she sees the child walking on his feet, even without support. So also is the life of a Christian who falls when trying to attain maturity in the Lord. People should not see them as if they would not grow to maturity, one day they would reach their destiny. Just as the kid kept trying and finally walked on his two feet, so too shall you be at your position in destiny. So turn all those ‘I can’ts’ into ‘I cans’ and live your life in line with the scriptures. One of them says; “in… prosperity be joyful, but in… adversity consider [examine it and see what you can learn]… God has appointed the one as well as the other” (Ecclesiastes 7:14(NKJV).
“What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.” (Romans 6:15). Oswald Chambers was an author who had large audience worldwide; his ministry lifted the souls of millions around the world. Oswald said, ‘Beware of anything that competes with your loyalty to Jesus Christ’. Do not keep going back to your former life while the Lord has a better one for you in the future. Once Apostle Peter was like that, he kept limiting himself to the pond while the Lord and the whole world awaited him, to be the rock on which they would build-(John 21:17). Open your eyes well! Stop that wrong, a better you is waiting. ‘Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are His dear children.’ - (Ephesians 5:1). One-day people will be surprised to see you at the top –a great minister, a great you. A friend i cherish so much, Bro. Micah Samaila, the former president of FCS Unimaid said in one of his sermons: ‘you need nothing but the grace of God to keep you standing.’ Do you know that the GRACE of God is all that you need? Yes, I mean it that is what you need to propel to the next level. God will give you the grace to do it today in Jesus name. Don’t just stand there, do something to go higher at all times, believe me, there is more grace from where you’ve fetched the previous grace to stand for Him. You can stretch your hands to fetch again today, He will be proud to see you tough to the devil and the present situation you face.
Others do well and come out with good grades.
T
his refers to those Christians who are committed in their relationship with God, because to live the kingdom lifestyle, you must be serious with God.They work diligently, in season and out of season to make sure they attain and accomplish the call of God for their lives. Some years ago, a disciple commented: “life was hard for me when I was living outside the will of God, it was like I was just seeing others off the road of life while they truly live the real life, because I was not serious with God and did not have the experience with the Lord, but the very time I determined to go with Him and be committed to His instructions, things changed for me.” You will not experience real life until you become committed to your Maker. You start living when you dedicate your life to Him. It will not be different with you, be committed to God and obey Him, His yoke is easy and His burden is light. These committed servants of the Lord study the word of God to show themselves approved workers that need not to be ashamed. You cannot know who you are until you know whose child you are. Know God and you will know yourself. The more you know God the more you will discover wonderful things about yourself. That was my experience while I continued to walk with God. He made life more meaningful to me, the more I know His will and obey, the more I get to know more of the wonderful things deposited in me. Otherwise, it is always a draw-back. You cannot be the servant of God you aspire and desire to become until you stand out for it. Whatever you want to do or become you must keep other gods aside and be obsessed with it untill it is accomplished. These Christians took their time (you too should do the same) reading the scriptures to know and understand their calling and the reason for their existence. Moreover, they do not only read to know and understand but they also make sure that they have done that which the Lord Almighty requires of them in every situation. Get this into your senses that knowing God alone is not enough for you; you must back the word you know with the action it requires from you. Sacrifice to know God’s will is not the only requirement of God from you, had it been, it could’ve worked-out good for king Saul. But the Lord your God requires perfect obedience from you. The Lord calls these ones ‘blessed’ because they have heard and obeyed Him-(Rev 1:3). This is the life of the Kingdom of God-hearing and God-obeying. You can make this year- 2010 a year of obedience. These people are more concerned with how they look to God than how they look to their fellow men; they spend quality time before the mirror of God (The Bible), so that they will look so beautiful to Him. Is that your life-style? Can you say that your desire is to look good and beautiful before God? I believe, if we devoted such quality time spent to look good to our fellow men in getting ourselves look good before God, by now we must have been glitering to His eyes. That was actually Moses’ experience when he devoted his time to God on the mountain (Exo.34:29-35); he did not only glitter before God but also glittered before men. If you want to radiate the light of God, God must first see it in you, before men do; the radiance develops as you have a close relationship with Him. How?
Through
-Studying His word and
- Prayer
If you are not at this level, I have good news for you, you can up-grade yourself and your status will change. James added “…but the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it, he will be blessed in what he does.” (James 1:23-25 NIV). They enjoy the blessings of God in time because of their obedience. If everything you’ve tried had failed, try obedience to God’s word, it will never fail you. Let disobedience be called past in your life. You will never enjoy what God has for you in the future while you’re still living in the past, full of disobedience to God’s will. True joy is for those who will not relent in obeying God.
v
ery few believers are able to keep close relationship with God through prayers and the deep reading and meditation on His word. How God wishes that you are not exempted! Some see God once in a month, others weekly, while others see Him always. It is like you have time for yourself and other things but no time for God. Can’t you for once take your time and give it to God? Study His word and meditate on it. I can guarantee that if you embark on this lifestyle, your values in life will improve. Those who see God always, go with His presence everywhere. How far you go with God tells how much of His will you obey. Many People fall into mess in life because of inadequate appropriation of God and His word in their lives. Those who keep close relationship with God are those who keep His law and obey. In order to live the life of the kingdom of God, you need to get a real connection with the Lord, hear from Him always, just as Jesus did. While on earth, He related with God in such a way that even in the midst of distraction and obstruction, He did the will of God with perfection. The will of God flowed through Jesus and He acted on it all times. He professed that anything he said was the perfect will of God -(John 14:10-11). This meant that if God came down from His throne to dwell amongst men, He would act likewise. That is perfection! It was because he maintained a close relationship with God. Maintaining close relationship with God is a heart-yearn that all true servants of God should desire. Without a close relationship with God, a Christian will speak outside the will of God, and will live a life without direction. The problem of the servants of God today, is that they fail to create a personal relationship with God; rather they keep depending on Sunday sermons. How miserable! Today, you may discover a Christian who has more desire to come close to his pastor and leaders than coming close to his God. If you are such a Christian, your misery is great. The very day a Christian decides to come close to God, the Lord comes closer to him, and then such a Christian will experience a full and fruitful life. James says:
“Come near to God and He will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”(James 4:8)NIV.
The Lord will lift you up if you come close to him. When a man lifts you up you may soon come down, but when the Lord lifts you up, no one can bring you down. Come close to Him and experience real life. Until the day you have decided to abandon your sins, you will not find true happiness in life. Nevertheless, true life and upliftment awaits you as you decide to come close to your Maker. This is living the life-style of God’s kingdom.