KEYS OF THE KINGDOM IX
‘Mornin’ Folks! This is the best day of your life! Yessir! This is the next day that God has made – after yesterday, which really was a good day – and the last time I checked, every day with the Lord is better than the day before. See there?
In our last Coffee Break, I told you about our granddaughter Jessica’s “experiencing,” as she so uniquely described her event where “the Holy Spirit put [me] to sleep,” and the angelic visitation she had. Later during the conference she decided it would be more “fun” to be with the adults during the meetings because “they do more experiencing!”
During one of our worship times I had felt to simply lay prostrate before the Lord and soak in His presence. No, I wasn’t “slain in the spirit.” This was a conscious decision to simply lay prostrate face down before the Lord.
To my very great delight, I “experienced” and was it ever unique! As I simply soaked in the presence of the Lord, it was as though waves were breaking over my back. The sensation was that of water rolling back and forth across me. The glory of the Lord was absolute tangible!
When I returned to my seat, a sister who was sitting in front of me turned around and said, “While you were lying on the floor I saw the most astounding thing. My eyes were wide open. There was a cloud of Glory that formed over you and it billowed back and forth across you. Then an angel of the Lord appeared and stood next to you. He was very large, and he had an oversized sword in his hand held upright. Fire was coming out of both edges of the sword, and the angel laid the sword across you.”
The lady went on to share a direct Word from the Lord to me that was extremely meaningful – and one that I will not share in this forum. Suffice it to say that it fit with “feather” experience. It was both a confirming Word to things the Holy Spirit had been speaking to me, and a Word of release for me to move into a realm of ministry I have long awaited.
The conference was filled with these kinds of events, including dreams, visions and visitations some of which I will share in the days to come.
Now, let’s continue with our discussion.
THE NATURE OF GOD'S COVENANT WITH US
Let’s talk about this Covenant for a minute.
Two words appear in Greek, both of which are translated “covenant” or perhaps “agreement.”
The first word is suntheke, and it represents contracting between men. It is a covenant with terms each side must agree to, and having penalties imposed on any party that might violate the terms of the covenant.
This word is a contraction of sun (meaning with, by mutual agreement) and theke (to dispose of). Theke is a legal term which deals with unresolved issues.
Suntheke, however, is not a word you will ever find used in the New Testament with reference to our covenant with God. Suntheke is a contract or covenant between peers. It is the kind of covenant struck between Jacob and Laban (see Genesis 31), and it is the word which appears in the Septuagint (or Greek translation) of the Old Testament.
The word which always occurs throughout the New Testament for covenant is diatheke, and it has strong implications. Diatheke combines dia (which means “through” or “by way of”) with the aforementioned theke.
What makes this word so unique is the fact that it is a covenant accomplished through and by Jesus’ Blood, and the sacrifice He made on the Cross.
In other words, it is a covenant ratified and put into force by the act of just one party— the Lord Jesus Christ — and made available to all who will agree with and enter into.
Understand? This covenant is unique in the fact that it was put in force by one man — Jesus — in the process of fulfilling the old Covenant God made with Abraham and clarified through Moses.
Under the old Covenant, the sacrifice of innocent animals was required so that there could be a shedding of blood. Just as a reminder to you, all Biblical and ancient historical covenants have required the shedding of blood before they could be ratified.
The old Covenant God made with Abraham and enacted with Israel required the continual shedding of the blood of animals as substitutionary for the blood of man — which had been contaminated by sin. Jesus’ death was the death of an innocent man. He had never sinned despite being tempted and tested in every way that we are tempted.
Jesus fulfilled and completed in totality the requirements of the old Covenant so that we could enter into a new Covenant with Father — the same Covenant that Adam and Eve had in the Garden. Adam and Eve lacked for nothing under that Covenant.
They had literally everything they could possibly want or have need of. What’s more, they had a realm of fellowship that permitted them to move back and forth between time and eternity with ease.
They were spirit beings operating in the realm of the spirit with the breath and voice of Father, being able to speak with the same creative power and exercise God’s dominion in Earth.
I know that some folks have really questioned how Adam and Eve could exercise God’s power of creative speech, but when you realize that they spoke what He spoke, their speech simply agreed with what Father had already said. They put audible sound to what Father was saying in the Heavens, causing to come to pass what He was saying.
When Eve first ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, thanksgiving for that naturally supernatural realm went by the wayside, traded for a fantasy and a lying myth out of the mouth of the Serpent. When Adam followed Eve’s act, because he was Eve’s covering and the first to hear and agree with God’s Covenant in the earth, he set in motion a series of events by which the entire human race from that moment forward was condemned.
Thanklessness was part of the fruit of that act. Instead of being thankful for all that he was in God, instead of being thankful for the opportunity to bring the Kingdom of Heaven to Earth, Adam’s act now imposed a spirit of greed and a continual thirst or lust for something more that they didn’t have — or at least they didn’t see that they had.
Being unthankful limits our access to all that God has. Being unthankful is the ultimate betrayal of the Covenant we have with Father through Jesus Christ.
Unthankfulness towards God is a slap in His face. Not offering thanks for all that Jesus has done is to effectively negate His suffering, His death on the Cross, and His resurrection from the dead.
NONSTOP THANKSGIVING
Unthankfulness literally shuts the windows of Heaven to the untold wealth of the Kingdom God desires to open up to the world. We have a responsibility as Sons and Daughters of God to continually express thanksgiving and to demonstrate to the world the gifts, the authority, the power, the grace, and — most of all — the love of Father towards the world in the ultimate sacrifice of giving His only begotten Son so that all of Heaven could once again be available and accessible to all who will enter into this diatheke with Him.
Once again we look at what Paul wrote the Ekklesia in Ephesus:
Ephesians 5:20: Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Notice that Paul doesn’t say in this instance “giving thanks always in all things,” as he says in another one of his epistles. He says “giving thanks always for all things.” There is an important distinction here. We must remember that God never permits anything to take place in our lives that He can’t use for our growth and our development of His character in us.
Since His objective is for us to live and operate as His fully-grown, fully-mature huios “sons” with full authority and power of His Kingdom functioning and visibly manifested, He is able to take every circumstance – no matter what it is – and turn it for our good. The catch is that we have to allow Him to do just that.
Thanksgiving offered to Him IN the midst of every situation opens the way for that to happen! It is key to the release of His authority and power in our lives.
Let’s switch gears now in this discussion and take a totally different approach. We’re still talking about the Keys of the Kingdom. Let me lay a little foundation for where we will be taking this topic.
THE KEY OF DAVID, Part 1
David had an understanding of spiritual principles that none of his peers had. The Holy Spirit enabled him to see into a realm of authority that became the standard for the way we utilize the Keys of the Kingdom.
First we’ll look at the prophetic word, and then we’ll begin laying some foundations for understanding just what John was talking about.
Revelation 3:7-13: And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
Notice that the angel of the Lord says to John, “These things saith He that is Holy, He that is true, He that hath the key of David, He that openeth, and no man shutteth, and shutteth, and no man openeth….”
What was and is the Key of David? Let’s see if we can get to the core of understanding just what David possessed. Consider the following statements that David made in the Psalms:
Psalm 8:4-6: What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels (Elohim: God), and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:
Psalm 144:3: LORD, what is man, that thou takest knowledge of him! or the son of man, that thou makest account of him!
Then David says:
Psalm 129:1-4, 13-18: O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.
For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.
Next we see Solomon expanding upon what his father had shared:
Proverbs 18:21: Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
Proverbs 16:1: The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.
Proverbs 18:4: The words of a man’s mouth are as deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook.
Proverbs 21:23: Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles.
How is all this possible? We know that in the beginning we were made in the image and likeness of God. Since every word that came from His mouth had creative effect, we shouldn’t be too surprised that we, likewise, have that same power and authority.
I want to expand on this further, but it would make today’s sharing quite long.
Let’s shorten today’s Coffee Break here and pick this up in our next discussion as we talk about the power of words and the language of the Spirit.
Blessings on you!
Regner
Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
Prosser, Washington 99350
(509) 515-0133
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