God Has Invited Us To A Kingdom With No Boundaries
In so much of my life as an adult, I have been evaded by the answer to how to make an impact on the world. It was if I was in this little land of mediocrity, stuck in a comfort zone that I couldn’t break out of. But I have since learned that God has no limits and that there is a secret to pushing the boundaries out on my success in life. I have come to an understanding that God has invited us to a kingdom with no boundaries.
You don’t have to read too much of the Old Testament to realize that God encouraged expansion. His promise to Moses and the Israelites was a land filled with milk and honey. He would all but GIVE them a home of their own if they would but step forward in faith and claim it. Nation after Godless nation would fall before them and their borders would expand exponentially. But they choked.
Joshua eventually led Israel through their conquests and one by one their enemies fell. Their borders crept steadily wider. And after Joshua’s death, King David wiped out the nations that remained.
In the physical realm, God encouraged a kingdom with no boundaries. Of course, Israel’s borders had to have some physical limitations.
But the picture of conquest the God gave us at the time of the first covenant alluded to a different reality in the second.
A New Battle
At the incarnation of Jesus, a lot of things changed. There was no more eye-for-an-eye but a new commandment—love. There would soon be no more animal sacrifice—Jesus was to be the final propitiation. And the conquest of physical territory was no longer promoted—the spiritual was.
The commands of the First Testament were never an end unto themselves but set the stage for what was to come in the Second. The physical expansion in Israel’s early days gave meaning to what was to come next—the growth of the spiritual kingdom.
Jesus gave a parable of the kingdom of heaven where it started as a small seed and grew to a great tree large enough for the birds of the air to nest in. The idea was the concept of small beginnings and incredible growth. Still, even the growth expressed in a tiny seed becoming an immense tree has limits.
But where our physical universe has boundaries, the spiritual need not have any.
The Spiritual Realm
The spiritual dimension is boundless. How can God be contained? What limits can box God in? How can a cap be put on love, or joy, or peace, or hope? They can’t. These are the things of God’s kingdom and they are limitless.
When we experience love, joy, peace, and hope—and offer them to others—we are engaging in limitless expansion of an unseen kingdom greater than any physical one ever known. There are no borders or boundaries—we can go bigger and wider than we can ever imagine.
We already know that God encourages expansion. He expanded Israel’s territory in the time B.C. And He expands His kingdom today.
We are able to carry that mission forward. No more violence, no more pain. Minds open to possibility and hearts fully committed are the weapons of this war.
And as we press on we will see the “fruits” of victory. We will know a world of greater love and hope. There can be greater peace within and without.
We will increase not only God’s Kingdom but expand our own lives as citizens of that Kingdom. In fact, the people who do God’s work are His kingdom. Anything I do in love or with joy, faith, or hope will necessarily affect me as well. As I promote those qualities I also find reward in return. We reap what we sow.
This is how we know personal victory in life.
The Key To The Victory
There is one caveat, however.
Ancient Israel’s victory was only assured if they were faithfully obeying God. When they turned their backs on Him the source of their strength was disconnected and they would fail. But as they turned back to God they would again know victory.
This, too, is a picture of spiritual success today. We cannot gain spiritual victory and the expansion He is looking for if we attempt the war without Him. Our key to winning these battles lies in the Spirit of God.
Jesus told his disciples these words recorded in John 15:4:
“No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”
And the Apostle Paul tells us in Galatians 5: 22-23,
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”
In other words, as we yield to the Spirit’s demands of holiness we bear the fruit that allows us to conquer evil.
Your Spirit-Filled Life
As you begin to put your desires in-check behind what is in God’s heart you ironically begin to expand your effectiveness. Where you only knew self-defeating behavior before you can know victory over your own destructive actions. You can begin to impact the world around you for the better. You can make a difference.
Make a difference! This is what I was looking for my whole life!
But my problem was I was looking for that in strength in myself. I was trying in my own effort to impact the world and find success.
Zechariah 4:6 tells us,
“This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.”
Victorious spiritual living, the expanding of God’s Kingdom and even our own, does not come about by our own strength. In the backward way of the spiritual, we find that victory through surrender.
We know conquest over evil only when we remove ourselves from the equation. The less “we” are a part of it the better. For those of us that lean toward self-deprecation this is where we say, “I told you so.”
Of course, it’s not about self-deprecation at all but rather submission.
It’s comforting really to know that I’m not on the hook for supplying victory. But I do have a role and that role is to put my goals second to God’s.
Here is the point: We expand spiritual borders through spiritual methods. We don’t expand the boundary lines just by pushing them out. We have to leave the heavy lifting to God because He is the only one who can provide and sustain that kind of strength. But as we yield to Him, He will supply the victory. Our success lies in our surrender.
Take Away
Sometimes as we go through life it feels like we have weights on our ankles. We try to keep trodding on but we just don’t find victory.
If you feel like you are stuck in a place of mediocrity while other people’s territory is advancing, it’s time to re-examine. Find some time to evaluate how exactly you are fighting the battles of life. If you are doing it in your own effort you will keep struggling and you won’t find yourself advancing. Although you might not be losing, you are certainly not winning.
Instead, try this: surrender. Yield control of your life through submission to God. It’s just that simple—and it’s just that tough.
No, it might not always be easy. You are human and that carries with it all of the usual baggage.
But if you can make your own goals and desires secondary and seek His ways first, you are promised victory. God’s Kingdom will expand and you will push out your own borders in life. As you do you will begin to realize that God has invited us to a kingdom with no boundaries.
Aaron Force is a blogger from Seattle, Washington. He writes from a point of authenticity, as an outpouring of a spiritual calling and awakening that occurred in April of 2015. His purpose is to help better the lives of his readers with instruction, insight, and inspiration related to spirituality and self-improvement. The story of his remarkable calling can be found (here).
Aaron Force is a blogger from Seattle, Washington. He writes to educate others about the nature of an expanded consciousness to evolve humanity. Aaron unexpectedly experienced his own profound awakening and ego transcendence in 2015 and soon understood that the qualities of his own experience (a greater expansion and evolution in his life) could be applied to mankind collectively.