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Loitering in the Foyer of The Kingdom
by Jack Vorster You heard the Gospel and God's call penetrated through to your heart. You believed. And immediately you were translated from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light, but you've been standing around in the foyer of the Kingdom ever since. The vast majority of Christians have been "loitering" in the foyer, not going further through the many doorways from there leading to the treasure chests God has lying in wait for them. Perhaps many mistakenly feel that the Kingdom Of God awaits them one day when they go on to Heaven. There's the story of Elisha who was determined to receive double the portion of Elijah's spirit, upon whom the Power of God was manifested. This is what Elisha asked of his master, Elijah, when the latter was about to be taken to Heaven. Elijah agreed. The day came when Elijah departed in a chariot of fire. Elisha, without any hesitation, "took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces. He took up also the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of the Jordan...and smote the waters, and said, Where is Jehovah, the God of Elijah? And when he also had smitten the waters, they were divided hither and thither, and Elisha went over. And when the sons of the prophets that were at Jericho over against him saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha." (2Kings 2:12-15) When Elisha tore up his own clothes he signified that he would no longer remain within the bondage of the weakness of darkness over his old life, but would put on the mantle of newness and enter fully into the Kingdom promised to him. He simply was not going to hang around after watching Elijah go up and ponder in the "foyer" and not take up the full Power imputed to him. He went straight through the doors leading from the foyer. Elisha went on under the anointing resting upon him and was responsible for more works of miracles than Elijah. Today, as Christians, we have far more than Elisha. Unlike Elisha, we do not have to ask, "Where is Jehovah, the God of Elijah?" God is right inside of us in the Spirit of Jesus and the Power of the Holy Spirit. Our old lives were torn up by God and we became new creatures in Christ. The Power of the Kingdom only rested upon Elisha, whereas the Kingdom of God is within us. We don't have to hang around in the foyer anymore. The mantle of the Holy Spirit is in our hands and we can divide the waters of despair, weakness, sickness, strife, destruction, lack and the attacks of the enemy so that they part "hither and thither" before us. This is what it means to overcome. Overcomers can only overcome from within the Kingdom. There is a difference between entering the Kingdom - and entering INTO the Kingdom, as expressed by Jesus. The former puts us in the foyer where the nearness of the shadows of the cares and attractions of this world of darkness still beckons us and even at times pulls us right back into a backslidden state. Entering INTO the Kingdom only becomes a reality to us if we approach it with the zeal and determination of Elisha and in full expectation that the promises of God will be received exactly as per His Word. Like Elisha after Elijah, we are supposed to do "greater works" than Jesus, Who gave us much more than a mantle, but we tend to be like the "sons of the prophets" standing afar off and waiting for others to take up the mantle. We are the Temple of God and the foundation thereof is Jesus Christ. There is a reward for what we build thereon, provided it is not the world's gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay and stubble, which will be burned, leaving only the works that abide and that cannot be burned. (See 1 Cor. 3:10-16) Indeed, faith without works is dead - it remains in the foyer. Now retired, Jack Vorster has a background in marketing in the field of newspaper advertising. As a result of a life-changing experience he turned his attention to the study of the human make-up and the realities connected to human behaviour based on the Word of God. Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com |