Crisis in Private

Isaiah 6:9, “He said, Go and tell this people; ‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive; keep on looking, but do not understand.’”

Of all the things scriptural, the one subject that seems to be always foremost in my mind is the kingdom of God. I have described it as best I can, and in those descriptions I have said it is sight. The kingdom of God, or the awareness of it in us, is in so many ways vision. It is looking and understanding. In fact Jesus quoted Isaiah 6:9 right after saying to His disciples, “… To  you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables.”

To whom is the kingdom described in parables, in mystery? Those who are outside it. To those in the kingdom there is also the awareness of it.

And so we have people, just like in the time of Christ, who are both aware of the kingdom of God, and those who are not. There are those who are aware of the rule and reign of Christ and there are those who are not. This awareness cannot be judged, observed in others, unless being observed from within the kingdom. Consider the Pharisees. They were religiously taught; they were use to spiritual practices and yet were blind to the kingdom of God.

I would even go so far as to say that the awareness of the kingdom of God is immeasurable on all levels. Even the person to whom it is alive and growing within them has no revelation as to the kingdom’s full capacity or purpose. But what is known to the aware is the tangibility of it all.  And what is further know is that surrender to the cross of Christ is the entrance.

Of this entrance through the cross Oswald Chambers  wrote, “…you are ready to be offered as a sacrifice for Him. Then accept the consequences as they come, without any complaints, in spite of what God may send your way. God sends you through a crisis in private, where no other person can help you. From the outside your life may appear to be the same, but the difference is taking place in your will. Once you have experienced the crisis in your will, you will take no thought of the cost when it begins to affect you externally.”

More often than not the person who is aware of the kingdom of God has a life that looks very different on the outside. Worldly motivations no longer have the same value. To those kingdom aware, their actions become crazy as the consequences lose consideration in the eyes of those not aware of the kingdom. The battlefield is no longer where are feet go, but it becomes more and more where our spirit dwells. The battlefield in the end is inside us - - for those who look and understand.