THE KINGDOM IS IN YOU
MATTHEW 6
THE KINGDOM IS IN YOU
Nita Johnson
New Orleans Revival Services
God is real. As I write this, I am shaking inside because of the fire of His love. His kingdom and His love are glorious. When the world sees the Church aflame with the love of God, they, too, will know He is real. His glorious love is what we lack.
His Word is beautiful because it is the revelation of God. It is the truth about how we walk with Him and how He walks with us. I love His Word because it reveals Him and helps us to understand Him. More than what it gives to our understanding, though, is what He is willing to give to our soul. He wants to impart His very Self so that we can experience Him. I love to read His Word and find myself unexpectedly taken into an experience of what is written there.
One time, I was reading in the Gospels when suddenly, I was taken to Israel in the days of old, two thousand years ago. I saw Jesus walking with His disciples, but mostly I noticed Peter. Peter was front and center. The Lord let me experience what was in Peter’s heart the entire time that I was seeing everything going on. I experienced Peter’s heart toward Him, as well as towards himself. Jesus also let me experience His heart for Peter. It was a multiplicity of feelings and emotions. I was given to see and experience the years that Peter walked with the Lord before the crucifixion.
Then, I saw the scene where Peter was around the campfire and he denied the Lord three times. I saw when he denied Him the third time. What made him look up I do not know, but suddenly, Peter turned. At that very moment, the Lord Jesus Christ also turned and looked at Peter, and their eyes met. Peter knew that the Lord had heard him deny Him. He saw the hurt in the Lord’s eyes, and he ran. He was devastated over his failure and for three days Peter was in anguish. When he ran that night, I saw him run down the street, crash against a wall, and slide down the wall. He just sat there in anguish because He had denied the Lord, and the Lord saw it and heard.
That is why the Lord later said, "Go tell Peter." He singled him out to let him know all is forgiven. “Go tell Peter.” I just love that. The rest of the disciples got to hear the message too, but He singled Peter out. When we see the Lord, we see the Father. When we fail, He calls us back. Go tell the gang and tell Nita, “Come.” He singles us out when we have been weak, when we should have been strong, and when we did not do it quite right and should have known better. What a loving and amazing God He is.
After the Lord renewed Peter, brought him back to Himself, and restored him, you see Peter and John walking by the gate called Beautiful (Acts 3). It was not Thomas or Matthew. I love that it was Peter and John walking by the gate Beautiful when they were asked for alms. Peter looked at the man and exclaimed, “Silver and gold have I none, but what I have, I give unto thee. Rise up and walk.” Do you know what was going through Peter’s mind when he said that? Peter had stood at the foot of the cross. He saw his Lord crucified for his own soul and for all men. He knew what he had done and how he had denied the Lord three times. He knew that when the Lord needed him, he was not there for Him. But the Lord died for him, and He died to save his soul. Peter had watched for three and a half years how Jesus healed the sick, the maimed, and the lame, and he knew He died for that also. “By His stripes you were healed” (1 Pet 2:24).
So he stood by the gate Beautiful. He looked at the cripple, but I saw very clearly that what he saw in his mind was a picture of Jesus dying on the cross for all mankind. This image never left him throughout all the days of his life. Because he is the one that denied the Lord, it never left him. When he said to the man at the gate, “Silver and gold have I none, but what I have, give I unto thee,” what was going through His mind was the cross. This picture was indelibly inscribed in his mind. He saw his Lord hanging on the cross, filled with love and crying, "Father, forgive!" Jesus was dying for this man at the gate, and He was dying for Peter; this is the picture that was in Peter’s mind. Never, all the days of his life, did that sight ever leave him because he was the one who denied the Lord.
When he reached down, took the man by the hand, picked him up, and the man walked, Peter’s faith was explosive because of the restoration he had experienced. Jesus died for him, and he was restored. After all was said and done, Jesus loved Peter. As Christ loved him and desired wholeness and completeness for him, Peter wanted it for the man at the gate. So he did not have silver or gold, but he had Christ, and that is what He gave him. Peter’s faith was released because he was restored. Had Peter not denied the Lord, he never would have walked in that kind of faith. It took that crucible to produce the oil of the explosive faith in which he walked. Peter had to go through that crucible because of what Jesus was going to do with his life. He had to know that brokenness in order for the Lord Jesus Christ to pour His oil through him, as through a broken vessel, out to the multitudes. That is why Peter alone walked in an anointing so powerful that his shadow would cause people to be healed. The others did not deny Him, but they did not go through the crucible that Peter did, either.
A prophet told me years ago that the only right a Christian has in this life is the right to brokenness. We gave everything else to the Lord the day we got saved—we just did not know it. Peter did amazing miracles throughout his life. God really used him, but he had to be broken first. In fact, every man of God that is ever going to be used in a powerful way is going to be broken first; it is part of the preparation. It is almost like we have to fail to win. We have to be broken to be used. We have to travel through death to know life. It is the dichotomy of faith. Praise God. So we start praying, “God, break me. I want brokenness like Peter. Break me. Whatever it takes.” And if I fail, I know He will be right beside me to restore me. I am not asking you to pray that you will fail, incidentally. The devil does a good enough job helping us with that.
Matthew 6:9-10 Amp. Pray, therefore, like this: Our Father Who is in heaven, hallowed (kept holy) be Your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
What was He praying for? He was praying for the millennial reign, the time when the kingdom will be fully here and the will of God will be truly done on earth as it is in heaven. Two thousand years ago, His disciples were told to pray for the millennial reign. Two thousand years ago, we were told to pray for what is coming right around the corner. It is amazing that He instructed His disciples to pray this way two thousand years ago. What does that tell us about prayer? Sometimes, prayer stretches beyond our life and is critical for the whole. The more important the thing for which we are praying, the more intercession it takes, and the more people are needed to fill up the cup with their tears to bring forth the glorious result. It is incredible to me that two thousand years ago He told the church to pray for the millennial reign. Before Him was Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jesus said the prophets saw it. They saw this day, desired it, and prayed for it.
I saw Abraham sitting on a large rock, praying out in a wilderness area. I asked the Lord, “What is he praying for?” He replied, “The prophets saw My day. Way back in the beginning, even Abraham prayed for this day” (John 8:56). Isn’t that amazing? Abraham prayed for today. He prayed regarding the end of time. After him, Isaac prayed, and then Jacob, the twelve patriarchs, the prophets, David, and on and on it goes. What were they praying for? Jacob prophesied to his sons, “In the last days, this will happen to you.” He was prophesying and praying over the last days of human history. Just in case we did not understand this through the prayers of the patriarchs and prophets, the Lord Himself told us: “His kingdom was coming; His will was being done on earth as it is in heaven.” That is true of today’s prayers as well.
The world is shaking; earthquakes are happening all over. I am not talking about physical earthquakes, but rather social and economic earthquakes that are shaking people everywhere in the world. The world is shaking and trembling. These earthquakes are only in their earliest stages and it must be so. When wars happen, they must be. It is because this is the beginning of birthing the kingdom. What does this help us understand? That it is not enough just to pray. Things have to happen in the natural and temporal realm. Events must transpire which are painful and difficult, events which you never want to have happen and that you may think God should not allow to happen. They must happen because these are the beginning of the birth pangs. The birth pangs of what? Of that for which man has been praying for thousands of years—the bringing forth of the kingdom. Like the mother who goes into travail to bring forth the lovely baby, the world must travail to bring forth the beauty of the kingdom. We must pray. The Church must raise a symphony of prayer before the Father, and we must pray according to His will.
Prayer that is not according to His will causes more trouble than it is worth. One time I asked someone, “Why do you pray like that?” The person replied, “Because this is what I really want.” I asked, “But what if that is not what God wants to give you?” They said, “Well, He answered: if I ask anything, He’ll give it to me. This is what I want.” I asked, “But what if God doesn’t want you to have it?” The person replied: “But this is what I want.” Do you know, sometimes God gives us what we want, even when it is not His will. Some never learn that they should not have prayed that certain prayer which is outside the Lord’s will. . But what the Lord is asking is that we pray according to His will, and that the will of God will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Do you know how quickly God’s will is done in heaven? He thinks and it is done. It is amazing. He thinks I want to see Fred at My throne and immediately, Fred is there. God’s will is always obeyed in heaven, and it is always obeyed in a timely manner. It is not like on earth. The Lord is saying, “Pray: Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” That is a massive prayer when you think about it. How do you move billions of people on the planet to welcome God’s will, when He has difficulty even getting His Church to want His will? “Your kingdom come.” What a beautiful prayer, if only we knew what we were praying for. When you are in heaven, no matter where you are, the Lord is there. His presence is so strong that it feels like He is standing right next to you, even if you do not see Him. If you need to hear His thoughts, and if this is something that God desires, it is as though He is standing right there talking to you. Wherever you are in heaven, the Lord is. Now, isn’t that an amazing kingdom of which to be apart? Wouldn’t that be a beautiful kingdom to cover the earth? Whether you are in Russia, China, or America, the Lord is there. His thoughts are so real. His heart is so real. Thy kingdom come!
Before the kingdom comes this way to the earth, though, it is first destined to come to us. We give our lives to Christ and we think we have all we need. That is, until someone says, “No, you need to be baptized in the Holy Spirit like the disciples were.” You respond, “Oh, that’s great—what is that?” They explain it, and you say, “Oh, that sounds wonderful. How do I do that?” So they pray for you. The Lord baptizes you in the Holy Spirit, and you find yourself talking in a heavenly language. Then you ask, “Oh my, well, how do you understand that?” They reply, “Well, that comes with interpretation.” What is that? It is part of the kingdom. Then the Lord releases that in you. So you thought salvation was all you needed, and now you have two more things. Then someone says to you, “You need the gift of faith and the gift of healing, so that you can pray for the sick and they will be healed.” You respond, “Really? So God heals people? You mean, when the press says that no one gets healed in some minister’s services, they might be slightly in error? God really does use man to heal people?” They answer, “Yes.” You ask, “Well, how do you get that?” They reply, “You pray.” So you pray and receive the gift of healing. Then you lay hands on people and they get healed. You keep finding that there are all these things that can be availed to you in the kingdom.
I can remember ministering in Northern Idaho, and a group of Indians from Canada came into the services. After ministering the Word, I began to minister in the gifts of the Spirit. A man who was sitting to my right was one of the people who had come down from the reservation. The most wonderful thing was that he got saved. After he got saved, he said to me, “I can’t read. I never learned how to read. So how do I read the Bible?” I asked him, “Would you like the gift of reading?” He replied, “Yes.” I said, “Well, let’s pray,” and I prayed for him, and immediately God gave him the gift to be able to read. I put my Bible in front of him, and told everyone to turn to a particular passage. Then I gave it to him and said, “Now read it.” He read it, as if he had been reading all of his life. Did you know you could do that? It is part of the kingdom.
In the same meeting there was a little boy in a terrible body brace. He had a spinal deformity which caused him to have to wear that particular type of brace. It was horrible to see a child walking like that; he had to walk with his legs far apart, like he had been on a horse too long. He was so sad. His mother brought him to the service and exclaimed, "I hear God is healing everybody!" I replied, "Well, isn’t that great!" She said, “And I want Him to heal my son. Will He?” I affirmed, “Yes!" Then I thought, "Oh God, please do.” So as the Spirit of the Lord began to move, I went back there to her and asked, “Would you like me to pray for your son?” She replied, “Yes, please. Please pray for my son. We just believed God is going to heal him tonight.” I said, “Well, if I pray for him, will you take him into the car and take this brace off of him so we can see if he can walk?” She said, “Yes.” I prayed for him a very simple prayer. She took him out to the car, took the brace off, and brought him back. I said, “Let’s see him walk,” and that child walked. God healed him completely. That is part of the kingdom. You do not need to be bound, or have the world impeding everything you do.
I can recall a young man coming to the services night after night for weeks. He had already seen a little baby healed of mental retardation, so he wanted to be healed of the same. So every so often, he would come up and ask me to pray for him again. I would always pray for him. After three weeks, his mental capacity had grown many years. It was not an instant healing like it was with the toddler, but it was an on-going healing that was noticeable to everyone. The thing that was so incredible about this particular move of God was that a lot of these people went to the same doctor and he was nearly going out of business because God was healing all of his patients! God was turning him into a believer. We did not know you could do that! It is part of the kingdom. We are praying, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
Isaiah 35:1 Amp. The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the rose and the autumn crocus.
I can remember going to Israel one particular year, when they had been in a drought for many years. Before that drought occurred, the Lord had spoken to me that He was going to carry Israel through a drought to get their attention. So several years later, I was in Israel, and the Lord said to me, “I want to break the drought this year. So I have prayers that I want you to pray.” He taught me how to pray. He took me up in a very wonderful visitation; I was up in the heavens with the Lord Jesus Christ from midnight until six o’clock in the morning learning how to pray for Israel. On the very last day, after we finished our prayer journey throughout the land of Israel, it began to rain. It rained and rained, until the sea of Galilee came back up to a level it had not been up to for many years. I did not see Israelis dancing in the street, but they should have been.
Isaiah 35:1-2a Amp. The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the rose and the autumn crocus. It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice even with joy and singing.
This is not just spiritual. God will answer prayer in real and practical ways. I can remember when the Southeast U.S. was in a terrible drought just a few years ago. Our team got together and did much research and prayer to find out from God what was causing the drought. Now there were a lot of people praying for the drought, but were they praying with knowledge and wisdom? Did they have any understanding of why the Southeast was in drought? I do not know. All I know is that if we want God’s attention, we have to find out what is on His mind. The Southeast, as it turns out, was in a drought for three reasons. The first reason was because America had taken food out of the hands of the Native Americans in the earliest years of the founding of this nation. Many Native Americans died because of it. So here we were, four hundred years later, and God was disciplining America for that sin. Secondly, He showed us that we had sinned by taking food out of the mouths of the African American people. All these years later, God was disciplining us for that as well. Third, He showed us nations like Haiti where we had taken the food out of the mouths of those nations and dismantled their economic structure. We left people starving in what once was a thriving nation. Because we had taken food out of the mouths of so many for so long, God was disciplining America. Much of the food and valuable resources that we need, even in a time of war, is grown in the Southeast. This food source was drying up because America was being disciplined.
So we gathered together to pray in phone call after phone call. We fasted, prayed, and repented so that God would heal the drought. If you look at all the places that the drought was happening in the Southeast and some up in the North, it was all in good farmland. Hawaii was also in terrible drought. This was the time that we discovered terrible atrocities regarding the sugar industry. We had to repent over that. This knowledge, wisdom, and understanding come from God to His people to help the earth. It is part of the kingdom. It says, "The desert shall rejoice." In other words, God will send rain and cause fruitfulness to return to the desert place through prayer.
Isaiah 35:2-6 Amp. It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, and the excellency of [Mount] Carmel and [the plain] of Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty and splendor and excellency of our God. Strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble and tottering knees. Say to those who are of a fearful and hasty heart, Be strong, fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance; with the recompense of God He will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap like a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.
“Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.” May I tell you a secret? As a Christian, you have more power and more authority in your little finger then you will ever need in this lifetime to effect great things for God. Why don’t you? Number one, you do not believe it. You do not believe you can or that He wants to use you. You do not know and understand the authority and power He has given you. You do not understand your relationship with God. Secondly, there are certain things you have to do to release the kingdom through you. When the kingdom is first given to you, you are like a piece of squash. You have all kinds of meat in the squash, and there is a little pocket that carries the seeds. You have all these seeds of the kingdom inside of you, but they are held in a vacuum. What is surrounding the seeds? May I be very honest? It is called fat—the fat of the world. The fat of the world is clogging and trapping the seeds of authority and power inside you. It comes from a love affair with the world. That is why the Lord has me so heavy right now, so that you can see what it looks like in the spirit realm. Whenever you think, Lord, I want to be lean, then think about me. You do want to be lean. You do not want the world in you because it clogs the authority and the power of God. It clogs up the operations of the kingdom.
He said that the lame shall leap. Isn’t that what happened with the little boy? He was lame, and he was leaping before it was over. I can recall a service in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, I believe. Thousands of people attended the conference, and I was the keynote speaker. I was standing on the platform when the Lord came to me and said, "Tonight I want to do much healing here, and I want to help you help the people get healed. So, tell the people to do what they cannot do, and that will release their faith so I can heal them." I replied, "Okay, Lord.” The first thing that happened was that my legs started getting so weak, they felt like dough; I could hardly stand up. The Lord said to me, “I want to heal people who cannot walk.” So I spoke out the word, and said, “If you are here and you cannot walk, and you came here to get your healing, get up and start moving.” Over on my far left, a young man started screaming his head off. I asked him, “What’s wrong?” He yelled, “It’s my dad. Look!” His father had jumped up out of his seat and was running. I said, “OK.” And he exclaimed, “No, you don’t understand. He hasn’t been able to walk in years and he’s running!” So I shouted at the man who was running up and down the aisle and said, “Come! Let us all see.” He came running up and ran back and forth in front of the sanctuary. His son was there, saying, “Look, these are the crutches that he used to walk with when he was not in the wheelchair.”
“And the lame shall walk, and shall leap like a hart.” Why? Because the kingdom of God is in you. He expects you to fulfill these things. What did He do to the man to whom was given one coin and the man said, “I went and buried it.” What did He say to him? He disciplined him, took his coin away, and gave it to somebody else. He said, "The least you could have done was put it in the bank." You have been given gifts; you have been given the kingdom. Part of the kingdom in you is filled with the gifts of God, and God wants you to use those gifts. He wants you to let Him use you. When you see someone who is needy and they say, “Please pray for me,” do not say, “Oh, I can’t. God would never heal you through me.” The kingdom of God is in you. Yes, He will heal— through you. God expects you to fulfill the commission. He does not expect you to sit on it.
“Pray, therefore: Thy kingdom come.” So you have the kingdom, and you have a part of the kingdom. It is something that is to grow inside of you, not to sit dormant. When you are not spending time in the Word, prayer, and doing the work of the ministry, then the kingdom lies dormant and is of little value. God wants to enlighten the world through His Church. The kingdom is full of light; it is light. How can He enlighten the world through a Church that does not make use of the kingdom of light within them?
Now I would like to tell you another secret. When you look at your friend, if nothing is said, you do not know if that person prays much or not. But did you know that Satan knows? When he looks at you, he sees the light, and he sees it in proportion to your prayer life. If you have a good, healthy prayer life, you have much light. If you have a good Word life, you have much light, and he knows that you are a problem. If you do not pray much or have much of a Word life, you have very little light, and he knows that you are an easy target. Satan knows more about you than the Church does. What I am telling you is true. He can see who has the kingdom and who does not. He can also see how much of the kingdom you have. If you have a lot of the kingdom and you are doing him a lot of harm, it does cause him a little consternation.
Isaiah 35:7-8 Amp. And the burning sand and the mirage shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water; in the haunt of jackals, where they lay resting, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. And a highway shall be there, and a way; and it shall be called the Holy Way. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for the redeemed; the wayfaring men, yes, the simple ones and fools, shall not err in it and lose their way.
This is the kingdom. The kingdom in you has a highway of holiness, pure and clean. God does not want that kingdom mixed with the darkness of sin. The highway of holiness in you leads to the throne. He does not want your journey impeded with the darkness. There is a reason why He says, “Be ye holy.” He wants you moving in great realms in the kingdom. “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.” It has been prayed for six thousand years. It is an important prayer. God does not want your path impeded. He wants to have the kingdom moving in full efficacy in you, but the highway that belongs to the kingdom is the highway of holiness. It is the only thing that allows the unimpeded release of the kingdom.
God wants to give you so much. What I have shared with you is a very small part of what He wants to give to you. It is a very small part of what He has in store. If the kingdom could be equated to a standard globe, what I have shared is like a pea; it is a small part of the whole. There is so much more in store for those who will run after it. Only believe. I love that He said that because He also said “With men [it is] impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God” (Mark 10:27). Did you know that there are things deliberately made impossible to man in order to reveal the glory of God? He determined them to be impossible so that He can do it and reveal His glory. When we look at it, it seems impossible. That is the moment to say, "But all things are possible with Him," and to believe it. If you say to the mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea, what is to happen? With faith, the mountain must move. It must happen with faith. Because it cannot be done by man, God is glorified.
My dear brothers and sisters, I want to say one last thing. You were destined to be on the earth at this time. This is your destiny. If you do nothing with your life, then you will pay the price. It will cost you, and it will cost you standing before the throne of God. There is nothing you cannot do if you believe. It does not mean that it does not get hard. The greatest things do not come easily, but they will come if you persevere. However, if you decide that you do not want to be used by God and you bury your gift, you are cheating yourself. When you get before the throne, you will suffer great loss. God wants to use His Church. He wants to walk with us. He wants to teach us His ways, how He thinks, and how to be free from the things of the world so that we can move in the full effulgence of the glory. This is what He wants, and He wants it for you. Do you believe me? Only believe.
In Him,
Nita Johnson