Have you ever lived in a kingdom? In America, we don’t understand a whole lot about the concept of kingdom life because we value independence above all else. Since we are free, we are all entitled to have our own dominions. I can be “King Bobby” with my big arm chair, my iced tea, and my baseball, and you can be your own king or queen too. In other words, you are free to pursue the things that make you happy, and this personal liberty is what makes our country great. I love being American and I love living in America because it’s wonderful to not have a tyrannical ruler lording it over me. There are places in this world, however, where kingdom life still exists. Take England, for example. Although it is governed democratically, technically, the country and its resources belong to the queen. They are her majesty’s roads, it is her majesty’s courthouse, her majesty’s castle, and her majesty’s gate. Even the ships are termed H.M.S., meaning “Her Majesty’s Service.” The long and short of it is that in England, everyone and everything is in the kingdom of the queen because it all belongs to her! I believe we can learn a lesson from this about what it means to live life in and with Jesus.

Friend, you are saved by entering the Kingdom of God and by submitting your life to Jesus Christ. When you assume your citizenship in His domain, you recognize that everything is under His purview, under His order, under His command, and under His blessing. Becoming His disciple requires that you change your thinking and remember that whatever your have or partake of belongs to Him first. You live in God’s house and you are raising God’s kids — your parents are God’s, your body is God’s, your sickness is God’s, your future is God’s, and your very life is God’s. He cares more about your circumstances than you do and He alone is strong enough to take care of them! Isn’t that a remarkable thought?