According to the King James Version of the Bible, the concept of a “kingdom” is found in no less than 316 verses. Within these verses the Bible uses six basic terms for a kingdom:
A kingdom of priests [Exo. 19:6].
Kingdoms of men [Dan. 4:25].
Earthly kingdoms ruled by a human leader [examples include the kingdom of Israel (1 Sam. 24:20), the kingdoms of the Amorites and Bashan (Num. 32:33), the Queen of Sheba (1 Ki. 14:4), the kingdoms of Babylon and Greece (Dan. 4:29, 11:2)].
The kingdom of Satan (Matt. 12:26; Lk. 11:18).
New Jerusalem, the city that comes down from the kingdom of Heaven (Rev. chapters 5-22).
The kingdom of God/kingdom of Heaven as an inner spiritual environment that resides within the soul (Lk. 17:20-21).
In contrast to the concept of earthly kingdoms, a spiritual kingdom was the central theme of Jesus’ teachings. This spiritual concept is referenced over 100 times throughout the New Testament books Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
“And I appoint a kingdom to you, as My Father has appointed to Me” (Luke 22:29).
THE KINGDOM OF GOD DEFINED
Most people are more familiar with the concept of a kingdom as an outward environment. Many dictionaries define these visible earthly environments or governments as “a country, state, or territory that is governed or ruled by a king, queen, or other forms of leadership.”
The word “kingdom” that Jesus constantly used during His earthly ministry is traditionally known from a Greek perspective as the word basileia. According to Strong’s Concordance, it’s defined as “a realm or an environment.”
The Hebrew counterpart of basileia is the word mamlakah. From its ancient Hebraic perspective, mamlakah describes a Divine, inner-learning environment where one experiences God in the most intimate level possible. The foundational root word of mamlakh is melak, which is described as “a king that we are to take counsel from.”
The term “kingdom of God” as it relates to the realm of God’s existence within, which Jesus was referring to in Luke 17:20-21, was known in ancient times as the Bet Hammelekh (House of Counsel), which is defined as “a house, or temple of a King that is within.” Bet is Hebrew for “house.” Hammelekh is described as “intelligence and counsel that comes from a King within.”
Much of Jesus’ teachings have been integrated into our culture in a way that many people suppose they are familiar with, and have nothing more to gain from studying them. This couldn’t be further from the truth.
One of the biggest mistakes the people made when Jesus originally introduced the kingdom of God is still being made today. We tend to limit the kingdom of God by thinking of it as an external world government or a religious, ecclesiastical system. An in-depth study of the kingdom of God reveals that Jesus was primarily teaching about a God-consciousness experienced through a learning environment that resides within the soul of every human being.
When Jesus responded to the question from the Pharisees about when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See here!’ Or ‘See there!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is within you” (Lk. 17:21). The first part of Jesus’ answer has been fairly easy to understand. Misunderstanding regarding the latter part, however, has given many an incomplete picture of the kingdom of God that Jesus was referring to.
It is important to note that numerous modern translations of the Bible quote Luke 17:20 as, “the kingdom of God is in your midst.” Many have interpreted this to mean that Jesus was referring to a governmental system in the physical world. This theory couldn’t be further from the truth. First of all, Jesus clearly stated that the kingdom of God does not come with external observation; secondly, numerous ancient Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic scripts of the New Testament clearly indicate that the statement “within you” is the accurate term originally used. The significance and impact of this divine truth are found when defining the word “within” that Jesus used in this crucial monumental verse.
THEWORD “WITHIN” AND THE “ENGRAFTED WORD” THAT IS ALREADY INHERENTLY “WITHIN” YOU
The key to understanding the vital importance of the kingdom of God as an inner-learning environment is found in the word “within” that Jesus used. An in-depth search from its Greek perspective in the New Testament reveals that the word “within” is the term engrapho entos. The word engrapho is defined as “what is written,” and the word entos is defined as “inside.” In other words, to experience the kingdom of God is to experience a process in which something is either already written or is being written inside of you.
It is to experience the full essence of the covenant that God has with every human being. Because He created you for His purposes, it is He who must teach you regarding these purposes for every aspect of your life.
The word “Laws” in these verses, according to ancient Hebrew perspective, is the word Torah, which is defined as “teachings.” It describes the purpose of these type of teachings as “the direction and instruction that one is to take in life.” From the ancient Hebrew perspective, to experience the engrapho entos that is “within” you is to experience the ongoing narrative and teachings directly from the Spirit of God within you according to the details of the book God has authored on your life.
“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord; I will put My Laws into their inward parts, and in their minds, I will write them” (Heb. 10:16; Jer. 31:33).
We see this reality documented in Scripture in Psalms 139: 16-17, which states:
“Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them!”
From its ancient Hebrew perspective, the word “book” in this supreme passage of Scripture is the term sepher-siphrah. Siphrah is defined as “the act of writing based off an account that is given.” Sepher is the book or document that is produced from that writing.
James 1: 21-11 refers to this as experiencing the “engrafted word” that is able to “save our souls;” of which we are commanded to be “doers” of this word and not just “hearers” of it.
Experiencing this “engrafted word” directly from the Spirit of God within your soul is the same experience that Romans 12: 1-2 is referring to that causes you to “ be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God” for your life.
Many Christian religions teach that the Bible is the primary resource that one should use to renew the mind. Though there is of course great value in this practice, the Bible does not contain the specifics for your daily life. The “good and acceptable and perfect will of God” type of details for every aspect of your life can only be found in the mouth of God. This is a process that can only be experienced as we access the kingdom of God that resides within our soul through meditation to be personally indoctrinated by God concerning what His “good, acceptable and perfect will” is for our individual lives [See Deut. 32:1-3; Prov. 4:2; Ps. 139:16-17; Jn. 7:16].
The awesome privilege of getting the transcriptions of your God-authored book – which contains the will of God as you hear from Him daily – must not be taken lightly. It is the most accurate information that you can receive from God Himself as it pertains to the mandate to continually “renew your mind” with all of the knowledge that He has for your life.
This process is required to get to the stage where the perfect (mature and complete) will of God is revealed to you, which contains the works God has preordained for your life (Eph. 2:10). This process also protects you, as it will expose any contaminating worldly and limiting religious influences that may be keeping you from knowing and fulfilling God’s will and assignments for your life.
As previously mentioned in prior posts, Jesus Himself had such a book on His life: “Then I said, behold, I come in the volume of the Book it is written of Me to do Your will, O God” (Heb. 10:7). This is a crucial point that cannot be stressed enough. When Jesus was in prayer, He was experiencing a “reading” from the Spirit of God of what was already written about Him.
This was the experience that empowered Jesus to acquire a level of knowledge and vision that caused Him to live out (and likewise empowers us to live out) these key statements: “As I hear My Father speak, I speak,” “As I see My Father do, I do likewise,” and “Then I said, behold, I come in the volume of the Book it is written of Me to do Your will, O God.” (See Jn. 5:19, 8:28, 12:49-50, 14:10; Heb. 10:5-7)
These details according to the volume of the book that was written about Him became scripture (the script) for His life. They were not found in the Bible, yet they led Jesus to fulfill what the written word (the Bible) prophesied about Him.
Much more content regarding the book that God has authored for your individual life (the engrafted word), and how to experience this life-changing experience can be found in my book -The Mystery of Prayer Revealed – chapter eight “The Logos Book for your life” and in my book – The Mystery of the Kingdom of God Revealed – chapter three “Jesus’ Education and Maturing Process” and chapter nine “Logos and Rhema.”
How does God fulfill His covenantal promises of Hebrews 10:16 and Jeremiah 31:33 of putting His “Laws” (teachings) and “writing them within the inward parts of your heart and mind?” And how do you acquire these “vast sums of thoughts” that are recorded in a book that only God has access to according to Psalms 139:16-17? The only way to experience such a life-changing phenomenon and Divine education is by hearing from Him personally within His kingdom that He has inherently placed within your soul.
Fundamentally, meditation is the silent forerunner that introduces God’s consciousness and teaching into our lives.
Meditation is what positions your body to function as an educative temple of God, your soul into the classroom of God and your spirit as a student of God.
PREACHING VERSUS TRUE TEACHING
To preach something is to announce that something is available to experience. Today, countless ministers are preaching about the kingdom of God. But we need minister to teach us how to experience the kingdom of God that is inherent within our souls through a meditative mindset. We need to understand it at the same level that Jesus experienced it every day of His human life.
Often times, many ministers will say, “this is one of the most misunderstood verses in the entire Bible.” But when it comes to Jesus’ instruction to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,” the claim is true. As Jesus made unambiguously clear, we can experience this inner treasure – and no experience could be more valuable. “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,” He declared, “and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matt. 6:33). “For behold, the kingdom of God is within you” (Lk. 17:21).
The foundational purpose that God inspired me to write the book “The Mystery of the Kingdom of God Revealed” is to look at what could be perhaps the most misunderstood and misapplied, and thus most neglected, understanding of the term “kingdom of God.” Jesus was referring to an inner-kingdom found within the human being. It is a kingdom that cannot be observed or experienced on the outside, but only within the soul.
Consider every great religious, spiritual, and wisdom tradition, and you will find the same precept – that life’s ultimate truth, its ultimate treasure, lies within us. From this inner plane of life, Jesus is saying; we will gain all that is needful for every aspect of our lives.
Thanks for taking the time to read this post as we took A DEEPER LOOK into these important biblical topics.
If this post blessed you, please consider sharing it with others so that they can be blessed by it as well. I sincerely thank you and greatly appreciate it!
Many people believe and teach that all Jesus’ knowledge was divine and God-given. In terms of how Jesus was to live His daily life and the full scope of the kingdom doctrine that He eventually taught as an adult, this is definitely true, yet few people are aware of how key components of Jesus’ traditional Jewish and rabbinical education prepared Him to acquire such divine, God-inspired knowledge within Himself.
Most people only focus on Jesus’ ministry and His living sacrifice on the cross. An equally important purpose for which Jesus came to the earth was to model how someone could be taught how to acquire a meditative mindset in order to personally hear and learn from God through what He referred to as “key of knowledge” (Luke 11:52) form of instruction that evidently was removed from the teachings of certain synagogues.
JESUS’EDUCATION
Since Jesus as a human being, is our model for spiritual development, there are vital realities about His education and what He ultimately experienced from its totality that we must recognize and consider. These crucial components of His education should parallel how the church (and any spiritual environment or leader) uses Scripture to teach people how to experience God as Jesus did when He was on earth.
Being over 2,000 years removed from Jesus’ day, it is challenging for us to project ourselves back across centuries to a culture, language, and education that is sadly foreign to the western mind of today. And yet, before we can even begin to understand the great words and teachings of Jesus or even the words written about Him, precisely this is what we must do.
Jesus’ education would have begun with his earthly parents. Besides sharing with Him the unique circumstances regarding His birth, the responsibility for the first level of formal education belonged to his earthly father, Joseph.
As soon as the child could speak, he would have been taught critical verses from the Torah. The learning of the Hebrew Jewish alphabet, known as the alef-bet, also began at about age three. The focus at the start was to train the child’s memory and the pictorial meanings of each letter.
Since written documents were rare and accessible to only a few, memory was in many ways more important than the ability to read. The ideal student was compared to a cistern, which does not lose a drop. If someone forgot something he had learned, it was said that he was like one who had forfeited his life.
The student was to repeat what he heard, using the same words as his teacher. It should be no surprise, then, that some of Jesus’ sayings sound very much like sayings of other teachers around that time. This method of learning also helps us to understand why Jesus sometimes quoted only part of a Scripture: He knew that His audience would fill in the rest in their minds.
This form of learning also gives us a significant clue as to the ultimate purpose of an earthly spiritual teacher. Though your religious education and development may begin with a parent or someone functioning in a fivefold-ministry capacity, their ultimate goal should be to connect you with the Master Teacher (the Spirit of God within you). This is what Jesus experienced and thus the reason He made landmark statements like, “… as I hear my Father (God) speak, I speak,” and, “… as I see My Father do, I do likewise” (Jn. 8:28, 12:49-50, 14:10).
This educative process also explains the disappearance of the further mentioning of Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father, from Scripture. It’s the reason Jesus never mentioned or gave any praise to the human teachers who had been a part of His education. From a spiritual educative perspective, a father (biological or spiritual) should teach you how to experience your Heavenly Father as your ultimate spiritual Teacher:
“But you must not be called Rabbi, for One is your teacher, Christ, and you are all brothers. And call no one your father on the earth, for One, is your Father in Heaven. Nor be called teachers, for One is your Teacher, even Christ”(Matthew 23:8-11).
Beyond the education that Jesus would have experienced at home from His earthly father Joseph, what was Jesus doing in His early childhood, His adolescence, and His young adult life?
From a biblical perspective, though we know almost nothing about Jesus’ actual education, we have strong proof from a chapter of the Mishnah, also known as the Jewish “Oral Law,” which is an authoritative collection of exegetical material embodying Jewish traditions and laws, essential stages of life and insights into the educational system of Jesus’ day:
“At five years of age, one is ready for the study of the Scripture (Bet Sefer); at ten years of age, one is fit for the study of the Mishnah (Bet Midrash); at the age of thirteen for bar mitzvah, at the age of fifteen for the study of Talmud (Bet Talmud), at the age of eighteen for marriage, at the age of twenty for pursuing a vocation, at the age of thirty for entering into one’s full vigor”(Avot or Aboth 5:2l).
Although the above passage cannot be dated with certainty and may come from 70 to 150 years after the time of Jesus according to biblical historians, it does reflect what a Jewish boy in Jesus’ day would have been doing in each stage of his growth and development. Jewish scholars believe that the Mishnahcontains oral traditions that were present during the 1st century BC to 1st century AD and therefore would reflect what was true during Jesus’ lifetime.
The above Mishnaic passage is interesting as it clues us into the type of education that Jesus would have gone through as a boy, adolescent, young man, and rabbi. Many people have almost automatically given Jesus a free pass by thinking that because He was the Son of God, that He didn’t have to go through the traditional education that was available during His time on the earth.
Many have not considered His education because they are not taught about it, much less any of the critical components of His earthly education. When looked at closely, our understanding of Jesus’ education should parallel how churches today should use Scripture, coupled with training the mind to meditate to hear and learn from the God of the Scriptures, just like Jesus experienced as a human being.
THE EDUCATIVE PROCESS OF JESUS
Many people referred to Jesus as Rabbi. He was recognized as such by his peers. Many passages in the New Testament illustrate this recognition. Here are a few: lawyers (Matt. 22:35-36), ordinary people (Lk. 12:13), the rich (Matt. 19:16), Pharisees (Lk. 19:39), Sadducees (Lk. 20:27-28), and His disciples (Lk. 7:40).
Jesus fit the description of a first-century rabbi, especially one at the most advanced level, the one sought by those wanting to be wise disciples. A Rabbi of Jesus’ stature was classified as a master of all teachers who had what was called Shmikah. This meant he was “one who had the authority to interpret scripture.”
A Rabbi who taught with Shmikahwould say things like, “You have heard it said… but I tell you…” He was basically saying, “You have heard people interpret that verse this way, but I tell you that this is what God really means in that verse.” A study of Jesus’ yoke and ministry illustrated this unique and authoritative mastery of teaching [See Matt. 5:21, 27, 33, 38, 43].
In the above passages, note the diversity of those who recognize and address Jesus as Rabbi: private individuals, lawyers, the rich young ruler, the Pharisees, the Sadducees – a broad cross-section of the people of His day.
Most Christians know that the synagogue is the traditional Jewish house of prayer and worship. Few Christians are aware that each synagogue usually had its own school that was known as the Bet-Sefer, which meant “The House of The Book,” for children from 5 to 10 years old. The next level, a form of middle school, was known as the Bet-Midrash, which meant “The House of Learning.” This went from 10 to 15 years old.
The next level of education was more advanced learning for those who academically qualified and who also desired to pursue the vocation of a rabbi. It was known as the Bet-Talmud, which means “The House of Study/Seeking” and also referred by some assemblies as “The House of Interpretation.” This began at the age of 15 and continued until the age of 30.
It was Jesus’ completion of the Bet Talmudic level of education that, according to Jewish rabbinic custom, would have prepared Him and given Him the right to acquire disciples as students. A careful reading of the New Testament undoubtedly suggests that as an adult, Jesus was a rabbi and scholar learned in the Scriptures and in the religious literature of the period, which was vast and varied.
Why is it important to understand that Jesus was a rabbi? Because, in Jesus’ day, certain rabbis were accustomed to using foundational and pertinent methods of instruction classified as “key of knowledge” (Luke 11:52) type of teachings that can be traced back to the spiritual educational process that was a part of the ancient “school of prophets” mentioned in the Old Testament. This type of knowledge is quite foreign to the western mind of today but is of vital importance since it demonstrates how churches of today should teach and train people to hear and learn from God personally.
These foundational methods of instruction involved the use of a four-level hermeneutical method of biblical interpretation called Pardesand the teaching and practice of the mental discipline of meditation that accompanied much of this type of learning. If accurately taught, these forms of scriptural instruction combined with mental meditative training led the student to unlock and enter into the inherent inner learning environment within their soul that Jesus called “the kingdom of God” (Luke 17:21) where the Spirit of God functions as a personal Counselor, knowledge Revealer, and life-path Instructor.
MEDITATION IN ANCIENT TIMES
“This book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it by day and by night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall act wisely.”
In religious settings, if the biblical concept and practice of meditation is taught, it is commonly taught from the above Joshua 1:8 perspective. A person is instructed to pick a portion of Scripture and to think and quote the passage repeatedly to internalize the Scripture. This form of biblical meditation is object-oriented. It begins with reflective reading and rereading of Scripture and is followed by a reflection on what has been read and committed to memory. While there are benefits to this practice, it’s certainly not the full scope of meditation. Though this practice may help the student memorize the verse and extract valuable principles from it, this application is only one form of meditation.
What must be captured in Joshua’s instruction to meditate is that it was the Lord who gave Joshua the direction to do so. In other words, it wasn’t up to the student or the instructor to pick the Scriptures that they were to meditate on. Biblical meditation was not originally self-directed.
Originally when Joshua 1:8 was used to teach the students to meditate they were taught how to discipline their mind to be sensitive to an internal instruction of the Spirit of God leading them to a specific portion of Scripture so that God might communicate and or teach something specific about what was written.
In other words, this form of using Scripture through a “key of knowledge” form of instruction was to prepare the student to experience God as a teaching Spirit.
Initially, spiritual teachings on the concept of “the book of the law” used specific portions of Scripture that revealed that God had a specific will for their life that was coupled with the mental training of meditation. This form of teaching was purposed to teach the student how to acquire specific thoughts from God within their mind that were classified as “laws.”
These “laws’ that God would reveal to the student were related to His will and life-purposes for their specific life that would explain the works for which God created them to fulfill so that the person would be careful to do according to instructions found in the book that God had authored for their specific life. That way, they would prosper by fulfilling the will of God for every aspect of their lives.
Jesus followed a very similar process. He would have been taught to meditate using Scripture through this key of knowledgeform of instruction coupled with instruction of the practical steps as to how to still His mind to experience the Kingdom of God within His soul in order to get “laws” from God that were purposed to establish order for aspect of His life.
He meditated on the knowledge that the Spirit of God revealed to Him concerning the “volume of a book” that was written about Him (Heb. 10:5-7), which was the personal kingdom book on His life. As a result, He did all that was written in it, which caused Him to act obediently and wisely with all that God had ordained for His daily life.
JESUS MODELED A MEDITATIVE LIFESTYLE
Among Christians, there are a wide variety of opinions concerning meditation. Some see it as beneficial and practice it occasionally. Some practice it daily. Others see meditation as “the work of the devil” and avoid it like the plague. What would Jesus say about the practice of meditation? What would Jesus do? Did Jesus meditate?
Meditation was a huge part of Jesus’ prayer life. Jesus would have been no stranger to meditation. He was a master meditator. He was listening more than He was talking. I also believe that this was one of the main reasons that Jesus rarely prayed in groups. He chose instead to go to a place that was absent of any form of distraction, especially other humans.
When I began to think about this, I asked God, “What was Jesus doing when He would go and pray on earth?” God’s initial response to me was to take a more in-depth look into the practice of meditation. Once I did this, I began to gain insight and understand why Jesus’ prayer life was so disciplined, consistent and effective. Through the lost art of meditation, He spent hours listening and little time talking. Christianity has reversed this process in praying for hours and listening very little or not at all.
Meditation as a foundational practice of prayer is mentioned several times in the Old Testament, and as mentioned before, in some synagogues, it was a discipline that was taught as part their ancient Jewish and Rabbinical education. Jesus would have never taught something that He wasn’t doing, especially anything related to prayer. Since He knew how to hear and learn from God effectively, He would naturally have taught about His meditative experiences and techniques so that others could experience it as well.
In the Gospel accounts, Jesus rose from sleep before His disciples so He could go to a quiet place. If Jesus believed in not repeating vain prayers and in keeping spoken prayers short, what would He have been doing for hours on end? In retreating to these places for long hours of solitude, Jesus was engaged in what today we would call “meditation.” He was spending time listening to God. In short, Jesus meditated. Jesus stilled His mind to enter into a state of complete God-consciousness. When Jesus positioned Himself to learn from God meditatively, He was hearing and seeing with the ears and eyes of the spirit. This level of spiritual proficiency can only be effectively accomplished through meditation.
Jesus modeled this activity before His disciples and throughout His public ministry for approximately 3 1/2 years. This would have been approximately 1,277 consecutive days of showing His disciples how He would start His day by preparing His mind through meditation to hear and learn from God.
The ultimate and primary purpose of the activity of prayer taught in Jesus’ time was not to speak to God, but to first hear from God. Although a prayer session would have included the student talking to God, much of the dialogue was based off what the student heard from God. The student was taught to ask questions that would create a dialogue between themselves and God. The questions were concerning what God spoke to him or her to gain a full understanding.
Unfortunately, the importance of mental preparedness using the discipline of meditation to communicate with God inwardly is rarely taught today. This is the type of teaching and discipline that Jesus would have been exposed to in His Jewish and rabbinical training. This was the reason Jesus had the habit of beginning His day by going out to a solitary place, absent of human distractions according to the following prophetic and profound passage of Scripture concerning Jesus’ prayer-life:
“The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of the learned, That I should know how to speak A word in season to him who is weary. He awakens Me morning by morning; He awakens My ear to hear as the learned. The Lord GOD has opened My ear, And I was not rebellious, nor did I turn away”(Isaiah 50:4-5).
Each morning and at crucial moments in His life, Jesus would find a solitary place so that He could reorient Himself by positioning His mind to hear the Holy Spirit inwardly and discover His daily direction. He went as far as considering the absence of this practice as a form of rebellion (v5). During these moments, Jesus was acquiring insight that couldn’t be communicated through any ordinary educational process.
“And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed” (Mark 1:35).
Numerous Greek study resources and dictionaries typically define the word for “prayed” that is found in Mark 1:35 as “to talk to God,” “to supplicate, petition, to ask, and to request,” and “to intercede on one’s own behalf or for another.” These definitions are traditionally viewed and applied from the perspective of someone talking to God. A more in-depth study of this vital word reveals that it is God who desires to do the supplicating, petitioning, asking, requesting, and interceding to produce specific outcomes.
God communicated more towards Jesus than He prayed (communicated) towards God. This is God’s primary desired outcome and purpose for prayer as it relates to meditation.
The continual breath of God was inspiring Jesus through His meditative process. He then exhaled back towards God the works that He was daily being inspired to do. This is worshipping the Father in Spirit and in truth in its purest form (John 4:23-24).
The key to understanding the full extent of what Jesus experienced when He started each day in prayer is found in the root word understanding of the word “prayed” from its Hebrew perspective, which is the term palal hithpa.It is described as “to meditate to acquire God’s thoughts in order to intervene by performing great works or actions.” And “one authority speaking to another authority in order to produce certain outcomes.”
According to the ancients, once a student learned how to pray at this level, its practice was classified as a sacred and holy event where unique information was dispersed through the revealed thoughts of God – thoughts within the mind described as wonderful and marvelous – classified as secrets or mysteries.
This is how Jesus experienced the kingdom of God within Himself. The word “prayed” in the above verse encapsulated a daily experience where Jesus emptied Himself of distractions through the discipline of meditation to receive a daily education from His Father’s thoughts according to the volume of the book that God had written about His human life, which is one or best-kept secrets of Jesus’ prayer life (Heb. 10: 5-7). These thoughts revealed God’s will for His life, which were already written and predestined for Him.
It is of the highest importance that we understand what Jesus meant when He said, “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness” (Matthew 6:33). He was telling us exactly what He was doing with His own life, which serves as an uncompromising model of how we are to experience the presence of God within ourselves.
FROM WRITTEN WORD TO SPOKEN WORD
One of the most unsought and thus undiscovered fundamental truths to your life is that the written Word of God (the Bible) should only be used through a key of knowledge form of teaching that results in your experiencing the Spoken Word of God (Truth). This experience will eventually result in God revealing to you to another book of vital importance to your life besides the Bible.
In other words, “Truth” in its purest form, which is the language of God when experienced consistently, eventually reveals to you another form of Scripture that you are to live your daily life by, which contains God’s detailed and perfect will for your life. Biblically this unique form of oral Scripture on your specific life is biblically referred to as a “book,” that God has authored for your life that can only be revealed to you by your inherent ability to hear God thoughts pertaining to its content within your mind through the mental activity of meditation.
“Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me when as yet there were none of them. How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them” (Psalms 139:16-17).
As mentioned before, Jesus also had such a book on His life:
“Therefore when He comes into the world, He says, ‘Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but You have prepared a body for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, You have had no pleasure. Then I said, Lo, I come in the volume of the Book it is written of Me to do Your will, O God’” (Hebrews 10:5-7).
One of the secrets about Jesus’ prayer life is that when He positioned Himself to pray by preparing His mind in meditation, His purpose was to hear the thoughts of God that were already prescribed for His daily life through the Spirit of God that resided within. The volume of the book that was written about Him was His personalized kingdom book that established the order for every aspect of His life according to God’s preordained will.
This is the secret that gave Jesus a precise awareness of all the events He encountered before they happened. In other words, in Jesus’ prayer sessions, He was doing a lot more hearing and envisioning than speaking.
This is a level of prayer-and-life-preciseness that we have all have the inherent right and ability to experience. But unfortunately, very few people experience it due to a lack of teaching on the importance of meditation as a preparation to hear the voice of God and to receive vision from Him about His purposes that He has already predetermined and envisioned for your life through prayer-meetings with Him.
Because God created you to fulfill His purposes that are predetermined (Eph. 2:10), He is obligated to provide you with the details of your life, which requires an obligation on your part to intentionally meditate so that you may experience the mind of God within your mind to get a page from your book read to you on a daily basis.
This process is similar to an actor or actress getting a script from the screenwriter for a part they are about to portray in a motion picture. The script will contain words that they must repeat as well as details of the scenes that will take place. The script equips them with foreknowledge and visualization. They are given previews of their future before it comes to pass with further guidance from the director as to how to bring it to pass.
The passage explaining, “He awakens My ear to hear as the learned” (Isa. 50: 4-5) describes the meditative process Jesus experienced every morning in order to get the daily script for His life. Any other result would not have fulfilled the original intended purpose and impact of God’s Kingdom within Jesus’ soul and likewise within our souls.
Where there are no secrets or mysteries revealed, there are no questions. Where there are no questions, the mind is not free to roam. As a human, Jesus created a dialogue with God as secrets were revealed to Him about His life. The depth and understanding of the mysteries of His life were revealed to Him as He asked questions with a focused, meditative mindset. Once again, this is an experience that we all have an inherent right and ability to experience as well if we are accurately taught how to do so and apply it every day of our lives.
MEDITATION’S FOUNDATIONAL PURPOSE
To many people the term “meditation” brings forth the image of someone sitting with their legs crossed in a lotus position, their eyes closed in serene concentration, perhaps chanting some words.
Though meditation has numerous benefits and purposes, the primary purpose and benefit to meditating should be to experience God’s presence, to hear His voice and teachings clearly and to receive vision from His mind.
The original purpose that God created your human mind is to connect with His mind within your mind. The original purpose of meditation was to experience this deep level of God-consciousness.
Meditation simply defined is “to mentally become familiar with something.” This “something” that we all have to become familiar with is what has been inherently placed within our souls. It is the greatest and most accurate learning environment that we will ever find on this earth concerning acquiring knowledge about God, the Scriptures, the book that God has authored on your life and His revelations and teachings concerning these areas of vital knowledge. This learning environment is “the Kingdom of God” that Jesus intentionally stated (Luke 17:21) is found within our souls and that is experienced within our minds.
Meditation prepares your mind to hear and see from God. Meditation will set you free from other people’s ambitions and agendas, things that are not God’s purposes for your life. Meditation brings a personal awareness of God’s detailed plan for every aspect of your life.
It requires no special equipment and is not complicated to learn. Though the best environment to meditate is in a quiet place, it can be practiced anywhere, at any given moment (though I highly recommend disciplining yourself to begin your day with a meditation session as Jesus did), and it is not time-consuming.
MENTAL AND PHYSICAL BENEFITS
Medical practitioners and scientists who study human biology and psychology are discovering the impressive mental and physical benefits of meditation. It is a useful practice that has multiple benefits including relaxation; decreased or eliminated anxiety; greater awareness of destructive habits; learning healthy disciplines; controlling one’s thought life; boosting the immune system; removal of depression and anger; changing the gene activity or expression (epigenetics); greater focus ability; less chaotic or uncontrollable thoughts; whole brain thinking; improved coping and healing from post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD); better sleep patterns; inner peace; fostering greater levels and expressions of self-love and love and compassion for others; elevated concern for overall health and many more benefits.
Spiritual meditation has the potential to introduce these same mental and physical benefits, as well as spiritual insights and benefits that many are not even aware of. If practiced daily, these benefits are continually revealed to you through a forum of truth directly from the Spirit of God through Him educating as to what these particular benefits for every aspect of your life are.
“Blessed be the Lord, Who daily loads us with benefits, The God of our salvation! Selah” (Psalms 68:19).
Practice makes permanent. I have found that consistency is the key. We must remember that in ancient times, meditation was taught as early as five years old. It became a permanent practice in their lifestyle. Learning to meditate at a later age can be challenging, but it is definitely doable. Not only that, but it can be the most rewarding activity of your day.
Best of all, meditation has NO negative side effects. Bottom line, there is nothing but positive to be gained from it! With such a vast list of benefits, the question that we should be asking is, “Why am I not meditating yet?” or “Why isn’t meditation being taught at the house of worship that I attend?”
Meditation is what positions your body to be an educative temple of God, your soul into the classroom of God and your spirit as a student of God.
Fundamentally, meditation is the silent forerunner that introduces God’s thoughts and consciousness into our lives. In prayer, meditation is the prerequisite that causes our words to cease so that the words of God can begin to present themselves. It creates an environment where “Truth” from the mind of God is manifested in the posture of silence rather than the often compromised and supposed “truth” concerning God and the Scriptures that many are claiming to preach and teach about.
Once experienced on a consistent basis, the Spirit of God is more than qualified to teach you about Himself, teach you His interpretation of the Scriptures found in the Bible and how He wants you to apply its principles to your life, and most importantly the Scripture (the book) that He has authored for your specific life. Most Christians have never experienced this level of teaching from God unfortunately due to the diabolical mind-altering and life-limiting spiritual force of iniquity that so many of today’s church teachings are infected by, without them even being aware of it.
Meditation should be the foundational practice of prayer time with God.
Meditation is crucial in the development of our inner ears and inner eyes – the senses of the spirit. The proper understanding and application of meditation create the atmosphere of the secret place that Jesus referred to [Matt. 6:6, Lk. 8:10] where the mysteries (secrets) of the Kingdom for your life are revealed to you.
Meditation was foundational for spiritual transformation in ancient times. The practice of meditation was mainly lost when the church became institutionalized in the centuries following Jesus’ teachings. Meditation is clearly specified in Scripture, yet due to the mysticism that has been added to its practice – combined with the limited understanding of the original meanings of keywords that specify meditation from a Godly perspective through a key of knowledge form of instruction – the art of meditation has been lost in the church today.
MY PRAYER-TIME JOURNEY AND DEVELOPMENT
I have been a practicing born-again Christian for almost 30 years. For the first 20 years of my Christian life, I used many methods and tools to help and guide me in my prayer time. One of main tools that I used to use was what are called “prayer wheels,” which break up an hour of prayer time in segments such as: thanking God, asking for things, asking for forgiveness, singing to God, praying for other people, quoting scripture, meditating on scripture, and praying in tongues. I’ve also prayed using lists and backing up each request on my prayer list with scripture.
I’ve read numerous books on prayer and have used their recommended strategies, which included portions where I would plead the blood of Jesus over my life and circumstances and dispatch angels to work on my behalf. In my church experiences, I have heard many sermons and series on the topic of prayer. I have also purchased courses on prayer and have attended discipleship courses on prayer. Many of these experiences were taught from the reference point of that particular denomination’s beliefs on prayer, or from the perspective of a person considered an expert on the topic of prayer.
Though all of these experiences taught me various things that seemed to improve my prayer life and relationship with God for a time, I later came to a shocking conclusion. None of these resources taught me, from a biblical perspective, how to hear the voice of God. They mentioned hearing God’s voice, but they didn’t teach how to do it.
For the last ten years, my personal experience with meditation has introduced to my life a level of hearing the voice of God that I was not previously experiencing during my first 20 years of being a believer. It has caused me to listen to the voice of God at a frequency free from distracting static or lack of focus.
In retrospect, what I found interesting was that much of my defocusing during my past times of prayer, and not having my prayers answered, had to do with my applying prayer techniques that I was taught. These resources focused primarily on what I should be saying or doing in prayer rather than how to hear and what I should hearing while in prayer.
When it comes to prayer, most people have never been taught how to effectively silence their mind to intentionally and purposefully hear and learn from God within His Kingdom that He has inherently and intentionally placed within their souls to experience Him personally.
The extent of most prayer education and experiences has been reduced to verbal activities that are taught and thus practiced, which result in busying the mind by talking to God and asking for things from God that Jesus clearly taught that we should not even ask for.
God desires more to talk to you than you always just merely talking to Him.
God’s expertise is more experienced in His ability and desire to function more as a speaker and teacher than just merely just a listener. The more you learn to listen to the voice of God, the more you will learn what you should be praying for.
Personally, since learning to pray the way that Jesus as a human being experienced and taught, 100% of my prayer requests have been answered so far. The following portion of scripture has become an actual reality in my life:
“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us-whatever we ask-we know that we have what asked of Him” (1 John 5:14-15).
It is impossible to pray for the will of God for your life if you are not hearing from Him what His will is for every aspect of your life!
I have learned to pray only for what God verbally tells me what to pray for. Then I further my journey to get that prayer request answered by getting continual instructions from God on what my responsibilities are, if any, to have the prayer request answered.
Before my learning to pray this way, I was asking God for stuff that I had no business asking for, hoping that God would answer my prayers, which resulted in the majority of the things that I asked for not being answered.
Now when I pray, I have 100% confidence in knowing that God will answer my prayers because I’m praying and asking for His stuff (His will for my life).
These discoveries have changed my thinking patterns and have opened up to me a portal to a level of prayer where I can now accurately hear the voice of God and pray according to the thoughts that He thinks towards me.
This life-changing revelation has freed me to posture my mind and heart to be a primed environment to learn from God personally. Now I know how to as Jesus mandated, “seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness” within my mind and soul for every aspect of my life. I am blessed to find and experience His presence, counsel, and teaching every time that I position my body and mind to do so!
JUST ANOTHER PERSPECTIVE AND DISCLAIMER
Is it wrong to question the authenticity and effectiveness of many of today’s current religious teachings and systems? No. You must, especially when considering the magnitude of what’s at stake. All of the most significant religious figures in history did it — even Jesus.
Providing constructive criticism is an essential part of the human improvement process. When God inspired me to write this three-book series and create other forms of teaching, it never was, and still isn’t, my intention to destructively criticize Christendom for the lack of understanding concerning the topics found within them.
God has simply commissioned me to share another perspective concerning them. I don’t claim to be a Bible expert. I don’t preach nor do I teach “truth” as other spiritual teachers claim. I preach and teach so that others may learn to hear and learn from the purest form of “Truth,” which is the language of God within their souls.
My only claim in proficiency is that I have discovered the “key of knowledge” form of instruction that evidently was removed from the teachings of certain synagogues in Jesus’ day (Lk. 11:52) and that unfortunately is still missing from the teachings of some of the today’s churches.
This form of biblical study when viewed and applied through the lens of the foundational purpose of the Written Word of God and coupled with the mental practice of meditation, are ultimately purposed to experience the Spoken Word of God within our souls.
I am personally under the conviction that if the Bible is inspired by God (a belief that is held historically and universally among Christians), and if man or a woman is intended to live “not by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4), then the very teachings of Scripture constitute a revelation:
Scripture’s primary purpose has to be used only as a resource to teach people how to hear and learn from God just like Jesus experienced as a human being. If the Scriptures are being used for any other reason, then manmade doctrines, philosophies, and religious practices are being taught. Although valuable in many respects and varying degrees, these cannot compare to the infinite wealth of knowledge that comes directly from the mouth of God that can only be experienced within His kingdom that He has inherently and strategically placed within our souls.
Much more content regarding:
Accurate biblical meditation that is purposed to experience the Kingdom of God within your soul, the ancient Pardes and the key of knowledge learning systems, the education of Jesus as a human being, an in-depth study of Jesus’ prayer life and teachings on prayer, the book that God has authored on each of our live, a more accurate and effective application of the five-fold ministry and the Great Commission, a deeper understanding of the born-again water and spiritual baptism experience. Also in-depth knowledge concerning iniquity, which is the root cause as to why people aren’t being taught to hear and learn from God just like Jesus experienced as a human being and how its diabolic grip continues to affect much of today’s false and limiting spiritual teachings. And much more content regarding these important topics can be found within my three books “The Mystery Revealed” series with over 380 footnotes that reveal the definitive root word perspectives and sources from where the knowledge was obtained.
For the archaeologist of truth who mines the caverns of Scripture and for the hungry souls that cry for a deeper understanding and experience concerning the kingdom of God within that Jesus experienced as a human being, I pray that the content found within my books, blogs, videos, personalized mentoring, future webinars and in-person seminars that transcend much of today’s limiting religious teachings will help you to facilitate such a life-changing experience.
In the Gospel accounts, Jesus is said to rise from sleep hours before His disciples so He could go into a quiet place. If Jesus believed in not repeating vain prayers and keeping spoken prayers short, what would He be doing for hours on end, or even days on end, such as when He went into the wilderness for 40 days? In retreating to these places for long hours of solitude, Jesus was engaged in what we would call “meditation.” He was spending time being with God, listening to God, and learning from God. In short, Jesus meditated. Jesus stilled His mind to enter a state of complete God-consciousness.
To preach something is to announce that something is available to experience. Today, countless people are preaching about the kingdom of God. But we need these people to teach us how to experience the kingdom of God that is inherent within our souls. We need to understand it at the same level that Jesus experienced it every day of His human life.
The kingdom of God within has, for centuries, been shrouded in the veils of flawed understanding. Unfortunately, the mystery of the kingdom of God within has either been ignored altogether or redefined and misappropriated in ways that have neutered it of its significance.
One of the most significant needs of our time is for people to have an intimate, personal relationship with their Creator – God. More than ever, there is a need for believers to learn about God directly from Him through the avenue of the kingdom of God within. Our spiritual journey may begin with us learning about God from other humans, yet at some point, there should be what I call “the transfer of teachers” where we experience a shift in the way we learn.
This transfer is where we make the shift from learning through instructors God has placed on the earth to learning directly from God as our Spiritual Instructor within our souls through the mental discipline and practice of meditation.
The purpose of my website, books, and other teaching resources is to provide vital knowledge and practical meditation instruction that unfortunately are not offered in much of today’s traditional Christianity.
The mystery of iniquity has, for centuries, been shrouded in the veils of flawed understanding. Unfortunately, the mystery of iniquity has been ignored or redefined and neutered of its significance.
Before I understood the root meaning of “iniquity,” the words of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew puzzled and even frightened me. I wondered why He would respond the way He did to people who were doing good things in His Name, things that Jesus Himself was doing:
“Not everyone that says unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:21-23 KJV).
These people were doing great things, prophesying in the Name of the Lord, casting out devils, and performing wondrous works. These seem to be great deeds that should have pleased Jesus. And aren’t these the type of good deeds that many churches teach that Christians should be doing? Then why was Jesus so displeased with what they were doing? The eye-opening answer is found in understanding the foundational meaning of the word “iniquity.”
It is important to note that like many other words in the Bible, the word iniquity has multiple definitions depending on where its found within scripture. My purpose of this article is to focus on the definition of the word that Jesus used in the above biblical account.
From its New Testament Greek perspective, the word “iniquity” that Jesus used in this insightful verse is the word anomia. According to Strong’s Concordance, someone who practices “iniquity” is described as “someone who is in violation of a specific type of law, which results in him or her being unrighteous.”
This specific type of law that this definition refers to is described in the following key verses:
“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord; I will put My law into their inward part, and in their minds, I will write them” (Hebrews 10:16; Jeremiah 31:33).
The inward part that this verse is referring to is the kingdom of God within your mind, which is where law (truth) directly from the Spirit of God is experienced and described in the Psalms 51:6, which says: “Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part, You will make me to know wisdom.”
The word “law” in the above verse according to ancient Hebrew perspective is the word Torah, which is normally a reference to “the Written Word” (i.e. Scripture). Interestingly, from a definitive root word perspective, “law” in this verse is specifically defined as “teaching” that comes through an actual teacher; it describes the purpose of this type of teaching as “the direction and instruction that one is to take in life.”
The primary purposes of laws are to create and maintain order. One of the primary functions of the Spirit of God that is within you is to teach you laws to create and maintain order regarding every aspect of His predetermined will and purposes for your life so that you are aware of what they are, and instructed as to what steps are necessary in order to live them out.
“The steps of the righteous person are ordered by the Lord” (Ps. 37:23).
We see the significance of this process more clearly when we look at the Hebrew translation for the word anomia (iniquity) that Jesus used in Matthew 7:23, which is the Hebrew word aven. It is defined as “to use the power within the loins of the mind that is purposed to reproduce and create for vain or other improper purposes.”
This power that this definition is referring to is the ability of the human mind to access the mind of God in order to experience Truth, which is the language of God, purposed to teach you His predetermined will for every aspect of your life. This process can only be experienced via the kingdom of God that is within “the loins of [your] mind” (Lk. 17:21).
To work or practice (as some biblical translations refer to it as) iniquity is to not practice going “within the loins of our minds,” which is where the kingdom of God resides, in order to experience Truth from the “power” (the mind of God) and get the specific and detailed will of God for all aspects of your life. It is instead to allow your mind to be used or influenced by other sources through the covertness of Satan that results in a counterfeit or limited spiritual experience. This will result in assuming the will of God for your life instead of receiving this vital information on a daily basis from the Spirit of God Himself.
I became a believer 30 years ago. The past 10 years have been the best years of my life as far as personal spiritual growth and development is concerned.
My three greatest accomplishments within these past 10 years have been first, accepting the sobering reality that for most of my Christian life, I was assuming the will of God for my life similar to those in the above Matthew account due to the grip that iniquity had on my life though I was a Spirit-filled believer.
My second greatest accomplishment is that I learned to study the Bible like a Hebrew in order to understand the scriptures from definitive root-word perspectives. This form of study opened my eyes to clearly seeing how limited and in some cases how error-filled was the biblical and spiritual instruction that I was receiving from many of the fivefold ministers that I was exposed to.
My third greatest accomplishment was due to my newfound more accurate form of biblical study, I saw how Jesus, the ancient prophets and many others found throughout the bible used the scriptures in what Jesus described as a “key of knowledge” (Luke 11:52) form of instruction coupled with the mental discipline of meditation in order to experience the Kingdom of God within their souls in order to experience God directly.
As a result of these life-changing experiences, in 2009 I began the journey to write and self-publish three books. My first book “The Mystery of Iniquity Revealed” explores the biblical concept of iniquity, which is the root cause of why people fail to clearly hear and learn from God in the most intimate and detailed way.
My second book “The Mystery of Prayer Revealed” researches Jesus’ prayer-life and teachings on the biblical concept of prayer from the perspective of how to hear and learn from God through the avenue of prayer.
My third book “The Mystery of the Kingdom of Revealed” reveals how to experience the greatest spiritual learning that God has inherently placed within the soul of all humanity, which Jesus referred to as “the Kingdom of God” (Luke 17:21) that can only be truly experienced through the mental discipline and practice of meditation.
