Two Kingdoms: Where do You Abide?
There are two kingdoms your soul can abide in; one of this earth, one of heaven; one of man’s wisdom, one of God’s wisdom; one of darkness, one of light; one of death, one of life; one of lies, one of truth. John 8:44, James 3:15-18 One kingdom is governed by evil and the other by righteousness. 1 John 5:19 The kingdoms are each governed by their respective kings; Satan, Father of lies represented by following our will separate from God, and Christ, the Truth represented by following God’s will.
Whichever kingdom we seek life from is the one we dwell in; life meaning purpose, value, peace, joy, rest, happiness, and love. We seek life from them by listening to their messages (what we consider wisdom) and acting on them. Both kingdoms promise these aspects of abundant life, but one’s ways returns void, and the other’s fulfilled.
We dwell in whichever kingdom based on which one we have cultivated faith in. Faith is knowing a concept, believing it and acting on it with the hopes of fulfillment of what we desire.
These two kingdoms are represented throughout the Bible. From the beginning God made a clear distinction between them and the results of our choice …
Deuteronomy 30:19 I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live;
Which kingdom’s path we choose to learn of and travel determines the results of our lives, one leads to curses and the other to blessings.
The kingdom of darkness engulfs this world. Satan governs this earth and all the man-made established systems of this earth; economics, politics, financial, education, health, religions, media, and so on. His messaging and instruction of his kingdom are EVERYWHERE full of promises of life, yet never delivering but always creating the hope. He promotes partial truth making it a twisted lie. As a result, people sacrifice, strive and become a slave to many empty philosophies in hope that one day they will find the life they seek.
Conversely, the kingdom of light isn’t dominant in this world, yet. But we can abide in it, if we seek. We are born into the mind of the kingdom of darkness, but if we seek, we can move into the kingdom of light by the knowledge of truth. We have to seek because the kingdom of darkness is consuming. Matthew 6:33 As we seek the truth of the kingdom of light, we know it, believe it and thus act on it. Bit by bit, our faith is transferred to the kingdom of light as our lives bear the fruit of it and we realize it’s where true life abides. As the kingdom of darkness fades from our lives so does all it created; death, pain, suffering, hardship, unrest, worry, fear and afflictions.
Colossians 1:13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
To abundantly aid us in our seeking, God gave us the Spirit of truth, the Holy Spirit, to teach us all things about walking in the kingdom of light down to the very details of our lives so in every way we can abide in His Kingdom of life. We simply have to make time to engage Him, which leads me to my next point.
How do we leave the kingdom of darkness and enter into the kingdom of light?
From the Holy Spirit, we learn to transition into the kingdom of light in two main ways, two ways that work hand-in-hand.
- Each day we seek the Holy Spirit’s instruction through the Bible with a desire to know the truth, thus to know God as He is. We let Him be our perfect teacher as God gave us Him to be.
- We listen and follow the Holy Spirit’s counsel in our lives. The Holy Spirit will tell/prompt us to do a certain act. A voice in our head will say, do it this way. At first, we will ignore or justify away the counsel and do what we’ve always done or follow someone else’s counsel. We’ll see the results and realized we should have followed that still small voice. But another day we’ll heed that voice, and witness the perfection of its guidance. We are like an octopus with a vast number of tentacles attached to the kingdom of darkness, but as we listen and follow the Holy Spirit each one is detached and our faith moves to God’s truth.
As we start engaging the Holy Spirit’s wisdom, we will see the perfection of His counsel and it will increase our faith to listen more carefully and follow. His voice is of truth, love, forgiveness, mercy, grace, and contrary to the world’s wisdom.
The door out of the prison of darkness has been opened, so that we can be free. It’s the truth that sets us free; freedom begins with our beliefs. Seek the truth from the One you’ve been given to teach you truth, the Holy Spirit, and begin to enter the kingdom of light, the only place where you will find true life.
Living Light 
January 10, 2012 at 3:24 pm
“It’s the truth that sets us free; freedom begins with our beliefs.”
I like this, Rachel — it’s one of the things I’ve been contemplating lately and I think it does have a great deal to do with our walking in freedom. Jesus Christ has set us free. Now we must (in His strength) walk in that freedom. Great post as always. 🙂
Love, Cindy
January 11, 2012 at 11:51 am
Hi Cindy – great to hear from you. 🙂 To be a truth seeker, truly is a path to freedom, peace, rest and joy.
January 10, 2012 at 7:03 pm
Rachel, you are on fire here. 🙂 Thank you! I really appreciated your analogy of us being like an octopus, with our tentacles attached to darkness. There are things that aren’t true that I believe, but don’t fully realize all of it yet. Things keep popping up, those tentacles keep getting cut. It’s exciting to be free from all that oppression and lies and free to live in His truth and light. God bless you as you get the Word out!
January 11, 2012 at 11:54 am
Hi Debbie – it’s funny the analogies that come to us .. but that one painted a clear picture for me. 🙂 That cutting off is like the pruning that happens as we seek truth through our trials and circumstances. It’s amazing how extensive the influence of the kingdom of darkness has … but I’m finding it can’t stand and lacks power, when the light of truth enters in.
January 10, 2012 at 8:31 pm
for too long i dwelt quite happily here on earth in kingdom the ‘evil one’….
Rev,..17,..For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled
.but thankfully and all praise and thanks to My Heavenly Father,His Awesome Son leads me on the humbling narrow path towards His Kingdom,that will be Established here on Earth,..with His Saviour Son as King of it Forever…..The Kingdom has been advancing from the beginning of time!,..but hasnt Come yet, just as Rev 17 says, until everything is fulfilled,…..That includes His Son Coming,.and doing away with all evil and to fulfil the raising and judgements of the dead,..right until death itself dosent exist no more,..then Will the Father Himself Come Down to this World Kingdom and Judge His Chosen King Son,..then and only then will the Kingdom that is prayed for in The Lords Prayer be Complete.
but know this!,..the beast kingdom is in its final years,..the times and signs show this,..The King of Kings Will Return when the lawless one is revealed,..and start the final finishing touches to His Wonderful Earthly Kingdom,..where He Will Rule, for days…….. without number.
So Be It
and for those with an ear,..when the fig tree shoots forth the tender leaves know that summer is near,..and also discern from that,..that harvest is at the end of summer!
from the beginning to the end of The Bible it is referring to The Kingdom to be Established here on earth
Exodus 19:6
And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
Isaiah 9:7
Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
Daniel 7:18
But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.
Romans 14:17
For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.
1 Corinthians 15:23-25
23But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
24Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
25For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
January 11, 2012 at 12:00 pm
Hi Brian, some of what I’ve been learning .. as Christ’s spirit returns, it returns through those who are truly His, His chosen ones… when this starts to happen, you see the fig tree blooming .. meaning His people are blooming in their lives like they never have before because of the power of Christ’s spirit coming upon and in them. This is how the Day won’t be as a thief to those who are of Christ, because you will see a blooming in your life of the fruit of God (rest, peace, joy, right-mindedness, power, strength) like you never have before.
January 12, 2012 at 8:12 pm
Hi Rachel, you are absolutely right,
..false teaching loves to keep the Truth hidden by using the ‘no one knows because He will come like a thief in the night’, ..BUT ..that only refers to those that love to dwell in and are children of the darkness.
For the children of the Day,..there are plenty of signs,and prophecy in the ‘heavens’, stars and planets, ..and on earth etc.
and so much Books in The Bible,if not all of them, refereeing to the end times,..and many have been misinterpreted through the ages. .BUT…theres certain ones that will only appear at the
end times, so, cant be misinterpreted,…In Daniel is it told to him it will be sealed up until the end of time, and the Saviour said He would Return, ..WHEN!,..The True Gospel is preached throughout the World,..as The Spirit of Truth is now starting to reveal the True Gospel of The Kingdom,..in a little while it will start to spread like never before….The King of Heaven, will, as it is Written, Return and be King of This His Fathers Earth!..and carry out to the letters in engraved on our hearts, His Fathers Will.
Hallelujah!
January 13, 2012 at 1:30 pm
Hi Brian, I agree the true gospel hasn’t preached throughout … but Satan’s doctrines have in abundance. But as the Word becomes unsealed and the truth revealed … it is also telling us the time is upon us when Christ’s kingdom will be established in this earth.
January 11, 2012 at 9:19 pm
Brian, I was looking up your name,
in name meanings, and it means
Nobel, strong, virtuous, hill.
So maybe you are one of those
mountains, in Isaiah.
I guess I would be the opposite.
What is a cornerstone teacher?
January 12, 2012 at 7:53 pm
Glenn, my dear friend, a humble sinner like me will be more than happy for my name just to be Written in The Lambs Book of Life,then i will get the pleasure to gaze in awe upon The ‘Holy Mountain’,in Isaiah,and quench my thirst in the streams thereof,.. that would mean everything to me!
A cornerstone is the main stone for building upon,..The Bible tells us that The King of Kings is The King of Israel and also The Holy One of Israel and is also The Rock of Israel and is also The Messiah,The Son of The Almighty Father, Most High,and we are told to build our belief and faith on Him,’the Stone they rejected’.that has become The Chief Cornerstone,..and also He is Our Teacher through The Holy Spirit,and He will lead us back to The Father!
..and Scripture also tells us if we DONT start with Him, The Son as our Cornerstone to build upon,..everything that isn’t will fall at Glorious His Appearing!
many cornerstones in buildings have carvings into them telling, the builder,…Scripture also tells us The Holy Spirit of our Cornerstone shall inscribe upon the tablets of our hearts!
January 13, 2012 at 1:27 pm
Hi Brian, so well said. So true if we don’t start with the cornerstone all else will not stand.
January 13, 2012 at 5:52 pm
I like to think of Him as a Prism,
you know every way you come
at Him, He’s the magic stone.
Just very magical.
If you see the word melt in the
Old Testament, it means–
flow together.
Psalms 58:7 Let them melt away as
waters [which] run continually: [when]
he bendeth [his bow to shoot] his arrows
let them be as cut in pieces.
~ rainbow ~.
January 12, 2012 at 11:00 pm
“We have to seek because the kingdom of darkness is consuming.”
Amen to that, Rachel. Last year around the world darkness increasingly consumed multitudes of Christians in their fellowships too, often ever so subtly. Based on what I see & hear I have no reason to think it’ll be any different this year. Seekers will have to come out of their man-centered prisons of darkness … God has nothing to say to them in there.
January 13, 2012 at 1:32 pm
Hi Roger — you can’t get light from darkness, or life from death … yet most are trying to do just that. May eyes be opened to see the truth of God.
February 1, 2012 at 8:04 pm
Powerful truths Rachel. Thanks…I have tried it both ways and know your words here to be Spirit led and Spirit filled, Thanks!
February 2, 2012 at 11:11 am
Hi Tom – how incredibly different those two kingdoms are .. the more you move into the kingdom of light, the more that constrast grows.
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July 8, 2013 at 10:18 am
Hi Muriel, thanks for your encouragement. You have blessed me today.