Pastor Lindell Ballenger

The Kingdom of God is a Kingdom of Power. It is strong and resilient and when you become a citizen of this Kingdom through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ you are a part of an everlasting, eternal, indestructible Kingdom. Many kingdoms of men have sought to destroy God’s Kingdom and its citizens. Every one of them has failed. They always have and they always will. Trying to do away with the Kingdom of God is like trying to alter the very fabric of the universe. Creation itself is bound up in and regulated by the principles of God’s Kingdom.

The Kingdom of Heaven is more durable than the kingdoms of the earth. Earthly kingdoms will all pass away, but God’s Kingdom will stand forever. One of the characteristics of durability is patience. Patience can accomplish things that haste never dreamed of. A loser in life is actually a winner who lacked the patience to wait and to keep trying. Patience is a precious commodity that is all too rare in our society today. It is so precious that it is listed as one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit (see Galatians 5:22-23). I believe that patience is one of the greatest gifts God can give any of us. Proverbs 16:32 says, “Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city.”

The virtue of patience is largely lost in our “got-to-have-it-now” world of instant gratification. Many young couples think they are failures if they cannot immediately buy the kind of house their parents had to wait 20 or 30 years to afford. Many families today are buried under a mountain of debt because they could not wait until they could afford the standard of living they wanted. Insisting on having it all right now, they sold their financial freedom and made themselves slaves of credit.

The Kingdom of Heaven is more durable than the world. Why is this important? As citizens of the Kingdom of God, we need to absorb the fact that we are part of a culture that never gives up. Throughout the Word of God we are told to stand fast, run the race, fight the good fight and finish the course. Our problem is that we give up too easily. Many believers are not conditioned for hardship. At the first sign of trouble they throw in the towel. “Well, that didn’t work. I guess it just isn’t God’s will. Let’s try something else.” Or someone at church hurts their feelings, so they stop coming. The preacher gets too “personal” in his preaching, and they’re gone. They have no durability, no patience and no staying power.

Real faith is more than feel-good moments, and blessings. It includes all of these, but it also digs much deeper and demands much more. The call to this kind of faith is a call to endure. It is a call to stand strong and never give up in the face of trouble, hardship, opposition, or fear. As citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven we are part of a culture that can withstand any and all challenges, including death. There are countless multitudes of believers across two millennia that have suffered and died for their faith. If we could ask each of them “Was it worth it?” they would join in a thundering reply, “Yes!” No price is too high for a citizen of the Kingdom of God to pay in the service of his or her King.

Since in Christ even death itself is no longer a fearsome thing, as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, we need not be afraid of the temporary trials, tests, and opposition. All trials are temporary. What we have to do is make sure that we are not temporary. As we have seen many times in recent weeks storms move in with fearsome winds and destruction, but they also move out again. Whatever you’re going through is moving, so don’t panic, stand firm in your faith and let it pass on through. Our King calls us to stand fast and equips us to do so. Faith is the key that gives us access. Faith clothes us in the armor of God (see Ephesians 6:10-18) and is part of that armor that enables us to endure in the face of any foe or challenge, whether natural or supernatural.

Paul likens faith to a shield, a defensive weapon. If we never had battles to fight, we wouldn’t need faith. Faith protects us in the midst of the battles. Your tests are temporary, so wait them out. You can never know what breakthroughs and blessings may lie up ahead, so don’t let temporary troubles defeat you and cut you off from greater things to come.

Remember, your faith is the most important power you possess, so as you run the race of life, keep your faith. As you anchor your life in God through faith, let your beliefs and convictions, which come from Him, create confidence in you for daily living. Then as you rise to face the tests and trials that come your way, your faith will be revealed and be plainly evident to others. They will see God’s power at work in you and will glorify Him.