It seems there was this man that for all of his life lived in need. No matter what he attempted, it seems he could never get ahead. One day he received notification that a distant relative had died and left to him their mansion. Obviously, this man was elated. Finally, something had gone right for him.
Upon receiving the deed and keys to the mansion, this individual proceeds to his new possession. As he arrives, he is struck with awe and amazement at its size and grandeur. With great excitement, he inserts the key and opens the massive polished oak doors stepping into the most elaborate and beautiful foyer he has ever seen.
The floors are a gleaming marble. The walls are decorated with priceless paintings. The curtains are what you would expect in the most opulent of homes. The chandeliers are of exquisite cut leaded glass reflecting the sunlight into a myriad of rainbow colors. The man is so overwhelmed with joy that tears begin to flow down his cheeks. He pauses for a moment thinking about this distant relative who he has never met, yet this relative has given him the best gift of his life.
Suddenly, the man turns and walks out with a smile on his face, locking the door and returns to his meager dwelling. All through the week, he lives his life of existence, thinking about his mansion. He has told his friends at work about it. Even given some directions to it. Yet every day he returns to his same old abode.
A week later, we find this man back at his new mansion. With similar excitement, he places the key in the door and swings open that large door and steps into the foyer. Once again, he is overwhelmed with the beauty, and it is all his! He revels in the wonder that he could be so fortunate and mentally thanks his relative for this gift. After a few minutes, he turns and once again, walks out the massive door and returns to his routine life of meager existence.
Unfortunately, because he did not venture further into the mansion, he missed the envelope his relative left in one of the other rooms. Inside this envelope were instructions to access the safe in the office that obtained the keys to various lock boxes where further valuables were stored.
This process of weekly visits to his mansion is repeated week after week, month after month, until the man has developed a pattern of accessing limited benefits of his new mansion.
Now we all understand this is a fictitious story. We really don’t believe anybody would be that foolish, not taking full possession of his inheritance.
However, we find this happens week after week in churches throughout the body of Christ. With the traditional focus of the church on the salvation message, we constantly focus on entering the kingdom of God. Our message is continually presenting the door to this wonderful spiritual domain. Week after week we encourage believers to focus on entering into the experience God has for them and making sure that they have continual access.
There is more to the kingdom than the door. Jesus came preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven — the good news of the dominion of a spiritual realm. Inside the kingdom, God has for us much more than we could ever imagine. There is provision, protection, peace, joy, power, and demonstration. We need to venture deeper into our father’s house and seek what He has placed there for us.
How can we accomplish this?
Change our prayer to abiding prayer – stay until we hear from Him.
Seek to mature beyond being a child of God to becoming a son of God.
Walk in the empowering of the Spirit, demonstrating apostolic authority.
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