A Devotional by Pastor Cesar Castellanos
Today’s Bible Verse
“But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him” but we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.
Hebrews 10:38-39
Establish God’s Kingdom Through Faith
In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught that we have to ask for the Kingdom of God to come to us. This is a Kingdom that cannot be established in a human mind full of logic and the pleasures of this world. There is only one way for His Kingdom to be established in a life, and that is through faith. Faith is the master key that lets us open the door to enter the Kingdom of God. Here, the Holy Spirit leads and teaches us about all the treasures that He has in store for those who are determined to live by faith. The Holy Spirit teaches us how to bring those heavenly treasures to this world.
God is above every kingdom. We know that there is a natural or human kingdom. However, the Kingdom of God is above all things. Through the prophet, the Lord said, “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool” (Isaiah 66:1).
Jesus came from Heaven to bring redemption. When it was conquered by His death on the Cross, He was resurrected by the power of God. By faith in Jesus, we have been promoted to the same level of authority that He had. “And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6). Although our physical body is on the Earth, our spiritual nature is seated in Heaven. Just as all things were submitted to Christ under His feet, since we are His feet as part of the Body of Christ, we have authority over the same things Jesus has authority over.
Most people tend to conform to the circumstances and feel comfortable with all that is accomplished. New beginnings in life imply leaving behind what was already conquered and set out to explore the unknown. The life of faith consists of conquering without losing heart, and aligning our thoughts to His Word (Romans 12:2).
Only by faith can we confirm that God’s blessings are real to us. On many occasions, He places a sense in the heart that leads us to His will for our lives in a particular moment. Every time this happens, it is because He desires to take us to a higher dimension (Ezekiel 37:3).
To Nicodemus, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again” (John 3:3). The same way that natural birth lets us see the external world, the new birth allows us to see the invisible Kingdom of God. This experience is caused directly by the work of the Holy Spirit who takes the faith of the person and sows the spirit of life in this new man (John 3:5).
Something to Think About
My parents got divorced when I was 6 years old. At the age of 8 I was confined to a government institution. From this, I understood that my mother did not love me, which caused me to hate the whole world. However, at the age of 16, I came to know of the Word of God through some classmates who had become Christians. Although I tried to get rid of those preachers, they responded with a loving attitude to every disdainful gesture that I made. I could not believe it, but it was evident that they lived and put into practice what they preached.
For Thanksgiving Day, the supervisor said that we could go to our homes to spend the day with our older brothers. I decided to test my classmates by saying that, if God existed, He would not let my father who was an alcoholic be drunk on that particular day, just as I had asked Him. According to my experience from past years he was always drunk on Thanksgiving, and I could tell them that God was not real. To my great surprise, my father was completely sober when I got to the house, and I began to suspect that God was a real person with whom I was fighting against. During the next meeting with my classmates, I told them how God had demonstrated to me that He existed. After this, one of them explained the plan of salvation and led me to accept Jesus.”
Prayer
“Dear God, thank You for teaching me how to enter Your Kingdom and for sending the Holy Spirit to take my hand and show me the treasures that You have prepared for those who love You. Thank You, because we can establish the fortresses of Your Kingdom among us and equip those we love with Your shields of protection. Thank You for joy, happiness, peace, love and salvation that are found in Your Kingdom. I love You, Lord Jesus, Amen.”
Declaration
Through faith, I will establish the Kingdom of salvation in my generation.
Today’s Bible Reading
Our Bible Reading Plan gives 25 daily readings per month. There is no scheduled reading for today. You can use this time to catch up on any readings you may have missed, or read through previous passages again.
